Chequered Past

6th May 1984: The Race That Senna Had to Sit Out


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The sixth of May has hosted exactly one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix in the sport’s history — Imola, 1984. It was the day Alain Prost led from the first corner and never looked back, the day Nelson Piquet set the race’s fastest lap and then blew his BMW engine, and the day Ayrton Senna wasn't on the grid after having to walk back from the furthest point on the circuit after his Toleman failed and left him with one timed lap to his name — slower than an Osella. His only DNQ in 161 starts. 

We tell that story in full, track the Tyrrell ballast scandal that would later rewrite the race results, and take two short detours: to Naples in 1956, where a Gordini ambushed a collapsed Ferrari the day after Vanwall  humiliating the Scuderia at Silverstone; and to Tokyo in 2008, where Aguri Suzuki announced his team was done.

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Music by #Mubert Music Rendering

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Chequered PastBy Martin Elliot