The Italian grand prix, due to take place at Monza in September, may be in jeopardy after a decision by the prosecution in the Ayrton Senna trial to proceed with an appeal against the acquittal on manslaughter charges of the Williams team's chief engineer Patrick Head and his former chief designer Adrian Newey.
The prosecution has secured a date for a new trial in Italy, starting on November 19th. "I think the formula one teams will probably be very unsettled by this news," said Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, motor racing's international governing body.
"It is a disturbing development for the future of grand prix racing in Italy," said Eddie Jordan. "We will be seeking guidance on this from the FIA."
Head and Newey, who is now technical director of the McLaren-Mercedes team, were acquitted in December 1997. The prosecution maintained that the failure of an allegedly poorly welded steering column on Senna's Williams FW16 caused his death in the 1994 San Marino grand prix at Imola, when the Brazilian smashed into a concrete wall on the outside of the Tamburello corner at nearly 190mph.
The steering column had been cut, expanded and re-welded to create more space inside the cockpit. The team owner Sir Frank Williams told the court that Senna had asked for the modification.
No appeal was lodged against Williams's own acquittal. But his lawyer, Oreste Dominioni, said he had asked to be included in the new trial.
He said Williams was after a not-guilty verdict "for the entire team". However, it was not clear whether his petition would be acceptable to the courts.
The teams are known to be deeply concerned by the fact that there is nothing to stop such a legal action being initiated again by the Italian authorities in the event of another fatal accident. In June 1997 Mosley met members of the Italian judiciary who gave the strong impression that changes to their country's laws in respect of so-called dangerous sports would be appropriate. Little progress seems to have been made on this issue.
At the time of the original trial the grand prix teams made it very clear that they would have deep misgivings about continuing to race in Italy if the trial judge reached a guilty verdict.
