1994 Portuguese Grand Prix

1994 Portuguese Grand Prix
Race 13 of 16 in the 1994 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	25 September 1994
Official name	XXIII Grande Premio de Portugal
Location	Autódromo do Estoril Estoril, Portugal
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.360 km (2.725 miles)
Distance	71 laps, 309.560 km (193.475 miles)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari
Time	1:20.608
Fastest lap
Driver	David Coulthard	Williams-Renault
Time	1:22.446 on lap 12
Podium
First	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Second	David Coulthard	Williams-Renault
Third	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Peugeot
Lap leaders

The 1994 Portuguese Grand Prix (formally the XXIII Grande Premio de Portugal) was a Formula One motor race held at Estoril on 25 September 1994. It was the thirteenth race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.

The 71-lap race was won by Briton Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault. Teammate David Coulthard finished second, achieving his first podium finish, with Finn Mika Häkkinen third in a McLaren-Peugeot. The win, Hill's fifth of the season and third in succession, enabled him to move within one point of Drivers' Championship leader, German Michael Schumacher, while the 1–2 finish allowed Williams to take over the lead of the Constructors' Championship from Benetton.

Background

With Michael Schumacher still banned, the Benetton team continued to run JJ Lehto alongside Jos Verstappen, while the financially-troubled Lotus team brought back Philippe Adams to partner Johnny Herbert.

Qualifying report

During the Friday qualifying session, Eddie Irvine spun his Jordan and in the process collided with Damon Hill's Williams. Hill's car flipped upside down, but he escaped unhurt. ^[1] Irvine was warned a similar incident would see his Super Licence revoked. ^[2]

Gerhard Berger took pole position, his second of the season and the third for Ferrari, by 0.158 seconds from Hill. On the second row of the grid were David Coulthard in the other Williams and Mika Häkkinen in the McLaren, and on the third row were Jean Alesi in the other Ferrari and Ukyo Katayama in the Tyrrell. The top ten was completed by Martin Brundle in the other McLaren, Rubens Barrichello in the other Jordan, Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Sauber, and Verstappen. Once again, the Pacifics of Bertrand Gachot and Paul Belmondo were the two non-qualifiers.

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Gap
1	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:20.608	1:21.863
2	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	1:20.803	1:20.766	+0.158
3	2	David Coulthard	Williams-Renault	1:21.120	1:21.033	+0.425
4	7	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Peugeot	1:21.251	1:21.700	+0.643
5	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:21.517	1:22.086	+0.909
6	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:21.590	4:03.441	+0.982
7	8	Martin Brundle	McLaren-Peugeot	1:21.656	1:22.035	+1.048
8	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	1:21.839	1:21.796	+1.188
9	30	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Mercedes	1:22.795	1:21.921	+1.313
10	6	Jos Verstappen	Benetton-Ford	1:22.614	1:22.000	+1.392
11	9	Christian Fittipaldi	Footwork-Ford	1:22.636	1:22.132	+1.524
12	4	Mark Blundell	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:22.288	1:22.971	+1.680
13	15	Eddie Irvine	Jordan-Hart	1:23.411	1:22.294	+1.686
14	5	JJ Lehto	Benetton-Ford	1:22.613	1:22.369	+1.761
15	26	Olivier Panis	Ligier-Renault	1:23.711	1:22.672	+2.064
16	10	Gianni Morbidelli	Footwork-Ford	1:22.974	1:22.756	+2.148
17	29	Andrea de Cesaris	Sauber-Mercedes	1:22.885	1:22.888	+2.277
18	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:23.243	1:23.464	+2.635
19	24	Michele Alboreto	Minardi-Ford	1:23.364	1:24.186	+2.756
20	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Mugen-Honda	no time	1:23.408	+2.800
21	25	Éric Bernard	Ligier-Renault	1:25.039	1:23.699	+3.091
22	20	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Ford	1:24.192	1:24.306	+3.584
23	19	Yannick Dalmas	Larrousse-Ford	1:24.438	1:24.920	+3.830
24	31	David Brabham	Simtek-Ford	1:24.527	1:24.514	+3.906
25	11	Philippe Adams	Lotus-Mugen-Honda	1:25.313	1:25.708	+4.705
26	32	Jean-Marc Gounon	Simtek-Ford	1:25.686	1:25.649	+5.041
DNQ	34	Bertrand Gachot	Pacific-Ilmor	1:27.960	1:27.385	+6.777
DNQ	33	Paul Belmondo	Pacific-Ilmor	1:32.706	1:29.000	+8.392
Sources: [3] [4] [5]

