Original subtitles

(dramatic music) (heartbeat throbs)

- [Narrator] 70 years ago, something special started,

(engine roars)

Formular One, man and machine in perfect unison,

(engine roaring)

pushing each other to their limits,

(engines revving)

supported by teams, aiming for that top step.

- The name of the game is winning.

- [Narrator] Seeking perfection.

The road hasn't always been smooth.

(tires screeching)

We've marveled at great moments,

had smiles brought to our faces,

(chuckles)

cried with our heroes,

(engine revving) (dramatic music)

witnessed incredible bravery,

and terrible sadness,

moments never to be forgotten.

For 70 years, this has been their Everest,

(dramatic music)

this is what makes them special,

this is the story of Formular One.

(dark somber music)

- [Jim] Way back in mid-1956 or so,

I was very keen to have a go at racing

but my parents were very much against it.

And I used to go along with a friend of mine,

Ian Scott-Watson,

acting as his mechanic, pit crew,

pit signaler and everything.

- [Interviewer] How good a mechanic were you?

- Oh, not good at all, I shouldn't think.

Mind you, we never broke down,

but that was nothing to do with me (chuckles).

But one day he,

when we were way up in Crimond in Aberdeenshire,

when we thought my parents

would never hear anything about it or anything,

I had to go in a racing car, in his car.

Well, it wasn't a racing car, it was a just a saloon car,

and thoroughly enjoyed it,

and from then on he became the mechanic

and I became the driver.

(engines revving)

(engine roaring)

- Many of us, I think,

did realize there was a tremendous talent there.

I had a lot of difficulty in persuading him

to understand that he did have this talent.

- [Jackie] He was a great friend

and a man of incredible integrity.

And if you were a friend, really, you really were a friend.

- To be honest, it's difficult for me to,

if you know what I mean,

worship anything that happened in my era.

Same with drivers,

Michael Schumacher, seven times world champion,

for me, he was a young bloke.

Jim Clark, on the other hand, is God.

- He was a great man to work with, of course,

because of his outstanding ability

of just being a natural driver.

- He's a kind of modern miracle, Jim, really,

'cause he sort of cut his teeth on a Porsche 356

which isn't exactly a very well-handling car.

And he had a glorious following of people

that believed in him, and he got results.

- Clearly Jimmy was an extraordinary man,

he was genuinely loved by the team,

and the fans, and the media.

And Jimmy was the closest friend that dad ever had.

- You knew if the car was put together properly,

and everything was right,

he was gonna win with the car, he was a winner.

- [News Reel Announcer] The Duke of Kent

joined thousands of fans at Aintree

for the 15th British Grand Prix.

Now hold onto your hats! (engines roaring)

75 laps and 27 of the fastest cars in the world

lapping them up.

Jim Clark took the lead right from the word go,

John Surtees drove his Lola

into a very creditable second place,

but there wasn't a hope of catching Clark.

The young Scottish farmer notched the fastest lap

and went on to win at over 92.

(engines roaring)

(triumphant music)

Jim Clark and his Lotus,

the fastest combination on the track today.

- My earliest recollections of Jim Clark

was standing on the bank at Copse Corner at Silverstone,

and Paddock Hill Bend at Brands Hatch

with my uncle, who took me to the races, cheering him on,

because he wanted Jim Clark to win.

But just the sheer elegance and speed

with which he came through those two particular corners,

drifting the car, an economy of driving style,

he was one of the greatest of all times,

there's no doubt about it,

and I wish I had had the chance to meet him.

- [Race Commentator] Fasten your safety belts,

we're going after him.

(engines roaring)

Jim Clark had been hoping for rain

to cool the engine of his work's Lotus, number 18.

His prayers were answered,

and he maintained his lead throughout,

273 miles at an average of over 125,

a course record for one and a half liter cars,

and his third successive Grand Prix win,

giving him a comfortable lead for the world championship.

- [Alain] What did he win, Jimmy Clark?

25 Grand Prix, I think, for Lotus.

And he was, at the time, the most winning driver,

won two world championships, 1963 and '65.

- I was in Formula Three when he was in Formular One

and Formula Two, I was racing with him,

and he was just the best driver in world for me.

(engines revving)

- [Commentator] Jim Clark describes Germany's Nurburgring,

the scene of the recent Grand Prix,

as the classic circuit, unequaled anywhere in the world.

But Jim's always suffered from a German jinx,

he never won at Nurburg until now.

(engines revving)

This tremendous win in his Lotus Climax, number one,

is a two-fold triumph,

he's beaten the jinx and clinched the world title.

(engine revving)

Jim has won every world title race he's entered this year,

six of them in fact.

He's the first Briton ever to win

the Drivers' Championship more than once.

Well done, Jim, well done Lotus Climax,

the invincible team of world motor racing.

(orchestral music)

- From the point of view of achievement and success,

he was one of those drivers who was quick,

and would get the car home.

There's lots of drivers

who are quick but don't finish, and vice versa,

but Jimmy really was, in the same way my dad was

the perfect engineer for motor sport,

Jimmy was the perfect driver for motor sport,

so you put those two things together

and that's exceptional.

- And Jimmy Clark won all his Grand Prix in Lotus cars,

and I believe the way he communicated with Chapman,

and with Chapman's people,

produced cars that just got better and better.

They all spoke the same language,

they all listened to each other,

they all thought about it,

and then they did the right thing at the right time,

and hence produced cars that handled well,

they had good engines, they had good gearbox,

got the tires working properly, they got the result.

