21 years since the deaths of Senna and Ratzenberger

Author of the article: , published on May 1, 2015.

Just like every year, Formula One fans remember the tragic May Day weekend of 1994 at the May Day bonfires, in which Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna lost their lives.

21 years ago, we witnessed one of the most tragic weekends in the history of Formula One in Imola. As early as Friday, Rubens Barrichello had a bad accident, jumping over the curb and crashing hard into a protective fence made of rubber. Fortunately, the Brazilian only broke his nose.

This was followed by the shocking loss of Roland Ratzenberger on Saturday in the qualifiers. In the 1994 season, the Austrian finally managed to realize his dreams and compete in Formula One. Otherwise, he won a contract with the Simtek team for only five races. He failed to qualify for the first of these in Brazil, as he was eliminated in the qualifiers. He drove the first, as well as unfortunately the last, race in Aida, Japan, which he finished in 11th place.

Ratzenberger, 34, died Saturday in qualifying for the San Marino GP. In one of the fast laps, he drove off the track and injured his front wings. But he wanted to perform in the race so badly that he decided to continue on the track with a broken wing. But on the plane, at high speed, the wings fell off and got stuck under the car. Roland was no longer able to steer the car into a bend and collided with a concrete wall along the track at almost 315km / h.

It was the first death among racers since 1982, when Riccardo Paletti died at the Canadian Grand Prix, and the first among Formula One racers since 1986, when Elio de Angelis was fatally injured in tests.

Barely 24 hours later, after just seven laps of the race, Ayrton Senna, a popular Brazilian, a role model for many of today's racers, who won 41 races in his Formula One career and celebrated 3 world titles, was fatally injured. An Austrian flag was accidentally found in a Brazilian car. It turned out that Senna, in the event of being ranked in the top three, wanted to unfurl the flag of his homeland on the winners' stage in honor of Ratzenberger.

The deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna were marked at the next race in Monaco. The first starting places were empty, and the Austrian and Brazilian flags were painted on the places where the car would stand.

These were the last victims in Formula One to date. They served as a reminder and initiative to increase the safety of Formula One cars. In 2003, the use of the HANS system, which prevents injuries such as those suffered by Ratzenberger, became mandatory, and this was only one of the safety changes.

If you wish, you can donate to us quickly and securely via PayPal. Every contribution helps us, your team World of Speed!

You can donate at this link ->Donate