The forgotten Formula 1-death

chernobyl

I intended on posting this last saturday, but was otherwise.....ingaged.

Formula 1 remembers a macabre weekend. On may 1st, 1994 at the circuit of Imola crashed the best driver in the world: Ayrton Senna. A day earlier, Roland Ratzenberger lost his life on the same circuit. Five years later people from all over the world still mourn for Senna and thousands visit his grave in Sao Paulo. But who still visits the grave of Roland Ratzenberger?


Grey clouds hang above the cemetery at Maxglan, near Salzburg, Austria. A raw breeze massages the face and camouflages the emotions that come back up after five years. Rudolf Ratzenberger smiles even, when he sees an elderly woman make a cross at his son's grave in the distance. It's a consolement for Rudolf and his wife Margit. It proves that not everyone has forgotten about Roland.

Roland lies in the family grave. A small replica of his helmet is placed on the tombstone with a picture of the driver. A smiling Roland, the way everyone knew him. An easy going and jovial man who will forever be 33 years old. "Er lebte für seinen Traum" (He lived for his dream), goes the last sentence on his tombstone. The dream, to race in Formula One, came out. But it lasted very short and ended in a nightmare.

Shorty before that fateful day, Roland Ratzenberger bought a nice penthouse in Maxglan. After five succesful years in Japan with Formula 3000- Group A- and Group C cars, he could afford it. He never lived there. After his death his parents furnished it. They still live there.

Roland was happy to return to Europe in 1994. He was relatively unknown there, but his debut in Formula 1 changed all that. His Simtek-Ford may have been ugly and slow, but Roland was very happy and proud. He didn't qualify in Brazil, but in Japan (Pacific) he finished 11th.

Then came Imola, april 30th, 1994. Rudolf and Margit Ratzenberger returned from their vacation in Mexico that day. Tired of the flight, Rudolf watched qualifying practice from the bed on the TV in their bedroom. Margit was unpacking the bags. Nearly falling asleep, Rudolf was awakened with a start. "It's Ratzenberger!", screamed the English Eurosport commentator, while the remains of a blue-purple racecar came to a rest. Crashed into a wall at, as proved later by telemetry, 314,9 km/h.

A deadly silence followed. Rudolf focussed his eyes on de close-up of Roland, begging for a sign of life. But his son's head didn't move. "I knew right away things were looking bad". He says it - five years after - at a drowling tone, a tear in his eye.

Margit didn't join the conversation. She still has a hard time when the bad memories are brought back up. "Half an hour after the crash, a friend of Roland's called from Imola, telling us he was pronounced clinically dead. All I could do was drive up to the mortuary in Bologna and collect his belongings."

Death. It's hiding most of the time, but it's always there. It's a tragical side of motorsport, but it also keeps it alive. Only when the drivers live, the sport dies. Rudolf and Margit accepted the profession Roland had chosen, but they never really understood. "He was obsessed with cars since he was four years old. We lived by a busy road, and Roland would always sit on the balcony, looking at the cars. Apparently he was born with this fascination."

They no longer could or wanted to keep Roland away from his passion. "His whole life was about motorsport." That fact was a consolement for his parents in the mourning process. "It may sound crude, but Roland died a happy man. It was his dream to drive in Formula 1, and he succeeded in doing so. That's why I can accept his death. Had he done something else, he wouldn't have been as happy as he was."

The death of Roland Ratzenberger shocked Formula 1, but when Ayrton Senna lost his life one day later, tears flowed all over the world. Three days of mourning were declared in Brazil and Senna received a state funeral that was transmitted live on TV all over the world. Now still, statues are reveiled in honour of Senna.

Ratzenberger was buried in silence by family, friends and a few colleagues. "I don't think that's odd, because Senna was a phenomenon and Roland a newcomer in Formula 1. Senna, too, was touched by Roland's death. He carried an Austrian flag with him during the race, which he was going to wave in honour of Roland when he would be on the podium after the race..."

Roland isn't completely forgotten. Every week two or three condoleances still come in. Rudolf walks to an end of the room where he made a special desk for the unwinding of his son's death. "I feel connected to him. This is the least I can do." Rudolf shows ornders where he keeps the mail. Letters, cards, drawings, photo's, poems. From men and women, childs and aged people. From everywhere possible. "I answer everything. We like it very much when people show interest and write consoling words."