- [Commentator] Right from the start of practice,

driver Jim Clark and his Ford-powered Lotus

blister the track with smooth and fast laps

that have made him champion driver of the world.

(engine roaring)

Rookie drivers must wear three stripes

on the back of their cars,

so veteran drivers can give them a wide berth.

However, of the 14 newcomers to Indianapolis this year,

Mario Andretti is one of the most promising.

- The great thing about Indy,

you see each other for a few weeks on and off,

and I tried really hard to befriend him

because of the obvious,

I want him to notice me, to some degree,

but also getting to Colin, if you will.

As a young lad, I was just,

I felt so giddy about having the opportunity

to be on the same track with someone like that.

(engines revving) (crowd cheers)

- [Commentator] Jim Clark crosses the finish line

to win the 500,

with a comfortable lead of more than two minutes.

It is the culmination of three years of effort

by car builder Colin Chapman,

and he dances down the pits like a ballet artist

as Clark drives the triumphant road to victory Lane.

Jim Clark, first European to win at Indianapolis since 1916,

set a new record of 150.686 miles per hour

in the safest 500 ever and one of the most historic.

- He was jet set, he was a traveler,

and he was a superstar.

(engines revving)

- [Commentator] Johannesburg,

where 23 of the world's leading drivers

got away to a brisk start in the South African Grand Prix.

Number 16, Jackie Stewart took the lead in the first lap

as the Formular One cars tore down the straight

at over 170 miles an hour.

(engines revving)

Jim Clark, number four in a Lotus Ford,

was quick to snatch the lead in the second lap,

and kept ahead all the way.

His speed was a record average

and he set up a track record too,

as Jim Clark romps home to his 25th Grand Prix win.

- Did the heat give you any trouble?

- Well, it's very warm indeed,

and, my feet, I don't know if I can stand yet,

till I get out of the car.

- Your feet are very warm, are they?

- Twisted, yeah.

- Doesn't this give you more Grand Prix wins

than anybody else has done in the world yet?

- That's true.

- Oh, Congratulations, mate. - Congratulations, Jim,

this is an absolutely splendid effort.

- Okay, thank you very much.

- Circuits in those days

were totally different to today,

and Hockenheim just had fir trees all round it,

and then there was a road up the middle of the fir trees.

So if anything happened,

you were almost destined to hit a fir tree, weren't you?

(dark sinister music)

- [Dave] I don't really like talking about it much,

because April 7th comes up, it's a bad day.

He wasn't his bouncy self,

and he was always around the car.

He actually got on his hands and knees with the screwdriver,

arms strong, shoulders always, tick, tick.

Did his own front and rear,

he said, "Leave them alone, don't touch them,

that's how we're gonna race the car, Dave, okay?"

(engine revving) (tense music)

(engines roaring)

It didn't come to mind, "Oh, okay, of course,

no radios in those days."

And then it was a Porsche, course car,

came up, stopped in the pit and said,

"Jim Clark, Jim Clark."

"Yeah." I said "What was happening?"

"Get in the car."

"Okay."

Then I saw an ambulance, on the side,

sort of half on the grass, half on the tarmac.

And then I saw something

which I don't like to remember much.

I saw a bit of a mono-cock,

with the fuel tank hanging out the back,

with no engine or gearbox in the car,

just, nothing, nothing. (somber music)

And you could see a path, weaving through,

and this is where the engine and gearbox had gone through

after hitting the tree which he had hit.

Graham took control, he was absolutely fantastic.

Oh, what a man,

he took control of the whole situation.

And he said, "Get the truck out of the paddock,

get it wound."

And we got out there, and we loaded all the, what was left,

the bits and pieces of it of it in.

Then Graham had to go to Mannheim to identify the body.

(track commentator speaks in foreign language)

- The day Jim Clark died, I was on a river bank,

with my dad in Lincolnshire, and we heard it over the radio,

the car radio, that he'd died.

And those are the moments

that stick with you in life, aren't they?

- I remember I was on my way

to the Phoenix race in the morning

when he was killed at Hockenheim.

When I heard the news on the radio,

again, devastating, you know?

Just, these are some of the things

that you just don't understand, you know?

If there is a God,

why is he taking the good people away from us?

- If somebody as great as Jim Clark

can lose his life in a racing car,

and a driver who was not known to have accidents,

or make errors of judgment or whatever,

that really went through me like a piece of tungsten,

it's a dangerous profession.

And that was probably one of the most salient moments

of that part of my life.

That really, really resonated,

and it probably has never left me,

in fact, the way I'm describing it to you,

it probably hasn't.

- As an amateur, it put me off driving immediately,

to hear that that greatest of great drivers had been killed.

And I know that it, still to this day,

will reduce Jackie Stewart to tears,

the thought that Jimmy's gone.

- I was doing a Grand Prix Drivers Association

track inspection at Jarama,

where the Spanish Grand Prix was gonna be held that year.

I was on my own, with a notepad and a pen,

walking round the circuit,

I remember exactly where I was on the circuit

when a man arrived in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta or something,

and he said, "Jim Clark dead."

That was all he could say.

So I got him to drive me back

to the control tower to be confirmed.

I got into a car as quickly as I could

because Helen had just flown in to Geneva,

and we stopped the car at Dawei Restaurant

so that I could phone Helen,

and I called her, and we never spoke.

(clicks) Just like that.

(somber music)

Hm, even now, silly.

(melancholy piano music)

- I used the secretary of my cousin,

and there was the running gag

that whenever I left for a race

I said, "When Ferrari calls, please tell me," as a joke.

