BEYOND THE GRID: Karl Wendlinger on his 1994 Monaco crash, a spirited F1 comeback and racing alongside Schumacher

Another week means another episode of the Beyond The Grid podcast, and this time Austrian racing star Karl Wendlinger stopped by for a chat with Tom Clarkson about his whirlwind F1 career.

Some 30 years ago, Wendlinger’s stock in the top echelon was on the up, having gone from debuting with Leyton House at the tail-end of the 1991 season to landing his first points with March in 1992 and then scoring a hatful more with Sauber through 1993.

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But it all changed during first practice for the 1994 Monaco Grand Prix when, just a couple of weeks after Ayrton Senna and fellow countryman Roland Ratzenberger had been killed at Imola, Wendlinger lost control of his car as he approached the Nouvelle Chicane and slammed into the barriers.

Ruled out of action for the rest of the season by that terrifying incident, Wendlinger’s path to recovery and regaining racing fitness was a long and arduous one, but he pushed on to make a remarkable return a year later.

Unsurprisingly, though, he was not the same driver as before, and his F1 journey concluded at the end of the 1995 season.

In an open and honest conversation with Tom Clarkson, Wendlinger talks in great detail about the crash, why he still doesn’t know the cause, how it affected him physically and mentally, what motivated him to race again, and how he processed leaving the sport.

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Plus, he remembers coming through the Mercedes junior programme with a certain Michael Schumacher, and the warm welcome the legendary Senna gave him when he first arrived on the F1 grid.

To listen to this week’s episode of Beyond The Grid, simply hit go on the audio player above or click here to listen via your preferred podcasting platform.