1994 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the XXIII Grande Prêmio do Brasil) was a Formula One motor race held on 27 March 1994 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo. It was the first race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.

1994 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 1 of 16 in the 1994 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 27 March 1994
Official name XXIII Grande Prêmio do Brasil
Location Autódromo José Carlos Pace
São Paulo, Brazil
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.325 km (2.687 miles)
Distance 71 laps, 307.075 km (190.808 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:15.962
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford
Time 1:18.455 on lap 7
Podium
First Benetton-Ford
Second Williams-Renault
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 71-lap race was won by German driver Michael Schumacher, driving a Benetton-Ford, after starting from second position. Local hero Ayrton Senna took pole position in his Williams-Renault and led before being overtaken by Schumacher at the first round of pit stops, after which he spun off. Senna's British teammate Damon Hill finished second, with Frenchman Jean Alesi third in a Ferrari.

Background

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The first race of the 1994 season saw five drivers made their F1 debuts: Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Olivier Panis, Jos Verstappen, Olivier Beretta and Roland Ratzenberger. There were also two new teams: Simtek, who had previously been involved in F1 as the designers of the Andrea Moda S921 in 1992, and Pacific Racing, who had enjoyed much success in lower formulae.

Qualifying report

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In his first race for Williams, Ayrton Senna took pole position by 0.3 of a second from Michael Schumacher's Benetton. Jean Alesi was third in his Ferrari, over a second behind Schumacher, with Damon Hill fourth in the other Williams. Frentzen impressed by taking fifth in his Sauber, with Gianni Morbidelli – back in F1 after contesting the 1993 Italian Superturismo Championship – taking sixth in his Footwork. The top ten was completed by Karl Wendlinger in the second Sauber, Mika Häkkinen in the McLaren, Verstappen in the second Benetton and Ukyo Katayama in the Tyrrell. Of the two new teams, Bertrand Gachot qualified 25th in his Pacific and David Brabham 26th in his Simtek, with their respective teammates Paul Belmondo and Ratzenberger failing to qualify.

Qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 2   Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 1:16.386 1:15.962
2 5   Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:16.575 1:16.290 +0.328
3 27   Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:17.772 1:17.385 +1.423
4 0   Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:18.270 1:17.554 +1.592
5 30   Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 1:18.144 1:17.806 +1.844
6 10   Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 1:18.970 1:17.866 +1.904
7 29   Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 1:17.982 1:17.927 +1.965
8 7   Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 1:18.122 1:19.576 +2.160
9 6   Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 1:18.787 1:18.183 +2.221
10 3   Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:19.519 1:18.194 +2.232
11 9   Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 1:18.730 1:18.204 +2.242
12 4   Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:19.045 1:18.246 +2.284
13 20   Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 1:18.990 1:18.321 +2.359
14 14   Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:18.759 1:18.414 +2.452
15 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:18.659 no time +2.697
16 15   Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 1:19.269 1:18.751 +2.789
17 28   Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:18.931 1:18.855 +2.893
18 8   Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 1:18.864 13:18.601 +2.902
19 26   Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 1:19.304 1:19.533 +3.342
20 25   Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 1:19.396 1:19.633 +3.434
21 12   Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:19.798 1:19.483 +3.521
22 24   Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 1:19.517 no time +3.555
23 19   Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 1:19.922 1:19.524 +3.562
24 11   Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:21.029 1:19.975 +4.013
25 34   Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 1:22.495 1:20.729 +4.767
26 31   David Brabham Simtek-Ford 1:22.266 1:21.186 +5.224
DNQ 32   Roland Ratzenberger Simtek-Ford 1:22.707 1:23.109 +6.745
DNQ 33   Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor no time no time
Sources:[1][2][3]

Race report

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At the start Senna led from pole position, while Alesi overtook Schumacher. Schumacher retook second place on lap 2 and started chasing after Senna, who had pulled a four-second lead in the opening laps. Before the pit stops Schumacher had reduced the gap to just over a second, and on lap 21 the leading pair entered the pit lane together. Despite both teams running the same fuel strategy, Schumacher's stop was faster than Senna's, and thus he took the lead.

On lap 35, there was a four-car pile-up as Eddie Irvine and Verstappen came up to lap the Ligier of Éric Bernard. All three were rapidly closing up on Martin Brundle's McLaren which had suffered an engine failure. Faced with the prospect of colliding with the McLaren, Irvine jinked left as Verstappen attempted an overtake on that side thus forcing Verstappen on to the grass; Verstappen then lost control of his car and somersaulted over the McLaren whilst Bernard took avoiding action to the right. Brundle's helmet was impacted by the airborne Benetton although he escaped serious injury. Irvine was subsequently sanctioned by the FIA with a one-race ban, which was increased to three after the appeal of Jordan failed; Irvine was already under investigation due to an incident with Senna in Suzuka the year before.

Schumacher increased his lead to 10 seconds after the second round of pit stops, after which Senna started to close. By lap 55 the pair had lapped third-place runner Hill and the gap was down to 5 seconds, but then Senna lost control of his Williams and retired. After Senna's retirement Schumacher won comfortably, a lap ahead of Hill in second place and Alesi finishing third. Rubens Barrichello, Katayama and Wendlinger completed the top six, Katayama scoring his first points.

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5   Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 71 1:35:38.759 2 10
2 0   Damon Hill Williams-Renault 70 + 1 lap 4 6
3 27   Jean Alesi Ferrari 70 + 1 lap 3 4
4 14   Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 70 + 1 lap 14 3
5 3   Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 69 + 2 laps 10 2
6 29   Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 69 + 2 laps 7 1
7 12   Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 69 + 2 laps 21  
8 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 69 + 2 laps 15  
9 20   Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 68 + 3 laps 13  
10 11   Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 68 + 3 laps 24  
11 26   Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 68 + 3 laps 19  
12 31   David Brabham Simtek-Ford 67 + 4 laps 26  
Ret 2   Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 55 Spun off 1  
Ret 8   Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 34 Collision 18  
Ret 15   Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 34 Collision 16  
Ret 6   Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 34 Collision 9  
Ret 25   Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 33 Collision 20  
Ret 4   Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 21 Spun off 12  
Ret 9   Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 21 Gearbox 11  
Ret 30   Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 15 Spun off 5  
Ret 7   Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 13 Engine 8  
Ret 24   Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 7 Engine 22  
Ret 10   Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 5 Gearbox 6  
Ret 28   Gerhard Berger Ferrari 5 Engine 17  
Ret 19   Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 2 Collision 23  
Ret 34   Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 1 Collision 25  
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ "Grande Premio do Brasil Interlagos – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  2. ^ "Grande Premio do Brasil Interlagos – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  3. ^ "1994 Brazilian Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  4. ^ "1994 Brazilian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Brazil 1994 – Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.


Previous race:
1993 Australian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1994 season
Next race:
1994 Pacific Grand Prix
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1993 Brazilian Grand Prix
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1995 Brazilian Grand Prix