Senna, Lap 7, enhanced yellow button

[@homolz00]

Cracked steering column after entering the third asphalt patch.....no skidding or loss of downforce. In previous laps in Tamburello Ayrton, Michael and the other drivers corrected the minor skids on bumps more and relative without problems.

[@damoes2]

The thing that makes it so obvious to me that his steering collum failed is that the moment Senna is going towards the wall you can see his helmet in frame. Like all the presure fell away from his arms and he kind of tipped over. To me thats a even more evident clue then the yellow button.

[@CaptainSpadaro]

He was leaning his head in the direction of he corner, which he did a lot.

[@patrikhala1910]

@@CaptainSpadaro I disagree. Why isnt he leaning his head through the whole corner then? You can clearly see that he is actually leaning forwards as if he wanted to do something. If he was "leaining in the direction of the corner", (which he was doing nevertheless) his helmet would be visible through the whole corner. I think in that moment (2:58) he knew something isnt right

[@fadtayaysgaygeyag]

Never noticed that before. Totally agree with you.

[@dona19730413]

Ruffero ら

[@VWaudiRULEs]

@@CaptainSpadaro He would often lean into the direction of the corner, but he didn't do it at Tamburello. Tamburello wasn't really a corner. This also shows to me that if he made any steering inputs (not seen because the steering wheel has collapsed way too low by this point), they would have been to the left, yet the wheel of the car does not respond at all.

[@johnnyveganite9141]

3:04 is the second yellow button on the steering wheel (to the right of the left yellow button) as Senna turns the steering wheel fully to the left, but to no avail as it's not working as it should.

[@YourLoyalDeserter]

The moment that the car straightens out, you can see the yellow button again. If the column did break, you would expect the steering wheel to violently turn turn anticlockwise as it stops resisting the force he puts into it. The car appears to go mostly straight on after that point. The button disappears again at 11.44 and then reappears at 11.52, indicating he turned to the left briefly. In that time, the car travels completely straight, doesn't turn at all. If you look earlier in the shot, you can see that the car will still visibly turn left even when the button is still visible. It is less than a 10th of a second though, perhaps it's just not enough time to make a difference. However, while the yellow button does reappear onscreen, suggesting he's not turning in very hard, he does not ever return to the fully straight-ahead position with the wheel. He's always trying to turn left to some degree after the initial swing to the right. The yellow button is gone again at 11.54, so he should be turning in hard again there. Between 11.54 and 11.74, there is no button visible. The car does appear to be turning left a little bit in this time though. It's possible this is caused by the angle of the track or something, and it is a very small tick to the left when his wheel is turned pretty sharply, so sharply his button is no longer visible. The button disappears again at 11.78. Between 11.78 and the end of the tape at 11.86, the car travels completely straight again, and the steering wheel is turned left. It's also worth finding the better quality version of this footage where you can see the outline of his steering wheel rim against his white overalls. It moves down in the frame a pretty alarming amount before he loses control. It is abundantly clear that the steering is not working as it should and was deteriorating before the accident. We also know that there was fatigue cracking on the column from before the break. However, there is some correlation between what he was doing with the wheel according to the yellow button and what the car was doing. One should also consider how suspicious it is that the tape ends at the moment it does, that the footage of an incredibly important event that was under investigation was somehow lost. We can't know what happens with his steering wheel from the point that this footage ends to the moment he hits the wall. My best guess as to what happened is that the steering column did not completely snap, but had deteriorated to the point that the car was uncontrollable. As he does straighten the wheel initially instead of turning the wheel in all the way, it seems to me that the car did jump on the bump or twitch or something. In a car with normal steering, it would be no problem to make an instinctual microadjustment and keep the car on track. At that point though, his steering was so loose and vague that correcting something like that was impossible. While the column may not have snapped, it was so loose that his steering inputs did not fully translate to the wheels. That is clear from the disconnects between his inputs and the behavior of the car after 11.44. So, the ultimate question, who is to blame? Was this caused by Senna making a mistake or by a Williams bodge job? In my opinion, it's a bit of both. On the one hand, the car was clearly unsafe to drive even before Tamburello. The steering column was clearly on its way to failing. Nobody disputes that, not even Williams. The only point of debate is, did Senna make a mistake before it completely failed, or did it fail, causing him to crash? I've laid out above why I think that the largely-deteriorated state of the column made it impossible to adjust for what was a minor bump or twitch. So, why do I think Senna is partially to blame for what was an unavoidable accident. Because it was clear that the column was deteriorating before he entered Tamburello. Continuing to race with steering that bad was incredibly dangerous, and he had to have realized that. Yet, as he often did, he continued on despite the danger. He took an unnecessary risk. He had to have known that taking Tamburello at that speed in a car in that state could have ended in disaster, but he did it anyway. He took his chances. As has been said, he likely would have survived the crash if the suspension assembly had flown 6 inches higher or to either side. But it didn't.

