The consequences of his serious Monaco accident affected Karl Wendlinger so badly the following year that he ended his Formula 1 career at the end of 1995
A serious training accident at the 1994 Monaco Grand Prix changed everything for Karl Wendlinger. The Austrian was soon in a coma after the crash, but then he fought his way back into the Formula 1 cockpit: in December 1994, he took part in test drives to once again recommend himself for a seat at Sauber.
“Then the team said: ‘Heinz-Harald Frentzen is our number 1 driver. And you’ll be judged by his times.'”With Wendlinger, two other drivers were also applying for the second Sauber cockpit alongside Frentzen, so Wendlinger put his foot down – with success: ”I was faster than the others and close to Heinz-Harald. I don’t know how seriously he took the tests, but I was close. “Wendlinger thought he was back in the game: ”I didn’t have any problems with concentration or coordination or whatever. I sat in, felt comfortable and was able to deliver my performance. Then I also got the contract.”
A few months after his accident in Monaco, Wendlinger was back in business. But the accident came back to haunt him just a few weeks later – when he was testing the new Sauber car for 1995. Suddenly he could no longer concentrate on the point.
