Roland Ratzenberger.

[Finnegan]

Had honestly never heard of him before.

I'm not a Formula 1 fanatic but it still surprises me it's something that had utterly passed me. Is it common to not know who he is or have I been dropping the ball for the last fifteen years?

For those like me he was an Austrian formula 1 driver who died at the same event (in practice the day before) as Ayrton Senna. The race went ahead anyway and in the remains of Senna's car they found he'd stashed an Austrian flag to wave in his honour had he won the race (as expected.)

I found that sincerely quite touching.

Edit: In the interests of respect it might be nice if we go at least two replies before someone posts an amusing picture of Roland Rat.

[potter3]

I knew he had crashed and died the day before. Didn't know about the flag though...

[lildave3]

I also hadn't known this.

[Asha]

Yeah, he was killed the day before Senna.

Was only his 3rd grand prix as well I believe. Really sad

[StanSP]

With no disrespect to him, I had honestly never heard of him before you mentioned him today.

[Jimmy]

he is often over shadowed, for obvious reasons by the death of Senna the next day, I had heard of this before though, just from reading stuff about Senna's death

[Asha]

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/597098/rolan...ger_imola_1994/

[Sparky]

Remember the incident well although i hadnt heard the story about the flag

[Finnegan]

You can tell just by looking at the way his head flops about his neck's utterly gone.

Nasty. Poor bloke.

[JimmyK]

Was a horrible weekend.

Barrichello had a pretty major accident as well early on, apparently awoke in hospital to find Senna at his bedside. Great guy.

[Jimmy]

Senna was a true legend, would of been the record holder for titles and race wins but for that accident and unlike a certain German his team never made his team mate, who had lead for the whole race stop on the last corner to hand him a win when he was already the best part of 30 points clear in the title contest

[Finnegan]

Senna was a gentleman off the track, a real hero, and a fantastic racer at that.

But I'm not sure he should be held in that much higher regard for his on-track antics as Schumacher. Senna wasn't without his controversies whilst racing, haha, ask Alain Prost!

[Darkzzz_]

I actually remember this, Although I was very young, I knew about the flag from wikipedia.

Senna was special, very very tragic.

[Jimmy]

Senna was a gentleman off the track, a real hero, and a fantastic racer at that.

But I'm not sure he should be held in that much higher regard for his on-track antics as Schumacher. Senna wasn't without his controversies whilst racing, haha, ask Alain Prost!

but where was someone the quality of Prost to cause Schumacher to do all that?

by the time he was winning every year Hill had left Williams and then retired, Villeneuve was a joke and Mika Häkkinen had lost interest so there was no-one to challenge him yet he was still a dirty cvvnt ...

as soon as Alonso beat him in a weaker car he packed his bags and left, Senna was the best of a great bunch Schumacher was in a bunch of so-so racers.

Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica, Massa, Kimi and possibly Vetel will make Formula 1 very interesting in the next few years, providing the FIA don't fock it up

[DJ Barry Hammond]

but where was someone the quality of Prost to cause Schumacher to do all that?

by the time he was winning every year Hill had left Williams and then retired, Villeneuve was a joke and Mika Häkkinen had lost interest so there was no-one to challenge him yet he was still a dirty cvvnt ...

as soon as Alonso beat him in a weaker car he packed his bags and left, Senna was the best of a great bunch Schumacher was in a bunch of so-so racers.

Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica, Massa, Kimi and possibly Vetel will make Formula 1 very interesting in the next few years, providing the FIA don't fock it up

Or there teams fock it up by providing them with a slow car!

[Asha]

but where was someone the quality of Prost to cause Schumacher to do all that?

by the time he was winning every year Hill had left Williams and then retired, Villeneuve was a joke and Mika Häkkinen had lost interest so there was no-one to challenge him yet he was still a dirty cvvnt ...

as soon as Alonso beat him in a weaker car he packed his bags and left, Senna was the best of a great bunch Schumacher was in a bunch of so-so racers.

Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica, Massa, Kimi and possibly Vetel will make Formula 1 very interesting in the next few years, providing the FIA don't fock it up

As much as I'll admit Schumacher had his controversy, he had many magic moments on the track, many good displays, good victories and to call him a 'so-so' racer is rediculous, he's at least up there with the best, as his many records and championships suggest.

[Legend_in_blue]

As much as I'll admit Schumacher had his controversy, he had many magic moments on the track, many good displays, good victories and to call him a 'so-so' racer is rediculous, he's at least up there with the best, as his many records and championships suggest.

That was what made watching F1 all the more entertaining.

There aren't any real characters left now.

Eddie Irvine was another.

[Jimmy]

As much as I'll admit Schumacher had his controversy, he had many magic moments on the track, many good displays, good victories and to call him a 'so-so' racer is rediculous, he's at least up there with the best, as his many records and championships suggest.

I didn't call HIM a so-so racer, I said the rest of the field were so-so racers, there was no-one anywhere near good enough to make things interesting

[Guest Bilo]

I do remember Ratzenberger's death but all the focus quickly moved onto the more famous Senna and Ratzenberger became largely forgotten. The video of him post-crash is truly horrible.

[Floating Fox]

I do remember Ratzenberger's death but all the focus quickly moved onto the more famous Senna and Ratzenberger became largely forgotten. The video of him post-crash is truly horrible.

Villenerve's crash is worse. Theres some horrifc crashes from the 70's etc.

[Guest Bilo]

Villenerve's crash is worse. Theres some horrifc crashes from the 70's etc.

Racing in the 60s and 70s was unbelievably dangerous. Deaths in F1 were sadly not that uncommon in those days. I think Ratzenberger's death was the first in around 15 years unless I'm mistaken and then Senna died the next day. A horrible weekend for motorsport.

[Munzie]

Ratzenberger was racing for a team called Simtek racing (Simulation Technology), the first F1 car to be completely designed by computer.

As it's been posted, the Saturday qualifying was completely overshadowed by the events during the race.

I didn't know about Senna carrying his flag but Ayrton's visit to see the injured Barrichello following his qualifying crash included discussions about how Senna would campaign for additional safety features for drivers...

Senna is my all-time hero. I was fortunate to see him race at Silverstone and I was there in the pouring rain at Donnington to witness sheer racing perfection. It's hard to believe he died almost 15 years ago.

Do the Williams team still carry his logo on their cars? I know they did for several years after.

[potter3]

Villenerve's crash is worse. Theres some horrifc crashes from the 70's etc.

Tom Pryce's was horrific, although it wasn't a 'crash.' The sound it makes when he hits him really does make me feel slightly nauseous.

[The Stig]

It was F1's worst weekend. But the death's of Senna and Ratzenberger have saved many other racing drivers life's due to the advances in safety technology that were forced up on the sport after their deaths.

[Brainy]

As much as I'll admit Schumacher had his controversy, he had many magic moments on the track, many good displays, good victories and to call him a 'so-so' racer is rediculous, he's at least up there with the best, as his many records and championships suggest.

If you're in to reading then I suggest you buy 'Michael Schumacher - the edge of greatness' by James Allen. It's brilliant. It changed my opinion of him.