It all goes like this. The sport of F1 lost two of its drivers over the race weekend at Imola. Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenberger died during qualifying on April 30 following a high speed crash. Not only that, during the afternoon qualifying session, Senna's compatriot and protégé Rubens Barrichello was involved in a serious accident when his Jordan became airborne at the Variante Bassa chicane and hit the tyre-wall and fence. Barrichello suffered a broken nose and arm and withdrew from the event.
Although both these incidents shocked the racing fraternity and raised questions about the safety of the drivers, the organizers nevertheless went ahead with the race the next day. Shortly after the race started, Senna's car crashed at the Tamburello corner in lap 7, in which he died of a fatal brain injury. After Senna was pulled from the wreckage, the race marshals found this buried inside of the cockpit.
Yes, it's the flag of Austria. The ever determined and possibly the most ruthless racing drivers of all time was planning on unfurling it after winning the race as a mark of respect for the rookie Roland Ratzenberger. Although every fiber in his body was against it, he decided to race not for himself, but for the youngster. The world has since then, decisively been trying to ignore the promising rookie. But the legend, in his last few hours made it a point to remember him... for eternity.
That's true sportsmanship.