They came home from Monte Carlo on Monday,

and the girl said that Ferrari called.

Jumped in the car, drove all the way down.

- He was very, very, very happy

to have the possibility to come, of course, to Ferrari.

You have to consider that at the time,

our age was very similar,

he was a young driver at the beginning of the career,

I was a young team manager at the beginning of my career,

so we have a very sympathetic approach.

I asked to him, "What car you drive?"

"A Ford Capri."

I said, "Don't come with the Ford Capri to Garanello,

so we stop for one kilometer before the factory,

I come to pick you up with the Fiat car and do it."

- The car simply did not work, yeah?

So and I stopped and then then old man was there,

and I got out of the car

and I didn't speak Italian at the time,

and Piero, his son, had to translate what I said.

So then I said, "The car's terrible,

it is a bad car and it doesn't work."

And then Piero said, "I can't tell this to my father."

I said, "But you have to, because it's terrible."

And then he told him,

and then he didn't like it,

because the Ferrari was something special to him,

which was to everybody anyway (clears throat).

And then he said, right away,

"What do we have to do to make the car quicker?"

"I don't know, I'm not an engineer,

but you have to get rid of the understeer."

"If you get rid of the understeer,

how much quicker can you go?"

"Like three-tenths, easy."

Yeah, so he said,

"Okay, if you don't do three-tenths quicker,

then you're gonna have a problem with me."

I think a week later, we tested again,

and I was five-tenths quicker.

- But you look at me and I will have my flag up, down.

- So- - No like in Germany,

they do like that, and then, no no no no, wait.

(speaking in foreign language)

- We always ask my dad, "What was you first win in F1?"

I still remember since I was a kid,

he told me is was in Spain, Madrid in Jarama.

(engines roaring) (bell ringing)

I still have this image in my head

of Luca going on the start and finish line

and just jumping on track, like this, you couldn't do today.

And I saw this image a lot of times in TV

and he told me about his first win,

and I think it was great, yeah.

- [Niki] The first race win is, for every driver,

the most important one, because you've never done it.

It was interesting;

Fittipaldi called me that evening in the hotel,

which I had very little to do with Fittipaldi.

And he said, "You know, I tell you what?"

Because he was the master and I was the young guy,

"The first one is the most difficult one,

the next ones come easier."

I said, "What does he mean?"

Then when you look back,

what you had to do for this first win, he was right.

- [Luca] The car was a super competitive car,

very innovative with the trasversale gearbox.

And last but not least, a very good team of mechanics.

- [Interviewer] Wonderful pit stop,

that must have frightened you,

the thought of coming into the pits when you were leading.

- It is right because...

but I'm really happy with our mechanics

because they are very well trained.

As you know, they did a lot of sport car racing,

so they did a very good job.

- We won in Monza, in front of our public.

(speaking in foreign language)

(speaking in foreign language)

But most of all, we won, after 12 years,

the world championship title with Niki,

in the same race, in front of our public.

And for me, this was one, still now,

the best day of my life.

And I went immediately to call Enzo,

and for the first time he said to me,

"Thank you, thank you for what you have done."

- He's so proud of himself,

so if he gets publicity,

he even tells the important Ferrari secrets to everyone.

- I tell then, instead of you talking about cars,

about time, why don't we talk about girls now?

- Yes, I prefer.

(wheel nut gun chatters)

- [Luca] We started the '76 season easy,

right in front and winning races.

(crowd clapping)

- [Female Fan] Niki!

- [Male Fan] Niki! Niki!

(brooding music)

- [Luca] Then the Nurburgring accident happened.

There was a new magnesium part on the top of the engine,

and this broke, so my right rear wheel moved,

the car turned around and crashed.

(dark tense music)

(impact booms)

Merzario saved my life, because he was there,

all jumping around, you can see it in television,

I didn't know because I had no idea what's happening.

He said, "The fire."

I didn't mind, because I was dressed anyway, fireproof,

but I couldn't open the seatbelt.

Then thank god he did, and then he pulled me out.

And I said, "Listen, how can you pull me out in the fire,

getting me through the dashboard?

I'm for sure 65 kilos heavy."

And he said, "You were light as a feather."

It was unbelievable, it was a nice say,

and he had all the strength to get me out,

otherwise, I would not be here.

- I said, like, "Lay down on the track."

I kneeled down and put his head on my lap.

So I was sort of looking down on him like this.

And he said to me, he said, "What's my face look like?"

I said, "Don't worry, you're okay, you're fine.

You've been burned but you're okay."

In fact, his scalp was in some places charred black.

- And then I really said to myself,

"Now I'm not gonna die, because this is annoying."

And it was good, actually,

because the only thing you could get out of this mess

was with your brain,

because the body was, you couldn't do anything,

body was more or less dead, but the brain was still working,

and the brain convinced myself,

"Stay awake, don't sleep, because you're gonna die,

listen to whatever's happening and keep going."

- [Emerson] Then yellow did to the teamage for Ferrari,

"Come and see me. Emerson, I have a call for you."

And we all expecting Niki to to survive

and was commendatory asked me to drive

at that time at that point,

that's how tough is Formular One.

And they say commendatory (speaking in foreign language),

we talk next week,

but they were shocked when he called me.

- [John] The burns to him were very unpleasant,

but Niki, being the pragmatist, said,

"I'm not gonna have plastic surgery,

I'm the same man I was before the burns,

if you don't like how I look,

then you're not a true friend."