[@snaubdca7yebf]

I’ve watched the crash footage a thousand times in different forms and at different speeds and this is absolutely spot on. I too believe that the continuing debate around this is because of the confusion around the steering column snapping, when I am 100% certain it didn’t fully snap but stopped functioning to any workable degree somewhere around Tamburello, under the heavy steering forces needed to turn that corner. This explains some of the question marks around this theory. David Coulthard said: “I remember going through the data from the car with Patrick Head, Williams' technical director, and seeing that the steering load was still there up to the point of impact, and the impact speed was 130mph.” Well a still existent but non-functioning steering column that wasn’t transmitting information to the wheels would explain why the steering load persisted and it would explain why the wheels weren’t turning left. Piquet also says that the only instance in which a driver brakes as hard and as fast as Senna was braking in those last seconds is if he knows there is some kind of failure. Otherwise you would be steering out of this (impossible in this case anyway because he was already hard left on the steering wheel). Any alternative theories about debris or cold tires or a car bottoming out are easy enough to disprove, not least because the car comes off bang straight instead of spinning. I would, however, be cautious about using the word ‘blame’ though. Ayrton should have listened to his intuition and whilst I carry the lesson from this crash into every aspect of my life, how many people walk away when they should in their lives or in the work? Especially when multi millions of sponsorship depend on the work going as planned? Williams also may be at fault but they aren’t to blame, simply because this is motorsports. It is a risk every driver takes to this day. Whilst the Italian prosecutors were right in their conclusion, a collaborative fact-finding mission may have been more productive than going after Williams so aggressively that they went into defensive. In any case, I still miss him.

[@gold333]

We ran this accident in a simulator. Every single driver did the “head bobbing to the left” thing at the moment of loss of control. It’s like you know the runoff is not enough and you are trying to will it around. It is a conscious movement not generated by G forces.

[@snaubdca7yebf]

Fascinating. Thank you for this.

[@hristoitchov]

In such a corner you're resisting the G-forces pushing your head to the right, so your effort is in the opposite direction, to the left. When that force suddenly disappears because the car starts going straight, the neck muscles push the head further to the left. That's what we see in the onboard footage.

[@billmakaveli7638]

from 307 km to 274 and head snaps right and of course the missing video 0.9 of the impact nice cover up from williams,FIA ,whiting should never give them the black boxes

[@Ap-ns5ff]

You can see the second yellow button come into the last few frames just before the end. This is the other yellow button that sits at the 2 o’clock position on the wheel. He had full lock on before leaving the track, that’s why his head moved so far left. But there was not even the slightest response from the wheels.

[@davidsantoro4717]

Es tan obvio que se rompió la columna de Dirección...pero bueno. Mientras lo que diseñaron ese maldito auto sigan como jefes de la F1 no vamos a saberlo, pero siempre van a cargar con la muerte del mejor del mundo sobre sus espaldas. Saludos desde Argentina!

[@marcjava]

Con lo corrupto que fueron Frank Williams y el francés sin vergüenza que comandaba la FIA en esa época, no le quepa la menor duda. Fue la barra de dirección que parecía soldada por un estudiante de escuela industrial. Ademas ese anexo que hicieron era una bomba de tiempo, la barra debía ser de una sola pieza, o sea, en lugar de extenderla haciendo una nueva, la soldaron con un caño... y gastan millones de dólares los caraduras. A Senna lo mato el equipo de Williams, creo, sin intención.

