The inquiry into Ayrton Senna’s death has been reopened by the Italian judiciary after claims that legal errors were made in the original hearings.
The inquiry into Ayrton Senna’s death has been reopened by the Italian judiciary after claims that legal errors were made in the original hearings.
The Brazilian was killed during an accident in a Williams car at Imola in 1994.
It had been claimed that steering column failure caused the crash. But Williams technical director Patrick Head and designer Adrian Newey were cleared of charges of manslaughter in 1997 and again after an appeal in 1999, while charges against team owner Frank Williams were dropped in 1997. In 1997 the judge ruled that the prosecution had not proved that steering failure was the cause of the accident and upheld this decision again in 1999.
The Supreme Court this week agreed to reopen the case after prosecutor Rinaldo Rosini said errors were made in the original process. The case is unlikely to be heard this year.
Roberto Causo, the lawyer who represented the Williams team in previous trials concerning the death of Senna, said he was not worried.
“This holds importance in terms of formalities but in reality it changes nothing,” said Causo. “We are calm. We won the other two trials and I don’t see why we should fear losing the third,” He told .
The legal decision raises doubts about the future of the Italian and San Marino grands prix. F1 bosses had warned previously that if there were convictions teams would not race in Italy.