Italian Grands Prix under threat

The future of the Italian and San Marino Grands Prix were under threat today after Williams technical director Patrick Head and former chief designer Adrian Newey were told they will have to return to court to face charges relating to the death of Ayrton Senna.

Head and Newey were acquitted of manslaughter charges in 1997, upheld by an appeals court two years later, over the death of Brazil’s three-time world champion Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola on May 1st 1994.

But Italy’s highest appeals court is reported to have annulled the appeal verdict due to ‘material errors’ and ordered the appeal be held again, likely to be within the next 12 months.

Leading Formula One figures said at the time of the original trial that motor racing was a dangerous sport which should be exempt from any liability over serious injury or deaths and warned that if there was a conviction teams would not race in Italy.

F1 sources confirmed to the Press Association today that if the new appeal goes ahead and the original trial ruling is overturned then the future of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and the San Marino Grand Prix, which takes place in Italy, would again be threatened.

Any appeal could also be complicated by the fact that the Williams FW16, which Senna was driving when he died after spearing into a concrete wall at Tamburello Corner at around 130mph, was destroyed after being officially returned to the team by the Italian authorities.

The prosecution at the appeal in 1999 called for Head and Newey to be given a one-year suspended sentence for being responsible for Senna’s death as they were the two most senior technical officials in the team. Head and Newey, now with McLaren, both denied the charge.

The prosecuting magistrate had argued that a poor weld on Senna’s steering column had snapped causing him to lose control.

Italian lawyer Roberto Causo, who has been acting for Williams, was quoted in today’s Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper that he was confident the original acquittal verdict would be upheld.

“This has an importance in terms of the formalities but in substance it changes nothing for us,” he said. “We are calm – we won in the two other (trials) and I do not see why we should fear losing in the third.”

A spokesman for the Williams team could not be contacted this morning.