Their son's death didn't turn them away from Formula 1. "I watch more often now than before." That it takes the memory back to april 30th, 1994 is unavoidable. "But I watch without emotions. Ofcourse Roland remains a part of our lives. But I deal with that differently now, because I have learnt to accept it."

One time the Ratzenbergers were at Imola to see the place where their son died. It was one year after the crash. Rudolf and Margit walked up to Villeneuve corner, where Roland lost control at top speed due to a collapsed front wing, and had to fight an unfair fight against a concrete wall. "People had put flowers there. It was a beautiful moment, because we felt this was Roland's life and passion."


Rudolf and Margit received invitements to return to Imola this weekend. To once more stand still at what happened five years ago, but they didn't feel that need. "We were at the memorial ceremony one time. We have one time got the chance to see, and above all, feel Roland's world. We have once seen the place of the accident. We don't want to wash away those memories with a new visit."

Rudolf has collected all the racing belongings in their basement. There are all the overalls in perfect order, all of his trophies shine, all his helmets tell the story of his career and there are two suitcases. As if Roland could walk in anytime. On the desk is a paper article, with a marked section: "That Roland would return to Salzburg was for sure. Only when was the question."
Much too early.

Dr. Dre

Absolutely, every time I hear someone talking about Senna's death I always mention Ratz, in fact I was surprised when Jim Rosenthal (pundit prostitute) mentioned him in the same breath as Senna at the weekend as it's usually the media who overlook him most.

Nice article, kudos.

ozpass

Those 'in the know' remember Roland Ratzenberger. In fact they have (or had a year or so ago) his BMW 318is Touring car in the Demon Tweaks showroom in Wrexham.

SouperComputer

yea, what a freaky, freaky weekend.

f1 hadnt even got pit lane speed limits!

mike65

I had'nt forgotten Ratzenburger either it was a very bad weekend and one could argue if only one driver had died that weekend that the many changes that followed might not have happened or at least not as quickly.

Mike.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Amnesiac_ie

Ratzenberger does get forgottne about... and it's sad but true... if his had been the only fatality that weekend I do not think the safety measures introduced would have been as widespread or as rapidly enforced.
Remember Barrichello's practice accident in the Jordan? VERY lucky to escape alive... Senna visited him in hospital... last time the two were together...

chernobyl

Originally posted by daveirl
Absolutely crazy weekend. Everything just went wrong. Didn't someones wheel come lose in the pit lane and fly up into the air too?

Wheels went flying at the start line crash <Lamy & Lehto > and also during a pit stop <Alboreto>. Spectators and a pit man <Ferrari> were injured.

The race start from Autosport 94:

After Ratzenberger's fatal accident and the incident involving Rubens Barrichello during qualifying, the tension hanging over the Imola circuit was almost tangible at the start of the race, and within moments of Senna snatching the initiative from Schumacher, and as Berger wreathed his rear wheels in smoke like a drag racer, the first deadly move unfolded. Lehto had stalled his Benetton and sat helpless on the grid. Prayers that no one would strike him went unanswered, and as we all tried to put images of Didier Pironi and Riccardo Paletti from our minds, car after car made phenomenal avoidances. None more so than Frentzen, whose reactions saved him as he jinked round the stricken B194. Others followed, but when Lamy arrived he was completely unsighted.

"As we left the grid the car I was behind - de Cesaris, I think it was - suddenly dived to the right," said Pedro. "I saw a space to the left and went for it. That's when I suddenly saw JJ and hit him. I had no chance to avoid him, because up until that point I hadn't been able to see that there was a stationary car on the grid at all."

Mercifully the Lotus struck the Benneton's left rear wheel with it's right front, rather than hitting it directly from behind the way Paletti's Osella had Pironi's Ferrari at Montreal in 1982. The impact nevertheless exploded the Enstone car's gearbox and broke the Lotus' engine, but as the latter shed it's right-hand wheels and the Benetton it's left rear, it absorbed some of the energy. The 107C slithered along the grass on the left-hand side of the track before then spinning back across the circuit, and Gachot just managed to avoid him.

We feared the worst, particularly bearing in mind JJ's recent neck injury, but the Finn was OK bar a badly bruised right arm. "What happened to me was nothing," he said, thinking of the events of the previous day. But JJ had dined with his friend Ratzenberger only days before in Monaco, and had travelled down with him to this race. His comeback was indeed a harrowing affair.

