When Roland Ratzenberger hit the wall at Villeneuve corner at Imola on April 30th 1994, Formula 1 was left to face its first competitive fatality since Ricardo Paletti at Montreal twelve years earlier. The sudden brutality of the accident fractured the base of Ratzenberger’s skull and sent shockwaves through an already nervous sport – Rubens Barrichello having crashed heavily the previous day at Variante Bassa, knocking him unconscious and breaking his nose.

The Austrian driver was taking his Nick Wirth designed Simtek machine out for a qualifying run, when he ran over a kerb hard during his warm-up lap, damaging the mountings of his front wing in the process. Travelling at approximately 190 mph, Ratzenberger’s front wing came apart approaching the corner, depriving the Simtek of all front-end downforce and with a sickening thud, hit the concrete wall head on.

Hollywood would desperately like to tell us that these large accidents happen in slow motion and that soft music rings in the background, dispersing the severe energy of the crash and the mangled machine as it falls gently, caressing the ground below.
Real life is not so unassuming. There was only ferocity, destruction and then the torn remains. It took a few seconds – it was all that was needed and no one should ever be reminded of the cold feeling when the car slid to a halt at the base of Tosa; the carbon-fibre tub buckled and the chassis compromised.

Born on the Fourth of July

On July 4th 1960, the United States celebrated Independence Day and had just added the Hawaiian star to the national flag, confirming the presence of a 50th state; while thousands of miles away in the city of Salzburg Austria, Roland Ratzenberger was born.

Ratzenberger was a relatively late starter in motor racing and was only getting his stride in his early-mid twenties when he himself in German Formula Ford in 1983. Fearing that his age could potentially get in his way, Ratzenberger would often inform teams that he was two years younger than he actually was, to make him more attractive to owners and sponsors alike and it was a tactic that worked fairly often. With forays into Austrian and Central European Formula Ford championships, he built himself a reputation as a likeable and hard working; if not the most formidable challenger in a given field.

With a couple of years racing behind him, Ratzenberger decided this was the best opportunity to enter the famous Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. The Austrian only needed two attempts to take a win at the race - claiming second at his first attempt and then winning in 1986 and it was enough to see Ratzenberger move up to British Formula 3.

Ratzenberger would become a popular figure during his brief time in Formula 3, as the Austrian gained minor fame when his children’s TV namesake Roland Rat invited the driver onto TV-am for a guest appearance.

It was not enough to push the Austrian on and two years in the Formula 3 Championship only brought rewards of a pair of 12th places overall. Roland would then spend the next few years, moving between British Formula 3000, the World Touring Car Championships and the British Touring Car Championships. As his thirtieth birthday approach, Ratzenberger’s Formula 1 dream was all but extinct.

When the 1990's started, it seemed as if Ratzenberger had nicely settled into a career of sportscar racing. Five attempts at the Le Mans 24 Hour Race had resulted in a best finish of fifth overall for SARD Racing in their Toyota 93 C-V, while also tackling the Japanese Sports Prototype Championship for the same squad. His stints in the Far East would see Ratzenberger join Formula Nippon for the 1992-93 seasons, finishing 7th and 11th respectively and picking up a pole position and a victory at Suzuka in the process. However, where some drivers would disappear completely in the motor racing minefield that is Japan, Ratzenberger occasionally “asked” journalists to ensure stories of his eastern exploits would make motorsports news back in Europe – even though he was thousands of miles away, Roland was keeping himself in the European frame.

The 33-year-old was signed by Simtek Racing in a five race deal to compete in the 1994 Formula 1 World Championship – against all odds, the Austrian had achieved his dream; however it did not have a good beginning. The Simtek S941 arrived very late, having to be completely reworked once active suspension was banned at the end of the 1993 season, leaving Wirth to produce a fairly basic and overweight car twinned with a Ford engine that was low on power. Come the first race of the season, Ratzenberger failed to qualify.

As the Grand Prix circus ventured to Aida for the second race of the year, Ratzenberger excelled at a circuit he knew well from his Formula Nippon days. The Austrian would line up last on the grid, some 1.8 seconds slower than his teammate David Brabham, but would bring the car home in 11th place, albeit some five laps down on eventual race winner, Michael Schumacher. Then there was Imola.

Imola

The following day, a sport still in shock due to Ratzenberger’s violent crash, would be badly rocked by the death of one of the most respected and finest names in the history of motor racing, Ayrton Senna. Add to that, a horrific start-line crash between JJ Lehto and Pedro Lamy that resulted in a dozen spectators being hurt by debris and a flying wheel and an accident in the pitlane involving Michele Alboreto’s Minardi that injured several mechanics all served to cast Ratzenberger’s crash further and further into the background. Sadly, many that think of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix often do not remember that Roland Ratzenberger too paid the ultimate price.

