I have been working in F.1 since 1992, and I clearly remember sunday May 1, twenty years ago. I went to Imola on the thursday before, to seal a new sponsorship deal with Jordan. I had signed a new client for the race who would eventually become a major supporter of the Irish squad the following year.We rented a VIP lounge above the pits and grouped a small gathering listening to EJ enchanting the newcomer to his Team. To me, my sponsor’s logo looked magnificent on Jordan’s blue livery and I was very proud of it. Nothing else mattered to me that day and I marked it as one of my first commercial successes… On friday Rubens hit the barriers at the variante bassa, a shocking accident, but luckily with no serious consequences for the brazilian, an omen for more dramatic things to come in a tragic week end. I could not stay for the race as I managed a bunch of F.3000 drivers competing in a championship round in Silverstone, so I took an early saturday morning flight to the UK. The rest of the story is well known..I can only remember the frightening silence in the British press room looking at the accident scene on the TV monitors…The local race attracting no interest at all. I never met Ayrton, just crossed his path a few times in the paddock. In those days I had very little to do with drivers of the top formula. My main job in F.1 was to find money for Jordan GP, for this I only knew Irvine and Barrichello. However Senna meant something to me, to my working life in F.1, at least in one, dramatic episode. Our first and only close encounter took place in 1993 at the portuguese circuit in Estoril. For a few years I managed a young Italian racer, Emanuele Naspetti. Together, we experienced F.1 for the first time twelve months earlier when he drove the March-Illmor for five GPs. Emanuele found the necessary funds to buy the seat from Jordan and to aim at one more shot at the category; the only way to impress the circus and have a chance to secure a ride the following year. For us it was a crucial week end. Ayrton had something else to deal with that day. He had to face tough competition from his new teammate, Hakkinen, who was driving the McLaren-Ford for the first time, replacing Andretti and showing no fear for his own debut. Senna could not accept the young Finn being faster than him and he was very nervous. Mika was quicker in qualifying with the first two sets of rubber and there was only one set left. Naspetti had two miserable runs in traffic, but showing faster pace than Rubens in the various sectors. He needed to put his lap together and had only one new set of stickies to do it. So did Senna. I watched Emanuele driving out of pit lane and lapping around the track for his warm-up, no body in front to distract or disturb him. As he was coming to negotiate the last corner to start his quick stint, Senna drove out of the pits…. I saw it happening…. Ayrton would never give way to a young Naspetti, not in that state of mind. And he did not,blocking the Jordan and changing our week end of hope into an inferno. Emanuele ended up P 23 on the grid and his Hart engine gave up quickly in the race, leaving no space for him to show his true colors. Senna had an equal technical failure seven laps later and suffered a different but identical drama. For sure, that day, we shared the same emotions of rage