A more hard-working than naturally gifted driver, he made his F1 debut in 1994. He convinced (horizontally) the mysterious billionaire Barbara Behlau to personally pay for his seat within the modest Simtek team until the Grand Prix. from Spain, or even as far as Canada if all goes well. For Roland, however, you will have to bite on his quid: the Simtek S941 is rustic and powered by an ancestral Cosworth V8. In addition, the Banbury team's strength is made up of a commando of 35 people. A paltry figure when we know that Ferrari had ten times more people in its ranks at the time.
As expected, the first Grand Prix contested in Brazil is difficult for the purple team which must face the elimination round of qualifying. At the time, there were only twenty-six places available on the Sunday grid for twenty-eight candidates. Unfortunately, Ratzenberger, whose car was completed at the last minute, was not qualified. Too bad, his big debut is postponed to the next Pacific Grand Prix in Aida. That's good, the neophyte knows this new F1 track by heart thanks to his experience acquired in Japan. Qualified, he took advantage of the numerous retirements to cross the finish line in eleventh place, five laps behind Michael Schumacher. When he is recognized at the airport for having participated in the Grand Prix, he is filled with happiness: not only is he racing in Formula 1 but he is also considered a real F1 driver in the eyes of the public.
Roland ardently wanted to drive an F1 car. You could see he had worked hard to get this far.
Roland arrives at Imola galvanized by his Japanese performance. For his third attempt, his first objective is to ensure his qualification for the race. Rubens Barrichello's crash during Friday practice helps him somewhat since he only has to beat one car to get his Sunday ticket. But on Saturday, Bertrand Gachot managed to hoist his Pacific in front of the No. 32 Simtek and Paul Belmondo threatened on the other Pacific. Out of the question for the valiant Austrian to let this happen, he goes back to coal. He also confided to his engineer Humphrey Corbett: “I'm really doing things I shouldn't be doing with this car. I need to calm down…”
Roland takes over the track. Using violence, he climbed a curb in Acque Minerali, damaging his front wing in the process. But rather than returning to the pits to have his machine checked, he leaves with the knife between his teeth for a second quick lap. What happens next is terrible. Fully loaded on the long straight of the Italian circuit, the appendix shatters and Roland, passenger of a crazy car, crashes against the rail of the Villeneuve bend at more than 300 km/h. The violence of the shock is impressive, the carbon Kevlar structure literally burst with the impact. The doctors intervene on the track but it is too late. The unfortunate Roland Ratzenberger was killed instantly. In the stands, everyone remains speechless: Death, who had not struck since the 1982 Montreal Grand Prix and Riccardo Paletti's accident, has made his appearance again in F1.
The death of the rookie was a terrible blow to the microcosm of F1. There were so many miracles in the discipline that we ended up thinking that we could no longer kill ourselves. Bertrand Gachot, who was his teammate in Formula Ford and Formula 3, said of him just after the announcement of his death: “He was someone who really had the will to succeed. At the time, he slept above his workshop or in a very small caravan. He prepared his cars himself, he was always full of grease. And he was someone who really wanted to drive an F1 car, you could tell he had worked hard to get there, it didn't come on a platter..
Ayrton Senna took the shock very badly, even hesitating not to take part in the race the next day. As for the terribly shaken Simtek team, it continued the adventure as best it could until financial asphyxiation on the evening of the 1995 Monaco GP. With a special inscription on the air boxes: “For Roland”.