Things would not get better in Formula 1 – an accident at Monaco two weeks later left Karl Wendlinger in a coma and a few days later, Lamy would break both legs and an arm at a testing crash at Silverstone. At Barcelona, just over a week later, Ratzenberger’s replacement at Simtek – Andrea Montermini – would also suffer a violent crash, injuring his feet; initially there were greater worries as the nose box was wiped off the front of the car, leaving Montermini’s feet dangling limply from the car. Following this spate of accidents, Formula 1 would return to some level of normality.

The 1994 Formula 1 season has gone down in history as one of the most exciting, yet tragic in the history of the sport, but Roland would not live to see it. The rest of the year was filled with brilliant drives, controversies and fantastic developments. Nigel Mansell would make a historic return from Indycar and David Coulthard would emerge from his reserve driver role – both would drive in Senna’s place at various points in the season.

At Simtek, money continued to be tight and the heavily damaged chassis’ would only increase the cost and the pressure on the owners of the fledgling squad. Following Montermini’s brief drive for the team, Simtek propped up their second seat with drives from Jean-Marc Gounon, Domenico Schiattarella and the woeful Taki Inoue. By the middle of the 1995 season, Simtek had disappeared from Formula 1.

Quiet and Unassuming

On a personal level, I always knew racing could be dangerous, but Ratzenberger’s crash was the first fatality I had ever seen. Neither I nor anyone else expected the next one to be so soon. The following morning, Roland’s face was everywhere – all the newspaper’s, television shows, magazines that had never mentioned or heard of him declared themselves experts over night and in typical fashion, he was cast aside following Senna’s fatal crash. Ratzenberger’s accident did have one lasting legacy though; the following morning Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Gerhart Berger reformed the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) with the aim of kick-starting the drive for safety in the sport.

At Monaco, the Austrian flag was placed alongside Senna’s Brazilian flag on the grid and the Simtek ran with a tribute on its airbox for the rest of the season. Ratzenberger was also due to compete at his sixth Le Mans 24 Hours that summer for Toyota, but his place was taken in the end by Formula Nippon compatriot Eddie Irvine; yet Roland’s name stayed firmly on the door of the car – it came home in second place.

Sometimes in a busy, high-content media driven world, it’s easy to forget that Roland wasn’t just a racing driver – he was a person. Quiet and unassuming, Ratzenberger was a modern gentleman driver, although he was not backed by hoards of cash and sponsorship. Partnerships with ATS tyres, Barbara Behlau and other small entities during his career pushed him along and he worked hard to achieve some fairly commendable results.

By all accounts, Roland was warm, enthusiastic, intelligent and immensely popular; he was more a person than a racing driver and was most definitely not a corporate body that compete in the series today. He had achieved his dream of getting to Formula 1 and was tragically killed before he could fully reap the rewards.

Roland would have been 50 today.

• Length: 3:16 
• Size: 3.0 MB 
• File: day13.mp3 
• Transcript: day13.pdf 

Hello and welcome to the penultimate episode of the second series of Days that Shook the F1 World. We’ve looked at big accidents, big fines and big changes, now it’s time to look at another big day in F1’s history. Today we’re looking at 22nd October 1999.

In 1999, Michael Schumacher broke his leg and missed out on six races. It was obvious his championship chances were gone, but teammate Eddie Irvine kept the Ferrari flag flying in his absence. By the time Schumacher returned, at the Malaysian Grand Prix, the title battle was between Irvine and Hakkinen in the McLaren. It was a tough race for the Woking based team, with a couple of bad strategy calls, and Hakkinen ended up third, standing on the podium below two Ferrari drivers. Irvine took the win, with Schumacher doing everything he needed, but no more, to make it a 1-2.

It seemed as though the championship battle would go right down to the wire at the final race in Japan, that is until the FIA got involved. Upon checking the Ferrari cars for legality, some questionable bodywork was found. The team were called up for discussion, and before the evening was out, Irvine and Schumacher had been disqualified.

Ferrari weren’t about to take this lying down and instantly appealed. The case would go before the International Court of Appeal. In the intervening period, both Irvine and Hakkinen spoke out against the penalty, despite the fact that Mika was provisionally World Champion. Even Bernie Ecclestone spoke out and said the rules were too strict, and the whole thing was bad for the sport.

Nevertheless, the ICA convened and heard all the evidence. There was speculation that McLaren had tipped off the FIA to look closer at Ferrari’s bargeboard, as the cars were initially cleared, only to be recalled for a second glance. They strongly denied any such involvement, of course.

After mulling it over, the appeal process found in favour of Ferrari, and all points and positions from the Malaysian Grand Prix were reinstated. The FIA insisted that their measuring system was at fault, and admitted that the regulation was not clear enough. The FIA Technical Delegate admitted his mistake, and there was great debate amongst the drivers and teams.

Ferrari went on to change their bargeboard, causing Coulthard to question how it could be legal if they had to change it anyway. Jackie Stewart suggested that the faulty measuring system had governed all the races, and shouldn’t be used as an exception for one. Opinions flowed in from all over the globe, and yet, the championship had to continue for one more round.

