The Formula 1 driver whose career-ending accident partly inspired the plot for F1: The Movie is to bookend the season his crash left him unable to finish.
F1 aficionados who watched film, starring Brad Pitt, may well have noticed the crash footage used to explain protagonist Sonny Hayes’ backstory was that of Martin Donnelly’s horrific shunt during qualifying for the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix.
The Ulsterman, on a push lap around the Jerez circuit, speared off into a guardrail, the ferocity of the impact causing the monocoque to break clear of the car.
Donnelly was left stranded in the middle the circuit, still strapped into his seat, unconscious. But miraculously, the quick action of FIA medical delegate Professor Sid Watkins saw Donnelly taken to a nearby hospital and miraculously recovered.
However, his injuries were too severe to see him recover sufficiently to make a return to racing in F1, meaning he was unable to complete the final rounds of the season.
But Donnelly will not get a chance to prophetically complete the 1990 campaign, by partaking in an exhibition run at the Adelaide street circuit, the final race on that year’s calendar.
At the Adelaide Motorsport Festival [February 28-March 1], Donnelly will take to the wheel of the Hesketh 308 – the Harvey Posthlewaite-designed car that scored its only Grand Prix win – and the first for James Hunt – at the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix.
“I was supposed to be in Adelaide in 1990, and I never made it,” Donnelly said. “My career stopped before I ever got the chance. That’s something that stays with you.”
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