- The cars were physical, it's hot,

and the stories you hear of him taking off his balaklava,

including sort of blood and flesh.

And to go back in the car

and drive the car at a competitive speed,

despite those injuries a few weeks before

was just inconceivable to me actually.

- Niki was a fantastic example to anybody in life.

When your mind wants to do and recover,

you can do much more than you expect,

and that was incredible, his coming back to Monza

without the pressure from the Italian press,

being Italy Ferrari driver.

- I said to my team,

I don't want to know any times of anybody else,

I don't even want to see my times,

which is normal racing, and let me drive.

And got out and drove, like a Sunday drive,

quicker, quicker, like the car, got the understeer,

no pressure from the race, it was Saturday, Friday I missed.

And then I go out the car, felt good,

looked at the time, quickest Ferrari.

Ooh! Was it interesting?

(speaking in foreign language)

- It is the most courageous act of bravery

I've seen from any sports person,

certainly, in my time, remarkable.

- Have you a chance of beating Niki

if you were to win this one?

- Well, I reckon Sir,

that we need our nine points from Spain,

rather bad details, I stand a good chance of beating Niki,

but you never know what happens in these things,

it's a long championship, I've just got to keep going,

plugging away, getting the best results I can,

and maybe things will fall into place later in the year.

- It has to be said,

Lauda's accident at the Nurburgring in August,

had that not happen, frankly,

Lauda would have walked it to the World Championship,

even though James was very competitive

with him and won races.

The way it all ended in Japan,

Lauda withdrew very early in the race

because he said the rank of the conditions

were simply unacceptable.

So he came in and got out of the car,

and moreover, Gary suggested

inventing a problem with the car,

so allowing him to save face,

and of course, Lauda being Lauda he wouldn't have it.

I thought that was one

of the bravest things he ever did.

And James, of course, went on finish third in the race,

which will, and get the points he needed

to take the championship by one point.

- I have to honestly say if you are objective,

I did lose the race, like everybody thinks in Japan,

I lost the race because of the huge accident,

and didn't race for three or four races,

this is the main reason.

But nevertheless, I was happy that he won it.

(crowd cheering)

(gentle music)

(crowd chattering)

I delivered what they expected me to deliver,

so I didn't feel good or bad.

And then they told Cuoghi, my mechanic,

that he's not allowed to work on the car.

And we came to Watkins Glen,

the guy was outside the garage crying,

I said, "Cuoghi, what's happening?"

"They just told me now I'm not allowed to work on your car."

So I went to the auditors, "Are you crazy?

I want my chief mechanic to work on the car."

So then I brought him back for one race,

but then they said, "The next race you won't be there."

I'm fine that I won't be there,

very simple, championship is secured.

So all these things happened, which really annoyed me,

and therefore it was, for me at the time,

an easy decision to leave.

But to look back, it was the wrong decision to leave,

because if I would have stayed with Ferrari,

I could have one more Championships.

- [Herbia] when Niki Lauda was driving for us,

through a friend of mine,

he was the the chief pilot for British Caledonian.

He arranged to go to Lockheed, and go on the simulator.

And Niki was there to see him do his flying,

so I took Niki along,

and I remember when we were driving back to Long Beach,

and Niki said, "I'm going to buy one."

We then move on to Montreal, Niki jumps out of the car,

"Where's Benny?"

I said, "He's down in the paddock in the motorhome."

He said, "I need to go and see him."

And so I moved down with Niki, and Niki told me,

he said, "That's it, I'm finished."

- [Niki] I knew that I cannot raise forever,

so I thought it is the right time to retire.

No regrets, nothing,

started the auto business for two years,

and then suddenly, Brown called me all the time,

"What are you doing? How's life?"

You know, always in the right moments.

And then he called me once again, and then I said,

"Maybe let's do a test."

- He said, "I don't know if...

I don't know how I feel about it anymore."

But I said, "Yeah, but you know,

I know all about that, Niki,

but I can tell you, you're a racer.

No one gets into a racing car to make money,

no one gets into a racing car

with any intention other than to win.

And I don't think you've done enough winning."

- I went to Tonik not only to see what my motivations are,

are they good for motor racing?

Are there any bad feelings when I get back into these cars?

Or is everything for it?

And as there has been everything for it,

and I really like to drive again, I took a decision.

Each page, no?

- Every page.

- [Niki] It started again, and then I came back in '82.

- Niki was, I was big fan, 'cause I saw him driving,

and then he was one of my idol when I was younger.

- He used to say, "This little Frenchman is so quick,

he can benefit from my experience

setting up the car and all that,

but there's no way I can benefit from his quickness."

But I am not going to give up, I'm going to try even harder.

- Portuguese Grand Prix 1984

was memorable, to say the least,

we went to the Grand Prix knowing that we'd won

both the drivers' and constructors' championship,

but what hadn't been decided of which of our drivers

was gonna win the Drivers' Championship.

- Prost outqualified Lauda,

and Lauda didn't have a brilliant start,

dropped down the field quite a bit, stayed out of trouble,

picked off people one at a time,

gradually worked his way back up towards the front,

got up to third place, which wasn't gonna good enough.

And then I think it was Nigel Mansell

who dropped out in the last laps,

which elevated him to second,

which was just enough to win

the championship by half a point.

(fans clapping) (gentle music)

- [Interviewer] What do you have to say

to Alain Prost at this moment,

your teammate and compatriot all year long.

- He was the toughest guy to beat,

as far as I know, the toughest guy,

so therefore, this championship

is the most important one for me.

