San Marino Grand Prix 1994 : Ayrton Senna, Roland Ratzenberger, and how the San Marino changed Formula 1.

Roland Ratzenberger's passing was a tragedy ultimately overshadowed by the death of 3 times world champion Ayrton Senna, who would suffer the same fate just 24 hours later.

But his teammate Brabham remembers a man with a passion for racing, a genuine personality and someone who inadvertently turbo-charged a push for driver safety which has had immeasurably positive consequences.

Ratzenberger breaks through with Brabham at Simtek:

Ratzenberger's long road to F1 finally culminated when he was handed a five-race contract with Simtek in 1994.

The 33-year-old was finally given his chance after years of persistence, teaming with Brabham, the son of three-time world champion Jack.

"I knew of Roland well before I worked with him at Simtek and that's because he was quite a successful driver in many different disciplines," Brabham said.

"He always came across as someone very versatile — driving touring cars, sports cars, racing in Japan. It was obviously great to see he had an opportunity at a relatively late age to get to his dream which was in Formula 1."

In the back-marker Simtek, Ratzenberger failed to qualify for the opening race in Brazil but did qualify and complete the Pacific Grand Prix, held in Japan.

"You could see it on his face. He was just so, so excited to be in Formula 1. He had worked very hard in the background and never gave up hope that he was going to be in Formula 1. I think that was the big thing, he never gave up on that dream."

Ratzenberger's crash shocks the F1 world:

The weekend started ominously, with Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello suffering a high-speed crash during practice on Friday, sending him to hospital. 

The first of two fatal accidents that weekend would come on the Saturday during qualifying.

Ratzenberger's front wing gave way while he was travelling at high speed, suspected of being damaged during an earlier lap.

The wing was lodged under the car lifting the front wheels, taking away Ratzenberger's ability to steer and most of his braking.

The Austrian was helpless as his car ploughed into a concrete wall at speeds around 300kph.

"Once we learnt what happened to Roland everybody obviously down the pit lane, not just us, were in a state of shock — and the whole world was when that news came out," Brabham said.

"It was something we didn’t hear that often, certainly not compared to my father’s day. Formula 1 had been pretty safe for a while up until that point."

Ratzenberger's death was the first during a grand prix weekend in more than a decade.

Almost a generation of F1 fans had not dealt with such a tragedy, and it weighed heavily in the paddock.

"I had the responsibility I guess to make the decision of what we do," Brabham said, talking about whether Simtek would race on the Sunday.

"You don't know what the hell is going on … you're mind's in places it's never been before and it was very difficult to know how to deal with the situation because everything was so 

The team made the decision to race the following day, something Brabham said the team felt Roland would have wanted.

The race began with a major crash, which was later followed by the crash of Senna, leading to his death.

"Each of these impacts, from Reuben's, to Roland's to the start and then to Ayrton's, they were violent accidents.

"They were like four violent accidents all happening very close to one another which I think was hard and difficult for people to comprehend.

"It did take time. Because it was a new experience it was difficult to know how to process it properly. I think it affected not just me, I think everyone on the grid. It affected a lot of junior drivers.

"I think it took a little bit of time for people to feel 100% comfortable again racing at full speed. I know it affected me for several races afterwards, because your mind's not in the place it was before and you're trying to get it back to that place."

Driver safety becomes Roland's lasting legacy:

Thirty years on from one of F1's darkest hours, the sport has a very different complexion.

Driver safety is more of a focal point for organisers than ever before. 

Safety features on a Formula 1 car are better than ever before — with the protective halo over the driver's cockpit the most recognisable.

The sport has not been without tragedy since 1994, with Jules Bianchi and Anthoine Hubert both being involved in fatal crashes during F1 weekends.

However, Brabham says the improvements to safety made since the deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna potentially saved many lives.

"That was the start of a change that we are still experiencing today because it really motivated a lot of people to improve the safety of the cars," he said.

"Obviously losing Ayrton and Roland was pretty horrific, the positive out of that is that we’ve probably saved a lot more drivers because of the safety consciousness shift that happened after that weekend."

Safety improvements across all aspects of F1 have been credited with protecting drivers over recent seasons, with Lewis Hamilton and Romain Grosjean escaping serious injury from major incidents.

It is these moments — when drivers are able to walk away from dangerous incidents — that Brabham believes is the enduring legacy of Ratzenberger.

"There is always a silver lining, somewhere in a dark cloud, and the silver lining out of all of that was the safety change that went on," he said.

"When people talk about that weekend, they do talk about Ayrton a lot, but of course in the back of their mind they know someone else died, so they talk about Roland as well.

"So Roland’s legacy is in the slipstream of Ayrton, so it’ll never go away, So I see that as a positive."

Original Story By | Michael Doyle