Today is the 20th anniversary of the death of Roland Ratzenberger. He was killed during qualifying for the ill-fated 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, which claimed the life of Ayrton Senna the following day.
David Brabham was Ratzenberger’s teammate that day and he has shared his thoughts via the family website. Here’s a few selected quotes, make sure you follow the link below for the full story.
After seeing Ratzenberger’s wrecked car on track
I remember immediately changing my focus to get back to the pits and keep the tyres warm. This was a ridiculous thing to think, but my mind just didn’t want to think about what I had seen and focus on something else, like some kind of defence mechanism.
On the team’s reaction
We were completely devastated, shocked and felt numb. We pulled the shutter down in the pit garage and went to the back of the pits, unable to say much. We couldn’t really see the reaction from the rest of the paddock, being in a state of shock we couldn’t absorb what was going on.
On his decision to race
I remember jumping in the car for the start of the race and feeling uneasy, but thinking this is what I had to do. I can’t imagine what my wife was going through, seeing me go out there after what happened the day before. It must have been very painful for her.
On the immediate aftermath of Senna’s crash
We all had to stop on the pit straight and get out of our cars. You could see all the drivers were in a state of shock, word got round it was Senna and it didn’t sound good, although no one knew how bad. It took a while to start the race again, I’m not sure how many drivers really wanted to continue, but a driver finds it hard to say ‘no more racing’.
[Source: brabham.co.uk | Pic: Sutton Images]