- [Interviewer] What are you gonna do

to celebrate tonight, Niki?

- First, I need the rest.

- Niki has been one of the best friend of my life,

always a super friend for me.

And for me, to be honest, I miss him a lot.

- Niki, contrary to Warhorse 15 Minutes Of Fame,

was somebody that aimed to be relevant his whole life,

and he achieved that.

(somber music)

- [Nigel] Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt

were well for one thing, first off, they were firm friends.

- There was a definite human relationship

existing in those days, I don't think seems to exist today.

We were friends right from the beginning,

and Nina and Helen are best friends to this very day.

Was never gonna win the Mr. World contest.

- It's cool, people were laughing at him

about his bent nose,

but later on when he was a Formular One sport,

it all put together and he was a character.

For an Austrian, motor racing, or Formular One racing,

was like going with a space shuttle or so,

it was so far away from us.

Think how am I might kind of

probably followed the awkward a little bit.

But I went to the Nurburgring in '61

to see Wolfgang von Trips.

- [Helmut] we arrived in the middle of the night at circuit,

and in the morning, we wake up, and then set time,

we could hear, after two or three laps,

if it is a Ferrari, a Ford, or BM, or whatever.

Jochen would wake up, he said,

"that's what I'm going to do."

- I saw him in some races, Formula Junior races,

and he raced my father, he was pretty wild in those days,

and my father beat him in a race (chuckles),

'cause he was out in the sort of third lap or something.

- All his friends were really worried in his early days,

he was really wild,

and with material which was not competitive,

he tried his best.

His whole life was always on the limit or over the limit.

- Lots of people agree with me,

probably was the most talented, he was super talented.

And as a friend, he was just a good friend.

- Jochen had lots of really good friends

like Piers and Jackie,

but also, obviously, there was Nina.

- We were 21 years old, I was 20, he was 21,

we were kids really.

And he sort of looked at my father and said,

"Could I invite her out tonight?" (chuckles)

And I said, "Mm, yeah."

And he told me, "Are you mad?

You can't hire a racing driver, you know what they do.

They may be at work a few hours a week,

and the rest of the time, you know what they do?

They sit in bars and look at other women." (chuckles)

"You want to be married like that?"

- [Interviewer] But Jochen was different,

he wasn't like that.

- Of course he was.

- They were the kind of the Posh and Becks in some ways,

they were both smartly dressed,

and Jochen used to wear this big fur coat,

and very, very elegant,

and Nina was just a stunning lady, so good couple.

(engines revving)

- [Commentator] In the earliest stages

of the Monaco Grand Prix,

Jackie Stewart held the lead for the first 27 laps.

It was one of the most thrilling races

ever seen on this Pristine circuit.

Later, Jack Brabham, number five, took over,

but Jochen Rindt's car was closing right up in a Lotus.

(engine revving)

(engine roaring)

Unlucky Brabham lost the lead

on the very last bend when his brakes locked.

Rindt flashed through the victory,

but Brabham finished second

to regain the lead in the world championship,

- Jack was unlucky at Monaco, I think jack just...

I pretty imagined he was spending too long

looking for Jochen in his mirrors,

was over to the right a bit,

stuffing coming down the inside.

In the end, just locked up.

- I just couldn't quite get stopped for the last corner,

and just knocked the fence.

But as flag marshall jumped over the fence

to push the tire back.

And when he pushed that, he lost his balance

and fell across the noses

and covered his hands over either side.

And now then what do you do?

I couldn't very well drive over,

I would have killed him if I had started roughing in.

(engines revving)

- [Nigel] Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt,

they have some wonderful races together.

In my mind, I will always think of Jackie as the greater,

and Jochen as the quicker.

- Sort of Jochen Rindt, he was excellent driver, really,

and a good driver that you could drive

wheel-to-wheel without any trouble.

(upbeat music)

- [Commentator] Among top drivers

lined up for the RAC British Grand Prix,

John Miles in a Lotus 4,

(upbeat music) (crowd chattering)

Denny Hulme in a McLaren,

(upbeat music) (crowd chattering)

World Champion Jackie Stewart

in one of the new March Racers,

(upbeat music) (crowd chattering)

Austria's brilliant Jochen Rindt in a Lotus 4,

and former world champion jack Brabham in a Brabham 4.

(engines revving)

Veteran driver Brabham led at the start,

but he was soon overtaken by Jacky Ickx in a Ferrari.

(engine revving)

Now, Rindt slipped into the lead,

and Brabham chased him for more than 70 laps,

there was nothing more than a narrow gap separating the two.

(engines revving)

10 laps from the end, Brabham took the lead again,

but within seconds of the finishing line,

his petrol gave up due to a leak.

Once again, Rindt had snatched victory

from the unfortunate Australian.

There was more drama when Rindt was disqualified

on suspicion of using the wrong type of aerofoil,

a trying moment for him,

but after inspection, the disqualification was lifted,

putting him way ahead

in the World Championship Driver's table.

(bright upbeat music) (fans clapping)

- Was lucky to win when Jack's car

sort of started to run out of fuel.

But that was because Nick Goozée had left

to think of a full reach when they warmed it up,

and forgotten to set it back to normal.

(upbeat music)

- [Commentator] The start of the German Grand Prix

on the Hockenheim circuit.

Jack Brabham, near his challenger,

to Jochen Rindt in the world championship was left behind.

(upbeat music) (engines revving)

The race developed into a tremendous battle

between Belgium Jacky Ickx in Ferrari number 10,

and Rindt trailing number two in a Lotus.

