1994 Japanese Grand Prix

 1994 Japanese Grand Prix

Racing data
15th of 16 races in the 1994 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	XX Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Date:	November 6, 1994
Place:	Suzuka
Course:	Suzuka International Racing Course
Length:	293.2 km in 50 laps of 5.864 km
Planned:	310.792 km in 53 laps of 5.864 km
Weather:	Heavy rain
Pole position
Driver:	Michael sSchumacher	Benetton-Ford
Time:	1: 37.209 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Time:	1: 56.597 min (lap 24)
Podium
First:	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Second:	Michael sSchumacher	Benetton-Ford
Third:	Jean Alesi	Scuderia Ferrari

The 1994 Japanese Grand Prix (officially the XX Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix ) was a Formula 1 race that took place on November 6, 1994 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka . It was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1994 . The 50 lap race was won in wet conditions by Damon Hill in his Williams Renault after starting second. His rival in the drivers' championship, Michael Schumacher, finished second in his Benetton-Ford after starting from pole position . Jean Alesi came third in his Ferrari. With the win, Hill was only one point less than Schumacher in the championship, with one race remaining. This race also turned out to be the last of Érik Comas .

Reports

As the race got closer, Benetton driver Michael Schumacher led the drivers' championship with 86 points, five points ahead of his rival, Williams driver Damon Hill with 81 points. Schumacher felt "very confident" about the race and Hill also said he was "optimistic".

Before the race there were a few driver changes: Johnny Herbert moved from Ligier to Benetton after a single race in the French team, replacing Jos Verstappen . Franck Lagorce took his place at Ligier . Éric Bernard lost his place at Lotus to Mika Salo , who previously drove in the Japanese Formula 3000 . Also completed Simtek likely Taki Inoue in a race which he Domenico Schiattarella replaced. Ultimately, JJ Lehto returned to Sauber to replace Andrea de Cesaris after the Italian suddenly withdrew from Formula 1.

The race started in heavy rain which caused various vehicles to spin out due to aquaplaning . Up to lap three the following drivers belonged to it: Schumacher's teammate Herbert, Lagorce, Pierluigi Martini , Michele Alboreto and all three Japanese racing drivers (whereby Ukyō Katayama and Hideki Noda were injured in various accidents). Lehto was eliminated at the start because his engine failed. Gerhard Berger also retired on lap eleven with battery problems.

On lap 13 Gianni Morbidelli had an accident with his footwork in one of the S-curves in the first sector. Shortly afterwards, Martin Brundle turned off the track with his McLaren and had an accident at the same place as Morbidelli, bounced off a tire wall and met a sports attendant who was moving Morbidelli's vehicle out of the gravel bed. The sports steward sustained a broken leg, which only added to the list of injuries for the season, and the race was immediately halted. Fortunately, Brundle and Morbidelli were both unharmed. Rubens Barrichello had to retire on lap 17 with transmission problems and Blundell was also forced to retire from tenth place after his engine failed on lap 27. This ended the terrible weekend for Tyrrell. This left 13 drivers who survived the remaining 23 laps without further eliminations.

When the rain weakened, the decision was made to continue the race, which according to the time limit could only last an hour, with a corrected total time. Schumacher was 6.8 seconds ahead when the red flag was shown, but Hill crossed the finish line by a larger margin (10.1 seconds), taking the victory by 3.3 seconds. This is the last race of Formula 1 in which the corrected total time was used to determine the race winner.

