Roland Ratzenberger

† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1982–1990 in class) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded ?–1989 in class)

His campaign got off to a poor start at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Interlagos, where he failed to qualify. He got onto the grid for the next round at the TI Circuit in Aida, Japan, as his experience of the track from his touring car days meant he was the only driver in the race who had driven at the venue before. He finished 11th.

In 1994 he finally achieved his ambition of becoming a Formula One driver, signing a five-race deal with the new Simtek team run by Nick Wirth. Ratzenberger had signed the contract after gaining the support of a German living in Monaco and negotiations lasted from late 1993 to early 1994. He was partnered with David Brabham.

Ratzenberger was killed during qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix at the Imola circuit on Saturday 30 April 1994. He went off-track on the previous lap, damaging his front wing, but rather than come into the pits, he continued, since he was competing for the final grid spot. The high speed on the straight, and therefore the high downforce generated, finally broke the wing off, sending it under the car. His car failed to turn into the Villeneuve Corner and struck the outside wall at 314.9 km/h (195.7 mph). The car struck the unprotected wall with such force that the front wheel penetrated the cockpit. The deceleration caused a rupture in the aorta in addition to a basilar skull fracture (each of these injuries individually are fatal).

His death had one lasting legacy. On 1 May 1994, during the customary drivers' briefing, the remaining drivers agreed to the reformation of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, with Senna, Gerhard Berger and Michael Schumacher as its first directors. The association subsequently pressed for improvements to car and circuit safety in the wake of Imola and other serious crashes during the 1994 season; for 2003, the FIA mandated the use of the HANS device, designed to prevent the type of injury suffered by Ratzenberger.

He raced in the next four Le Mans, with Brun again in 1991 and with the SARD team in 1990, 1992 and 1993. His highest finish came in 1993, when he, Mauro Martini and Naoki Nagasaka finished fifth in a Toyota 93 C-V.

Ratzenberger tested a Lola T91/00 for Dick Simon Racing at Willow Springs in 1991.

Ratzenberger came very close to securing a drive with Jordan Grand Prix for the team's inaugural season in 1991. Negotiations were at a very advanced stage when Ratzenberger lost the financial support of a major sponsor.

In the 1990s, Ratzenberger switched to Japanese racing. He won one race each in 1990 and 1991 in the Japanese Sports Prototype Championship with the same SARD team he drove for at Le Mans. He also returned to touring car racing in the Japanese Touring Car Championship, finishing seventh in 1990 and 1991 in a BMW M3.

In 1989 he entered the British Formula 3000 series, finishing third overall.

Two years in British F3 yielded two 12th places in the championship with West Surrey Racing and Madgwick Motorsport. He also raced in other formulae than single seaters, once finishing second in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship driving a Team Schnitzer BMW M3. In 1988 he entered the final few rounds of the British Touring Car Championship in a class B BMW M3 for the Demon Tweeks team.

In 1985, he entered the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in England, finishing second. He returned in 1986, and won it before graduating to British Formula 3 the following season. While in the UK, he briefly gained fame for the similarity of his name to that of TV puppet Roland Rat, with whom he appeared in an edition of TV-am and whose branding briefly appeared on his car.

Ratzenberger was born in Salzburg, Austria. He began racing in German Formula Ford in 1983, and in 1985 won both the Austrian and Central European Formula Ford championships.

Ratzenberger was the first racing driver to lose his life at a grand prix weekend since the 1982 season, when Riccardo Paletti was killed at the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Ratzenberger was also the first driver to die as a result of a crash in an F1 car since Elio de Angelis during testing in 1986.

Roland Ratzenberger (German: [ˈʁoːlant ˈʁatsn̩bɛɐ̯ɡɐ] ; 4 July 1960 – 30 April 1994) was an Austrian racing driver who raced in sports prototype, British Formula 3000, Japanese Formula 3000 and Formula One. He died in a crash during qualifying for the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, the same event at which three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna died the following day. As a direct result of his death, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association was reformed.