At the Japanese Grand Prix, Hakkinen won the race, with the Ferrari boys taking the other two steps on the podium. Mika got the championship he had been fighting so hard for, whilst Irvine missed out but Ferrari scored yet another constructor’s title. So, it appears the FIA have been getting involved in championship battles for many years.

That’s it for this episode of Days that Shook the F1 World. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this scandal, or any of the other days we have touched upon so far this series. If you’ve got any ideas, feedback or suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments at Sidepodcast.com.

Theme music: Causeway, Change in My Lifetime.

• Length: 30:13 
• Size: 27.7 MB 
• File: peopleomnibus2.mp3 
• Transcript: peopleomnibus2.pdf 

Welcome to F1 People - Series 2. This is the omnibus edition of the series, which was seven short shows originally released over seven consecutive days. Now they are all gathered up in one place for easy listening.

Here are the links to the individual show notes:

1. Colin Chapman
2. Niki Lauda
3. Murray Walker
4. Eddie Irvine
5. Jean Alesi
6. Adrian Newey
7. Juan Manuel Fangio

This is the first omnibus edition we've tried, the idea came from a suggestion on Facebook by Dave Monks. I'd love to have your feedback - is it useful to have the information presented this way, or is it just clogging up your feeds with the same shows twice? Also if you missed a mini series, do you think this would be a good way to catch up or are the seven separate shows easier?

• Length: 3:51 
• Size: 3.6 MB 
• File: people11.mp3 
• Transcript: people11.pdf 

Welcome to Sidepodcast, this is the fourth episode in our latest mini-series F1 People, a series featuring seven important people in the world of Formula 1. So far we’ve looked at Colin Chapman, Niki Lauda, and Murray Walker. Today we’re focusing on Eddie Irvine.

Edmund Irvine Jr was born on the 10th November 1965 in County Down, Northern Ireland. His family were involved in motor racing, which got Irvine interested from a young age. He began in Formula Ford, and spent several years in the mid-field, with the occasional lucky podium. In his fourth year, he signed with a better team and started winning championships, meaning he was noticed by the WSR Formula Three team. He outperformed a car that couldn’t win by finishing on the podium 8 times.
Irvine worked through F3000 and the Japanese Formula Nippon series, and as he progressed, he was noticed. Eventually, F1 came calling, with a debut in 1993 for Jordan at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Having finally found his way into Formula 1, Irvine was determined to make the most of it. Despite being in a car that was often at the back of the grid, he would regularly try and push forward at the start, perhaps a little too hard. He started making a name for himself as a wild driver, one who could often cause early exits from races for both himself and the drivers around him. Some collisions actually led to him being banned for multiple races.

One particular incident involved Ayrton Senna, where Irvine allowed himself to be lapped, but then was frustrated when Senna didn’t move on to lap Damon Hill in front of him. Irvine took the initiative, unlapped himself and overtook Damon Hill. After the race, Irvine said Senna had simply been driving too slowly, so Senna walked into the Jordan Motorhome and punched Irvine in the face.

In 1996, Irvine was snapped up by Ferrari to team with Michael Schumacher, and played second fiddle to the champion’s number one status. During the first few years, Irvine couldn’t hold a candle to Schumacher’s performance, but he continued to fight hard and tamed his driving style. When Schumacher broke his leg in 1999, Eddie stepped up and took on the lead driver role, and he found himself fighting for the championship. Schumacher returned after six races away, and became the supportive second driver. In Malaysia that year, Schumacher allowed Irvine past him and held up Mika Hakkinen in the McLaren. There was a fiasco with McLaren accusing Ferrari of having illegal barge boards for that race – but that’s a story for another day. Ferrari were first disqualified, and then their points were reinstated, and it all came down to the last race that year. Unfortunately, Irvine did not manage to capture the title.

With Michael back to fighting fitness, Irvine decided he’d had enough of being second best, and left to join the fledgling Jaguar team. From 2000 to 2002, Irvine worked hard with the team, shared his knowledge, and developed the car but all he got in return was a slow and unreliable car. In 2003, the team’s financial problems began and Irvine announced his retirement from F1.

Since leaving the sport, Irvine has played himself in the 2004 film The Prince and Me, he’s been in talks to buy out or invest in several teams, and he’s built up a property portfolio worth millions. More recently, he’s been involved in television reality shows such as Soccer Aid on ITV and The Race on Sky One.

Although he started out being seen as a reckless individual, both on the racetrack and off it, as the F1 world became more corporate and bland, Irvine began to stand out as a real personality and someone who made the sport a little bit more fun. He spoke his mind, he raced as hard as he could, and whether you loved him or hated him, he added some colour to Formula 1.

That’s all for today’s episode of F1 People. Stay tuned as we have three more VIPs coming up this series, and until then you can leave your thoughts on Eddie at Sidepodcast.com.

Theme music: Natives of the New Dawn, People.