which was very bumpy and had dangerously little room between the track and a concrete wall without a tyre barrier that separated the circuit from the Santerno river that runs adjacent to it. In 1987, Nelson Piquet crashed heavily during practice after a tyre failure and missed the race due to injury. In 1989, Gerhard Berger crashed his Ferrari at Tamburello after a front wing failure. The car instantaneously ignited after the severe impact at but thanks to the quick work of the firefighters and medical personnel Berger survived and missed only one race (the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix) due to burns to his hands. Michele Alboreto suffered a massive shunt whilst testing his Footwork Arrows at the circuit in 1991 but escaped injury. The following year, Riccardo Patrese also crashed at the same corner while testing for the Williams team. In response to the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, modifications were carried out to the Tamburello corner to make it safer by converting it from a flat-out left hander to a left-right-left chicane. 1994 San Marino Grand Prix In the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, during Friday practice Rubens Barrichello was launched over a kerb and into the top of a tyre barrier at the Variante Bassa, knocking the Brazilian unconscious, though quick medical intervention saved his life. During Saturday qualifying Austrian Roland Ratzenberger crashed head-on into a wall at over at the Villeneuve corner after his Simtek lost the front wing, dying instantly from a basilar skull fracture. The tragedy continued the next day when the three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna lost control of his car and crashed into the concrete wall at the Tamburello corner on Lap 7. Senna died in the hospital several hours after his crash. In two unrelated incidents, several spectators and mechanics were also injured during the event. In the aftermath, the circuit continued to host Grands Prix, but revisions were immediately made in an attempt to make it safer. The flat-out Tamburello corner was reduced to a 4th gear left–right sweeper, and a gravel trap was added to the limited space on the outside of the corner. Villeneuve corner, previously an innocuous 6th gear right-hander into Tosa, was made a complementary 4th gear sweeper, also with a gravel trap on the outside of the corner. In an attempt to retain some of the