1994 Pacific Grand Prix

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1994 Pacific Grand Prix
Race 2 of 16 in the 1994 Formula One World Championship
Circuit TI (Aida).png
Race details
Date17 April 1994
Official name I Pacific Grand Prix
Location TI Circuit
Aida, Japan
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 3.703 km (2.314 miles)
Distance 83 laps, 307.349 km (192.093 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver
 Williams-Renault
Time 1:10.218
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford
Time 1:14.023 on lap 10
Podium
First
 Benetton-Ford
Second
 Ferrari
Third
 Jordan-Hart
Lap leaders
  • 1994 Pacific Grand Prix

The 1994 Pacific Grand Prix (formally the I Pacific Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 17 April 1994 at the TI Circuit, Aida, Japan. It was the second race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.

Contents

The 83-lap race was won by German driver Michael Schumacher, driving a Benetton-Ford, after he started from second position. Brazilian Ayrton Senna took pole position in his Williams-Renault but retired following a first-corner collision with the Ferrari of Italian Nicola Larini, leaving Schumacher to lead all 83 laps. Austrian Gerhard Berger was second in the other Ferrari with another Brazilian, Rubens Barrichello, third in a Jordan-Hart, his and the Jordan team's first podium finish.

Background

The Pacific Grand Prix was the first of two races scheduled to be held in Japan in 1994 with the Japanese Grand Prix due to take place at Suzuka in October. The race at the new to the calendar TI Circuit acted as a replacement for the European Grand Prix at Donington Park that had been originally scheduled for this date but was later cancelled , though the European Grand Prix would later reappear on the calendar with the event taking place in early October at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain as a replacement for the Argentine Grand Prix. Ferrari driver Jean Alesi injured his back in a testing accident at Mugello, [1] while Jordan driver Eddie Irvine unsuccessfully appealed against the one-race ban handed to him for his involvement in the four-car accident in Brazil, this ban being increased to three races. [2] Nicola Larini would substitute for Alesi at the Pacific race, while Aguri Suzuki would take Irvine's place.

Qualifying report

Most drivers set their best qualifying times during Friday's session, the track conditions on Saturday being slower. Ayrton Senna took pole position in his Williams by 0.22 seconds from Michael Schumacher in the Benetton. Damon Hill was third in the other Williams with Mika Häkkinen fourth in the McLaren, followed by Gerhard Berger in the Ferrari and Martin Brundle in the other McLaren. The top ten was completed by Larini in the other Ferrari, Rubens Barrichello in the Jordan, Christian Fittipaldi in the Footwork and Jos Verstappen in the other Benetton. Suzuki was 20th in the other Jordan, while the two Simteks of David Brabham and Roland Ratzenberger were 25th and 26th respectively, condemning the two Pacifics of Bertrand Gachot and Paul Belmondo to non-qualification.

Qualifying classification

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
12 Flag of Brazil.svg Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 1:10.2181:19.304
25 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:10.440no time+0.222
30 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:10.7711:12.048+0.553
47 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 1:11.683no time+1.465
528 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:11.7441:12.184+1.526
68 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 1:12.351no time+2.133
727 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Ferrari 1:12.3725:32.428+2.154
814 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:12.4091:13.172+2.191
99 Flag of Brazil.svg Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 1:13.1691:12.444+2.226
106 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 1:12.5541:12.681+2.336
1130 Flag of Germany.svg Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 1:12.6861:12.797+2.468
124 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:13.0131:12.751+2.533
1310 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 1:12.8661:13.090+2.648
143 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:13.0131:13.411+2.795
1524 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 1:13.3421:13.016+2.798
1620 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 1:13.1111:13.550+2.893
1723 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:13.5291:13.756+3.311
1825 Flag of France.svg Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 1:13.6131:14.204+3.395
1929 Flag of Austria.svg Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 1:13.8551:14.163+3.637
2015 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Aguri Suzuki Jordan-Hart 1:14.0361:13.932+3.714
2119 Flag of Monaco.svg Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 1:14.1011:14.271+3.883
2226 Flag of France.svg Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 1:14.1061:14.667+3.888
2312 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:14.5381:14.424+4.206
2411 Flag of Portugal.svg Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:14.6571:15.146+4.439
2531 Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Brabham Simtek-Ford 1:14.9461:14.748+4.530
2632 Flag of Austria.svg Roland Ratzenberger Simtek-Ford no time1:16.536+6.318
DNQ34 Flag of France.svg Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 1:16.9271:18.571+6.709
DNQ33 Flag of France.svg Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 1:18.6711:17.450+7.232
Sources: [3] [4] [5]

