“I still remember that great cold breath on Imola. » 30 years later, Olivier Panis has forgotten nothing about this tragic weekend in 1994. The former French Formula 1 driver saw Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna die before his eyes in two days. “I will remember it all my life, this accident, this weekend, this circuit… There were only disasters. »
Dramas galore, that’s how we can sum up Imola. “It’s a cursed circuit,” admits Olivier Panis. A legendary Formula 1 track, made history as much by its high-speed turns as by its dramatic events. Because the double fatal accident of 1994 is not an isolated tragedy, far from it… Seven other drivers have died on two or four wheels at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari since its inauguration in 1953.
In chronological order, the bikers Ray Amm (1955), Harry Hinton Jr (1959) were the first to lose their lives in the Gold Cup before Klaus Reisch also died at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo during the 500 km race. ‘Imola. The Tamburello corner also experienced death, well before Senna, in 1977 and then in 1981, when Pat Evans and Sauro Pazzaglia drove straight into the wall with their motorcycle. Same thing for the fatal chicane for Roland Ratzenberger in 1994 but also for the two Italian drivers Guido Paci and Lorenzo Ghiselli in 1983 and 1985.
Deaths, miracles, a boycott and floods
All these dramas, without forgetting those who came close to death in Emilia-Romagna. First in 1980, Gilles Villeneuve gave his name to the sad fatal left-right at Ratzenberger by shooting straight into the wall after a spin.
9 years later, in 1989, Gerhard Berger also “saw himself die” when his Ferrari ended up in flames, this time at Tamburello. “I saw that the car was not turning and was going straight, then I saw the wall getting closer, and I remembered that my gas tank was full,” he confided several years after his accident. The Austrian was taken out unconscious after 16 seconds in this blaze. Two years earlier, Nelson Piquet was not far from the worst either in the same corner during testing for the San Marino Grand Prix. A serious accident followed by an ordeal lasting several months for the Brazilian who suffered from headaches and loss of vision for part of the season.
In 1994, on the eve and two days before the deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna, Rubens Barrichello also miraculously escaped with a broken nose and arm after flying over the tire wall. Since then, the Imola route has fortunately changed a lot. The two most dangerous corners have been replaced by chicanes to slow down the speed of the cars.
But it’s not just driver safety that was the talk of Imola. In 1982, it was also on this circuit that the teams of Nelson Piquet and Kéké Rosberg decided to boycott a Grand Prix because of an illegal disqualification in Brazil. As time passed, the track, not maintained by the Italian government, became obsolete and eventually disappeared from the Formula 1 calendar due to its condition. Returning in 2020 under the name of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, the route saw the curse fall on it once again last year with immense floods which forced the organizers to cancel the Grand Prix. So for his return this year, we can only hope that history does not take its course. For once.
