A movie buff, she loves watching trailers and historical moments on television. The next James Bond or Barack Obama’s inauguration speech gives him the same chills.
Ayrton Senna died suddenly at the age of 34 during the San Marino Grand Prix at the Imola circuit. A dramatic event that haunts Paul Belmondo, son of Jean-Paul and former car racer. He paid tribute to the iconic Brazilian on May 1.
“I remember every cursed moment”: Paul Belmondo, very affected, speaks in pain
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For Paul Belmondo, May 1st is not the day of work, of the fight for social gains or even that of lily of the valley and spring flowers. No, this date has a particular and painful color since it takes him back to a particularly trying day: May 1, 1994. It was thirty years ago but he has not forgotten that it was on this day that Ayrton Senna died at the age of 34. During the third race of the 1994 season, the San Marino Grand Prix contested on the Imola circuit, while he was leading the race, on the seventh lap, the Brazilian suffered a fatal accident in the Tamburello curve, an accident witnessed live by millions of viewers and which provokes international emotion.
However, the husband of Luana Belmondo and father of three children was not a simple spectator: himself a successful racing driver, the great friend of Anthony Delon was not present that day since he was a voluntary withdrawal, but had closely followed the competition led by Ayrton Senna, three years his senior. On Instagram, Jean-Paul Belmondo’s son writes: “I will never forget this weekend of the Imola grand prix, which I remember every moment, this cursed weekend in which I participated 30 years ago will remain my worst F1 memory! for me May 1st is not the Lily of the Valley festival but the death of Ayrton Senna.”
His mother Elodie Constant also commented on her son’s publication, with a moving memory: “A day when I was so afraid, people spoke of a terrible accident and again this day is very sad.”
Last year, emotion was also present for Paul Belmondo who paid tribute to the Senna driver as well as to Roland Ratzenberger, who died the day before.
Ayrton Senna, a true icon around the world
The emotion is still raw for Ayrton Senna, three decades later. Although it is still adored, it also contributed to strengthening safety in Formula 1. The improvements thus made mean that only one driver has since died following an accident in F1, the Frenchman Jules Bianchi, in 2014 .
A long investigation established that Ayrton Senna’s accident was caused by the breakage of the steering column of his Williams and that a wheel hit his helmet, while a suspension arm perforated the passenger compartment when the car crashed into a concrete wall, in the Tamburello bend.
With three world championship titles (1988, 1990 and 1991), 41 victories and 65 pole positions in 161 Grands Prix, Senna has built one of the finest records in F1, with Lewis Hamilton, Juan-Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost.
Prost remains inseparably linked to Senna’s destiny. Not only were the two men teammates, but their rivalry remains the fiercest to have existed in F1. The Frenchman ended his career at the end of the 1993 season with one last world champion title, a few months before Senna’s death. “I don’t have any bad memories of him,” he assured Motorsport.com in 2018.
If Senna left lasting memories as a pilot, he was also concerned about poverty in his country. Today, the “Instituto Ayrton Senna” foundation, run by his sister Viviane and his niece Bianca, takes care of deprived children, whom Ayrton Senna, who himself never married and did not have of children, wanted to help.