Race report

Ayrton Senna was overtaken by Schumacher before the first corner and was then hit from behind by Mika Häkkinen and spun off the track. Nicola Larini also went off the track and crashed into Senna, causing race-ending damage to both cars. Mark Blundell also spun on the same corner after a collision at the apex of the first corner, stalling his car in the middle of the track. On lap 3 Damon Hill spun off trying to overtake Hakkinen, but rejoined and climbed back to second place before stopping with transmission failure on lap 49. As Jos Verstappen in the second Benetton retired after he spun off just as soon as he came out of the pits on lap 55 as he was 3 laps behind teammate Schumacher. Martin Brundle meanwhile was looking secure in 3rd place after Barrichello pitted before he retired shortly after with his engine overheating on lap 68. Alboreto and Wendlinger to whom were just behind the top 6 had collided and both went off into the gravel trap forcing both drivers to retire whilst the Minardi was trying to get past the Sauber at the time. Michael Schumacher won comfortably from Gerhard Berger and Rubens Barrichello. Roland Ratzenberger's 11th place would be the Austrian's only finish before his death during qualifying for the following Grand Prix at Imola.

Illegal driver aids

During the weekend, Ferrari test driver Nicola Larini (who had replaced the injured Jean Alesi for the early part of the season), leaked to the Italian media that he had used traction control (one of the banned for 1994 electronic driver aids) during the practice session for the race. Ferrari and Larini later denied the claims to the worldwide press. [6] The "leak" by Larini further raised suspicions about teams using illegal aids to help them in races. Further, after the first corner collision that put him out of the race, instead of going back to the Williams pit area, Ayrton Senna opted to sit on the wall on the outside of the turn and watch the cars for a number of laps to see if he could hear any noises that suggested traction control was being used illegally in the other cars. [7] Senna returned to the Williams pit area after about 10 laps had been completed, suspicious that the Benetton B194 was illegal. [8]

Race classification

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
15 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 831:46:01.693210
228 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 83+ 1:15.30056
314 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 82+ 1 lap84
49 Flag of Brazil.svg Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 82+ 1 lap93
530 Flag of Germany.svg Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 82+ 1 lap112
620 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 80+ 3 laps161
712 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 80+ 3 laps23 
811 Flag of Portugal.svg Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 79+ 4 laps24 
926 Flag of France.svg Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 78+ 5 laps22 
1025 Flag of France.svg Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 78+ 5 laps18 
1132 Flag of Austria.svg Roland Ratzenberger Simtek-Ford 78+ 5 laps26 
Ret10 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 69Engine/Spun off13 
Ret29 Flag of Austria.svg Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 69Collision damage19 
Ret24 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 69Collision15 
Ret8 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 67Overheating6 
Ret23 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 63Spun off17 
Ret6 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 54Spun off10 
Ret0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Damon Hill Williams-Renault 49Transmission3 
Ret15 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Aguri Suzuki Jordan-Hart 44Steering20 
Ret3 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 42Engine14 
Ret7 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 19Gearbox4 
Ret19 Flag of Monaco.svg Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 14Electrical21 
Ret31 Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Brabham Simtek-Ford 2Electrical25 
Ret2 Flag of Brazil.svg Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 0Collision1 
Ret27 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Ferrari 0Collision7 
Ret4 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 0Collision12 
Source: [9]

Championship standings after the race

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References

  1. ↑ "Larini to take Alesi's place". The Daily Telegraph . London. 8 April 1994. p. 35.
  2. ↑ Allsop, Derick (6 April 1994). "Motor Racing: Irvine's ban increased: FIA rejects appeal". The Independent . London. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  3. ↑ "Pacific Grand Prix – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  4. ↑ "Pacific Grand Prix – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  5. ↑ "1994 Pacific Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Collings, Timothy; Edworthy, Sarah (2002). The Daily Telegraph - The Formula One Years. SevenOaks. pp. 256–259. ISBN   1-86200-101-4.
  7. ↑ "Grand Prix Results: Pacific GP, 1994". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1. Archived from the original on 5 September 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  8. ↑ Saward, Joe (11 August 1994). "Globetrotter: Rocking the boat". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1. Archived from the original on 29 September 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  9. ↑ "1994 Pacific Grand Prix". formula1.com. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  10. 1 2 "Pacific 1994 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
Previous race:
1994 Brazilian Grand Prix 		FIA Formula One World Championship
1994 season 		Next race:
1994 San Marino Grand Prix
Previous race:
1963 Pacific Grand Prix 		Pacific Grand Prix Next race:
1995 Pacific Grand Prix
Awards
Preceded by
1993 European Grand Prix 		Formula One Promotional Trophy
for Race Promoter
1994 		Succeeded by
1995 Australian Grand Prix
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