Roland Ratzenberger tragically passed away after an accident during qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix, 31 years ago today. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Actually Rubens crashed Friday, Roland Saturday. Sunday, at the start, several laps before Ayrton's crash, JJLehto stalled and was hit by Pedro Lamy whose wheel flew into the grandstand and injured spectators. Then poor Senna crashed after the pace car released the pack. Later after the red flag and the race had resumed Alboreto pitted. As he left the pits one of his wheels came off and injured mechanics from another team. Truly the weekend from hell....
I remember that bad weekend. In addition to the death of Rasenberger, the accident of Rubens Barrichello and the death of Sena. I will remember that A Sena was personally involved for everyone's safety. I will never forget Ayrton's moving reconciliation on the radio with Alain Prost. At the end, this weekend will have changed F1 forever in terms of safety.
