Monday 28 April 2014

San Marino 1994 - The weekend that changed Formula One forever Part 1

(www.bbc.co,uk)

The weekend of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix started out like any other. Nobody in Formula One could have foreseen the events that would change the course of the sport forever. On Friday morning practice got underway as it normally did at every Grand Prix and everything was going well until the red flag's came out.

Jordan's Ruben's Barrichello, who had made his debut for the the Silverstone based team in South Africa the previous year was involved in an extremely violent crash. 

The Brazilian's car was launched into the air at over 150 MPH and flew into the tyre barriers at the side of the circuit, his Jordan car came to rest upside down and was put right side up the marshals at the side of the track. Fortunately the Brazilian escaped unscathed however he did not part in the Grand Prix on the Sunday and returned to racing for the following round of the championship in Monaco.

The left front suspension of the Jordan 194 failed and fortunately for Barrichello his car went sideways into the barriers and as the crash happened he managed to apply the brakes which meant that the the impact was slightly less but still extremely violent. 

The Brazilian did not take part in the San Marino Grand Prix following his accident however he went on to finish the 1994 season in 6th place in the driver's championship, 5 points behind Ferrari's Jean Alesi. 

©Ben Johnston 2014






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