[@leonardocamara9063]

Repare que dentro da curva o carro sai de traseira para o lado da Tamburello. Senna, experiente, corrige a trajetória, virando a direção para a tamburello - (nitidamente dá pra ver a bolinha amarela subindo em direção ao lado direito, pois já fez isto centenas de vezes na vida corrigindo saídas de traseira) -Até esse momento as rodas respondem e o carro fica reto, anulando o efeito da saída de traseira. Corrigida a trajetória, Senna comanda o carro para a esquerda - ( a bolinha amarela desce ) para o lado normal da curva. Mas o carro não responde e continua reto, pois com a violência da pancada do fundo do carro no solo, a coluna de direção, já colapsada, rompeu. Senna Percebe que há algo errado. Novamente, já em um ato desesperado, Senna comanda a direção por mais duas vezes para a esquerda ( a bolinha sobe, e desce para a esquerda, desaparecendo do vídeo por mais duas vezes). Depois disto, a imagem foi destruída pela Willians, pois certamente mostraria Senna repetindo o mesmo movimento de virar para a esquerda afim de evitar uma colisão praticamente frontal, como a que ocorreu. O argumento de que o carro saiu de traseira e foi flutuando até bater no muro é balela. Impossível. O carro manteve contato com o solo sim, o que pode ser visto pelos movimentos de trepidação da suspensão e do capacete de Senna. Saiu de traseira, mas foi rapidamente corrigido por Senna.

[@adrianmoreno9032]

Es evidente que la dirección no funciona en el momento previo al accidente . Contundente prueba es este video .

[@bauiojvljxdvlxj]

But according to yellow button steering column failed 200 meters before. And car didn't go straight yet.

[@cemyaman3244]

The steering wheel is in vain, but Michael Schumear shows in his camera that the bottom of the car was hit and then his balance deteriorated. Also, after this accident, that road was changed and the bottoms of the cars were raised. This information gives us information about the cause of the accident.

[@luansilverios3639]

Bem interessante está gravação pra nós brasileiros investigar a verdade da morte mito Senna pra sempre seu fã 🇧🇷

[@hillgenerator]

There are several good quality incar videos from both Senna and Hill, from this race weekend and other 1994 race weekends before imola. Yellow buttons dont behave anything like in this video, steering is absolutely not ok. I think that he bottomed out, column snapped during rapid correction moves. Would have made the corner without any huge drama despite the bottoming, if the steering was ok

[@rencelani-ty2sc]

You’re more correct than most other comments if you read Damon Hill’s book he tells the reason of what happened to Senna basically he made a mistake setting the car up very low and hard springs relying on tyre pressure and temperatures to keep the ride hight at optimal but the cooling of his tyres behind that safety car was a critical factor telemetry from the Car showed the car bottomed out over those 3 bumps into the Tamburello bend he caught it twice on the 3rd the car telemetry showed a minus meaning that Senna reacted but at that split second the tyres are not on the ground and he speared off into the wall this is why the Williams team needed the telemetry of Ayrtons car to ensure safety for Damon no sinister things went on at all just every Clark was looking for someone or something to blame everything on those bumps in the Tamburello where bad on the Saturday Roland was at full tilt in Qualifying low settings on that 3rd bump it knocked the end plate of the left side of the front wing he came up to Villeneuve went to steer to the right and his car went straight off and into the wall there this is Racing drivers at the time pushing it to the limit sad ending and unfortunate but that’s why you and I and a lot of other people hold these Drivers in such high esteem basically they took their lives in hand every time they went out regards to all fans RIP Aryrton And Rolland

[@RBenjo21]

I reckon the steering bracket broke, but the actual steering mechanism still was intact and it was still connected to the front. Petrov at Malaysia in 2011 is similar.

[@deinien9445]

He probably would've survived if he had tilted his head forward about 5cm.

[@mrwhatever9025]

I have no idea if it was the weld or if he bottomed out but it could of been a combination of both happening at the same time leading to the accident

[@Apsu94]

No just steering

[@geso101]

Can someone explain please where is the "oversteering"? All I see (@ timing 11:00) is the car hitting a bump. If you play the video frame by frame, you can see the horizon moving up and down quickly (hence a bump) and also the camera temporarily shakes and picture is almost lost. To me, it appears that it was this bump was caused the final failure. The steering wheel had dropped down considerably in the previous seconds, but it still was operational (you can see the car turning left, judging from the objects in the horizon moving right). But after the bump, the car is not turning anymore. Senna tried several corrections (thus the yellow button appearing and disappearing) but he had no chance. It is unfortunate that the telemetry data in this video does not show the brake pedal. Or is it the yellow indication in the right window, which is partially hidden by the left window? If so, he does not appear to be breaking until the end (?)

