Roland Ratzenberger started in Formula One with Simtek in 1994. He was qualifying for the third race of the season at Imola when a front wing failure caused by a previous off-track excursion threw him off the circuit at over 300 kmh. He hit the wall with such an impact that his neck was broken. His death was overshadowed by Ayrton Senna's fatal accident the following day, however when the Brazilian's overalls were removed an Austrian flag was found tucked in his sleeve. It is speculated that he would have waved the flag in tribute to Ratzenberger at the end of the race.