Barrichello suffers accident on Friday at the San Marino GP

The day April 29, 1994 should have been just another one of the regular activities of the Formula 1 in Imola, but it ended up being marked as the start of the darkest weekend in the history of the category. Before the Austrian’s fatal accidents Roland Ratzenberger it’s from Ayrton Sennawhich took place on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, Rubens Barrichello he almost joined the list of fatalities on the Italian circuit.

It was the third stage of 16 in total, the season had already accumulated passages through Brazilwhich, at the time, was the opening event, and at least Japanstill known as Pacific GPcarried out in the circuit Okayamain Aida. After two victories and 20 points added, Michael Schumacherfrom the Benettonarrived at Italy as leader of the championship, 13 goals ahead of Barrichello, who wore the colors of Jordan and was coming off a podium in the Japanese stage, the first of his career. Senna, in turn, remained at zero after abandoning the first two races.

➡️ Follow Lance! on WhatsApp and follow the main sports news in real time

In Interlagoson March 27, when he made his debut for Williams, the three-time world champion clocked 1min15s962 and secured pole position, being 0s328 faster than Schumacher. The following day, Ayrton led the race for 21 laps, when, while trying to overtake the German shortly after leaving the pits, he spun on the Junção hill and was stopped, having to abandon. Three weeks later, in Japan, history repeated itself: Senna overtook the future champion of that year and took first place on the grid, but ended up not passing the first corner after starting poorly and being touched in the rear by Mika Häkkinenfrom the McLarenwhich caused it to spin and get stuck in the gravel.

Without scoring points in the first two stages, Senna himself went so far as to say that the San Marino GP it was the “ground zero” of the championship. In search of a fourth title and seeing his main rival moving further away in the standings, the Brazilian driver, for the first time in 1994, considered Williams the favorite for victory. The optimism was justified by the extremely fast layout of the Imola track, where the average speed reached 210 km/h under race conditions, which suited the engine very well Renault RS6with ten cylinders, which occupied the rear of the FW16 — at the time, the most powerful in the category.

Vice-leader of the championship until then, Barrichello, in turn, was only in his second season in the premier class. Despite having achieved fourth place in Interlagos and a podium in the following race, the 21-year-old driver at the time did not have as many expectations for the stage in Imola, as the engine Hart that equipped the Jordan was not as powerful as the Ferrari, Renault It is Fordalthough the model 194 of the English team did not suffer from balance problems.

In any case, excited by the great results achieved and considered one of the great revelations of the beginning of that decade, Rubens wanted to call the shots and show that he had the potential to surprise the big names during that weekend. And, in fact, the Brazilian became the biggest character on Friday on the Italian circuit, but not for the reasons he expected so much.

Above any pretensions that Jordan might have had, Barrichello occupied a reasonable tenth position after the morning training sessions, 2.9 seconds behind the session leader, Senna. At that time, the F1 there was qualifying on Friday and Saturday, with each driver’s best time being considered to form the starting grid. Seeking his third pole of the season, Ayrton clocked 1min21s548 and was the fastest that afternoon, guaranteeing the position of honor for the San Marino GP, as the lap of 1min21s885 that Schumacher scored in the second part of qualifying, on Saturday, only served to put the German in second place.

Rubens, in turn, knowing he was capable of doing more, put on new tires and decided to take Jordan #14 to the limit in the search for a few tenths that could improve the mark and definitely guarantee him in the top-10 for the race. While negotiating each of the challenging and fast curves of the Imola circuit, dropping 0.8 seconds compared to the time achieved in the morning after completing the first sectors, Barrichello did not count on an excessively high curb in the Bassa variantbefore the main straight.

A 225 km/h, Rubens lost control of the car, climbed onto the curb and went flying. The Jordan went over the protective tire barrier, hit the protective screen in front of one of the stands, fell onto the grass on the side of the track and rolled over twice before coming to rest with its wheels up. A terrible crash. Due to the impact of his head against the cockpit, the Brazilian’s helmet broke.

Track inspectors soon arrived at the scene and provided immediate assistance, placing the single-seater in the correct position. Rubens was unconscious, and the medical team led by the veteran Sid Watkins It took around six minutes to remove the Brazilian from the car, all done with the utmost care to avoid any problems with the cervical spine.

According to the doctor, the pilot swallowed his tongue and was “dead for a few minutes”. The efficiency of the rescue team on the circuit was fundamental, given the violence of the crash, which had an impact of 90G — which corresponds to 90 times the driver’s weight, which, at the time, was 72kg. Shortly afterwards, Barrichello was taken to the racetrack’s medical center, where he underwent a computed tomography scan. It was there that he received a visit from Senna, who immediately left the Williams pits to closely monitor the situation.

Soon afterwards, Rubens was taken to the Maggiore hospital, in Bologna, 35 km away, where he was under observation. Hospitalized, the young pilot not only received a visit from Ayrton once again, but also from Christian Fittipaldithird Brazilian on the grid and competing for Footwork. On Saturday, after a surprising recovery, Barrichello was released and was present at the race track to closely monitor the activities.

Despite the force of the accident, fortunately Rubens left with ‘only’ a dislocated rib, some bruises and a small fracture in his nose, but enough to take him out of Sunday’s race. Unable to compete, the Brazilian returned to his home in Cambridge, England, where he lived at the time, from where he watched the rest of the weekend, including the fatal accidents involving Ratzenberger and Senna. Barrichello, in turn, returned to testing with Jordan a few days later, at Silverstone.