[@amuricat2932]

There might have been a little oversteer right when he goes over the bump and bottoms out. But he instantaneously and turns the wheel back left, only the wheels don’t turn. The steering was starting to fail and the uneven part of the track takes it out fully.

[@bauiojvljxdvlxj]

Senna did make correction. You can see yellow button going right. Is it possible that his wheels blocked because of hard braking?

[@purelife9081]

The wheel never moved

[@kevinscott1697]

Damon Hill talks in his book about the car ride height being too low hence the floor was bouncing off the track which was bumpy, he does make a good point about the steering, if the column had actually failed then Senna would have instinctively and quickly turned the steering wheel as far left as possible to try to get the car to turn around the bend, just as anyone would instinctively do but it has to be said he’s not doing that, he’s fighting away at the wheel like he’s trying to pull it back under control and he had cold tyres with no grip and a full tank of fuel, Hill says as well that Senna’s one recorded lap of the race was the third fastest of the day so he was on the limit, I think the bouncing and the sudden loss of downforce was the cause, Hill also says that he was taking a wider line around Tamburello to avoid those bumps as he knew it could cause problems.

[@Apsu94]

No

[@benediktschlegel8233]

There was a small slight of oversteer which Senna corrected...

[@gamwsas]

why didnt senna stop when clearly he saw that his column was failing? instead he went flat out into that corner. also if the steering column worked he would correct to the left and he would spin the car, not go direct on wall. also at the end you can see his helmet leaning to left preparing for impact as his column was broken and couldnt steer.

[@drewgriffithsfm]

I’m not entirely convinced it was steering column failure… not before impact anyway, as David Coulthard was able to demonstrate the flex in the column was not out of the ordinary. What I do observe is to do with that yellow button and before I go further, I should explain the role of that yellow button. It was effectively the first ever F1 DRS system and was first used on the FW14B I believe in 1992 and Ricardo Patrese believed he gained 10kph with it. Using it was entirely manual and would require the driver to activate it at the beginning of the straight and deactivate it before the braking point. What the yellow button did was raise the front of the car and slightly drop the rear. From what I’ve seen, Senna is seen using this yellow button around the track but entering the start/finish straight to start lap 7, he forgets to press this, so I offer this theory as a possible cause and hear me out. Tyres not being up to temperature causing lower pressures and low ride heigh coupled with the natural low ride height of the car plus Senna not using this yellow button causing a lower ride height front end and the heavy load and downforce of going thru a flat out Tamburello corner at some 190mph… I put it to you as a possible cause that all of these factors caused the front end to bottom out completely. It would also explain why there were no sparks from the rear end just before he went off as the rear end would have been higher than the previous lap when he used the button. I’ve also looked at some footage later in the same 1994 season of Damon Hill onboard and while the yellow button is there, it looks like the feature was disabled and the car modified in the wake of Senna’s accident.

[@drewgriffithsfm]

@Michaelis Arcanjo I know the FW16 car FAR better than you EVER will so I’m in a MUCH better position to put forward reasonable suggestions based on knowledge of not only the FW16 car but also the FW15C from 1993 and FW14B from 1992 and also statements from the people who drove them. I’m guessing you’re one of the people who sniff too much glue and think he was murdered. Not everything is a conspiracy and what’s your evidence that David Coulthard is a liar? The man proved his point on camera by demonstrating the flex was normal and I’ve seen this video… the camera doesn’t lie! The whole irony of your comment is one of someone trying to insult someone for a perceived lack of intelligence and you’ve ended up displaying absolutely no intelligence by making claims a former driver is a liar without making ANY detailed statements to back up your ridiculous claim and insult someone for merely putting forward a reasonable suggestion based on superior knowledge. I think you’ve banged your head too hard and should stay away from the internet for a long time

[@hristoitchov]

@@drewgriffithsfmJust watch previous onboards, including from that weekend. The steering wheel never flexes that much, not even close. It's obvious that the column was beginning to fail and it finally failed too much as he went around Tamburello. For Senna to choose to brake so hard in a straight line and not steer anymore, it can only mean one thing - he had no steering available.

