1994 Brazilian Grand Prix

  1994 Brazilian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 16 in the 1994 Formula One season
Date	March 27, 1994
Official name	XXIII Grande Prêmio do Brasil
Location	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.325 km (2.703 mi)
Distance	71 laps, 307.075 km (191.921 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	Williams-Renault
Time	1:15.962
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford
Time	1:18.455 on lap 7
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford
Second	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Third	Jean Alesi	Ferrari

The 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on March 27, 1994 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo. It was the first race of the 1994 Formula One season.

Report

Pre-Race

With it being the first race of the season, new drivers made their debuts. Roland Ratzenberger, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Olivier Panis, Olivier Beretta and Jos Verstappen made their debuts and Simtek and Pacific Racing also debuted.

Race

At the start Ayrton Senna took advantage of his pole position and kept the lead. Behind him Jean Alesi overtook the slow starting Michael Schumacher. Schumacher retook second place on lap 2 and started chasing after Senna, who had pulled a 4 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, Benetton's stop was much faster than Williams' stop, and Schumacher left the pitlane in the lead.

There was a huge accident on lap 35 as Eddie Irvine and Jos Verstappen came up to lap the Ligier of Éric Bernard. Irvine pushed Verstappen on to the grass, the Dutchman lost control of his car and his car somersaulted into the air, landing on Martin Brundle's McLaren. All four drivers were out of the race. Irvine was later penalized for this maneuver by a one race ban, which was increased to three race ban after the appeal of Jordan failed. Irvine was already under investigation due to an incident with Ayrton Senna in Suzuka the year before, when Senna ran into the Jordan garage and punched Eddie Irvine.

Schumacher increased his lead to 10 seconds after the second pit stops, after which Senna started to close. By lap 55 the pair had lapped third-place runner Damon 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. Damon Hill finished second and Jean Alesi third.

Classification

Qualifying

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	—

Race

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
DNQ	32	Roland Ratzenberger	Simtek-Ford
DNQ	33	Paul Belmondo	Pacific-Ilmor

Notes

• Lap leaders: Ayrton Senna 21 (1-21), Michael Schumacher 50 (22-71)
• First race (Drivers): Roland Ratzenberger, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Olivier Panis, Olivier Beretta, Jos Verstappen
• First race (Teams): Pacific, Simtek
• First points: Ukyo Katayama
• Ayrton Senna's first race with the Williams team.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 10 2 Damon Hill 6 3 Jean Alesi 4 4 Rubens Barrichello 3 5 Ukyo Katayama 2

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Benetton-Ford 10 2 Williams-Renault 6 3 Ferrari 4 4 Jordan-Hart 3 5 Tyrrell-Yamaha 2

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

References

Race statistics are taken from www.chicanef1.com 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix Retrieved on 20 March 2007.