Lamy, meanwhile, had climbed swiftly out of his Lotus, himself unhurt, and went to apologise to JJ, as if any blame could be attached to either. But the greater hurt awaited him when he would learn the news of Senna, his great friend and mentor.

There was worse to come even from this incident. Wheels from the Lotus had been thrown over the debris fencing and into the crowd. One spectator had a miraculous escape as he ran and one wheel and tyre landed just behind him. Three others, and a policeman, received what was thankfully minor injuries. Incredibly, the race was not stopped.

Start Line Crash (use a dl manager[2mb])

chernobyl

9 years today..

May 1st 1994: Ayrton Senna left us
Imola 1994, a dark weekend for F1 [01/05/03 - 16:23]




Still in our memory...
Already nine years that this tragedy happened, yet nobody can forget it. On May 1st 1994, Ayrton Senna left us in the most tragic way. After getting pole position for the San Marino Grand Prix, the Brazilian was leading the race when a mechanical part of his Willliams broke, sending the car and its driver against a wall along the circuit with tremendous force.

Ayrton Senna would not survive the accident. The day before, Roland Ratzenberger was killed during qualifying, also a victim of mechanical failure. If one was a the peak of his career, the other one was just starting. Bad luck and destiny decided to unite them for this tragic weekend.

The youngest of you may not remember all the details of that terrible weekend which is one of the darkest Formula One has seen. Ayrton Senna died in front of millions of television viewers but other facts could have put Formula One in jeopardy. So many things happened during that horrifying weekend.

During Friday morning's qualifying session, Rubens Barrichello went off track violently, hitting the fence that protects the spectators. The little tyre wall did not stop the Jordan: it just went over it! Barrichello miraculously got away from this accident. He had a broken arm and a big fright, which is relatively little for an accident of that magnitude. The next day, Roland Ratzenberger goes off the track and hits a protection wall. The Austrian driver, who was competing in his first F1 season, was less fortunate than Barrichello, the impact killing him instantly. Complete astonishment in the paddocks. The small F1 world just discovered that the drivers could die even if the cars and the circuits were thought to be safe beyond reproach...

On Sunday May 1st 1994, the cars were on the grid but two drivers were missing: Barrichello because of his injury and of course the unfortunate Ratzenberger. J.J. Letho was making a come-back in Formula One after a terrible accident a few months earlier that injured his vertebra. His helmet had to be supported with wires to ease the pain inflicted in corners by lateral forces. When the start was given, the unfortunate Letho stalled. Pedro Lamy could not avoid him and the two cars collided severely, sending pieces of debris everywhere and injuring 8 people. The nightmare continued, the drivers now getting ready to go again, following the Safety Car for a new start.... the last in Ayrton Senna's career. Like if that was not enough, near the end of the race Alboreto's Minardi lost a wheel in the pits, injuring 5 people, 2 of them seriously.

What happened that weekend at Imola? Why so many disasters on a track that never seemed to be any more dangerous than the others? After this Grand Prix, the media all over the world was still wondering if Formula One would survive such a catastrophic weekend. On top of that, one question remained: How can the survivors of such a terrible situation take part in the third start, knowing that Senna was between life and death and that Ratzenberger's family had lost a loved one? Passion? Probably not. In this case, passion takes a second role to economic reasons. This first day of May was also the revelation that the television "show" was worth more than a human life.

Most of the spectators stayed until the end of this pitiful show. On that day, Schumacher won his third win of the season while Damon Hill, teammate of Senna, had the fastest lap in the race. Many years later the cause of the Brazilian's accident is still undetermined, at least officially. The responsibility of the accident is probably on the Williams team even if the Italian justice department was unable to find a guilty party. The Simtek team on the other hand never tried to hide its responsibility towards Ratzenberger and its family. Ayrton Senna deserved better than a legal battle between ruthless lawyers...

Can a dramatic weekend like this happen once again these days? We think not, it's impossible! Today's Formula One cars are much safer, there has been many improvements to safety... same line of thinking as in 1994 when the FIA took measure in the name of safety to slow down the cars. How? By banning electronic driving aids at the beginning of 1994. Troubling, isn't it?