[@hillgenerator]

If you have a metal pipe almost cutted through, but still hanging by a thread, it will bend easily. How to snap it? Quickly twist it back and forth.

[@kerrykelaher2607]

" from memory they cut the sterring shaft to give senna more room inside the car then " maybe welded the shortened steering shaft " ( repaired shaft not strong enough should have put new shaft in why didn't they ? ) also senna did turn left but when steering went straight to not respond senna s head went forward in frustration realizing he was " a passenger " heading out of control " conclusion: why didn't his team put in a new shaft shortened in a safer way or not cut at all ( safety reasons) ? 2/ why did senna keep racing when he knew a few corners before his car was not responding with its steering as normal ( senna should have slowed and taken car back to the pits ) ?

[@victorthanosdrakopoulos2650]

When the car went on a straight line Senna basically starts breaking, so the Williams team theory is false, Senna knew something was wrong and immediately pushed on the breaks hard.

[@kerrykelaher2607]

" before sennas tragic accident at the beginning of the race " i said to my brother " the netted chicane does not look safe enough to stop a out of control car " " they should have rubber car tyres connected to the safety chicane nets to " wash off a high speed acciddent " ( to better reduce high " g forces on impact for a a softer impact" ) conclusion : my opinion is if they had tyres connected to the chicane sennas inpact with chicane ( maybe car part would not have broken off to hit senna s at all resulting in senna not being killed at all ) conclusion: i blame chicane and " fia " for not making chicane more safer ( i suggest 1/ a sandtrap runoff before chicane " to arrest speed " slower impact 2/ to have rubber tyres connected to chicane or look into another " fireproof way " to " soften " a high speed accident

[@akp1983]

Total bullsh*t.

[@kerrykelaher2607]

@@akp1983 " your a " idiot " i said that to my brother before " senna accident !" Conclusion: " you dont even know me ?" " stupid assumptions of yours this " just proves to everyone " how stupid and mindless you are !" ( got it dickhead ) 🤣

[@silviosousa5661]

Parece que ele se ergue do banco querendo sair do carro

[@edilsonchaves740]

Ele foi atingindo por algo na entrada da tamborelo por iso ele vai reto e bate no murro

[@Matheuscnacif]

Ha camera para de funcionar antes da colisão?

[@henriquevaz5749]

O vídeo foi cortado! Obviamente para dificultar as investigações.

[@paolociarpaglini4524]

Is only the my opinion but Ayrton before pass among the last new asphalt, try lightin to close more the trajectory to the left. An not dangerous manouvre on a car that was not the Williams, but at high risk if your car maked sparks almost every where at couse of the very minimum high by the ground ..

[@VWaudiRULEs]

Why would sparks be a problem? Why would low ride height be a problem? All of that was normal for the mid-80s to mid 90s.

[@83loveanimals]

Can you please explain me this video because i am not expert. Thanks

[@dahuyvamvrot]

+Valentina Moro From 11.00 on the timer (top left) the car is seen oversteering which Senna then corrects turning the steering clockwise. At 11.30 the steering is positioned to where it had been when Senna travelled along the straight, which in turn sends the car to the right side of the track. The telemetry shows that at that particular moment Senna additionaly begins to lift his foot off the throttle pedal. 11.50: Senna is completely off the throttle which indicates that he's aware that the car is not making the corner any more. We don't know precisely where the braking begins but we can assume that once Senna lifted off the gas he put his foot on the brake pedal. At 11.62 (when the car is already heading the wall) the front left wheel is still seen turning (judging by width of the opening between it and the front wing) which contadicts the broken steering shaft theory. Unabilty of the car to turn may have been caused by engaging of the brakes by that point. At 11.74 he's seen turning the steering clockwise again which wouldn't have made much sense in case Senna felt the car was responding poorly to his attempts to turn it in.

[@rounick28]

Breaking of the steering column would mean that the wheels would not respond to the steering wheel, not that they would turn the other way, in fact the opposite. The car was placed perfectly in the corner and there is no oversteer or correction. The point at which he lifts from the throttle makes no sense unless there was mechanical failure which could only be some sort of steering failure.

