7 November 1997 Passarini asked that Frank Williams and the management of the race track at Imola should be considered not guilty. He then asked for one year (with parole) for Head and Newey, who modified the steering column and caused the accident.
Of the six of the people under ivestigation only lawyer Bendinelli were present at this session. First the prosecution examined in detail the responsability of the Williams team, then the death of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna between 30 April and 1 may 1994. Passarini repeated his thesis that Senna lost control of the car because the steering column had broken, then recalled the "equivocal" behaviour ("the most sadly farcical moment of the investigation") of FOCA in making available the images from Senna's on-board camera which stop nine tenths of a second before the impact. Passarini also reserved the right to ask the magistrates to evaluate whether to bring charges of false testimony against Andy james, Eddie Baker and Alan Woollard, TV technicians for FOCA.
Passarini went on to say that Senna's accident cannot be caused by a human error. He reminded the audience that two independent labs had reached the same conclusion that the steering column was showing stress signs on three quarters of the circumference and on 40% of the section and that the Williams team themselves agreed with these results. Senna was holding in his hands a steering wheel inserted in a compromised element and it is not that important to determine exactly in which part of the track the column actually broke. The images from Senna's on-board camera show that the yellow button, which in lab trial is stable, lowered itself by 2.5 cm and nobody has been able to explain why. As for Williams simulations about the movemnet of the steering wheel, which according to Coulthard can move by 2 cm, quite a few errors have been found in the setip of the suimulations themselves. the fact that Senna was aware of the fact and had agreed to drive all teh same does not reduce the responsability of the people charged. There is criminal negligency in the work undertaken to modify the steering column.
Then Passarini moved to the request of verdicts for the people on trial. Head and Newey did not make the changes themselves, but it was their duty to instruct the technicians who did. Despite the fcat that insode the Williams team there was, and still is, a division of roles and tasks, this does not remove the responsability from Head and Newey, despite Williams' defence's attempt to move the responsability of security to lower levels. The position of Frank Williams is more delicate, as he cannot possibly have been totally alien to the technical choice, as he tried to make believe, but it is not possible to prove that he is competent on the matter. Passarini therefore asked that Frank Williams should be found not guilty.
Passarini then asked a non guilty verdict for Bendinelli (Sagis), Poggi (race track) and Bruynseraede (the FIA technician who approved the track) because in the case of tha latter two there is no direct causal link between their behaviour and Senna's death. Bendinelli is for the race track what Frank Williams is for his team: he must be foud not guilty for the same reason.
The penalties: The degree of fault of Head and Newey is not small, the error was very large, but there is the element the pressure that had been put on them by Senna, who was a demanding perfectionist. For them Passarini asked one year with parole.
Oreste, defense lawyer for Williams and Head, then replied that the request of a guilty verdict for the Williams technicians is based on hypotheses and none of them has a solid basis. He then accused Passarini of discussing the accident without mentioning the conditions of the track, the track surface and the bumps.
Roberto Landi, one of Sagis' lawyers, said he was happy with Passarini's conclusions, but that he would like the chance to prove that the track conditions had no influence on the accident.
Calcaterra, lawyer for the Senna family, who did not enter the trial, said that he cannot take a position, either positive or negative. It was an accurate analysis, he added, and it will be the verdict that will give an answer to the question of what happened to Ayrton Senna.
The defense will take the stand on the 11th of November.
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