Rubens Barrichello explains why he thinks his horror crash at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix happened

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Rubens Barrichello enjoyed an impressive career at the sharp end of the grid in Formula 1 racing for Ferrari, but in the early days, he made his debut with Jordan.

During the 1994 season, he was billed as the next big thing to come out of Brazil and to potentially follow in the footsteps of the great Ayrton Senna, whose career was entering its formative years after three titles.

Remarkably, Barrichello was the lead Brazilian driver in the championship following his first career podium in Brazil and latterly Japan. At this stage, Senna was on zero points after spinning off at Sao Paulo and then getting into an incident at the start of the race in Japan with Mika Hakkinen.

They entered the next round at Imola, which would become one of the darkest weekends in F1 history. There was a forwarning leading up to the fatal crashes of Roland Ratzenberger and Senna which involved Barrichello, and the Brazilian recalled what he thinks caused the high-speed accident when speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast.

Rubens Barrichello was ‘trying too hard’ when his Imola crash happened

Back in 1994, F1’s qualifying system was a session apiece on Friday and Saturday. Barrichello suffered from a shocking crash when he was nearing the end of his lap and hit the kerb at the Variante Bassa.

His Jordan was launched into the air and catapulted into the tyre barrier at 140mph, knocking Barrichello unconscious. Marshals attended the scene and overturned his car, with the Brazilian’s head slumped to the side.

After being attended to by the media team, Barrichello was transported to the nearby medical centre where he regained consciousness. Professor Sid Watkins, F1’s first medical delegate, had saved his life after stopping his tongue from blocking his airway.

Barrichello recalls the incident and theorises why he thinks the incident happened, while also recalling the aftermath with technical director Gary Anderson.

“What really happened in Imola, it was something that I was trying too hard. We don’t know if something broke on the car or anything like this, but I think I just went in too fast into that corner,” said Barrichello.

“Then a week after Gary Anderson called and said ‘Are you ready to jump into the car?’ and then I flew back in Brazil because we were in Brazil for Ayrton’s funeral. I decided in myself that I either had to do my best lap time around Silverstone or I’m going to crash big time. So I had to confront my fear. I had to see if I was afraid of anything. Thank god, I did my best time in Silverstone.”

What happened after Rubens Barrichello’s accident?

There was a feeling among those in the F1 paddock that Barrichello had a lucky escape, considering the nature of the crash and him only walking away with cuts and bruises.

Instead, it would be the opposite, with Ratzenberger crashing on the Saturday after his front wing failed on a qualifying attempt approaching the fastest part of the track – the 200mph Villeneuve kink.

The failure caused his front wing to be lodged underneath the car and effectively turned the Austrian into a passenger, as he careered into the barrier. Ratzeberger suffered a basilar skull fracture, uncommon in motorsport now thanks to the HANS Device, and was killed instantly on impact.

A mere 24 hours later, Senna would be found unconscious in the wreckage of his FW16 after a high-speed crash at Tamburello corner.