The day after Roland Ratzenberger died during a crash with his Simtek, the circus prepared themselves to start the Grand Prix of San Marino at Imola. It was a sunny Sunday, and it seemed everyone was ready to race hoping no more accident would happen. Sadly it would become worse, during the start Lehto stalled his Benetton and Pedro Lamy in his Lotus hit the back of Letho’s car. It
Imola 1994, the San Marino Grand Prix, held in the weekend of 30th April would change the Formula One completely. There is only one word needed to describe this Grand Prix weekend… horrible! What happened in 1994 was something never seen in modern Formula One. In 1982 the last fatality happened with the dead of Riccardo Paletti in the Osella, just a few weeks after Gilles Villeneuve sadly died. Imola
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of that horrific race weekend and the passing of two F1 drivers there will be 3 separate blogs over the coming days. Tomorrow’s blog pays tribute to Roland Ratzenberger and how his accident helped spark an important safety legacy within F1. Wednesday’s blog will remember Ayrton Senna’s final 24 hours. However, today’s blog gives a more personal recollection. Mike Fairholme is well known and respected
The Flying Dutchman, Jos Verstappen, the father of current F1 star Max, arrived in the sport with a BANG. On his debut, the 1994 Brazilian GP, he arguably caused one of the most horrific looking multi car pileups ever. This had followed massive hype surrounding the 22-year old that he was F1’s next big thing. Some believed the pressure of debuting for one of F1’s top teams (Benetton) alongside the
In the aftermath of the 1994 season a lot of safety measures had been taken, and many more were announced to make the Formula One safer for the drivers. Several team did not make it into the 1995 season. Team Lotus left the Formula One as team, though the team would be used by Pacific Grand Prix under the name Pacific Team Lotus. Despite being on the entry list, the
1993 the year that Mansell left the Formula One, and Alain Prost became for the 4th time in his career the world champion. Sadly, it was also the year were several teams left the Formula One due financial issues. Brabham and Fondmetal had to withdraw from the grid, while it was certain that Andrea Moda would not re-appear on the grid for several reasons. Brabham – Galmer BT60C Brabham was
Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell dominated the Formula One in 1991 , which ended in favour of Ayrton Senna. 1991 was probably also the best season for the “smaller” teams such as Dallara, Brabham, Minardi, Lola and so on as they managed to score on regular base points. Eurobrunn and Onyx left the Formula One, while the Life went out of the Life Formula one team. On the other hand,
Super Nova Racing Limited, as the official name was of the team, was established in 1991 and competed in two seasons of the All Japanese Formula Three Championship before the team moved their headquarters in 1994 to England, to compete in Europe’s International Formula 3000 series. A year later, the first rumours appeared of Super Nova’s Formula One plans. From buying the bankrupted Team Lotus, to merging with the Arrows
