1994 Belgian Grand Prix

Belgium  1994 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 11 of 16 in the 1994 Formula One season
Date 28 August 1994
Official name LII Grand Prix de Belgique
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 7.001 km (4.375 mi)
Distance 44 laps, 308.044 km (192.527 mi)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Jordan-Hart
Time 2:21.163
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault
Time 1:57.117 on lap 41
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second McLaren-Peugeot
Third Benetton-Ford

The 1994 Belgian Grand Prix (formally the LII Grand Prix de Belgique) was a Formula One motor race held on 28 August 1994 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa. It was the eleventh race of the 1994 Formula One season. The 44-lap race was won by Williams driver Damon Hill after he started from third position. Mika Häkkinen finished second for the McLaren team and Benetton driver Jos Verstappen came in third.

Background

Philippe Alliot replaced Olivier Beretta at Larrousse. It would prove to be Alliot's last appearance in a Formula One World Championship race. Zanardi was replaced at the Lotus team for this race by Philippe Adams. Alliot had raced for McLaren at the previous race in Hungary as Mika Häkkinen was suspended. Häkkinen returned to the McLaren seat for this race.

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

Qualifying

In the Friday's first qualifying session the conditions were difficult as the track was drying but still wet. Barrichello took the first position in the closing stages. Second was Schumacher ahead of Hill, Irvine in the second Jordan, Alesi in the Ferrari and Verstappen in the Benetton completed the top six. On Saturday the track was wet and nobody managed to improve their time, except Fittipaldi. Rubens Barrichello thus took the first pole position of his career, which was also the first for the Jordan team.

It was also the first pole position for a Hart powered car since Teo Fabi claimed pole for the 1985 German Grand Prix using the 1.5L 4cyl Hart 415T turbo, a wait of 9 years and 24 days for Brian Hart's company. It was also to be the last Hart powered F1 pole position as the company pulled out of F1 after 1997.

Race

At the start Barrichello managed to keep the lead from Schumacher, Alesi who gained 2 positions, then Hill, Verstappen and Coulthard. During the first lap Schumacher managed to pass Barrichello at Le Combes and took the lead and Coulthard passed Verstappen. Before the end of the lap Alesi overtook Barrichello as well and moved to second. The engine of his Ferrari however failed at the end of lap 2 and the Frenchman was out of race.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen spun at the new chicane while attempting to pass Barrichello, the Jordan struggling to keep track position amongst clearly faster cars coming through.

On lap 12 Hill made his first pit stop followed one lap later by Coulthard. The order was then Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard and Hill. On lap 19 Schumacher had a spin but kept the lead. Barrichello went off the track and retired. On lap 37 Coulthard let Hill into second. Coulthard then had to make an extra pit stop to check the wing of the car. After returning to the track he suffered problems with the gearbox and hit Blundell from behind sending the Tyrrell driver into a spin. Michael Schumacher crossed the finish line in first place, ahead of Hill, Häkkinen, Verstappen, Coulthard and Blundell. Post race the German was stripped of his win due to excessive wear on his Benetton's skid block (the mandatory wooden plank introduced at Germany).[1] This indicated that the car's ride height was too low, hence an illegal aerodynamic advantage. The Benetton team's claim that it was due to Schumacher making a full spin on top of the curbs on lap 19 was rejected by the Stewards because of the wear pattern. Damon Hill was therefore awarded the victory.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap
1 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 2:21.163 no time
2 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 2:21.494 2:25.501 +0.331
3 0 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 2:21.681 2:25.570 +0.518
4 15 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 2:22.074 no time +0.911
5 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 2:22.202 2:25.099 +1.039
6 6 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 2:22.218 2:28.576 +1.055
7 2 United Kingdom David Coulthard Williams-Renault 2:22.359 2:27.180 +1.196
8 7 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 2:22.441 2:28.997 +1.278
9 30 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 2:22.634 2:28.026 +1.471
10 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 2:23.326 2:30.896 +2.163
11 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 2:23.895 2:29.391 +2.732
12 4 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 2:24.048 2:28.164 +2.885
13 8 United Kingdom Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 2:24.117 2:28.428 +2.954
14 10 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 2:25.114 2:31.403 +3.951
15 29 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Sauber-Mercedes 2:25.695 2:30.475 +4.532
16 25 France Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 2:26.044 2:31.025 +4.881
17 26 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 2:26.079 2:31.501 +4.916
18 24 Italy Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 2:26.738 2:32.286 +5.575
19 19 France Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Ford 2:26.901 2:31.350 +5.738
20 12 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 2:27.155 2:32.610 +5.992
21 31 Australia David Brabham Simtek-Ford 2:27.212 2:41.593 +6.049
22 20 France Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 2:28.156 2:30.524 +6.993
23 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 2:28.979 2:29.925 +7.816
24 9 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 16:56.162 2:30.931 +9.768
25 32 France Jean-Marc Gounon Simtek-Ford 2:31.755 2:40.280 +10.592
26 11 Belgium Philippe Adams Lotus-Mugen-Honda 2:33.885 2:34.733 +12.722
DNQ 34 France Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 2:34.582 2:34.951 +13.419
DNQ 33 France Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 2:35.729 no time +14.566
Source:[2][3]

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 0 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 44 1:28:47.170 3 10
2 7 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 44 +51.381 8 6
3 6 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 44 +1:10.453 6 4
4 2 United Kingdom David Coulthard Williams-Renault 44 +1:45.787 7 3
5 4 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 43 +1 Lap 12 2
6 10 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 43 +1 Lap 14 1
7 26 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 43 +1 Lap 17  
8 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 43 +1 Lap 10  
9 24 Italy Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 43 +1 Lap 18  
10 25 France Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 42 +2 Laps 16  
11 32 France Jean-Marc Gounon Simtek-Ford 42 +2 Laps 25  
12 12 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 41 +3 Laps 20  
13 15 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 40 Alternator 4  
DSQ 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 44 Disqualified 2  
Ret 9 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 33 Engine 24  
Ret 31 Australia David Brabham Simtek-Ford 29 Wheel 21  
Ret 29 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Sauber-Mercedes 27 Throttle 15  
Ret 8 United Kingdom Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 24 Spun off 13  
Ret 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 19 Spun off 1  
Ret 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 18 Engine 23  
Ret 11 Belgium Philippe Adams Lotus-Mugen-Honda 15 Spun off 26  
Ret 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 11 Engine 11  
Ret 19 France Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Ford 11 Engine 19  
Ret 30 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 10 Halfshaft 9  
Ret 20 France Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 3 Engine 22  
Ret 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 2 Engine 5  
DNQ 34 France Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor    
DNQ 33 France Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor    
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Germany Michael Schumacher 76
2 United Kingdom Damon Hill 55
3 Austria Gerhard Berger 27
4 France Jean Alesi 19
5 Finland Mika Häkkinen 14

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 United Kingdom Benetton-Ford 85
2 United Kingdom Williams-Renault 62
3 Italy Ferrari 52
4 United Kingdom McLaren-Peugeot 23
5 Republic of Ireland Jordan-Hart 14

References

  1. "GP Encyclopedia" : Belgian GP 1994" GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 7 June 2008
  2. "Belgian GP Friday Qualifying". motorsport.com. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  3. "Belgian GP Saturday Qualifying". motorsport.com. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  4. "1994 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
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
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1995 Belgian Grand Prix
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