Neil Bramwell Speaks Out

IT IS the ultimate sporting irony and would almost be comical if it wasn't so diabolically perverse.

Three days after a lunatic deliberately tries to ram a fellow sportsman off the road, six innocent Formula One officials were facing manslaughter charges for a tragic accident.

The prosecution alleges that a badly-modified steering column in Ayrton Senna's car cracked during the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994, causing the Brazilian's fatal crash.

As I have said before, the fact that the matter has come to trial at all is earth-shatteringly bizarre.

Sure, lessons needed to be learned after the Senna accident.

But, however negligent any of the six defendants - including Williams-Renault team owner Frank Williams, technical director Patrick Head and former team designer Adrian Newey - are proved to have been, not one of them intended to cause any harm, let alone death.

And as the persecuted six sweat out their fate in an Italian courtroom, a certain Michael Schumacher slobs in his jacuzzi counting the millions he earned for his second place in the world championship.

The fact is, though, that if Schumacher had been caught on camera smashing into Villenueve on a public road, he would be the one facing criminal charges.

Granted, this was not a high speed impact but motor racing, and its inherent danger, is not an exact science. Serious injury could easily have been caused if, say, wheels had locked or either car had flipped.

And it is not as though the arrogant German has not got a previous record - as Damon Hill will testify.

Schumacher, however, is now free to flippantly argue his case and prejudice the planned disciplinary hearing in Paris.

He can laugh off the incident as a "mistake" and an "over-reaction" to Villeneuve trying to overtake.

"I made an error of judgment, for which I went out of the race and Villeneuve won the world title.

"But I'm human, like everybody else. I too can make a mistake. Not many, but this was a big one," he says, refusing to apologise for his reckless actions.

Of course there has to be some leeway when collisions are part and parcel of motor sport and the distinction between criminal responsibility and sporting mishap is a dangerous grey area.

No sport illustrates this more than boxing but motor racing is becoming an increasingly perplexing labyrinth of rules and regulations.

Here, though, Schumacher showed deliberate intent and reckless negligence - not a genuine human error.

The only charge resulting from that act of sabotage is for the cost of a new bumper.

The judge in Italy would be wise to put the Senna manslaughter trial into that context

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.