March 1997
27 March 1997 Following Lola's withdrawl from the Brazilian GP, Eric Broadley announced that the team has withdrawn from the 1997 F1 championship altogether. This appears to have been caused by losing the Mastercard sponsorship.
26 March 1997 Alesi is rumoured to have been fined 800 million lire by the Benetton team for failing to stop for refuelling during the Australian GP.
21 March 1997 After the Australian GP, in which Alesi ran out of fuel, rumour is that Benetton is considering a deal with Minardi in which they will exchange Alesi for Fisichella.
18 March 1997 Charlie Whiting (FIA representative at Imola in 94)
was heard at the trial for Senna's death. He said that car bodies have
to go through 7 tests before they are approved and 4 more tests before
they are approved again after they are subject to any major
modification. Modifying the steering column is not considered a major
modification, so Senna's car was not tested again after the steering
column was shortened.
About the black boxes, Whiting said that Williams asked for their box to
be removed to make sure that there were no problems which could occur on
Hill's car too. According to Whiting the Williams black box was
unreadable, so they removed the Reanult box as well.
Marco Spiga (black box expert) was the next witness. He said that the
Williams black box was badly damaged and the battery was missing. When
asked by the prosecution wheter even in that conidition the black box
could have been attached to a computer to see whether any data could be
recovered, he replied that it was "most likely". At this point the
prosecution asked that this be tried and the Williams black box be
connected to a computer. The judge agreed and this test will be carried
out at the faculty on Engineering of the University of Bologna on 24
March.
Last witnesses were Prof Romanelli and Dr Ricci (legal doctors). They
said that Senna's death was caused by being hit above the right eyebrow
by a long, smooth object with rounded end. They found extreme damage to
the nervous system and that the front part of the brain had been smashed
and that the base of the skull had been cracked. They also said that
the section of the suspension arm was smaller than the mark on Senna's
forehead.
Next hearing will be on 2nd April, when the witness will be a track
steward, the Cineca camera elaboration will be examined and the
conclusions of Marco Spiga will be heard.
17 March 1997 New hearing at Senna's death trial. Fabrizio Nosco,
responsible for the closed area of the San Marino park, where recovered
cars are stored, said that he was asked by Charlie Whiting (FIA's
representative) to remove the two black boxes from Senna's car after the
accidents. According to Nosco, the two boxes were not damaged.
Bernard Duffor, the Renault technician responsible for the electronics of
the engine in Senna's car was the second witness. He said that there
were two black boxes, a Magneti Marelli one to record engine and part of
the car body data and a Williams one to record data on the rest of the
body and the gear box. The engine black box was given to te magistrates
in Bologna with a series of floppy disks on which the data had been
copied. The black box had been erased, a normal procedure according to
Dufford. The only data left in the black box was that to do with the
lap in which the accident occurred. He also said that the black box was
badly damaged, which contradicts Nosco. The data given to the
magistrates is not that elaborated by Renault, but that sent to Williams
and then sent by Williams to the magistrates.
Last witness was Michele Alboreto, who was driving for Minardi at the
time of Senna's accident. Alboreto said that the Tamburello did not
present problems. The small bump on it could never have caused a car to
go out of the track, unless a technical problem was present as well.
Aboreto believes that Senna suffered some sort of technical problems and
it doesn't look to him as if Senna tried to correct the trajectory.
Witnesses to be heard on 18 March are Spiga (black boxes), Fumagalli
(Senna's helmet), Romanelli and Ricci (legal doctors) and Charlie
Whiting (Fia's representative at the time of the accident).
13 March 1997 Pierluigi Martini, who was driving for Minardi at the time of Senna's death, was heard as witness in the Imola trial. Martini said that he did not think the conditions of the track were to blame for the accident but, in his opinion, Senna went out because of a combination of factors or for a car problem. Martini and Senna had complained about the condition of the track 15 days before the race and the track official had smoothed the ground. According to Martini, the track was in good enough condition not to cause problems to professional F1 racers and the sparks coming from Senna's car were nothing unusual. Martini also said that at time of the Pacific GP Senna had told him that he was not happy with his car, as it was too small and "nervous". According to Martini, Senna's trajectory at the time of the accident was the only possible one. The trial will resume on the 17th, when driver Michele Alboreto and Renault technician Duffor will be heard as witnesses.
11 March 1997 The Nuerburgring circuit will be hosting the Luxembourg GP until the year 2001.
9 March 1997 David Coulthard on McLaren won the first GP of the 1997 season. Second was M. Schumacher, third Hakkinen, fourth Berger, fifth Panis and sixth Larini. Reigning World Champion Damon Hill failed to start after his Arrows suffered throttle problems in the parade lap. Favourite Jaques Villeneuve was taken out at the first corner by a collision with Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert. Frentzen was second until problems with his brakes overheating took him out of the race with three laps to go. Alesi retired when his Benetton ran out of fuel, after ignoring several attempts of his mechanics to call him to the pits for refuelling.
Last updated on 25 April 1997 by Federica Massagrande