1994 Japanese Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 16 in the 1994 Formula One season | |||
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| Date | 6 November 1994 | ||
| Official name | XX Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie, Japan | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.864 km (3.665 mi) | ||
| Distance | 50 laps, 293.200 km (183.250 mi) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 53 laps, 310.792 km (194.245 mi) | ||
| Weather | Heavy Rain, followed by Light Showers | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Benetton-Ford | ||
| Time | 1:37.209 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Damon Hill | Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:56.597 on lap 24 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||
| Second | Benetton-Ford | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
|
| |||
The 1994 Japanese Grand Prix (formally the XX Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 6 November 1994 at the Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka. It was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the 1994 Formula One season. The 53-lap race was won by Williams driver Damon Hill after he started from second position. Michael Schumacher finished second for the Benetton team with Ferrari driver Jean Alesi third.
The start of the race was under torrential rain, and as a result, several cars spun out of the race by aquaplaning, including Johnny Herbert, Franck Lagorce, both Minardi and all three Japanese drivers and the returning JJ Lehto who had replaced Andrea de Cesaris after his sudden retirement from Formula One.
On lap 13, Gianni Morbidelli crashed his Footwork at one of the Esses at the first sector. Shortly after, Martin Brundle spun off the track at the same spot, and as he bounced off the tyre barriers, hit a track marshal who was moving Morbidelli's car off the gravel trap. The marshal suffered a broken leg, adding to the huge list of injuries of the 1994 season, and the race was immediately stopped.
As the rain became moderate, it was decided to run the remainder of the race, with around one hour to the time limit, on aggregate corrected time. Schumacher had been leading by 6.8 seconds when the red flag was shown, but since Hill had a bigger lead (10.1 seconds) at the chequered flag, Hill was declared the winner by 3.3 seconds. This was the last instance of corrected time being used in Formula 1 to declare a race winner.
Report
Background
The race was the fifteenth round of the 1994 Formula One season. Benetton driver Michael Schumacher was leading the World Drivers' Championship with 86 points compared to his rival Damon Hill in the Williams who had 81 points.[1] Coming into the race, Schumacher felt he was "very confident" [2] and Hill declared that he was "positive" for the race ahead.[2]
Classification
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |  Michael Schumacher |
Benetton-Ford | 1:37.209 | 1:57.128 | |
| 2 | 0 | Damon Hill |
Williams-Renault | 1:37.696 | 1:57.278 | +0.487 |
| 3 | 30 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen |
Sauber-Mercedes | 1:37.742 | 1:56.935 | +0.533 |
| 4 | 2 | Nigel Mansell |
Williams-Renault | 1:37.768 | 2:00.963 | +0.559 |
| 5 | 6 | Johnny Herbert |
Benetton-Ford | 1:37.828 | 1:59.729 | +0.619 |
| 6 | 15 | Eddie Irvine |
Jordan-Hart | 1:37.880 | 1:57.760 | +0.671 |
| 7 | 27 |  Jean Alesi |
Ferrari | 1:37.907 | 1:58.610 | +0.698 |
| 8 | 7 |  Mika Häkkinen |
McLaren-Peugeot | 1:37.998 | 1:58.204 | +0.789 |
| 9 | 8 | Martin Brundle |
McLaren-Peugeot | 1:38.076 | 1:56.876 | +0.877 |
| 10 | 14 |  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 | 4 | Mark Blundell |
Tyrrell-Yamaha | 1:39.266 | 2:02.266 | +2.057 |
| 14 | 3 |  Ukyo Katayama |
Tyrrell-Yamaha | 1:39.462 | 2:04.187 | +2.253 |
| 15 | 29 | JJ Lehto |
Sauber-Mercedes | 1:39.483 | 1:59.943 | +2.274 |
| 16 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini |
Minardi-Ford | 1:39.548 | 2:01.929 | +2.339 |
| 17 | 12 | Alessandro Zanardi |
Lotus-Mugen-Honda | 1:39.721 | 2:02.077 | +2.512 |
| 18 | 9 | Christian Fittipaldi |
Footwork-Ford | 1:39.868 | 2:00.084 | +2.659 |
| 19 | 26 | Olivier Panis |
Ligier-Renault | 1:40.042 | 2:00.575 | +2.833 |
| 20 | 25 | Franck Lagorce |
Ligier-Renault | 1:40.577 | 2:02.780 | +3.368 |
| 21 | 24 | Michele Alboreto |
Minardi-Ford | 1:40.652 | 2:02.219 | +3.443 |
| 22 | 20 | Érik Comas |
Larrousse-Ford | 1:40.978 | 2:01.035 | +3.769 |
| 23 | 19 | 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 |
| 25 | 11 | Mika Salo |
Lotus-Mugen-Honda | 1:41.805 | 2:01.637 | +4.596 |
| 26 | 32 | Taki Inoue |
Simtek-Ford | 1:45.004 | no time | +7.795 |
| DNQ | 34 | Bertrand Gachot |
Pacific-Ilmor | 1:46.374 | no time | +9.165 |
| DNQ | 33 | Paul Belmondo |
Pacific-Ilmor | 1:46.629 | no time | +9.420 |
Race
Championship standings after the race
- Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
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References
- ↑ Murray Walker, Jonathan Palmer (1994). Grand Prix (Television Presentation). London, England: BBC. Event occurs at 01:30-01:41.
Rundown of Drivers Championship table
- 1 2 Murray Walker (1994). Grand Prix (Television Presentation). London, England: BBC. Event occurs at 01:58-02:13 02:28-02:45.
- ↑ "1994 Japanese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
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FIA Formula One World Championship 1994 season |
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