David Brabham spoke out about the tragedy of his ex-teammate Ratzenberger.
30 years ago, on April 30, 1994, Simteca pilot Roland Ratzenberger died in qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix. The next day, three-time world champion Ayrton Senna passed away due to an accident in a race.


David Brabham, who raced with Ratzenberger for Simtek, shared his memories.


[At Imola] Roland was more comfortable in the car, but there were some minor problems with the brakes. I actually drove his car on Friday. The team asked me to do a couple of laps and said: You have experience with carbon brakes, can you check how accurate Roland`s words are? Three laps later I said: These brakes are crap, they need to be changed.


On Saturday he started to feel much more comfortable in the car, which was great. He was much closer to me - we were riding neck and neck, and that`s how it should have been, to be honest. Then the qualification began.


I was on the highway and saw parts scattered on the asphalt, parts of the body. The colors were the same as on my car. I realized it was Roland.


When I passed the turn, I saw him and saw the car. . . This is a very vivid moment in my memory, I still see it as clear as day. It seemed to me that I was looking at a person who was no longer with us.


I returned to the pits and, of course, everyone was in a state of panic. I drove past the car, so everyone asked me: What do you think? I remember my wife, Lisa, asking me, and I answered: I think he died.


Then the announcement came out that he had died, and it was a huge shock for everyone - not just the team, for the whole of F1-for everyone who loves F1. Surely I have never encountered anything like this.


The decision to race the next day was mine. The team said: No pressure, it`s up to you. At that moment I didn`t know what to do, to be honest - to continue or not.


Somewhere inside I thought that Roland would say: Come on, David, it`s good to play the fool. You are a racer - race, we are on our site for this. Perhaps the decision seemed strange to many people, who believed that they should pack up and go home as a sign of respect. But I thought that respect was the opposite - we must continue.


In practice, Rubens Barrichello had an accident, then Roland`s accident, then an incident at the start-finish line, in the pit lane, and finally Senna`s accident. . . Just a whirlwind of misfortunes that couldn`t fit into my head. I thought: What the hell is going on? For me it was the first such experience, as for many people.


Of course, Ayrton eclipsed Roland: these were completely different people, with different careers, different influence on fans around the world. But it`s great that people still want to remember him, because he also made up the fabric of F1 at that time. He was also a racer, he was also on the grid, and he lost his life doing what he loved.


In my opinion, Roland had great talent. It`s a shame we never saw what he`s really capable of, " David wrote.
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