Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna are killed.
Nigel Mansell continued his dominant start to the 1992 season by taking his fifth consecutive win at Imola. His team-mate Riccardo Patrese was second with Ayrton Senna third for McLaren. The Williams was also the car to beat in 1993. This time Alain Prost used it to take pole, fastest lap and the race win. Michael Schumacher finished second for Benetton, followed by Martin Brundle’s Ligier.
Prost retired as World Champion at the end of 1993 and Senna replaced him at Williams. The two old foes appeared to have mellowed somewhat and Senna even said a special hello to Prost, who was commentating for French television, as the Brazilian made his way to the grid.
The atmosphere at Imola on race day in 1994 was subdued. Near the end of Saturday’s final qualifying Roland Ratzenberger’s Simtek had crashed heavily at the Villeneuve curve and the Austrian driver succumbed to his injuries. It was the first fatality at a Formula 1 meeting since Riccardo Paletti at Montreal in 1982. The last driver to be killed in a Formula 1 car had been Elio De Angelis during testing in 1986.
Senna started from pole in his Williams and maintained his lead, but the safety car was soon out, following a startline crash between JJ Lehto and Pedro Lamy. As the cars started lap six they were racing again. On lap seven Senna’s Williams failed to negotiate the fast left-hand curve called Tamburello. The race was stopped while medics attended to Senna but it soon became apparent that he was gravely injured. The race eventually restarted with Michael Schumacher winning. Nicola Larini, substituting for an injured Jean Alesi at Ferrari, finished a distant second with Mika Hakkinen third. The result paled into insignificance when the news came through that Senna had died from his injuries.
Damon Hill went some way to exorcising the ghosts of the previous year when he won the 1995 race for Williams. The track had been extensively modified with chicanes installed at both Tamburello and Villeneuve to slow the cars. Hill’s championship rival Michael Schumacher crashed out in tricky condition. Ferrari team-mates Alesi and Gerhard Berger finished second and third respectively.
Michael Schumacher started from pole in 1996 but in the race Hill overcame his Ferrari to win again. Schumacher had to settle for second with Berger third for Benetton. Heinz-Harald Frentzen scored his maiden Formula 1 victory at the circuit in 1997. Michael Schumacher was again second with his Ferrari team-mate Eddie Irvine third.
