1994 Pacific Grand Prix

Japanese Formula One race held in 1994 November 2017 F1 Japan Pacific I Pacific Grand Prix Circuit TI (Aida).png 17 April 1994 2 16 TI CircuitAida, Japan Permanent racing facility 2.314 3.703 83 192.093 307.349 Sunny Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 1:10.218 Brazil Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:14.023 10 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford Germany Gerhard Berger Ferrari Austria Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart Brazil PAC 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 cancelledFebruary 2024, 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.February 2024 Ferrari driver Jean Alesi injured his back in a testing accident at Mugello,Larini to take Alesi's place The Daily Telegraph London 8 April 1994 35 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.Allsop Derick 6 April 1994 Motor Racing: Irvine's ban increased: FIA rejects appeal https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing-irvine-s-ban-increased-fia-rejects-appeal-1368501.html The Independent London 20 April 2023 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 2Brazil Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 1:10.218 1:19.304 2 5Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:10.440 no time +0.222 3 0United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:10.771 1:12.048 +0.553 4 7Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 1:11.683 no time +1.465 5 28Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:11.744 1:12.184 +1.526 6 8United Kingdom Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 1:12.351 no time +2.133 7 27Italy Nicola Larini Ferrari 1:12.372 5:32.428 +2.154 8 14Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:12.409 1:13.172 +2.191 9 9Brazil Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 1:13.169 1:12.444 +2.226 10 6Netherlands Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 1:12.554 1:12.681 +2.336 11 30Germany 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 10Italy Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 1:12.866 1:13.090 +2.648 14 3Japan 1947 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:13.013 1:13.411 +2.795 15 24Italy Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 1:13.342 1:13.016 +2.798 16 20France Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 1:13.111 1:13.550 +2.893 17 23Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:13.529 1:13.756 +3.311 18 25France Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 1:13.613 1:14.204 +3.395 19 29Austria Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 1:13.855 1:14.163 +3.637 20 15Japan 1947 Aguri Suzuki Jordan-Hart 1:14.036 1:13.932 +3.714 21 19Monaco Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 1:14.101 1:14.271 +3.883 22 26France Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 1:14.106 1:14.667 +3.888 23 12United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:14.538 1:14.424 +4.206 24 11Portugal Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:14.657 1:15.146 +4.439 25 31Australia David Brabham Simtek-Ford 1:14.946 1:14.748 +4.530 26 32Austria Roland Ratzenberger Simtek-Ford no time 1:16.536 +6.318DNQ Did not qualify 34France Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 1:16.927 1:18.571 +6.709DNQ Did not qualify 33France Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 1:18.671 1:17.450 +7.232 Sources:Pacific Grand Prix – Qualifying 1 https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1994/races/606/pacific/qualifying-1.html Formula1.com 29 December 2023Pacific Grand Prix – Qualifying 2 https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1994/races/605/pacific/qualifying-2.html Formula1.com 29 December 20231994 Pacific Grand Prix Classification Qualifying https://www.motorsportstats.com/results/fia-formula-one-world-championship/1994/pacific-grand-prix/classification/qualifying Motorsport Stats 29 December 2023 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. The Daily Telegraph – The Formula One Years Timothy Collings Edworthy, Sarah 1-86200-101-4 SevenOaks 256–259 2002 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. Grand Prix Results: Pacific GP, 1994 http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr550.html GrandPrix.com Inside F1 28 August 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080905180229/http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr550.html 5 September 2008 live Senna returned to the Williams pit area after about 10 laps had been completed, suspicious that the Benetton B194 was illegal.Saward Joe Joe Saward 11 August 1994 Globetrotter: Rocking the boat http://www.grandprix.com/gt/gt00044.html dead https://web.archive.org/web/20080929033558/http://www.grandprix.com/gt/gt00044.html 29 September 2008 28 August 2008 GrandPrix.com Inside F1 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 UK 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 Retired 10 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 69 Engine/Spun off 13   Ret Retired 29 Austria Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 69 Collision damage 19   Ret Retired 24 Italy Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 69 Collision 15   Ret Retired 8 UK Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 67 Overheating 6   Ret Retired 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 63 Spun off 17   Ret Retired 6 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 54 Spun off 10   Ret Retired 0 UK Damon Hill Williams-Renault 49 Transmission 3   Ret Retired 15 Japan 1947 Aguri Suzuki Jordan-Hart 44 Steering 20   Ret Retired 3 Japan 1947 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 42 Engine 14   Ret Retired 7 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 19 Gearbox 4   Ret Retired 19 Monaco Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 14 Electrical 21   Ret Retired 31 Australia David Brabham Simtek-Ford 2 Electrical 25   Ret Retired 2 Brazil Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 0 Collision 1   Ret Retired 27 Italy Nicola Larini Ferrari 0 Collision 7   Ret Retired 4 UK Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 0 Collision 12  Source:https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1994/races/606/pacific.html 1994 Pacific Grand Prix formula1.com 15 July 2018 15 July 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180715210937/https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1994/races/606/pacific.html dead Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 GER Michael Schumacher 20 2 BRA Rubens Barrichello 7 3 GBR Damon Hill 6 4 AUT Gerhard Berger 6 5 FRA Jean Alesi 4Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1994/pacifique/championnat.aspx Pacific 1994 – Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 20 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 GBR Benetton-Ford 20 2 ITA Ferrari 10 3 IRE Jordan-Hart 7 4 GBR Williams-Renault 6 5 GBR Footwork-Ford 3Source: References Pacific Grand Prix 1994 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix 1994 San Marino Grand Prix 1963 Pacific Grand Prix 1995 Pacific Grand Prix 1993 European Grand Prix 1995 Australian Grand Prix Pacific Grand Prix Category:Pacific Grand Prix Pacific Grand Prix Pacific Grand Prix Category:Formula One controversies