Exactly 30 years ago, on January 21, 1994, Jyrkijärvi Lehto, known in motorsport by his nickname JJ, was involved in an accident that almost cost him his life. The incident took place during testing at Silverstone, and the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti recalled that story today.
Everything was going well before that: JJ made his Formula 1 debut in 1990 and already reached the podium in his tenth race. In early 1994, Keke Rosberg, then manager of Lehto, reached an agreement with Flavio Briatore, who was in charge of the Benetton team at the time, and JJ became Michael Schumacher’s new teammate.
The Finnish driver already had 38 Grand Prix experience driving cars from far from the strongest teams – such as Onyx, Scuderia Italia, and in 1993 he was part of the very first Sauber line-up. Lehto was not yet 28 years old, but he had already built a reputation as a strong professional, which allowed him to sign a contract with Benetton.
But on the first day of winter testing at Silverstone circuit, JJ crashed into the concrete barriers at Stowe corner and was taken unconscious to hospital in Northampton.
“Something went wrong. The impact on the concrete wall was very strong,” Lehto said later. – It was very cold that day, probably the temperature was only one degree above zero. We tested new components, including suspensions. There something happened at Stowe corner, maybe there was icy water on the track, maybe a part broke in the car.”
Very serious spinal injuries were diagnosed in the hospital and JJ was rushed into surgery.
Based on telemetry data, the speed of the car at the time of the hard impact with the concrete fence was approximately 220 km/h, and the fact that Yarvilehto did not become disabled is considered a miracle.
His contract with Benetton had only been confirmed a week earlier, and Keke Rosberg and Briatore tried to hide from journalists that the driver’s injuries were very serious. The operation, performed by British doctors, was successful and soon reports appeared in the press that the racer was gradually recovering.
The doctors insisted that it would take at least six months for more or less normal rehabilitation after such injuries, but JJ had no intention of waiting that long, as there were only two months left until the start of the season.
In the first two races, in Brazil and Japan, he was replaced by Jos Verstappen, Max’s future father. And Järvilehto returned to the wheel at Imola on the same fateful weekend when Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna died. JJ showed a decent 5th result in qualifying, but the race on Sunday ended for him just a few seconds after the start.
From behind Finn’s Benetton, Portuguese Pedro Lamy crashed into a Lotus, scattering the cars’ wreckage in different directions, injuring a dozen spectators. The events of that weekend had a very serious impact on the psychological state of Jurkijärvi, who was just back behind the wheel after an injury, but his physical form also left much to be desired.
First of all, he was worried about problems with his neck – he simply did not have time to sufficiently restore the strength of these muscles, which are so important for a racer. In qualifying in Monaco he only finished 17th and lost to Schumacher by more than 4 seconds. When braking and accelerating out of corners, the Finn’s head moved helplessly from side to side and he simply could not see the track properly.
“Of course I hoped that the recovery would be quick, because the operation was successful, and this gave me reason to be overly optimistic,” Lehto admitted. “But in reality, full recovery took a long time. But the team didn’t give us the chance to wait for this…’
As a result, he spent only six races for Benetton, during which he reached the finish line only three times and earned only one point. At the time, bonus points were only awarded to the top six, and at the Canadian Grand Prix Christian Fittipaldi finished 6th, but the Brazilian, competing in Footwork, qualified, after which Lehto moved up one place.
According to him, he did not fully regain his old form until the summer of 1995. It was then that he achieved the most important victory of his career: he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a McLaren F1 GTR sports car. In 2005 he managed to repeat that success, but together with the American team Champion Racing, and at that time he already drove the Audi R8 sports prototype.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
