Peterson was admitted to the Niguarda hospital following his first-lap crash. At the hospital, Peterson's X-rays showed he had 27 fractures in both legs, according to the newly appointed Formula One doctor
Sid Watkins in his 1996 autobiography
Life at the Limit. It was decided that Peterson was sent to intensive care so that the surgeons could operate to stabilise the bones. Peterson's parents, May Britt and Bengt Peterson, were watching live on TV and knew he was involved in the lap-one incident. They were contacted in their home in Örebro, Sweden by Peterson's manager, Staffan Svenby, who was in Monza. Ronnie's wife Barbro was in Monaco; she was contacted by
Team Lotus boss
Colin Chapman an hour after the crash. Once Peterson arrived at Niguarda hospital, Svenby was consulted by the doctors on how Peterson should be operated on and phoned Watkins, three Swedish doctors and other Italian doctors for advice. Disputes were raised regarding Peterson's treatment; the doctors would present him with three options. Peterson could either stay at the hospital in Milan or fly to another hospital where they had experience treating complicated fractures from alpine skiing accidents in countries like Austria, Switzerland, Sweden or England, wait for an operation, risking a worse result and potentially amputation, or operate on the bones at once and risk bone marrow embolism. Svenby decided Peterson would stay in the Niguarda hospital for operation, which was completed without any issue. Over the phone, professor Watkins reassured Barbro that he thought that Peterson would recover, with plans being made for her to get to Milan in the morning. By midnight the following day, Chapman and Andretti returned to their hotel in Como, while Svenby and Watkins booked a hotel near the hospital as they had already checked out from their regular hotels the morning prior. By 4am, Peterson, who was now unconscious, had developed breathing problems and was being ventilated by a machine in an attempt to keep his blood oxygen levels normal. An X-ray showed that he had developed multiple
emboli in his lungs, which had come from the fat in the bone marrow entering his bloodstream; due to this, his kidneys had started to fail. A neurological examination showed signs of serious brain damage. Professor Watkins, inspecting Peterson's eyes, identified fat globules obstructing the small arteries in the retinas. On Watkins' suggestion, the neurosurgeon agreed to take an electroencephalogram to get the situation clear on Peterson's brain functions. However, by this point, Peterson had suffered a full
kidney failure. Peterson was declared dead at 9:55am.
Post-race reactions Emerson Fittipaldi arrived together with his wife shortly thereafter Svenby, who informed them of the tragic news. Fittipaldi, who was friends with Peterson, said "I just can't believe it. We have been friends for so many years and now he is gone. Racing will change a lot for me. He was one of the greatest drivers and no one will replace him." Mario Andretti, also one of Peterson's friends, was on route and he said "Oh no. I wanted that title so badly, but I did not want to win it like this. What the hell shall I do with it now? I don't feel anything for it. One of my best friends is gone and motor racing will never be the same again. I was really looking forward to next year, he in the McLaren and me in the Lotus and we would have a good fight and afterwards sit down to have a beer and a good laugh about it." Peterson's first manager Sveneric Eriksson said "When Ronnie died, Sweden stopped. All was quiet. In many workplaces nothing was done during the day, people only discussed how Ronnie could die that way he did. In schools the children cried. Their great idol was gone. Some schools had to close, and the children were sent home." As a result of the start line crash, a medical car would follow the cars on the opening lap of every F1 race. In the United States, the race was broadcast on
ABC's Wide World of Sports the Saturday after. It would be broadcast before same-day coverage of the 75-lap
Michigan International Speedway USAC Championship Trial event that Andretti (who alternated with rookie
Rick Mears in the
Gould Charge for
Team Penske during the season) was supposed to have participated, where broadcaster
Jim McKay noted, "Later Peterson would die, but not until the next morning. Victory so long anticipated and so much earned, now tasted like ashes in Mario's mouth." At Michigan for the
Gould 150 which featured both a 150-mile USAC race and a 100-mile
IROC VI round, Andretti was asked about Peterson and he said: "His sincerity I learned to really appreciate that more than anything else and the man is competitive as he was with his skills and I found that this is something that many people in this business like because it's a very selfish business that's basis but he could share with me the basic of the car whatever he found, he changed something even if it was the better." Initially, Andretti had also thought about appealing the penalty, and felt sure he would win it; Lauda himself had given him the Grand Prix's trophy, which he still owns. Upon hearing Peterson's death, Andretti renounced to the appeal, having been declared the 1978 Formula One World Champion. In 2018, he recalled: "There was no celebrating the World Championship. And we forgot about the appeal of the race results. That was my race. I won it. But I let it go. Niki Lauda was given the trophy, but he refused to take it. In fact, I still have it in my house. I remember feeling euphoric happiness, and sadness at its worst. And in a way, that's the legacy of Monza." Andretti did not start the Gould 150 because of engine failure. When asked about the safety and tragedies at Monza at the following week in Michigan, Stewart said that "Yes, but you know there is more racing miles at Monza most than any other race track in the world, I think Monza is the most well kept race track in the world. I don't think that it's dangerous, any more dangerous than any other racetrack, I do think however things can to be changed. The funnel effect from the wide starting area running into that first narrow corner could be eliminated and that certainly could have contributed to this accident, another contributing factor was the untidy start, the starter certainly did not withdrew the correct procedure and therefore was bunching taking place into that first dreadful area approaching the first corner but really I can't say truthfully that Monza should be no longer allowed for Grand Prix racing". After a few days of anguish,
Vittorio Brambilla would finally wake up from his coma. He managed to recognize his loved ones and the doctors were reassured, he would not have any after-effects of his skull fracture. During the Monza broadcast, McKay noted "Brambilla was responding well in a Milan hospital". However, the race ended his full-time career in F1. In 1998
Speedvision aired a piece of the domination of the Lotus team and the death of Peterson during the build up to the
1998 Italian Grand Prix. Then
Ensign driver
Derek Daly who was Speedvision's F1 commentator said "That was my second ever Grand Prix and to see the videotape of the fire and the drivers taking Peterson out of the fire, I was one of those drivers and I was absolutely scared stiff because I never ever seen anything like that before but the interesting thing I remember about that is the first words I ever ever said to
Mario Andretti was after that crash I was walking back to the pits up the straight from the crash, Mario had not seen it yet because he did a full lap ahead of the accident, was walking down and I said Mario don't go down there. The first words I ever said to him, since become obviously a good friend. Now, also had the mind of a
Formula One driver works in strange ways. I went back to my pit, I was so moved about what I saw, I was in tears at the back of the
Ensign garage when
Mo Nunn who was my team owner at the time came up to me still crying, he said by the way the spare car is ready and the race starts in ten minutes. I went out and had my best Grand Prix result at that time, finished seventh." == Classification ==