RUBENS: MY SENNA HELL

don trememier carving great friend's coffin after my crash says Barrichello

- DANIEL MOXON

MEMORIES can fade over three decades but Rubens Barrichello never recalled the crash that killed his friend and mentor Ayrton Senna to begin with.

Three-time world champion Senna died 30 years ago today in a smash while racing in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in Italy.

Two days before, Barrichello had barely survived his own crash the first of three huge accidents on the darkest race weekend in Formula One's bloody history.

He was dead for several minutes before medics revived him. Roland Ratzenberger, whose fatal crash occurred in qualifying on the Saturday and Senna were not so lucky.

The impact suffered by Barrichello was so hard that he cannot remember those deadly accidents - or being a pallbearer at Senna's funeral.