1994 Pacific Grand Prix

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1994 Pacific Grand Prix
Race 2 of 16 in the 1994 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 17 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 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford
Time 1:14.023 on lap 10
Podium
First Benetton-Ford
Second Ferrari
Third Jordan-Hart
Lap leaders

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.

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[citation needed], 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.[citation needed] 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

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 2 Brazil Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 1:10.218 1:19.304
2 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:10.440 no time +0.222
3 0 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:10.771 1:12.048 +0.553
4 7 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 1:11.683 no time +1.465
5 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:11.744 1:12.184 +1.526
6 8 United Kingdom Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 1:12.351 no time +2.133
7 27 Italy Nicola Larini Ferrari 1:12.372 5:32.428 +2.154
8 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:12.409 1:13.172 +2.191
9 9 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 1:13.169 1:12.444 +2.226
10 6 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 1:12.554 1:12.681 +2.336
11 30 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 1:12.686 1:12.797 +2.468
12 4 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:13.013 1:12.751 +2.533
13 10 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 1:12.866 1:13.090 +2.648
14 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:13.013 1:13.411 +2.795
15 24 Italy Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 1:13.342 1:13.016 +2.798
16 20 France Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 1:13.111 1:13.550 +2.893
17 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:13.529 1:13.756 +3.311
18 25 France Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 1:13.613 1:14.204 +3.395
19 29 Austria Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 1:13.855 1:14.163 +3.637
20 15 Japan Aguri Suzuki Jordan-Hart 1:14.036 1:13.932 +3.714
21 19 Monaco Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 1:14.101 1:14.271 +3.883
22 26 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 1:14.106 1:14.667 +3.888
23 12 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:14.538 1:14.424 +4.206
24 11 Portugal Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:14.657 1:15.146 +4.439
25 31 Australia David Brabham Simtek-Ford 1:14.946 1:14.748 +4.530
26 32 Austria Roland Ratzenberger Simtek-Ford no time 1:16.536 +6.318
DNQ 34 France Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 1:16.927 1:18.571 +6.709
DNQ 33 France Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 1:18.671 1:17.450 +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

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 83 1:46:01.693 2 10
2 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 83 + 1:15.300 5 6
3 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 82 + 1 lap 8 4
4 9 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 82 + 1 lap 9 3
5 30 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 82 + 1 lap 11 2
6 20 France Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 80 + 3 laps 16 1
7 12 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 80 + 3 laps 23  
8 11 Portugal Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 79 + 4 laps 24  
9 26 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 78 + 5 laps 22  
10 25 France Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 78 + 5 laps 18  
11 32 Austria Roland Ratzenberger Simtek-Ford 78 + 5 laps 26  
Ret 10 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 69 Engine/Spun off 13  
Ret 29 Austria Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 69 Collision damage 19  
Ret 24 Italy Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 69 Collision 15  
Ret 8 United Kingdom Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 67 Overheating 6  
Ret 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 63 Spun off 17  
Ret 6 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 54 Spun off 10  
Ret 0 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 49 Transmission 3  
Ret 15 Japan Aguri Suzuki Jordan-Hart 44 Steering 20  
Ret 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 42 Engine 14  
Ret 7 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 19 Gearbox 4  
Ret 19 Monaco Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 14 Electrical 21  
Ret 31 Australia David Brabham Simtek-Ford 2 Electrical 25  
Ret 2 Brazil Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 0 Collision 1  
Ret 27 Italy Nicola Larini Ferrari 0 Collision 7  
Ret 4 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 0 Collision 12  
Source:[9]

Championship standings after the race

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. ^ a b "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