(engines revving)

Battling wheel-to-wheel for nearly an hour

and three quarters in this 210-mile race,

their cars were seldom more than a few feet apart.

Ickx well at the lead several times,

those drivers broke the lap record.

(engines revving)

In the end, Rindt was the winner of this cliffhanger,

but only by seven tenths of a second.

(upbeat music)

The Austrian ace now has a commanding lead

of 20 points in the championship,

with nine of the 13 bunch scoring races already ran.

- Colin Chapman was a fantastic person in a way,

but a designer, on his own,

which was the best at the time, I have to say.

And the best means he always produced

the best cars, quickest cars,

and took chances with the cars to go quick.

And it's logic, when you want to be quick,

you have to make sure that the car is light and quick.

- You'd have to say the relationship

between Colin and Jochen was not good,

it definitely was not good,

especially when we came to the early days of the 72,

which was not a good car to start with.

Colin was insisting that Jochen drove the car,

and Jochen actually wanted to stick with the Lotus 49,

and there was a lot of friction

with Jochen telling us he wouldn't drive the car,

and then Colin Chapman telling us he will drive the car.

- [Helmut] Chapman, he was a very smart speaker.

He said he has a car where he can win easily,

it was a Dobun car, four-wheel-drive,

he says with one hand, he can win every race.

And he raised his salary, so he decided to do one more year.

- And I think the thing that persuaded him was Bernie,

and Bernie was sort of his manager,

sort of another one of his best mates.

And Bernie just said, "If you wanna to live go to Brabham,

but if you really want a chance

to win the championship go to Lotus, or stay there.

- We stress everything to the limit on our race cars,

we find out just what a part will do,

and how much it will stand,

and then, we then know what sort of safety limit

we can incorporate in our production cars.

- All the drivers knew how light

and how quick a Lotus could be,

we all would have driven it because we want to win,

and he wanted to win.

And that's it, so everybody knew when you drive a Lotus,

this is the risk you take,

it's your decision if you want to do it,

I would have driven a Lotus, no question,

if I can win a championship.

- He wanted to win, he knew the other,

Brabham and McLaren, were solid cars,

but to win a championship, you had to go to Lotus.

Then he had his accident in Monza

which, again, did cost his life.

(somber music)

- We had a lot of friends in racing in those days,

we traveled together, was like a sort of family circus,

it was great fun.

(somber music)

- [Nigel] It was early afternoon qualifying,

he put the brakes on for parabolic run,

the car just speared left,

front brake shaft had just simply snapped,

took the car completely out of his control.

Jochen would never ever do the crotch belts,

so when he hit the fence,

he torpedoed down into the cockpit,

and I think the buckle of the...

the big central buckle of the seat belt,

did very serious damage to him.

(somber music)

- After the accident, I went to see what had happened,

I ran down there,

and nobody quite knew what happened, obviously,

except he was in bad shape.

And they took him to a little sort of Volkswagen busting,

which was supposed to be an ambulance, which it wasn't.

I didn't travel with him, so said to him,

"Go to the hospital."

Anyway, on arrival, he was dead.

- Jackie went to the truck hospital,

and was abhor to see this flatbed truck

alongside the hospital with the body Rindt on it.

- It was a kind of statement

of what motor racing was in those days,

he wasn't properly dealt with.

I don't think had the right equipment to keep him alive.

- At that time in Australia, didn't have a TV, a recording,

so all of a sudden on radio, came the message,

"Big accident from Jochen."

And slowly it came through that he was killed.

- No doctor with him, no nurse with him,

no priest with him, nobody, just Jochen Rindt

and some bits of sort of bushies and whatnot

that come in from another part of the truck.

I said it was hard to take in, here was this man,

about to become the world champion,

and he's dead and nobody's taking a notice.

- It was just another terrible part of the career,

that at that time was reality,

and it just wouldn't happen today.

- Even though he missed the last three races,

'cause he was killed at Monza,

still, it was enough to win in the world championship.

- [Helmut] We all felt good,

and we were happy that he became champion,

because he was the fastest

and the best driver of the season,

so it was just correct that he won the title.

- [Nigel] The only man ever to become world champion

and never know it.

(somber music)

(engine revving)

(car crashing)

(brooding music)

- [John] I mean, one of the things a racing driver

has to contend with and deal with is fatalities,

particularly if that driver

is somebody who you're closer to than some of the others.

And in the seventies,

fatalities were a big part of Formula One.

On the Friday, Barrichello had a very nasty accident

in the very fast acers, just before the pit straight.

Luckily, he got away with minor injuries,

but could have been killed.

- And it was one of those that made you wince,

it was bouncing high in the air,

and ran over and over the rest width.

And in fact, he was hurt, but he wasn't badly hurt.

- You have seen him?

- Yes, I've seen him (indistinct),

he is speaking not very well, but he's speaking.

- He hit the bowl,

I think he just caught the very top of the tank.

- Yes. - [Team Member] The tires.

- The last maybe row or something, the last wall,

and then that's what threw him I guess,

and then he hit the wall and the whole syke,

both of them multiple times, 'cause head never had anything.

(people chattering) (somber music)

(camera shutter clicking) (somber music)

- [Interviewer] Your impression

of the bad accident with Barrichello.

- I can't work that way, let me cool down.

- [Interviewer] Yeah, yeah, no problem.

So there's something in your mind now

that you think of this accident?

- [Barrichello] It happens, it happens to Alesi,

it happens to Lehto.

They're very good drivers,

so I'm the third one, and I hope to be a good driver.

