A close friend of the late, great Ayrton Senna, Watkins is particularly
remembered for his role that fateful weekend at Imola in 1994, which claimed
the lives of the Brazilian and another driver, Austrian Roland Ratzenberger.
Watkins famously advised Senna to quit the sport after seeing how badly shaken
the Brazilian was by Ratzenberger’s death, as well as another serious
accident involving Senna’s young countryman Rubens Barrichello. “What else
do you need to do?” Watkins said to Senna. “You’ve been world champion three
times. You are obviously the quickest driver. Give it up and let’s go
fishing”.
Senna replied: “I cannot quit, I have to go on.”
Twenty-four hours later Watkins himself attended to Senna after the latter’s
fatal crash at Tamburello, performing an on-site tracheotomy.
McLaren executive chairman Ron Dennis said yesterday: “Today the world of
motor racing lost one of its true greats. No, he wasn’t a driver. No, he
wasn’t an engineer. No, he wasn’t a designer. He was a doctor and it’s
probably fair to say he did more than anyone, over many years, to make
Formula One as safe as it is today. Many drivers and ex-drivers owe their
lives to his careful and expert work, which resulted in the massive advances
in safety levels that today’s drivers possibly take for granted.”
Barrichello was one of a long list of drivers who profited from that work. “It
was Sid Watkins that saved my life in Imola 94,” Barrichello told his
followers on Twitter yesterday. “Thanks for everything you have done for us
drivers. RIP.”
Sir Frank Williams, who was looked after by Watkins following the car crash in
1986 which confined him to a wheelchair, recalled a “very special human
being” who was more than just a doctor to Formula One’s drivers. “He was in
all respects a very special human being.”
Former driver Martin Brundle described Watkins as a “visionary” who once saved
his left foot from being amputated. “Sid W would often prescribe ’a stiff
whisky and aspirin’ unless your leg was hanging off,” Brundle recalled. “His
way of saying ’just put up and get on with it.”
Daily Telegraph columnist David Coulthard added: “Sid Watkins was one
of the best men I have met in my life, totally selfless. The world has lost
a great.”
