Former Williams F1 chief once described the legend of Ayrton Senna and the story behind his ‘greatest excuse’

At the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix, Ayrton Senna retired on the 47th lap after hitting the walls at one of the turns. The Brazilian, however, was convinced that it wasn't his fault and that the wall had somehow moved from its natural position.

While Senna would go on to become one of the best drivers to ever race in Formula 1, he was just nine Grands Prix into his fledgling F1 career when the sport arrived at the Fair Park in Dallas, Texas, in 1984.

While understandably upset about having to retire his car early, Senna, then driving for Toleman, was adamant that the incident wasn't his fault — which would later prove to be true.

The team's then chief engineer Pat Symonds, speaking on the Royal Automobile Club Talk Show, recollected his conversation with Senna after his Dallas crash, saying:

"He retired as he had clipped the wall. He walked back to the pits, I was talking to him about it, 'You know what had happened?' He was really troubled by the fact that he had hit the wall and he eventually said, 'I just don't understand why I hit the wall, it must have moved.'

"So I said, 'Yes, of course Aryton, of course it did.' But he went on and on and on about it. And after the race, he said, 'I'll have to go have a look at it, come with me.' So I went with him. We went to the exit of this particular corner and damn me, it had moved."

He continued:

"Someone had hit this trailing edge of one of these blocks, brushed it with a tyre so the leading edge was sticking out about five millimeters maybe. And Aryton was driving with such precision, he was probably missing that block by about 2 millimeters or 3 millimeters or something like that lap after lap.

"So when it suddenly moved five millimeters because it swung around slightly, he hit it. And sure enough, that is what happened."

The former Williams Racing Chief Technical Officer concluded:

"It absolutely amazed me and it was a big lesson to me, actually. The precision that these really, really good guys can achieve."

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F1 lost Ayrton Senna in 1994 Imola tragedy

In the third race of the 1994 Formula 1 season, tragedy struck the paddock. The weekend saw the deaths of two F1 drivers, Roland Ratzenberger and two-time world champion Ayrton Senna, in separate incidents.

Ratzenberger was involved in a fatal crash during the qualifying session. Despite crashing his car, he decided to carry on believing that there was no damage. However, he had damaged his front wing, which would soon prove to be fatal.

After spinning at the Tosa hairpin on the previous lap, he tried to turn into the high-downforce Villeneuve corner, which resulted in the front wing breaking apart and getting lodged under the car, which crashed into the outside wall. He was transferred by air ambulance to the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Despite the death of a driver, the race took place as scheduled. Seven laps into the race, tragedy struck again as Aryton Senna, traveling at a speed upwards of 300 km/hr, crashed into the wall, dying instantly.

In the wreckage of Senna's car, they found an Austrian flag, indicating that he had planned to raise it after the race in honor of Ratzenberger.