The Formula 1 Doctor
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In some ways this guy and others transformed the sport by changing the attitude of what is considered acceptable in entertainment.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/articles/c1ejpl7k2lqo
As Gary Hartstein stood alongside Professor Sid Watkins, leaning on the roof of the medical car they shared, he was struggling to find the right words.
The pair were waiting for practice to begin for the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix.
Spa-Francorchamps had been tweaked from the previous year – a chicane had been introduced at Eau Rouge to slow the field. The grid was not the same as at the start of the season either; a young David Coulthard now partnering Damon Hill at Williams.
And the atmosphere between the friends had changed, too.
"There was a huge elephant in the car," Hartstein tells BBC Sport.
The unspoken was almost unspeakably sad.
Four months before, Watkins – Formula 1’s first full-time doctor, a neurosurgeon and the sport’s medical delegate – tried to save two drivers, who died on successive days at Imola. The first was Roland Ratzenberger. The second was Ayrton Senna, the sport’s superstar and a family friend of Watkins.
Hartstein gently probed, asking Watkins how he was. The Englishman’s reply astounded him.
"He tells me the story of when he felt Ayrton’s soul leave his body," Hartstein says.
"He's resuscitating this guy who he’s deeply, deeply linked to - this is like resuscitating your kid.
