{"id":396097,"date":"2026-01-06T21:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T21:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/396097\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T21:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T21:27:11","slug":"i-died-three-times-donnelly-on-the-crash-which-made-him-famous-in-f1-the-movie-%c2%b7-racefans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/396097\/","title":{"rendered":"“I died three times”: Donnelly on the crash which made him famous in ‘F1: The Movie’ \u00b7 RaceFans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Martin Donnelly described how the crash which almost killed him in 1990 led to a \u201cvery special\u201d opportunity to introduce his family to Hollywood royalty.<\/p>\n

The former Lotus driver was seriously injured when he crashed at high speed in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. He suffered organ failure, went into a coma and had to be repeatedly resuscitated, but survived.<\/p>\n

His crash inspired the back story for the character Sonny Hayes in last year\u2019s official F1 Movie. Real footage of Donnelly\u2019s body lying on the track appears in the film.<\/p>\n

In the film, the character of Hayes, played by Brad Pitt, returns to race in F1. However the crash ended Donnelly\u2019s F1 career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a moment of time that took away everything,\u201d he told The Business of Winning<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s like a light switch: you work, you sacrifice your education, you work your way to the top, you get into F1 \u2013 which in itself is achievement with so many drivers trying to vie for so few seats.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor that to happen through no fault of my own \u2013 the suspension collapsed, the front-left damper, so it was like a bobsleigh with 7mm ride height. So once the top hit the Tarmac, because the suspension has broke you\u2019ve got no steering control and you\u2019re heading towards this barrier at 135mph [215kph] and all you can do is brace yourself for what\u2019s going to be one hell of a ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donnelly left the track in a high-speed right-hander. Today the approach to the corner is slowed by a chicane, but in 1990 drivers tackled it at far higher speeds, and Donnelly had the misfortune to strike an unprotected Armco barrier.<\/p>\n

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Many who witnessed his crash first-hand thought he could not have survived it, including fellow F1 racer Roberto Moreno who was watching at the track with Donnelly\u2019s friends.<\/p>\n

\"Brad<\/a>Martin Donnelly: The racer whose real crash is Sonny Hayes\u2019 backstory in \u2018F1: The Movie\u2019<\/a>\u201cThe four of us [had gone] around on Vespa scooters: Ed and Jenny on one scooter, me and Diane on the other, and I was pointing out which corners were quick and where was the best place to watch. We were going through there at 170, 180 miles an hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where Ed and Jenny were when actually I went off in front of them into this barrier. Roberto Moreno was with them then because they used to feed and look after Roberto when he drove for Van Diemen at Snetterton. Ed was trying to get over this fence and Roberto was pulling him down and said, \u2018no, no, no, leave him alone. He\u2019s dead, he\u2019s dead. He\u2019s gone. Leave him alone.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Other drivers stopped at the scene of Donnelly\u2019s crash, which tore his Lotus apart and threw him onto the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thought I was dead, then another guy pulled up to protect my body, a guy called Pierluigi Martini in the Minardi car. He stopped the car because I was lying bare in the circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe circuit was still semi-live for qualifying. That\u2019s why there\u2019s no TV coverage of my accident because Senna was on a [qualifying] lap and all the cameras were placed on him. So that\u2019s when they cut to where the car had just hit the barrier and I was then down on the track.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Donnelly\u2019s crash was especially shocking because of the extent of damage to his car. However he believes the fact the chassis broke apart absorbed some of the impact and saved his life.<\/p>\n

\"Brad<\/a>Review: \u201cF1: The Movie\u201d: Formula 1 looks smaller than ever on the big screen<\/a>\u201cIf the tub had held up, I would most certainly, 110%, definitely be dead because I would have broken my neck,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s ironic that the accident, the way it happened, actually did save my life, because I carried on [after the initial impact].\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he suffered multiple fractures, Formula 1\u2019s medical delegate Professor Sid Watkins was more concerned about the internal damage Donnelly had suffered, and arranged for him to swiftly return to Britain.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle do people know that, I guess, I broke virtually every bone in the body,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe left femur came out through the side of the leg, the left leg\u2019s now an inch-and-a-half short.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Sid Watkins knew that bones will heal \u2013 I still have a broken collarbone here that they never repaired. The bigger picture at the time was my internal organs, with the shock, all kind of going forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the thing that frightened Sid. He knew that my internal organs were going into shock. So he knew that he only had \u2018x\u2019 number of hours to get me out of Seville, where the hospital was, and get me to his hospital in Whitechapel in London.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI flew in on the Tuesday, I flew into Gatwick by air ambulance. They transferred me in the helicopter straight onto the roof, down into the emergency rooms the very next day. As he said would happen, my body closed down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t breathing, so I was put into a respirator for seven weeks. I had kidney dialysis every day for three hours by machine. My mother was there and Sid Watkins said to her \u2018Margaret, if you believe in God, pray to your God, because we don\u2019t expect Martin to survive\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe then got the chaplain, he came and gave me the last rites. And somehow, somewhere, I pulled through it. I had twice the jump leads on the operating table, my heart stopped twice. So technically I died three times.\u201d<\/p>\n

The official F1 Movie ends with the acknowledgement \u201cthanks to Martin Donnelly\u201d. He was invited to the premiere and spotted Tom Cruise and Ed Sheeran in the rows either side of him. But he did not expect to be joined by the star actor who played the character his crash inspired.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were two seats on the aisle that were left empty. And the film starts and I\u2019m watching it, tuned into that. And then about a third of the way into the movie, these two people come up the side and sat beside me, and it was Brad and his girlfriend. And they shook our hands and he said I want to meet you guys at the after party.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to the after-party and we\u2019re talking to Brad and chatting away to him as I am now,\u201d Donnelly added. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t in a rush off to go anywhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose sort of experiences: to be able to have my kids experience talking to Brad Pitt, an A-list Hollywood star, those things don\u2019t happen from a guy from West Belfast, you know? That was a very, very special moment for me and that happened because of my accident 35 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Martin<\/a>Donnelly drove his Lotus again in 2011 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed<\/a>
\nFormula 1
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