Wheatley: People don’t realise camaraderie between Senna and Schumacher

Jonathan Wheatley was in his fourth season of Formula 1 as a mechanic in 1994, having started on Roberto Moreno’s car at Benetton before the Brazilian was ousted in favour of Michael Schumacher.

That gave him a ringside seat for the early stages of what was shaping up to be one of motor racing’s great rivalries – until tragedy struck at Imola during the San Marino Grand Prix weekend 31 years ago.

Those not around in F1 at the time tend to view this era as one of cut-throat competition, epitomised by political and technical skulduggery. The Benetton team spent much of that year under suspicion of breaking the rules.

On track, the battles between Schumacher and Ayrton Senna – young charger versus established great – often cleaved to this narrative of bitter rancour. Each would eagerly complain about the other’s on-track conduct while fighting for positions.

But Wheatley, now team principal at Sauber, remembers an entirely different atmosphere prevailing behind the scenes.

“We had this kind of ongoing relationship in 1994,” he told F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, “where Michael would set a pole position, and then when Ayrton would come out of the garage, I’d show him the pitboard with Michael’s time on it.

“And he’d like open his visor, shake his head, close it. He’d come in, go faster than Michael, and he’d be looking at me from the pitwall as if to say, ‘Well, where’s my time [on the pitboard]?’

“There was this camaraderie that maybe people aren’t aware of. You’re not just in fierce competition with people. You’re rubbing up against them.”

Rubens Barrichello, Jordan involved in a huge crash

Photo by: Photo 4

The events of the San Marino Grand Prix weekend brought that hidden sense of togetherness out into the open: in the days preceding Senna’s fatal accident in the race on 1 May, Rubens Barrichello had escaped a heavy shunt into the barriers during Friday practice and Roland Ratzenberger had been killed when the front wing of his Simtek came adrift at speed on Saturday.

F1 then was very different to how it is today for paddock personnel; there were no curfews to limit working hours and, for young mechanics, a work-hard-play-hard ethic prevailed. The events of Imola delivered a brutal reminder of the risks inherent in top-level motor racing.

“Imola 1994 is the worst weekend I can ever remember,” said Wheatley. “I can still remember the emotions.

“I’ve kept a lot of stuff from ’94 because I think, for me as a young man, that was a major turning point. I can still remember Mick Cowlishaw, the [Benetton] chief mechanic, coming up to me, putting his hand on my arm, because he knew the relationship I had and how I thought of it, and telling me he [Senna] had gone.

“That weekend was full of so many things. You know, Rubens’ crash, where he puts his hands in front of his face [at the moment of impact with the barrier]. That image is incredible. It just shows the human being inside the car.

“Then Roland. I can remember seeing that on TV and immediately understanding this was not a normal accident – this was really, really serious. Then in the race, JJ [Lehto] stalling on the grid, the massive impact that caused the red flag.

“Then [Michele] Alboreto lost his wheel in the pitlane and the wheel nut hit my number one mechanic, cut his leg. The wheel went into the Lotus pit where it hit somebody in there… then Senna’s accident in the race.

“We didn’t want to get on the plane. I can remember we were sat around the airport lounge in silence. The Williams guys had just been told about Ayrton, and none of us wanted to get on the plane – ‘What’s the next thing that’s going to happen?’”