Ask Nigel Roebuck: April 28

Dear James,

Perhaps more than any other of Ayrton Senna's victories, most of all I remember Estoril in 1985. In his turbocharged Lotus-Renault, he took the first of his 65 pole positions, and on the Sunday he scored the first of his 41 Grand Prix victories. It was a drive for the gods.

I watched the race with Denis Jenkinson, standing at the first corner in torrential rain for two hours, well aware that a new era was beginning. Jenks, his cap dripping, glasses misted up, was exultant as Senna took the flag. "Villeneuve all over again, isn't it? A racing driver who's ahead of his car..."

Ayrton had taken the lead at the start, and simply driven away. For a man in only his 17th Grand Prix, and in conditions unthinkable for racing today, it was a numbing performance.

The pity is that so few were on hand to witness it. Miserable weather didn't help, of course, and neither did the price of a grandstand ticket, which was about the same as the average weekly wage in the area; the crowd was estimated at 10,000, and that may have been generous.

As noon approached it began to rain. By 1.30pm it was torrential, but there was no question of delaying the start; even in 1985, TV waited for no man.

Next to Senna's Lotus-Renault on the front row was Alain Prost's McLaren-TAG, and then came Keke Rosberg's Williams, Elio de Angelis's Lotus, Michele Alboreto's Ferrari and Derek Warwick's Renault.

At the start Senna was smoothly away, without too much wheelspin, and after one lap the Lotuses came through 1-2, followed by Prost and Alboreto. Ayrton was treading warily, but doing it way faster than anyone else; after two laps he was three seconds up on de Angelis, with Prost another couple down.

Back then, of course, there was no Safety Car, no facility for continuing the race 'under yellow' until the weather improved. Jacques Laffite parked his Ligier, saying conditions were unacceptably dangerous, and even Senna frequently gesticulated to officials that they should halt the race. They didn't, though.

Soon after half-distance Prost crashed out, his McLaren snapping into a spin - on the pit straight! "It was raining very hard, with deep puddles, and in the spray it was impossible to see where they were. I was doing maybe 290kph, and once you start aquaplaning at that speed, you are finished..."

After 67 of the scheduled 69 laps, the two-hour mark was passed, and the chequered flag went out to Senna. Even before reaching the first turn he had flung off his belts, and was waving both arms wildly, half out of the car in his joy.

Later, though, his exuberance gave way to sober reflection. "The big danger," he said, "was that conditions changed all the time. Sometimes the rain was very heavy, sometimes not. It was difficult even to keep the car in a straight line sometimes, and for sure the race should have been stopped. Once I nearly spun in front of the pits, like Prost. I've no idea how many times I went off today - once I had all four wheels on the grass, totally out of control... but the car came back on the circuit. Everyone said, 'Fantastic car control!' It was just luck..."

Eight years later, in similar conditions, Senna would win for McLaren at Donington, and many suggested it was his greatest drive. Ayrton snorted at that: "No way! I had traction control! OK, I didn't make any real mistakes, but the car was so much easier to drive. It was a good win, sure, but, compared with Estoril '85, it was nothing, really."




Dear Gavin,

Probably it will remain a mystery forever, but I don't see anything wrong in Damon Hill's advancing his theory that Senna simply made a mistake. Of course it's an explanation of the accident that many will not want to believe, but, as Damon points out, he is the only man alive who knows how it was to drive a Williams-Renault FW16 through Tamburello that weekend.

Certainly, I don't think Hill's theory can be discounted out of hand. Of course, as with Jim Clark's fatal accident at Hockenheim in 1968, there was a strong reluctance to accept that driver error could have been factor. Both men were revered, and no one wanted to believe either could have made a mistake.

In the case of Clark, there seems to be little doubt that his Lotus crashed because of tyre failure - probably he picked up a slow puncture, perhaps after running over debris from an earlier accident. Still, though, no one positively knows why Senna crashed. The most widely touted suggestion for a long time was that the Williams had suffered steering failure, but the telemetry refutes this, and Patrick Head - as honest a man as I known in motor racing - firmly believes that the steering was not at fault.

It is true that, before the restart, the power steering on Hill's car was disconnected, but that was purely as a precaution - there had been no opportunity, obviously, to examine Senna's car, and no one knew why it had gone off.

No one does to this day - not in any absolute sense. But I think we have to allow for the fact that Ayrton - driving absolutely at the limit - may have made a mistake. It's not a matter of making comments like this 'at a sensitive time' - yes, it's 10 years since he died, but frankly some would have been disapproving of Damon's remarks, whenever they had been made. It's his honestly held opinion, and he's absolutely entitled to express it - however much many won't want to agree with him.




Dear Art,

It can - and it probably will. All my logic and common sense tells me there will continue to be a British Grand Prix at Silverstone - but, with the situation the way it is, I wouldn't bet a lot on it.

For all his wealth, Bernie has always continued to live in England, and paid British taxes. There's no question he loves his country - but that doesn't necessarily extend to its Grand Prix...