“Ayrton Broke Down and Cried”: F1 Driver’s Horrifying Death Day Before His Own Left Senna Devastated

The 1994 F1 season is surely one to forget for all motorsport fans worldwide. The season marked not one, but two deaths of F1 drivers and this has never happened before or never again. The season, especially the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix ended F1’s eight years of no casualties after Elio de Angelis’ death while testing for Brabham at Circuit Paul Ricard in 1986. However, it all started with Roland Ratzenberger’s death during qualifying, which devastated Ayrton Senna.

Tom Rubython in his The Life of Senna: The Biography of Ayrton Senna unraveled the thorough details about this when Senna broke down to Sid Watkins upon hearing Ratzenberger’s death. Watkins, a late English neurosurgeon said on this per the book, “Ayrton broke down and cried on my shoulder.”

The San Marino race in 1994 was the second race for Ratzenberger, who was driving for the Simtek racing team. During the qualification, the late Austrian hit the barrier at a speed of 314.9 kilometers per hour and was immediately unconscious. TV cameras showed that the driver’s head slumped lifelessly on the side of the cockpit.

Notably, Ratzenberger was clinically dead by the time he was attended by Watkins, who worked as FIA’s medical director. Watkins and his team arrived 25 seconds later to take a look at Ratzenberger and check his pulse, but it was a little too late then.

Senna, who was on track at that time for the qualification rushed to see Ratzenberger but was late. By that time, the late Austrian was already taken to the hospital in the ambulance. In the end, it was the unfortunate end of Roland Ratzenberger.

Ayrton Senna did not have a good start to the fatal 1994 San Marino GP

The start of the San Marino GP had been a nightmare for Ayrton Senna. It all started with Rubens Barrichello’s crash during practice and ended with Senna’s death. In between them, it was Ratzenberger who also lost his life after his Simtek crashed against the wall at a high speed.

Damon Hill, describing the accident, said in the book, “As I went by, I had a strong sense of foreboding about his condition because there was so much destruction. With Barrichello, we had been lucky. This time it was clear that poor Roland was not going to be let off so easily.”

Notably, Senna was also left mentally shaken after he witnessed Barrichello’s crash. The Brazilian former driver saw his car launch from the tarmac and hit the wall at a high speed and suffered injury.

Watching the images of the crash later on made Senna very nervous and he began to cry. Furthermore, Ayrton Senna also cried to his then-girlfriend Adriane after Barrichello’s crash and it did not change after he witnessed the death of Roland Ratzenberger. In the end, it was Ayrton Senna who did not survive his crash during the race at the deadly Tamburello corner.