1994 Belgian Grand Prix

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1994 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 11 of 16 in the 1994 Formula One World Championship
Spa 1994.svg
Race details
Date28 August 1994
Official name LII Grand Prix de Belgique
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium [1]
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 7.001 km (4.350 miles)
Distance 44 laps, 308.044 km (191.410 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Jordan-Hart
Time 2:21.163
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Damon Hill Williams-Renault
Time 1:57.117 on lap 41 (lap record)
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second McLaren-Peugeot
Third Benetton-Ford
Lap leaders
  • 1994 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1994 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 28 August 1994 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, near the village of Francorchamps, Wallonia. It was the eleventh race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.

Contents

The 44-lap race was won by British driver Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault. After Brazilian Rubens Barrichello took the first pole position for the Jordan team, German Michael Schumacher crossed the finish line first in his Benetton-Ford, only to be disqualified due to excessive wear on the wooden skid block underneath his car. Hill was thus awarded the win, his third of the season, with Finn Mika Häkkinen second in a McLaren-Peugeot and Schumacher's Dutch teammate Jos Verstappen third.

This was the last time a race-winning driver was disqualified in Formula One until George Russell 30 years later at the same event.

Report

Background

Having deputised for a suspended Mika Häkkinen at McLaren at the previous race in Hungary, Philippe Alliot now returned to his old Larrousse team for this race, taking the place of Olivier Beretta. Meanwhile, the cash-strapped Lotus replaced Alessandro Zanardi with local driver Philippe Adams, who brought significant funding to the team.

Following the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at Imola earlier in the season, a chicane was installed at Eau Rouge to slow the cars.

Qualifying

Andrea de Cesaris exiting the Bus Stop chicane in his Sauber C13. 94Sauber.jpg
Andrea de Cesaris exiting the Bus Stop chicane in his Sauber C13.

The Friday qualifying session was held in wet but drying conditions. Towards the end of the session, the Jordan cars were sent out on slick tyres, and Rubens Barrichello duly put his car on provisional pole with teammate Eddie Irvine fourth. More rain fell on Saturday, with most of the drivers lapping several seconds slower than the day before, and only Christian Fittipaldi improving his time. Thus, Barrichello took the first pole position of his career and the first for Jordan. At 22 years and 98 days, Barrichello became the youngest ever F1 polesitter up to that point, beating the record set by Andrea de Cesaris at the 1982 United States Grand Prix West. [2]

Drivers' Championship leader Michael Schumacher was second in his Benetton, with Damon Hill third in his Williams. After Irvine came Jean Alesi in the Ferrari, Jos Verstappen in the second Benetton, David Coulthard in the second Williams and the returning Häkkinen, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Sauber and Pierluigi Martini in the Minardi completing the top ten.

Race

Local driver Philippe Adams spun his Lotus 109 out of the race on lap 16. Philippe Adams' Lotus 109.jpg
Local driver Philippe Adams spun his Lotus 109 out of the race on lap 16.

In dry conditions, Barrichello led away from Schumacher and a fast-starting Alesi. Schumacher passed Barrichello at Les Combes, and Alesi soon followed, only for his engine to fail on lap 3. With the Jordans struggling to hold on to track position against faster cars, Hill moved into second, ahead of Coulthard and Häkkinen. Gerhard Berger in the remaining Ferrari also retired with engine failure by lap 12. Philippe Adams who made his debut Grand Prix appearance at his home circuit soon spun out into the gravel trap, five laps after Berger retired.

Coulthard overtook teammate Hill during the first round of pit stops, while Barrichello moved back up to second before making his stop. On lap 19, Schumacher spun exiting Fagnes but retained the lead; the following lap, Barrichello spun into retirement at Pouhon and clipped the armco barrier giving his Jordan 194 terminal suspension damage. Martin Brundle moved into fifth in the second McLaren, before he himself had spun off and clipped the armco like Barrichello by lap 25.

When Schumacher and Hill made their second pit stops on lap 28, Coulthard led a lap for the first time in his F1 career. After making his own second stop, he remained ahead of Hill until the Williams team called him in on lap 37 to check his rear wing. He then developed gearbox problems and was passed by Häkkinen, Verstappen and Mark Blundell in the Tyrrell. On lap 40, Coulthard hit the back of Blundell's car going through La Source; both were able to continue, with Coulthard apologising to Blundell afterwards. Eddie Irvine was the final retirement with the result of an alternator failure with only three laps to go and was classified fourteenth, leaving thirteen runners left in the race up to the finish.

Though Hill set the fastest lap of the race on lap 41, Schumacher crossed the finish line some 13 seconds ahead, with Häkkinen a further 51 seconds back and Verstappen, Coulthard, Blundell and Morbidelli completing the top six.

