1994 Spanish Grand Prix

The 1994 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 May 1994 at the Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló. It was the 36th Spanish Grand Prix and the fourth to be held at the Circuit de Catalunya, and the fifth race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.

1994 Spanish Grand Prix
Race 5 of 16 in the 1994 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 29 May 1994
Official name XXXVI Gran Premio Marlboro de España
Location Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain[1]
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.745 km (2.948 miles)
Distance 65 laps, 308.284 km (191.559 miles)
Weather Sunny
Attendance 40,000
Pole position
Driver Benetton-Ford
Time 1:21.908
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford
Time 1:25.155 on lap 18
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second Benetton-Ford
Third Tyrrell-Yamaha
Lap leaders

The 65-lap race was won by Englishman Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault. It was the first victory of the season for Hill and the Williams team, who were still recovering from the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola four weeks previously. Hill won by 24 seconds from German driver and championship leader Michael Schumacher, whose Benetton-Ford was stuck in fifth gear for most of the race. Another Englishman, Mark Blundell, finished third in a Tyrrell-Yamaha, which would turn out to be the final podium finish for him and the Tyrrell team.

The Grand Prix was additionally notable for the season-ending crash of debutant Italian driver Andrea Montermini in his Simtek S941 on the front straight. Montermini, elevated from test driver status after the death of Roland Ratzenberger at the San Marino Grand Prix crashed heavily into the outside wall exiting the final corner. It also marked the Formula One debut of Scottish driver David Coulthard, replacing Senna for Williams.[2] The new Lotus 109 made its debut this weekend replacing the two-year-old 107.

Report

edit

Pre-race

edit

This was the first race for the newly formed Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA). Several top level names, including Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, and Gerhard Berger, were instrumental in the setup and running of the GPDA, and they took the decision to install a temporary chicane before the Nissan corner.[3] This was an attempt to improve safety, as well as limit speeds around the track, as the Nissan corner was generally taken at near flat-out speeds.

Sauber entered only one car for this race due to Karl Wendlinger's injury at the previous race.

Qualifying

edit

Michael Schumacher took the second pole position in succession and the second of his career. Damon Hill also lined up on the front row, his time had been beaten by Schumacher's by over half a second, and he was only one thousandth of a second ahead of Mika Häkkinen. The pair's respective Williams and McLaren teammates lined up eighth and ninth, McLaren's Martin Brundle on the fourth row in front of a disappointed David Coulthard for Williams. Schumacher's Benetton teammate – JJ Lehto – had done a bit better for himself and lined up fourth. Rubens Barrichello's Jordan qualified in fifth, followed by the two Ferraris. Tyrrell driver Ukyo Katayama was the other driver in the top ten, while at the back Andrea Montermini crashed heavily in the Simtek previously driven by Roland Ratzenberger and broke his ankles. He thus did not set a timed lap in the second session, and failed to qualify, although he would have been unable to start the race anyway.

Race

edit

Olivier Beretta retired when his Larousse-Ford's engine failed on the formation lap. Schumacher led from pole position at the start of the race whilst Barrichello and Berger collided at the first corner. Neither driver retired as a direct result of the collision, although both did eventually, but Berger was forced to run across the grass and lost places and would eventually retire on lap 28 with gearbox problems. Coulthard climbed up to fifth place from his ninth place starting spot, but his car stalled in the pits on lap 16. Despite retiring from twelfth place on lap 32 with electrical problems, he described his race as a "good debut overall".[4] While Williams notched up their first victory of the season, and first after the death of Ayrton Senna, championship leader Michael Schumacher finished a strong second, despite being stuck in fifth gear for most of the race.[4] Knowing that he had a major problem, he managed to make a pitstop (and get away from the pit stop in 5th gear), and as the race unfolded gave nothing to the leading Hill's pace. He had to change his driving style to find new trajectories and corner apexes, and his past experience as a World Sports Car driver helped him to do so.[5] Meanwhile Rubens Barrichello retired after he spun off near the pit entry on lap 40 and Schumacher was once again able to make a pitstop and not stall the car. After the pit stops, Mika Häkkinen was in third place for McLaren behind Hill and Schumacher, having temporarily been in front of Schumacher earlier in the race. Häkkinen's engine failed as did JJ Lehto's Benetton-Ford engine 5 laps after Hakkinen on lap 54, though granting the place to Hakkinen's teammate Martin Brundle. Brundle then retired himself after a transmission explosion from the back of his car at the first corner by lap 60 and was classified 11th. Mark Blundell, for Tyrrell, completed the podium celebrations, scoring his 3rd and last podium of his career.