So I think it's not a big problem,

as long as I'm alive and I'm okay to drive again,

the thing that I love most, I'm okay.

- [Interviewer] All the best wishes for you Rubens.

- Thank you very much.

- I suppose with all, I've gotten maybe not complacent,

there hadn't been a fatality in a Grand Prix,

or a Grand Prix Weekend for quite some time.

But that weekend in '94 at Imola turned that all around.

(dark brooding music)

(engine revving)

The front wing assembly collapsed

and fell under the nose and under the front wheels,

he was powerless to control the car,

hit the retaining wall on the outside,

coming down to TOSA, hairpin and was killed instantly.

(camera shutter clicks)

(somber music)

(camera shutter clicks)

(speaking in foreign language)

The last (indistinct) he was supposed to come in like that,

some seemed broken.

(people chattering)

(brooding music)

- And we were doing a live commentary at this time,

and it's very difficult, because as a broadcaster,

you've got to retain control,

and you have to go through,

what can you think? What can you say?

It wasn't a good scene,

and we were having to commentate

on the images that were being sent out via Eurosport.

(somber music)

- [Nigel] That was the first fatality at Grand Prix Weekend

since '82 with Gilles and then Riccardo Paletti.

(engine revving)

- [Eddie] I remember seeing him start that qualifying lap,

and it was weird, I remember seeing him

start that qualifying lap, and it didn't feel good,

it was really, really, really weird,

and immediately the red flags come up,

I just knew something was really bad,

and I ran, and I watched the monitors,

and obviously it wasn't good.

- I was out on track at the time,

so as I was coming up to the accident,

I could see purple bits on the track,

and our our car had purple in it,

so I knew straight away it was our car.

And it wasn't till I turned up at the hairpin,

and as I went around the hairpin, I could see him with...

there was a vehicle,

there was a couple people, just got to him,

but I could see by the position of his neck,

it was enough for me to think that he was gone, yeah.

- On the Saturday night,

I remember speaking to professor Watkins

who was in the same hotel.

And I wanted to know, I wanted to understand more

as to why Ratzenberger had lost his life.

In the course of that conversation,

he had mentioned that Senna, you had been upset,

deeply upset by the fatality.

- [Frank] Both our drivers are quite upset.

(engines revving)

Their spirit isn't in it this afternoon,

I fully support that.

They're also in good condition on the grid for the race.

We've done enough so we support that decision not to go out.

- [Interviewer] The same at better than the feeling,

is to track safety good enough for your feel?

(engine roaring)

- I'm not qualified to talk about the track.

- [Nigel] By now, most of the journalists in the press room

had never been at a restaurant where someone had died,

and they were, fundamentally,

whoever they were, they were stunned.

- The drivers' briefing on Sunday morning

was really emotional, Ayrton in particular.

I'd met Ayrton the night before in the hotel,

and he could barely speak,

he was really upset about Roland,

and it was awful, it was a truly awful day,

everybody's frightened, what's gonna happen next?

- I had the option to drive or pull out.

I sat in a room with Nick, Worth, Bernie, and Max,

and they said, "Look, it's your choice."

And I thought, "What do I do?"

I got to do this for the team

to pick them up, to keep this thing going,

'cause you know if you're gonna sit there

and have a conversation with Roland,

he'd be saying, "What are you waiting for? Get on with it."

- And then of course we know,

we all know what happened the following day.

(engines revving)

(somber music)

- [Ayrton] We have some problems,

but I think we have a good car,

and I think we have a good agent too,

we just have to work on this problems at this moment,

which the team is doing,

and for that, we have some modifications here at Imola,

hoping to improve part of the difficulty

we have found so far.

- I wasn't at the race, and so I was watching it from home,

already quite a somber feeling

because of Roland Ratzenberger's death.

(engines revving)

It was then an enormous shock

as we watched the events unfold during the race itself.

(engines revving) (somber music)

(commentator announcing in foreign language)

(somber music)

- Senna had been, was in the lead,

and was pacing the field

as they went round behind the the safety car,

following the start line accident.

And the safety car in this occasion

was a ludicrously slow Opal.

And look at the speed

they were tracing round the circuit behind this little car,

which I'm sure it was being driven on the door handles,

but it was so pathetically slow

that all the Formula One cars

were struggling to run at that speed.

But, of course, what happens is the tires lost temperature,

running round by half of the cars,

and therefore the pressures as well,

which in effect changes the ride height.

- At the restart when Senna took the lead

and Michael Schumacher was running behind him,

he was the young pretender

trying to dethrone the King of Formula One.

And I'd done some things similar in a racing context,

when you know you're putting the car

you're following under pressure,

and you're putting more, and more,

and more pressure on that driver,

and he knows you're doing it.

And Senna was an intelligent man,

he was a highly skilled man,

he was a courageous man, proud man.

(engines revving)

- [Nigel] That seems not off at all,

and what happened was the calm bottomed out,

and essentially when that happened,

Senna literally had no steering,

and all he could do was stand on the brakes, which he did.

(somber music)

(engine revving) (somber music)

(fans yelling)

(car hooting)

(somber music)

- My immediate reaction was, "This is a big one."

And then I very rapidly realized

that it was a lot more than a big one, by the body language

and everything else that was coming out.

And it was certainly the most difficult

commentary job I ever had to do.

- I remember standing there,

the Tazerus was in the car,

and there was a TV monitor in the garage

looking at the accident,

and I remember standing there

between the monitor and the Tazerus

so that he couldn't see, very sensitive guy,

and just trying to protect him really.

