British F3 round 12 – Snetterton

British F3 round 12. Snetterton,

3 July 1983.

Qualifying: 61.89 (5); 61.81 (2). Row 2.

Pole position: Brundle 61.59.

Result: Retired after 23 laps, accident.

Mysterious, because Senna was not on the front row, and that hadn’t happened in 1983 before. “I don’t know what is wrong. We have changed many things and yet there is no real improvement.”

Brundle led at the green light. Dumfries had crashed in qualifying and Senna, lined up on the grid behind where Dumfries would have been, enjoyed a clear run. He was quickly up to Brundle, Jones third. Brundle consolidated but Senna worked nearer and nearer and at lap 12 was within six metres. Brundle held him there. It might have been a major turning point, and was. Out of Sear on the twenty-fourth lap (of the 25) Brundle firmly kept the inside line. They moved along the straight with Senna “oh so slowly creeping up on the inside [to the Esses] with two wheels off the main tarmac throwing dust and stones at Jones” (Autosport). Into the left-hand kink, Brundle moved on to the racing line but Senna “still had his foot flat on the floor with two wheels off the track and bouncing in the dirt.”Senna’s front wheel ran over Brundle’s rear which sent Senna “into a high-speed spin across” Jones and backwards into the barrier. A pure racing accident, or the question: could he take the heat?

• Podium: Brundle, Jones, Fish.

• Fastest lap: Senna

• Championship: Senna 89, Brundle 73, Jones 45