Adrian Newey, the designer of Williams’ FW16, the car in which Ayrton Senna tragically died on May 1, 1994, in Imola, describes it as the darkest day of his Formula 1 career.
“Without a doubt, Imola 1994,” Newey responds when asked about the darkest day of his racing life. “I had been active in motorsport as a designer for fourteen years, but it had never occurred to me that someone could seriously injure themselves or even die in a car for which I was responsible. In retrospect, it was a bit foolish of me not to have thought of that,” he admits. “The death of Ayrton Senna was just such a huge shock. That year, we were initially worried about what was wrong with the car because we weren’t performing as expected, and then that happened. I can’t put those emotions into words, but it was terrible.”
