If

Ed-f1 · 16 May 2000, 08:59 (Ref:925)

I know some of you don't like speculating on 'if' questions but I think it's a harmless bit of fun so here goes.

If Senna hadn't died has a result of his crash in San Marino how do you think it would have altered the history of Formula 1?

I think Schumacher would still have won the 1994 championship as he had a 30 point lead and the FIA probably wouldn't have been so harsh on him after Silverstone. Apart from which there would be no reason to punish him because there would have been no point in passing Hill on the warm up lap of the British GP.

1995 would probably have been an interesting battle between Schumacher and Senna but I think in the end Senna would have come out on top.

There would have been no vacancy at Williams for Villeneuve in 1996 (unless Frank sacked Damon a year earlier after poor results in comparison to Senna). Maybe Villeneuve would have started his F1 career at Ferrari in 1996. I'm not sure whether Schumacher would have gone to Ferrari or not but maybe we would have had the Schumacher / Villeneuve 'dream team' at Ferrari.

If Senna stayed at Williams he probably would have won the '96 and '97 championship fairly easily but much depends on which team Schumacher would have been driving for as he was probably more likely to challenge in the Benetton in those years.

Or maybe Ferrari would have hired Senna as the man to bring them back the championship leaving the way open for Hill and Villeneuve to win the championships for williams that they did anyway.

What about David Coulthard? He got his seat at Williams after Senna's death. If it hadn't been for that who do you think would have given him his break into F1 if anyone?

And finally what about the safety issue? Are there any drivers who you think owe their lives to the safety changes implemented as a direct result of Senna's death?

Crash Test · 16 May 2000, 10:56 (Ref:926)

I'm still rather certain he said that he was going to retire at the end of the year...thus not much would have changed....

Liz · 17 May 2000, 02:06 (Ref:927)

As far as anybody owing their lives to the safety changes, I'd have to say Ricardo Zonta. He would have been dead three times already except for the safety changes since Senna and Ratzenberger were killed!

But I agree that Senna would have retired, unless they offered him a drive at Ferrari. He always said he wanted to have one shot at driving for Ferrari even if the car was a beetle. Would the world have been ready for a team of Ego and SuperEgo in Ferraris? We will never know now.