“After 30 years, the memory is naturally a little more faded – says Ratzenberger senior – “But I still have a clear image of myself as I watch the test session on Eurosport and see the car crash; At first I didn't even realize it was Simtek.”
Rudolf wasn't much of a Formula 1 fan in 1994. He worked for a pension insurance organization and had many interests, but motorsport wasn't one of them. On April 30, 1994, he and his wife Margit had just returned home from vacation in Mexico. Ratzenberger turned on the television and watched the Imola qualifying live.
“When he stopped on the corner and I saw Roland's red-white-red helmet and his head moving, I actually already knew: 'It's over'. It was a terrible moment for me,” he recalls.
On April 4, 2024, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Roland's death, Rudolf was a guest on the YouTube channel Formel1.de. The virtual evening began with an interview conducted by Christian Nimmervoll, now visible on YouTube.
Afterwards, the channel members had the opportunity to talk to Rudolf Ratzenberger and ask him questions. After him, Peter Levay also spoke to talk about his documentary series divided into four parts, the last of which has just been published on YouTube. Only subscribers to the Formel1.de channel can see the full replay online.
Ratzenberger also remembers one of the rare phone calls between Roland, who lived in Japan, and his mother, who would have preferred her son not have run. Roland was already a star in the Land of the Rising Sun and had used the money he earned there to buy the apartment where his parents live today. And he told her that everything would be better in Formula 1.
Rudolf described the conversation mother and son had shortly before he entered Formula 1: “They spoke on the phone and when he told her he was going to enter F1, he told her: 'Mum, don't worry! F1 It's the safest category there is.” A short time later, Roland died.
In the Ratzenberger household, at first only Rudolf noticed the terrible moments. Margit was in the kitchen, as he recounted some time ago in an interview for Roland's 55th birthday.
“I couldn't tell him until they put it on the radio. It took my wife longer to accept the whole thing,” he says.
“The thing that makes me happy is that Roland has not been forgotten. Even if it is a terrible memory for the family. Like for example that of the hospital in Bologna, where I had to go to identify Roland. That is probably the most terrible memory of the whole affair.”
Roland Ratzenberger, Simtek S941
Photo credit: Sutton Images
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