Williams then said that he does not know who had designed the modifications to the steering column. Passarini reminded him that in 1994 he had said that the original steering column and the modified one had been realised under the management of Head. Williams confirmed he said so, but that even at the time he was not sure whether this really was the case. Passarini then asked whether the space inside Senna's car was the only problem and Williams replied that after each race Senna used to write a 2-3 pages report suggesting changes to improve the car. At the time he (Williams) had not been informed of the changes to the steering column. He was then asked when he found out about them and he replied that he's not sure, either before or after the accident. Williams then added that Senna wanted to have lots of things changed and was very demanding. He also wanted a bigger steering wheel. At the time the Williams car was not perfect and was difficult to drive, but Senna had never complained about the difficulty of driving it, all he really wanted was more space to be less tired in the second half of the GPs. Passarini then asked whether the same changes were carried out on the other cars and Williams replied that he believes they were carried out on Senna's spare car and on Hill's car too.
Passarini then examined Williams on all details of the accident and also asked whether the telemetry of Senna's car had been checked after the accident and before the following start. Williams replied taht he thought so, because the Williams engineers use that type of data a lot. Williams was then asked what opinion they formed of the accident and he said that after several simulations and tests they reached the conclusion that the steering column had not broken. Before the simulations they did not have an opinion because the tests were carried out immediately. They were nonetheless open to any possible explanation, such as steering column, tyres, suspensions, human error. Passarini then asked why they decided to change the steering columns after the accident and Williams said that they wanted to be extra sure. Asked whether they had doubts, Williams replied that they did, which is the reason why there is a trial going on and that they want to find out the truth.
Passarini said that the Williams engineers have admitted that the steering column showed stress signs in 3/4 of the circumference and at least 40% of the section. Williams replied that he was not aware of this data. Passarini asked him what he would have done, had he had this information and Williams said that there is nothing more dangerous in F1 than to involve in technical decision someone who is not an expert like himself, or like Passarini too. Passarini insisted asking Williams whether he would have allowed Senna to race, had he known about the stress on the steering column and Williams said that other cars, such as Ferrari and McLaren, have sufferen from stress fractures. Passarini then asked about the yellow button on Senna's steering wheel and the images from the on-board camera. At this point the defense managed to make the judge stop Passarini's examination before Williams replied.
Williams said afterwards that he thought both the judge and the prosecution had treated him well and he is confident in the future. He does not fear a sentence and has no plans to boycott the Italian GPs should things go bad for him. He added that this is not the first time he is in a court of justice, in 1966 he had already been called as a witness. The press asked him how he feels, having gone from World Champion to guilty part within 3 days and Williams said that he leads a very interesting life. He thinks that the accident was caused by a loss of control caused by the cooling down of the tyres and that Senna could not correct the angle of impact because when he lost control at high speed the first instinct is to brake sharply, rather than turn.
Next hearing is on November the 7th.
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