[@rounick28]

Had he lost control of the car oversteering at 300+, the last thing you would see was the car going dead straight to the wall, it would have spun violently.

[@junior_johnson_racing]

Hes right front was punchered . Why does no one ever bring that up. The car doesn't want to turn and sennea know that. That why he lift but sadly it was to late. It the only other reason a car whould just go right .

[@CaptainSpadaro]

@@junior_johnson_racing no it wasn't. A punctured front tire on either side would cause a pull, but it wouldn't cause a complete and utter lack of steering response, not to mention that it probably would have blown out by that point (assuming he ran over something on lap 6). The yellow button moving around is pretty clear evidence that the steering column was breaking. No car, be it for the racetrack or the road, has that kind of movement from the steering column, and none of the on-board camera footage from Senna's car from Brazil or Aida showed anything like that, nor did we see that kind of flex in Damon Hill's on-board cameras at all during the 1994 season. Coulthard's and Mansell's on-board views from later that year also are devoid of steering column flex. Real question is what caused the rear end to step out, as Williams claims. Did he hit a bump at the exact second the steering column completely detached, or was the force of the wheels snapping back to straight ahead so violent that the telemetry recorded it as the rear stepping out?

[@guiagaston7273]

Where is that yellow button you speak of?

[@goncalodvd]

Button on the steering wheel ...

[@guiagaston7273]

@@goncalodvd i just don't see it

[@guiagaston7273]

@@goncalodvd also what does the button do according to this theory? Honest question I don't understand what I am supposed to expect once it is pressed.

[@goncalodvd]

@@guiagaston7273 Not the pressing. That button would make a perfect circle plotted in yellow if the steering column does not flex. Beyond the red semi-circle you can be confident the steering wheel broke.

[@edilsonchaves740]

Veja so acontece com sena a cabeça dele vai para frente eparsr atrás parece que algo acontece com ele algo atingiu ele ma cabeca veja

[@forgeskull7730]

ELE FOI DROGADO SE NAO, NAO TINHA ACONTECIDO ISSO NAO FOI PROBLEMA COM O CARRO NAO! E OUTRA... PORQUE TEM AS IMAGENS DA CORRIDA TODA ALI NO COCKPIT E AQUELA HORA Q O CARRO SAI DA PISTA CORTOU A CENA? NAO DA PRA ENGOLIR Q FOI ACIDENTE... FIZERAM ALGO COM ELE. SENNA DEUS O TENHA.

[@alessandracunha4749]

Carro preparado para matar Senna

[@iliapopovich]

In his last moments, you can clearly see how he is trying to steer left as his helmet starts to lean on the same side. Obviously, something is wrong with the steering mechanism.

[@Pablo-bp2jn]

Strange that there is no audio...you would think that Senna would have yelled or said something as this was happening, but I’ve never heard any of the audio. Maybe it was not recorded? Anyone know if the audio between the driver and pit crew is recorded?

[@CaptainSpadaro]

The official record is that the last words Senna spoke to anyone was an acknowledgement that the pace car was pulling off at the end of lap 5. That said I find it hard to believe he wouldn't have said SOMETHING, but it all happened so fast...

[@gold333]

There is no microphone in the cockpit tv camera. Just in the engine bay, and that is drowned out by the engine noise. I have never heard a driver on an onboard camera mic in F1. The radio microphone 🎙 s an independent system and required a button press by the driver to activate when he wanted to speak to the team. That audio was not linked to the tv camera system you see here.

[@socialistsuccubus822]

how the hell you gonna hear him over a roaring 14krpm F1 motor?

[@mattbowers8143]

That was said by patrick head that the only comms they had from ayrton was when they informed him of the safety car pulling into the pits at the end of lap 5... you cant believe patrick head of anything he says about the incident... he is as guilty as frank williams, adrian newey and the bodger who welded the column, they should of all been locked up!!!

[@joseluisbrehinier966]

Aber es ebidente serrompe colucna de direcsion porq senna calidad manejo q tenia loabria pilotiado nunca pegar de frente notenia otra fue lo mas grande

[@Naiyouta]

,