classification

Qualifying

Item	No.	driver	constructor	Q1 time	Q2 time	distance
1	5	Michael sSchumacher	Benetton-Ford	1: 37.209	1: 57.128
2	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	1: 37.696	1: 57.278	+0.487
3	30th	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Clean Mercedes	1: 37.742	1: 56.935	+0.533
4th	2	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	1: 37.768	2: 00.963	+0.559
5	6th	Johnny Herbert	Benetton-Ford	1: 37.828	1: 59.729	+0.619
6th	15th	Eddie Irvine	Jordan-Hart	1: 37.880	1: 57.760	+0.671
7th	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1: 37.907	1: 58.610	+0.698
8th	7th	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Peugeot	1: 37.998	1: 58.204	+0.789
9	8th	Martin Brundle	McLaren-Peugeot	1: 38.076	1: 56.876	+0.877
10	14th	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	1: 38.533	2: 01.905	+1,324
11	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1: 38.570	1: 58.926	+1,361
12	10	Gianni Morbidelli	Footwork Ford	1: 39.030	2: 07.293	+1,821
13	4th	Mark Blundell	Tyrrell Yamaha	1: 39.266	2: 02.266	+2,057
14th	3	Ukyō Katayama	Tyrrell Yamaha	1: 39.462	2: 04.187	+2,253
15th	29	JJ Lehto	Clean Mercedes	1: 39.483	1: 59.943	+2,274
16	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1: 39.548	2: 01.929	+2,339
17th	12	Alessandro Zanardi	Lotus Mugen Honda	1: 39.721	2: 02.077	+2,512
18th	9	Christian Fittipaldi	Footwork Ford	1: 39.868	2: 00.084	+2,659
19th	26th	Olivier Panis	Ligier-Renault	1: 40.042	2: 00.575	+2,833
20th	25th	Franck Lagorce	Ligier-Renault	1: 40.577	2: 02.780	+3,368
21st	24	Michele Alboreto	Minardi-Ford	1: 40.652	2: 02.219	+3,443
22nd	20th	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Ford	1: 40.978	2: 01.035	+3,769
23	19th	Hideki Noda	Larrousse-Ford	1: 40.990	2: 05.354	+3,781
24	31	David Brabham	Simtek-Ford	1: 41,659	2: 09.453	+4,450
25th	11	Mika Salo	Lotus Mugen Honda	1: 41.805	2: 01.637	+4,596
26th	32	Taki Inoue	Simtek-Ford	1: 45.004	No time	+7,795
DNQ	34	Bertrand Gachot	Pacific-Ilmore	1: 46.374	No time	+9,165
DNQ	33	Paul Belmondo	Pacific-Ilmore	1: 46.629	No time	+9,420

run

Item	No.	driver	constructor	Round	Time / Eliminated	begin	Points
1	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	50	1: 55: 53.532	2	10
2	5	Michael sSchumacher	Benetton-Ford	50	+ 3,365	1	6th
3	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	50	+ 52,045	7th	4th
4th	2	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	50	+ 56,074	4th	3
5	15th	Eddie Irvine	Jordan-Hart	50	+1: 42.107	6th	2
6th	30th	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Clean Mercedes	50	+1: 59.863	3	1
7th	7th	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Peugeot	50	+ 2: 02.985	8th
8th	9	Christian Fittipaldi	Footwork Ford	49	+ 1 lap	18th
9	20th	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Ford	49	+ 1 lap	22nd
10	11	Mika Salo	Lotus Mugen Honda	49	+ 1 lap	25th
11	26th	Olivier Panis	Ligier-Renault	49	+ 1 lap	19th
12	31	David Brabham	Simtek-Ford	48	+ 2 rounds	24
13	12	Alessandro Zanardi	Lotus Mugen Honda	48	+ 2 rounds	17th
DNF	4th	Mark Blundell	Tyrrell Yamaha	26th	engine	13
DNF	14th	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	16	transmission	10
DNF	8th	Martin Brundle	McLaren-Peugeot	13	Turned out	9
DNF	10	Gianni Morbidelli	Footwork Ford	13	Turned out	12
DNF	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	10	battery	11
DNF	25th	Franck Lagorce	Ligier-Renault	10	collision	20th
DNF	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	10	collision	16
DNF	24	Michele Alboreto	Minardi-Ford	10	Turned out	21st
DNF	6th	Johnny Herbert	Benetton-Ford	3	Turned out	5
DNF	3	Ukyō Katayama	Tyrrell Yamaha	3	Turned out	14th
DNF	32	Taki Inoue	Simtek-Ford	3	Turned out	26th
DNF	29	JJ Lehto	Clean Mercedes	0	engine	15th
DNF	19th	Hideki Noda	Larrousse-Ford	0	Turned out	23
Source:

World Cup stands after the race

Driver championship

Item	driver	Points
1	Michael sSchumacher	92
2	Damon Hill	91
3	Gerhard Berger	35
4th	Mika Hakkinen	26th
5	Jean Alesi	23
Source:

Constructors Championship

Item	constructor	Points
1	Williams-Renault	108
2	Benetton-Ford	103
3	Ferrari	64
4th	McLaren-Peugeot	38
5	Jordan-Hart	25th
Source:

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Murray Walker, Jonathan Palmer. (1994). Grand Prix  [television broadcast]. BBC. 01: 30-01: 41. "Rundown of Drivers Championship table"
2. ↑ Murray Walker. (1994). Grand Prix  [television broadcast]. BBC. 01: 58-02: 13 02: 28-02: 45.
3. ^ David Tremayne: Japanese Grand Prix: Down the wire . In: Motor Sport . December 1994, p. 10. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
4. ↑ 1994 Japanese Grand Prix . In: F1 since 81 . September 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
5. ↑ 1994 Japanese Grand Prix - Standings . In: Formula1.com . Accessed February 16, 2020.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Japan 1994 - Championship • STATS F1 . Retrieved March 18, 2019.