Race report

Gerhard Berger led in the early stages for Ferrari, ahead of Coulthard who had got ahead of Hill on the start. Berger retired on lap 8 with his gearbox failed, and Katayama's gearbox also failed by lap 27, which promoted Rubens Barrichello into the points for Jordan. Coulthard ran wide whilst trying to lap a backmarker on lap 33 which allowed Hill to edge ahead of the Scotsman. By lap 39 the other Ferrari of Jean Alesi had retired after colliding with the Simtek of David Brabham while trying to lap him. Soon afterwards, Jos Verstappen was able to pass Martin Brundle's McLaren for 5th. Damon Hill went on to take his third consecutive race win, ahead of Coulthard. The 1-2 finish gave Williams the lead in the Constructors Championship. Mika Hakkinen finished third for McLaren, Barrichello 4th for Jordan, Verstappen 5th for Benetton and Martin Brundle 6th in the second McLaren. Olivier Panis originally finished 9th but was disqualified for having illegal skidblock wear.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	71	1:45:10.146	2	10
2	2	David Coulthard	Williams-Renault	71	+ 0.603	3	6
3	7	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Peugeot	71	+ 20.193	4	4
4	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	71	+ 28.003	8	3
5	6	Jos Verstappen	Benetton-Ford	71	+ 29.385	10	2
6	8	Martin Brundle	McLaren-Peugeot	71	+ 52.702	7	1
7	15	Eddie Irvine	Jordan-Hart	70	+ 1 lap	13
8	9	Christian Fittipaldi	Footwork-Ford	70	+ 1 lap	11
9	10	Gianni Morbidelli	Footwork-Ford	70	+ 1 lap	16
10	25	Éric Bernard	Ligier-Renault	70	+ 1 lap	21
11	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Mugen-Honda	70	+ 1 lap	20
12	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	69	+ 2 laps	18
13	24	Michele Alboreto	Minardi-Ford	69	+ 2 laps	19
14	19	Yannick Dalmas	Larrousse-Ford	69	+ 2 laps	23
15	32	Jean-Marc Gounon	Simtek-Ford	67	+ 4 laps	26
16	11	Philippe Adams	Lotus-Mugen-Honda	67	+ 4 laps	25
Ret	4	Mark Blundell	Tyrrell-Yamaha	61	Engine	12
Ret	5	JJ Lehto	Benetton-Ford	60	Spun off	14
Ret	29	Andrea de Cesaris	Sauber-Mercedes	54	Spun off	17
Ret	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	38	Collision	5
Ret	31	David Brabham	Simtek-Ford	36	Collision	24
Ret	30	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Mercedes	31	Differential	9
Ret	20	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Ford	27	Suspension	22
Ret	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	26	Gearbox	6
Ret	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	7	Gearbox	1
DSQ	26	Olivier Panis	Ligier-Renault	70	Illegal skid block	15
Source: [6]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 76 2 Damon Hill 75 3 Gerhard Berger 33 4 Mika Häkkinen 22 5 Jean Alesi 19 Source: [7]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 89 2 Benetton-Ford 87 3 Ferrari 58 4 McLaren-Peugeot 34 5 Jordan-Hart 20 Source: [7]

References

1. Collings, Timothy (24 September 1994). "Hill bounces back joking and takes second on grid". The Daily Telegraph . London. p. 26.
2. Tremayne, David (25 September 1994). "Motor Racing: Accident-prone Irvine slides closer to ban". The Independent. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
3. "Grande Premio de Portugal – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
4. "Grande Premio de Portugal – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
5. "1994 Portuguese GP – Qualifying". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
6. "1994 Portuguese Grand Prix - Race Result". Formula1.com. 2020-02-09. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
7. "Portugal 1994 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.

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