Should you believe in fate, then you could say it runs through Formula 1 like fuel through a pump. In the case of Philippe Streiff, the random cruelty of it was tellingly callous 25 years ago, when a testing accident at Rio's Jacarepagua circuit left him quadriplegic. What made it worse is that his life-changing injuries need never have occurred.
The full story has never been told by the man himself - until now. Streiff took many years to investigate and piece together the unedifying details. This is the shocking story of one of F1's forgotten and shameful ignominies.
"When I awoke from my coma it was like a living nightmare, but one that even at that stage I knew I could not wake up from," he recalls. "But then I found out what had happened to me after the accident, and in some ways that was more difficult to comprehend."