A SAD SUNDAY
Dear Friends,
I thought a lot about what to write you, I drafted words that I
afterwards deleted since they seemed to me silly and inappropriate when I
was reading them.
The reality is that there is not a lot to say about a race whereby I have
been hit yet once more, but that is scaled down to the right definition
of trifle once compared to the terrible thing happened in one of the
support race to our championship.
During the Sunday race of Formula 2, Henry Surtees, son of the great
John, lost his life in an as absurd as dreadful accident in which the
wheel of an opponent, lost after a contact with the barriers, bounced
towards his approaching car hitting him with diabolic precision on the
head.
I do not want to add anything else on the dynamics of the accident or on
the career of this eighteen-years-old boy that I did not know, because I
do not have any duty nor right to report on this.
Losing the life at eighteen is something that is always unacceptable,
nevertheless, as a person that has always loved and passionately lived
this sport, I am really very upset when thinking that destiny hit the son
of a man who during his life and in his sportive deeds has always
skillfully tricked the bad luck. Victories and successes obtained in
years when races were really very dangerous challenges for brave people
that often did not live to tell about them.
Someone will certainly talk about the intrinsic danger of motor-racing,
about the technical reasons why this tragedy could have been avoided and,
maybe, will do this in a not totally unjustified way.
Right in the category created by Max Mosley, who, despite the recent
controversies that saw him as protagonist, really did a lot in terms of
safety, the wheels retention cables were not mandatory even if he himself
contributed to devise them as a safety measure that is now standard in a
lot of racing cars.
Anyway, despite this and other necessary considerations that someone will
do in the right place, great sorrow remains for the loss of a young life.
I share this feeling and I believe it is right not to add anything else
than the spiritual vicinity to the Surtees family in this terrible
moment.
-credit: alex-zanardi.com