- The telltale to me that this was bad

was when Senna was finally extricated from the car

and taken to the helicopter,

Professor Watkins didn't go with them.

(somber music)

I think at that stage,

I secretly felt that we'd lost

the most charismatic driver of his era,

the best known racing driver in the world,

a man of unbinding, bounding qualities,

and complexities, and skill,

and aspiration, ambition, bravery, courage,

did things in a racing car

I'd never seen a racing driver ever do in my lifetime,

a really unique man amongst a field of very special people.

(engines revving)

(people chattering)

(fans applauding)

- [Interviewer] I think everybody in the circuit

and around the world is saddened

by the hurrying events of today and this weekend,

what are your feelings at this moment?

- Certainly no good feelings, just win the race,

but I can't feel satisfied, can't feel happy,

maybe what happened this week

and never have seen something like this,

not just one thing, so many things.

The only thing I can say about this

is I hope we learn from this.

- Lots of pressures came to bear, I think, on it,

and that weekend, he was determined,

he seemed very, very determined to not back off.

Even more so, perhaps after Roland's accident,

he had an Austrian flag secreted in his own fuze,

he was planning to win the race

and display in honor of Roland should he win the race.

- I remember he was kicking Ratzenberger

that he came and said, "Did you hear the news?"

"What news?"

"Ayrton died."

"Ah! I couldn't pick even, yeah."

(somber music)

- Yeah, just devastating,

you know the relationship I'd had with Senna.

I've had some brilliant highs in the sport,

the highs and the lows,

the lows don't get much lower than that,

just the same, devastating.

(somber music)

- I sort of grieved in private, I always grieve in private,

whether it's finding, you know, I don't believe

that anyone could possibly think

that his loss of losing his life

didn't have a big negative impact on me,

but I can't see why I have to demonstrate that to anybody.

(people chattering)

- There was an element,

it must've been like when Jim Clark died,

or if Jim Clark can die, 'cause he's the best,

anybody can die, and that's how it was for us.

If Ayrton Senna can die,

with all of his skill, and speed, and talent,

then we're all in trouble.

- Professor Watkins told me,

had the front wheel missed him when he hit the barrier,

and the front wheel came back into him

and hit him on the helmet,

had the wheel simply passed him by and not hit him,

he said he didn't have a single other injury,

not even a broken toe, nothing.

- This is a weekend I'd for sure want to forget about,

right from the first moment with Rubens and his accident,

and Roland yesterday, Ayrton today,

the people in the pit lane,

for me, a race you want to forget very quickly.

- It was such a tragedy, obviously.

From a personal point of view, I just feel very fortunate

that I didn't have to be personally involved

in the way that I know

a lot of my previous colleagues at Williams had to do.

So one of my main feelings

was to feel for all of those people,

particularly Patrick and Frank.

- [Nigel] All kinds of theories we're put forward,

one of which, sadly for the Williams team,

was that the steering had failed,

remember the steering column of hell,

which was absolutely not the case,

and was terribly upsetting

to all members of the Williams team, not surprisingly.

- [Damon] I didn't have any doubts about doing the race,

I was there to do a job,

and I had communication with my engineers,

and they were saying, "We'd like you to,

just as a precaution, not to run with the power steering."

So I turned the power steering off.

They didn't know what was...

they didn't know what had caused this accident,

they had data, they had graphs,

and they had stuff they were looking back at in the garage,

but they didn't actually know what had happened.

- [Frank] I was chief engineer of Benetton,

Michael Schumacher, he was just behind him when he went off.

First thing Michael said when he came in was,

"We discussed it, and I'm sure I know what caused it,

I'm 99% sure, and I'm sure that it's difficult

to have the people to understand how sure I am

because so few people

ever spend their lives in a wind tunnel

and know how unstable they can be,

and how bad they are if they're a bit too low."

- Your worst fear as an engineer, honestly,

and it's not so much in focus these days

because the cars are so safe,

but it was much more pointy back then,

and people forget that,

could people still had got injuries back then

and then people died in racing cars?

So, as an engineer,

that was always in the back of your mind,

that was your fear,

that something that you designed might break

and caused some sort of tragedy.

- [Damon] The changes after him,

and that the right thing to have done

was to say, "Okay, we are engineers,

we are intelligent people, we do not want to suffer

unnecessary fatalities or injuries."

It's irresponsible to just turn a blind eye to it,

so they did something about it.

And Max Mosley pushed these changes through,

much to everyone's frustration sometimes,

but him and Charlie Whiting and Sid Watkins,

they were gonna get this done.

- One thing you remember about Roland was his smile,

he had a great smile, and he really enjoyed life.

And the fact that he was a Formula One driver

made him so happy.

- [Interviewer] Any surprises for you about Formula One?

- No, not really, I think it lived up,

or it's living up to all the expectations I had,

and it's definitely the best series in the world,

and it's very good,

I think there's not one driver

down the pit lane which is a bad driver,

I think it's all this year,

it looks very competitive from the teams,

it's very professional, and I just love to be here.

- I think James Hunt called it the dark cloud

on the horizon of his sunny career,

it's the thing you dread,

the thing you know is gonna come

and visit the sport at some point.

You tend not to think of anyone else,

you tend to think of yourself, you tend to think,

"Well, if I get killed, I won't know anything about it."

You don't think, "How is that gonna affect

everyone that knows me, and my family."

And you tend not to think like that,

which is an indictment of all racing drivers perhaps.

(somber music)

(upbeat music)