Post-race

edit

After the race, the Williams team were very emotional with Hill's win.

I don't think I have known such a difficult month. Everyone at Williams has been through a terrible time. This victory must go to them and to all the fans of Ayrton Senna who I met in Brazil. They wanted Williams to be successful. It was important to do well in this race and to win it is better than I expected to do.

— Damon Hill speaking about Senna, Transcript of recording from Grand Prix Racing.

Classification

edit

Qualifying

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap
1 5   Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:23.426 1:21.908
2 0   Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:24.716 1:22.559 +0.651
3 7   Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 1:24.580 1:22.660 +0.752
4 6   JJ Lehto Benetton-Ford 1:25.587 1:22.983 +1.075
5 14   Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:25.990 1:23.594 +1.686
6 27   Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:24.997 1:23.700 +1.792
7 28   Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:26.121 1:23.715 +1.807
8 8   Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 1:26.614 1:23.763 +1.855
9 2   David Coulthard Williams-Renault 1:27.428 1:23.782 +1.874
10 3   Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:27.017 1:23.969 +2.061
11 4   Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:25.863 1:23.981 +2.073
12 30   Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 1:25.115 1:24.254 +2.346
13 15   Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 1:26.368 1:24.930 +3.022
14 24   Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 1:26.595 1:24.996 +3.088
15 10   Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 1:27.459 1:25.018 +3.110
16 20   Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 1:26.097 1:25.050 +3.142
17 19   Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 1:28.011 1:25.161 +3.253
18 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:25.502 1:25.247 +3.339
19 26   Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 1:27.872 1:25.577 +3.669
20 25   Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 1:28.289 1:25.766 +3.858
21 9   Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 1:27.631 1:26.084 +4.176
22 12   Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 28:05.683 1:26.397 +4.489
23 11   Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:30.379 1:27.685 +5.777
24 31   David Brabham Simtek-Ford 1:30.797 1:28.151 +6.243
25 34   Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 1:34.318 1:28.873 +6.965
26 33   Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 1:31.750 1:30.657 +8.749
DNQ 32   Andrea Montermini Simtek-Ford 1:31.111 No time +9.203
Sources:[6][7][8]

Race

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 0   Damon Hill Williams-Renault 65 1:36:14.374 2 10
2 5   Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 65 + 24.166 1 6
3 4   Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 65 + 1:26.969 11 4
4 27   Jean Alesi Ferrari 64 + 1 lap 6 3
5 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 64 + 1 lap 18 2
6 15   Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 64 + 1 lap 13 1
7 26   Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 63 + 2 laps 19  
8 25   Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 62 + 3 laps 20  
9 11   Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Mugen-Honda 62 + 3 laps 23  
10 31   David Brabham Simtek-Ford 61 + 4 laps 24  
11 8   Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 59 Clutch 8  
Ret 6   JJ Lehto Benetton-Ford 53 Engine 4  
Ret 7   Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 48 Engine 3  
Ret 12   Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 41 Spun off 22  
Ret 14   Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 39 Spun off 5  
Ret 9   Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 35 Gearbox 21  
Ret 2   David Coulthard Williams-Renault 32 Electrical 9  
Ret 34   Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 32 Broken wing 25  
Ret 28   Gerhard Berger Ferrari 27 Gearbox 7  
Ret 10   Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 24 Fuel system 15  
Ret 30   Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 21 Gearbox 12  
Ret 20   Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 19 Radiator 16  
Ret 3   Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 16 Engine 10  
Ret 24   Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 4 Engine 14  
Ret 33   Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 2 Spun off 26  
DNS[9] 19   Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 0 Engine 17  
Source:[10][11]

Championship standings after the race

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "1994 Spanish Grand Prix". Motor Sport. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Ayrton Senna death: David Coulthard - I owe him my career". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  3. ^ "F1 – 1994 FIA Review – 05 Spain". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  4. ^ a b "At last - Hill challenges the Schumacher monopoly". Grand Prix Racing. Archived from the original on 30 January 2008. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  5. ^ "1994 Spanish Grand Prix flashback". F1 Fanatic. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Gran Premio Marlboro de España – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  7. ^ "Gran Premio Marlboro de España – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  8. ^ "1994 Spanish Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Past Results - Spanish Grand Prix". www.skysports.com. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
  10. ^ "1994 Spanish Grand Prix - Race Result". Formula1.com. 2020-02-08. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  11. ^ "Spain 1994 - Result". www.statsf1.com. Archived from the original on 2010-03-10. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
  12. ^ a b "Spain 1994 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.


Previous race:
1994 Monaco Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1994 season
Next race:
1994 Canadian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1993 Spanish Grand Prix
Spanish Grand Prix Next race:
1995 Spanish Grand Prix