AYRTON SENNA WRITES FOR AUTOSPRINT
The death of De Angelis. “We are all responsible”
Autosprint Anno XXVI, 1986, 22, pp.36-37
"Last year Elio De Angelis was my teammate at Lotus. My professional relationship with him wasn't the best, but I don't even want to talk about that aspect: there was a huge rivalry between us two. On the human side, however, I always respected Elio. He was a very intelligent and kind man, someone who raced for the pure pleasure of racing. In this sense he perhaps represented what a driver should always be, a gentleman. Too often we in Formula 1 forget the human aspect. Only when the irreparable happens do we stop, look around and think about what is really important.
The day before Elio's accident, I made a big mistake. I was having problems with the car and before returning to the pits I drove a lap very slowly, looking around: along the track the security services were practically non-existent. I saw a man with a fire extinguisher, just one, but I wasn’t too worried. I thought that Paul Ricard is a very long circuit, with large spaces, and that perhaps the emergency service was there even if from the cockpit it was difficult to see how it was positioned. When I returned to the pits I completely forgot about the problem. Unfortunately, we drivers don’t think much about the danger: we know it’s there but we see it as something far away. That day, at Paul Ricard, the danger was there, and it was there, lurking. After that lap of the track I should have informed myself better about the situation, asked where the firefighters were and made the other drivers aware of the problem. I didn’t do it this time, just as I hadn’t done it in the past, during other free practice sessions.
This is why I also feel a part of the responsibility for what happened. An adequate firefighting service would have been enough and Elio would still be among us. The problem of fire has become increasingly relevant since all Formula 1 cars adopted turbo engines that reach very high temperatures during use. If a car stops suddenly, the least you can do is can wait and catch fire. This happens because it is enough for some oil to end up on the red-hot turbo for it to catch fire (we often see this when a car stops in the pits). We had the warning signs of what happened at Paul Ricard last year during free practice at the Nürburgring, a very safe circuit. Surer stopped along the track and the car caught fire. There was no one there and Marc, getting out of the car, looked around until he spotted a service van parked in the distance. Surer ran over there, got behind the wheel of that vehicle (the employee was blissfully sleeping a little further away), reached his Brabham and turned it off by himself. That day we all laughed bitterly, shaking our heads thinking that it wasn't right to have so many marshals along the track during the Grand Prix and almost none during the private tests. But then we did nothing and everything remained as before. That day, Elio De Carli was also "joking" about the episode that happened to Surer. Angelis.
It is during private tests that we run the greatest risks, when we try new solutions never used before. The cars are getting faster day by day; the circuits remain the same and many have not been adequate for a few years now; those who manage the circuits often show signs of incompetence and amateurism; Foca (the manufacturers' association) only thinks about the interests of the teams (after all, team managers don't get on those cars); Fisa lets Foca do its thing and we drivers don't care. This is the stark picture of the situation. But it's a situation that can't last another day. One of the most mature and conscientious drivers in Formula 1 died at Paul Ricard. Elio wasn't someone who took risks beyond what was necessary - I say this in a positive sense, as I said it for Niki Lauda - and the fact that that damned accident happened to him is a wake-up call for everyone else.
You will have noticed that reducing the fuel from 220 to 195 liters has not prevented us from further improving the performance. I don’t want to say that the solution hasn’t borne fruit, since with last year’s 220 litres we would obviously be faster than we are today, I just want to underline how rapid the improvements are in the top Formula. No solution has been found to the problem of qualifying. Today, driving a single-seater with qualifying power is simply crazy; the acceleration is excessive. In Monte Carlo, with those short straights, we reached incredible top speeds, between guard rails and pavements… Once upon a time there was the GPDA (Grand Prix Driver Association). The drivers’ association still exists, but in meetings we have had we have always dealt with stupid marginal problems. Until last year Lauda held the reins of the Association, even if the only right thing we did was to give up racing at Spa, because the asphalt was falling apart. Now everything seems abandoned to itself. I have always kept myself quite aloof because I still consider myself one of the last to arrive. I also confess that I did it to avoid being involved in other controversies in addition to those that already concerned me. This was also a mistake, I admit it. But now more than ever the drivers' association must get back to working, because the price paid was too high. I don't know who could take Niki's place as head of the Association. A leader is essential and I would suggest Prost or Alboreto, two experienced drivers with the right mentality to deal with these problems.
The service personnel, stewards and firefighters, are not always up to the task. In England, for example, there is a very high level of preparation. I know because I raced in that country for a few years and – even if my sympathy towards the English in general is decidedly low – I have to give them credit for being very professional. In other places, for example in Holland, I think there is the highest level of unpreparedness when it comes to fire-fighting interventions. Too often it happens that professionals, us, are forced to work with amateurs. This is the basis of many problems. In some cases, however, we are the amateurs: it is not acceptable for professional drivers to agree to test on a track that does not offer the essential safety measures.
Now is the time to sit around a table and find solutions. I don't care about the unanimity of the Foca teams: that will never happen because each team will only think about its own interests and there will always be someone who is afraid of being damaged by any change to the regulation. We need someone who takes the authority to decide on the basis of clear and precise technical data. I don't want to recommend solutions at random. The safety issue must be studied by competent people who have the power and the right information to get to the bottom of the problem and not by second-rate politicians and the solution must include not only changes to the cars, but also to the circuits, to the emergency services on the circuits during the Grand Prix and, above all, the free practices. It had been a long time since a fatal accident had occurred in Formula 1 and we had all relaxed. Unfortunately, the irreparable had to happen to realize that the danger really exists and that the time has come for everyone to examine their conscience.
Because we are all responsible for what happened to Elio."
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