Post-race

Bottom view of the Benetton B194. Benetton B194 bottom2 2019 Michael Schumacher Private Collection.jpg
Bottom view of the Benetton B194.
Michael Schumacher celebrating his race win before being disqualified. Michael Schumacher Belgian Grand Prix.jpg
Michael Schumacher celebrating his race win before being disqualified.

Shortly after the race, excessive wear was found on the wooden skid block on the underside of Schumacher's car. The skid block was a mandatory requirement on all cars, introduced two races before in Germany, to increase ride height and reduce ground effect advantages. Wear on the skid block of up to one millimetre was permitted; any greater would make the ride height too low and result in an illegal aerodynamic advantage. [3] The Benetton team claimed that the excessive wear resulted from Schumacher's spin on lap 19, but the stewards rejected the claim because of the wear pattern. Schumacher was thus disqualified and Hill awarded the victory, with Häkkinen second, Verstappen third, Coulthard fourth, Blundell fifth and Gianni Morbidelli sixth in the Footwork.

Schumacher's lead over Hill in the Drivers' Championship was reduced to 21 points with five races remaining.

Classification

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1 TimeQ2 TimeGap
114 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 2:21.163no time
25 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 2:21.4942:25.501+0.331
30 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Damon Hill Williams-Renault 2:21.6812:25.570+0.518
415 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 2:22.074no time+0.911
527 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Ferrari 2:22.2022:25.099+1.039
66 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 2:22.2182:28.576+1.055
72 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard Williams-Renault 2:22.3592:27.180+1.196
87 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 2:22.4412:28.997+1.278
930 Flag of Germany.svg Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 2:22.6342:28.026+1.471
1023 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 2:23.3262:30.896+2.163
1128 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 2:23.8952:29.391+2.732
124 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 2:24.0482:28.164+2.885
138 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 2:24.1172:28.428+2.954
1410 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 2:25.1142:31.403+3.951
1529 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Sauber-Mercedes 2:25.6952:30.475+4.532
1625 Flag of France.svg Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 2:26.0442:31.025+4.881
1726 Flag of France.svg Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 2:26.0792:31.501+4.916
1824 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 2:26.7382:32.286+5.575
1919 Flag of France.svg Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Ford 2:26.9012:31.350+5.738
2012 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 2:27.1552:32.610+5.992
2131 Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Brabham Simtek-Ford 2:27.2122:41.593+6.049
2220 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 2:28.1562:30.524+6.993
233 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 2:28.9792:29.925+7.816
249 Flag of Brazil.svg Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 16:56.1622:30.931+9.768
2532 Flag of France.svg Jean-Marc Gounon Simtek-Ford 2:31.7552:40.280+10.592
2611 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Philippe Adams Lotus-Mugen-Honda 2:33.8852:34.733+12.722
DNQ34 Flag of France.svg Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 2:34.5822:34.951+13.419
DNQ33 Flag of France.svg Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 2:35.729no time+14.566
Source: [4] [5] [6]

Race

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
10 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Damon Hill Williams-Renault 441:28:47.170310
27 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 44+ 51.38186
36 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 44+ 1:10.45364
42 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard Williams-Renault 44+ 1:45.78773
54 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 43+ 1 Lap122
610 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 43+ 1 Lap141
726 Flag of France.svg Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 43+ 1 Lap17 
823 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 43+ 1 Lap10 
924 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 43+ 1 Lap18 
1025 Flag of France.svg Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 42+ 2 Laps16 
1132 Flag of France.svg Jean-Marc Gounon Simtek-Ford 42+ 2 Laps25 
1212 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 41+ 3 Laps20 
1315 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 40Alternator4 
Ret9 Flag of Brazil.svg Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 33Engine24 
Ret31 Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Brabham Simtek-Ford 29Wheel21 
Ret29 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Sauber-Mercedes 27Throttle15 
Ret8 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 24Spun off13 
Ret14 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 19Spun off1 
Ret3 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 18Engine23 
Ret11 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Philippe Adams Lotus-Mugen-Honda 15Spun off26 
Ret28 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 11Engine11 
Ret19 Flag of France.svg Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Ford 11Engine19 
Ret30 Flag of Germany.svg Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 10Halfshaft9 
Ret20 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 3Engine22 
Ret27 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Ferrari 2Engine5 
DSQ5 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 44Worn skid block2 
Source: [7]

Championship standings after the race

References

  1. "1994 Belgian GP". Motor Sport . Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  2. "Statistics Drivers – Pole positions – By age". statsf1.com. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  3. "Grand Prix Results: Belgian GP, 1994". GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
  4. "Belgian GP Friday Qualifying". motorsport.com. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  5. "Belgian GP Saturday Qualifying". motorsport.com. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  6. "1994 Belgian GP – Qualifying". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  7. "1994 Belgian Grand Prix – Race Result". Formula1.com. 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Belgium 1994 – Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
Previous race:
1994 Hungarian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1994 season
Next race:
1994 Italian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1993 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1995 Belgian Grand Prix