I was 14. The memories are still vivid. Barrichello's accident was shown on Grandstand, and it was horrifying. He was extremely lucky in many ways.
I didn't see Saturday qualifying (it wasn't televised on the BBC, there were just sporadic reports on Grandstand - it was on Eurosport, but we didn't have it). My dad saw the report and told me. I didn't really take it in - Ratzenberger had only just had one race (he didn't qualify for Interlagos), so I knew nothing of him, and it didn't really affect me. I was sad, but I wasn't upset.
Sunday rolled over, everyone in a sombre mood. The start-line crash happened, but everyone climbed out (the BBC didn't know about injuries on the roof of the grandstand at that point) but you start thinking about the weekend and how many nasty accidents can you have over, what, 6 and a half hours of track action? The restart happened and finally things start going... then, onboard with Schumacher, Senna plunged off to the right. Murray's immediate voice still gets me now "and
Senna!" - not the voice of surprise that Senna has gone off, but more the voice of someone in a state of shock at just what's happened over the last 3 days. We'd obviously had far, far worse-looking accidents at that corner (Alboreto, Piquet and Berger) with bruising and small hand burns being the only injuries, but Senna didn't climb out. From the helicopter view you saw Senna's head move and I was filled with a sense of relief, which quickly ebbed away when his head didn't move again. The BBC then cut to their own cameras in the pitlane, showing bewildered zombies wandering around in pure disbelief - the man himself, the previous 2 days, everything. Then, somehow, Larrousse decided it would be a good idea to send Comas out onto track, entering Tamberello at full throttle, where the medical helicopter had landed and there were several medical vehicles, and the team were tending to Senna at the side of the track...
While by Italian law, the race should have never happened after Ratzenberger's crash, I was staggered it wasn't halted after Senna's. By that point people seemed to know or sense Senna was in great danger. I remember a lot of shaking my head at that point, but there were no tears. I hadn't liked Senna while he was battling with Mansell, but since Mansell had gone, Prost had taken the dominant Williams, then Senna had seemed the underdog against Schumacher (irrespective of reasons), I'd warmed massively to him... then he'd gone. You knew he had. Most of the actually racing was bit of a blur until Alboreto's pitstop, where once again you were plucked from bewilderment into a "what the actual
**** is happening" mind set. Thankfully the Ferrari mechanic injured (I seem to remember a broken leg) suffered nothing more.
After the race we sat waiting for news. I think it came on the news bulletin following Grandstand, with Senna being clinically dead. I feared it was coming, but I didn't take it in. I don't whether I couldn't or wouldn't, but I was sat in a daze. Eventually I went off to the farm where a few of us volunteered at that point - I needed something to do and be around people who didn't know. I still didn't cry though - I don't know why.
I remember the highlights show that night was cancelled and in it's place Steve Rider hosted a programme showing highlights of Senna's career and discussing the events of the weekend.
While it was a horrific weekend, with 2 drivers lost, we could have easily lost Barrichello, Lamy, the fans (policemen?) on the grandstand and the Ferrari mechanics in the pitlane too, but you can't be thankful that just 2 drivers lost their lives.
There was little in the way of positives in the 1994 season. Just 2 weeks later Wendlinger was plunged into a coma, Alesi had already broken his back, Lehto his neck, Brundle somehow avoided death at Interlagos due to Irvine's lunacy, Lamy was injured in a crash at Silverstone testing, Verstappen's pit fire, the poor marshal at Suzuka... I'm sure there's more. The only real positives were Mansell's two poles and a win (I was still following him in Indycar) and the Ferrari 412 T1.
RIP guys. RIP.
Why would he stop the race ?!
Bernie told Nick Wirth (owner and technical director of the Simtek team) to continue racing the other car with Brabham as that is what Ratzenberger would have wanted.
Read
David Brabham's excellent post. The FIA and his Simtek team said it was up to him whether to race or not. He chose to do the morning warmup, saw it lifted the team and he felt he had to race after that.
