1995 Belgian Grand Prix

Belgium  1995 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 11 of 17 in the 1995 Formula One season
Date 27 August 1995
Official name LIII Grand Prix de Belgique
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 6.974 km (4.358 mi)
Distance 44 laps, 306.856 km (191.785 mi)
Weather Cloudy then Heavy Rain
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:54.392
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom David Coulthard Williams-Renault
Time 1:53.412 on lap 11
Podium
First Benetton-Renault
Second Williams-Renault
Third Ligier Mugen-Honda

The 1995 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 27 August 1995 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa. It was the eleventh race of the 1995 Formula One season. The 44-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher after an intense battle with Damon Hill.

Race Report

The race was attended by in excess of 100,000 people from countries within Europe.[1] Schumacher and Hill both qualified further down the grid than usual in a wet-dry qualifying session, but fought back during the race. Both Jean Alesi and Johnny Herbert briefly led the race, but Alesi broke down and Herbert struggled for pace once the track was dry. Polesetter Gerhard Berger struggled before dropping out.

David Coulthard pulled away at the front for Williams before suffering a gearbox problem, leaving Hill to lead the race. When Hill made his first pit stop for fresh slick tyres, Schumacher took over at the head of the field. It then started to rain and while Hill went back to the pits for wet weather tyres, Schumacher stayed out on his dry weather slicks. The Williams driver rapidly caught up with the German, but despite lapping six seconds a lap slower, Schumacher was able to keep Hill behind him until he went off the wet track and Hill passed him. Almost immediately the changing track conditions began to favour slicks once more and Schumacher re-passed Hill who pitted again, this time for slicks.

The rain intensified again and the field levelled out when the safety car appeared. Both drivers pitted for wets and returned to the track with Schumacher narrowly ahead of Hill. This appeared to set the two title rivals up for a battle for the lead going into the last ten laps, but Hill then had to pit again to serve a ten-second stop-go penalty for pit lane speeding, a penalty he served with six laps to go, and which put him down to third. Hill recovered to pass Martin Brundle on the Kemmel straight on the final lap to regain second place.

Schumacher's performance did not impress Hill after his defensive moves forced Hill to either back off or go off the track. Schumacher claimed that he had only blocked Hill at the low-speed corners, but video evidence suggested that Schumacher had blocked Hill on some of the high speed corners, such as the Radillion and Blanchimont. Hill later commented that "We (he and Schumacher) had some pretty hairy moments and I am not satisfied with being driven into; I don't think that was acceptable. That is all well and good but if it was meant on purpose I would be very upset, F1 cars are not go-karts. I think there are some things which are acceptable and some things which are not." Schumacher defended himself by agreeing that touching wheels in high-speed corners is "not acceptable" but added that at the speed he and Hill were doing, he thought it was acceptable. Schumacher was given a one-race suspended ban for driving aggressively in order to stop Hill from passing.[2]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 2:14.744 1:54.392
2 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 2:15.077 1:54.631 +0.239
3 8 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 2:15.848 1:55.435 +1.043
4 2 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Benetton-Renault 1:56.085 +1.693
5 6 United Kingdom David Coulthard Williams-Renault 2:15.232 1:56.254 +1.862
6 7 United Kingdom Mark Blundell McLaren-Mercedes 2:18.136 1:56.622 +2.230
7 15 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jordan-Peugeot 2:16.540 1:57.001 +2.609
8 5 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 2:15.143 1:57.768 +3.376
9 26 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 2:17.579 1:58.021 +3.629
10 30 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 2:15.533 1:58.148 +3.756
11 4 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 2:18.104 1:58.224 +3.832
12 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 2:17.144 1:58.293 +3.901
13 25 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Ligier-Mugen-Honda 2:17.207 1:58.314 +3.922
14 29 France Jean-Christophe Boullion Sauber-Ford 2:17.406 1:58.356 +3.964
15 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 2:18.194 1:58.551 +4.159
16 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault 2:14.962 1:59.079 +4.687
17 23 Portugal Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 2:18.547 1:59.256 +4.864
18 10 Japan Taki Inoue Footwork-Hart 2:23.311 2:00.990 +6.598
19 24 Italy Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 2:17.335 2:01.013 +6.621
20 9 Italy Massimiliano Papis Footwork-Hart 2:19.300 2:01.685 +7.293
21 17 Italy Andrea Montermini Pacific-Ford 2:25.291 2:02.405 +8.013
22 22 Brazil Roberto Moreno Forti-Ford 2:23.417 2:03.817 +9.425
23 16 Italy Giovanni Lavaggi Pacific-Ford 2:26.311 2:06.407 +12.015
24 21 Brazil Pedro Diniz Forti-Ford 2:25.699 2:09.537 +15.145

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault 44 1:36:47.875 16 10
2 5 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 44 +19.493 8 6
3 25 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Ligier-Mugen-Honda 44 +24.998 13 4
4 30 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 44 +26.972 10 3
5 7 United Kingdom Mark Blundell McLaren-Mercedes 44 +33.772 6 2
6 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 44 +39.674 12 1
7 2 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Benetton-Renault 44 +54.043 4  
8 4 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 44 +54.548 11  
9 26 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 44 +1:06.170 9  
10 23 Portugal Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 44 +1:19.789 17  
11 29 France Jean-Christophe Boullion Sauber-Ford 43 +1 Lap 14  
12 10 Japan Taki Inoue Footwork-Hart 43 +1 Lap 18  
13 21 Brazil Pedro Diniz Forti-Ford 42 +2 Laps 24  
14 22 Brazil Roberto Moreno Forti-Ford 42 +2 Laps 22  
Ret 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 28 Spun off 15  
Ret 16 Italy Giovanni Lavaggi Pacific-Ford 27 Gearbox 23  
Ret 24 Italy Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 23 Accident 19  
Ret 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 22 Electrical 1  
Ret 15 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jordan-Peugeot 21 Fire 7  
Ret 9 Italy Massimiliano Papis Footwork-Hart 20 Spun off 20  
Ret 17 Italy Andrea Montermini Pacific-Ford 18 Out of fuel 21  
Ret 6 United Kingdom David Coulthard Williams-Renault 13 Gearbox 5  
Ret 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 4 Suspension 2  
Ret 8 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1 Spun off 3  
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Germany Michael Schumacher 66
2 United Kingdom Damon Hill 51
3 France Jean Alesi 32
4 United Kingdom David Coulthard 29
5 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert 28

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 United Kingdom Benetton-Renault 84
2 United Kingdom Williams-Renault 74
3 Italy Ferrari 57
4 France Ligier-Mugen-Honda 16
5 Republic of Ireland Jordan-Peugeot 14

References

  1. Murray Walker, Jonathan Palmer (1995). Grand Prix (Television Production). London, England: BBC. Event occurs at 00:51-01:04.
  2. "Schumacher in trouble again" GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 15 December 2006
  3. "1995 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
Previous race:
1995 Hungarian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1995 season
Next race:
1995 Italian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1994 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1996 Belgian Grand Prix
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