3 June 1997 The trial for Senna's manslaughter restarted yesterday with the testimony of current World Champion Damon Hill, who was Senna's team mate at the time of the accident. Hill's testimony was favourable to Williams, the track and, for what the video images are concerned, to FOCA as well.
Hill testified for 3 and a half hours and denied that the steering column breaking might have caused the accident. He said that soon after the accident he and the Williams team examined all the possibilities: the steering column, the assisted steering, the suspensions, the aerodynamics, the possibility that the tyres had deflated because of the slow laps behind the safety car, the possibily of grip loss because of the bumps. Hill did not manage to get a clear idea of what might have caused te accident, but was convinced that the steering column could not have been the cause of the accident.
Hill then said that Senna's steering column was not modified before the Imola race. He said that both his own and Senna's steering columns had been modified before the beginning of the racing season. This confirms what Patrick Head said.
Hill then denied that the assisted steering could have caused the accident. He also said that the video images from Senna's car given by FOCA to the magistrates were exactly the same the Williams team had been given immediately after the accident. Hill then brought forward the theory that Senna might have had problems of oversteering, possibly caused by the cooling down of the tyres and the loss of pressure after the slow laps. Hill pointed out that Senna had appeared to run wide on bumps in a couple of occasions. He then added that the bumps were no bigger than in any other track and that they alone could not have caused the accident.
After Hill, the two consultants Alberto Bucchi and Francesco Bomparola testified on the condition of the track. They said that even using the most conservative of criteria, the track was in perfectly acceptable conditions.
Prosecution magistrate Passarini said that he had asked Alboreto more questions after his testimony. The trial will continue on 3 June with a new examination of films produced by Cineca and by the Williams team.

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