The cloud over Imola
	by Paul Ryder, England

The future of the San Marino Grand Prix is again under a cloud of doubt, 4 years after the nightmare weekend in 1994 in which the circuit saw 2 driver deaths. Its immediate Formula One future is to be decided this week, when the FIA will announce their final 1999 schedule, on December 11th. Max Mosley has made the threat that if Italian law is not changed to prevent trials in the event of a driver death during a Formula One event at the circuit, then the Grand Prix circus will not be stopping at Imola in 1999. But what exactly is making the FIA and teams feel uneasy about visiting Imola? During the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, two drivers were killed. Roland Ratzenberger died during a Free Practice session on the Saturday of race weekend, killed in a high speed accident. The next day, Ayrton Senna died in a similar accident. Italian law states that these deaths had to be investigated, and charges of manslaughter were filed against the teams involved. This lead to a trial and investigation which lasted 4 years, involving Williams, the Imola track owners and a prosecutor who believed Williams were to blame for Ayrton Senna's fatal crash. The trail brought about a lot of speculation, bad press for everyone involved and caused many of the teams to feel uneasy about racing at Imola. The fact that prosecution was so inevitable in the event of a racing death made a lot of teams feel that they could not take the risk of facing a manslaughter trial if one of their drivers was unfortunately killed while racing at Imola. In 1995, several teams threatened not to race at the event for those reasons, but eventually backed down and races at Imola have taken place for the last 4 years. As the start of the 1999 season approaches, the San Marino Grand Prix looks to be very doubtful indeed. Max Mosley, who controls where Grand Prix are held, seems unwilling to back down on the issue. The circuit organisers are hoping they can ask for the Grand Prix to be exempt from the laws regarding death in sporting events, but due to the nature of law, and Italian law specifically, this does not look like it will happen in time for 1999. Is Imola to blame? Imola as a circuit has to take responsibility for circuit safety and in the two crashes during the 1994 event, both drivers struck concrete walls on high speed corners, which - with tyre barriers being standard now - should not have been possible. Also, under Italian Law, the Grand Prix itself on Sunday should never have taken place: death in a sporting event requires the event to be cancelled and the event location to be sealed off for investigation. Neither of these measures were taken. If they had been and the San Marino Grand Prix of Sunday, May 1st 1994, was cancelled - the organisers would have lost an estimated US $6.5 Million. Max Mosley has already made alternative arrangements for a Grand Prix to replace Imola. Regardless of the priceless - and perhaps avoidable - loss of two talented drivers at the San Marino Grand Prix of 1994, losing Imola from the F1 calendar would be a great shame and a loss to the fans.

Paul Ryder	© 1998 Atlas Formula One Journal.
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