1994 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1994 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 28 August 1994 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa. It was the eleventh race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.

1994 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 11 of 16 in the 1994 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 28 August 1994
Official name Belgian Grand Prix
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Spa, Belgium
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 7.001 km (4.350 mi)
Distance 44 laps, 308.044 km (191.410 mi)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver
Jordan-Hart
Time 2:21.163
Fastest lap
Driver Damon Hill Williams-Renault
Time 1:57.117 on lap 41 (lap record)
Podium
First
Williams-Renault
Second
McLaren-Peugeot
Third
Benetton-Ford

The 44-lap race was won by Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault. After Rubens Barrichello took the first pole position for the Jordan team, Michael Schumacher took the chequered flag in his Benetton-Ford while leading, only to be disqualified due to excessive wear on the wooden skid block underneath his car. Hill was thus awarded the win, his third of the season, with Mika Häkkinen second in a McLaren-Peugeot and Schumacher's teammate Jos Verstappen third.

Report

Background

Having deputised for a suspended Mika Häkkinen at McLaren at the previous race in Hungary, Philippe Alliot now returned to his old Larrousse team for this race, taking the place of Olivier Beretta. Meanwhile, the cash-strapped Lotus replaced Alessandro Zanardi with local driver Philippe Adams, who brought significant funding to the team.

Following the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at Imola earlier in the season, a chicane was installed at Eau Rouge to slow the cars.

Qualifying
Andrea de Cesaris exiting the Bus Stop chicane in his Sauber C13.

The Friday qualifying session was held in wet but drying conditions. Towards the end of the session, the Jordan cars were sent out on slick tyres, and Rubens Barrichello duly put his car on provisional pole with teammate Eddie Irvine fourth. More rain fell on Saturday, with most of the drivers lapping several seconds slower than the day before, and only Christian Fittipaldi improving his time. Thus, Barrichello took the first pole position of his career and the first for Jordan.

Drivers' Championship leader Michael Schumacher was second in his Benetton, with Damon Hill third in his Williams. After Irvine came Jean Alesi in the Ferrari, Jos Verstappen in the second Benetton, David Coulthard in the second Williams and the returning Häkkinen, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Sauber and Pierluigi Martini in the Minardi completing the top ten.

Race
Local driver Philippe Adams spun his Lotus 109 out of the race on lap 16.

In dry conditions, Barrichello led away from Schumacher and a fast-starting Alesi. Schumacher passed Barrichello at Les Combes, and Alesi soon followed, only for his engine to fail on lap 3. With the Jordans struggling to hold on to track position against faster cars, Hill moved into second, ahead of Coulthard and Häkkinen. Gerhard Berger in the remaining Ferrari also retired with engine failure by lap 12. Philippe Adams who made his debut Grand Prix appearance at his home circuit had soon spun out into the gravel trap five laps after Berger retired.

Coulthard overtook teammate Hill during the first round of pit stops, while Barrichello moved back up to second before making his stop. On lap 19, Schumacher spun exiting Fagnes but retained the lead; the following lap, Barrichello spun into retirement at Pouhon and clipped the armco barrier giving his Jordan 194 terminal suspension damage. Martin Brundle moved into fifth in the second McLaren, before he himself had spun off and clipped the armco like Barrichello by lap 25.

When Schumacher and Hill made their second pit stops on lap 28, Coulthard led a lap for the first time in his F1 career. After making his own second stop, he remained ahead of Hill until the Williams team called him in on lap 37 to check his rear wing. He then developed gearbox problems and was passed by Häkkinen, Verstappen and Mark Blundell in the Tyrrell. On lap 40, Coulthard hit the back of Blundell's car going through La Source; both were able to continue, with Coulthard apologising to Blundell afterwards. Eddie Irvine was the final retirement with the result of an alternator failure with only 3 laps to go and was classified 14th, leaving 13 runners left in the race up to the finish.

Though Hill set the fastest lap of the race on lap 41, Schumacher crossed the finish line some 13 seconds ahead, with Häkkinen a further 51 seconds back and Verstappen, Coulthard, Blundell and Morbidelli completing the top six.

Post-race
Bottom view of the Benetton B194.
Michael Schumacher celebrating his race win before being disqualified.

Shortly after the race, excessive wear was found on the wooden skid block on the underside of Schumacher's car. The skid block was a mandatory requirement on all cars, introduced two races before in Germany, to increase ride height and reduce ground effect advantages. Wear on the skid block of up to 1mm was permitted; any greater would make the ride height too low and result in an illegal aerodynamic advantage.[1] The Benetton team claimed that the excessive wear resulted from Schumacher's spin on lap 19, but the stewards rejected the claim because of the wear pattern. Schumacher was thus disqualified and Hill awarded the victory, with Häkkinen second, Verstappen third, Coulthard fourth, Blundell fifth and Gianni Morbidelli sixth in the Footwork.

Schumacher's lead over Hill in the Drivers' Championship was reduced to 21 points with five races remaining.

Classification

Qualifying
PosNoDriverConstructorQ1 TimeQ2 TimeGap
1 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 2:21.163 no time
2 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 2:21.494 2:25.501 +0.331
3 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 2:21.681 2:25.570 +0.518
4 15 Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 2:22.074 no time +0.911
5 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 2:22.202 2:25.099 +1.039
6 6 Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 2:22.218 2:28.576 +1.055
7 2 David Coulthard Williams-Renault 2:22.359 2:27.180 +1.196
8 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 2:22.441 2:28.997 +1.278
9 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 2:22.634 2:28.026 +1.471
10 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 2:23.326 2:30.896 +2.163
11 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 2:23.895 2:29.391 +2.732
12 4 Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 2:24.048 2:28.164 +2.885
13 8 Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 2:24.117 2:28.428 +2.954
14 10 Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 2:25.114 2:31.403 +3.951
15 29 Andrea de Cesaris Sauber-Mercedes 2:25.695 2:30.475 +4.532
16 25 Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 2:26.044 2:31.025 +4.881
17 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 2:26.079 2:31.501 +4.916
18 24 Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 2:26.738 2:32.286 +5.575
19 19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Ford 2:26.901 2:31.350 +5.738
20 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 2:27.155 2:32.610 +5.992
21 31 David Brabham Simtek-Ford 2:27.212 2:41.593 +6.049
22 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 2:28.156 2:30.524 +6.993
23 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 2:28.979 2:29.925 +7.816
24 9 Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 16:56.162 2:30.931 +9.768
25 32 Jean-Marc Gounon Simtek-Ford 2:31.755 2:40.280 +10.592
26 11 Philippe Adams Lotus-Mugen-Honda 2:33.885 2:34.733 +12.722
DNQ 34 Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 2:34.582 2:34.951 +13.419
DNQ 33 Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 2:35.729 no time +14.566
Source:[2][3]

Race
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 44 1:28:47.170 3 10
2 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 44 + 51.381 8 6
3 6 Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 44 + 1:10.453 6 4
4 2 David Coulthard Williams-Renault 44 + 1:45.787 7 3
5 4 Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 43 + 1 Lap 12 2
6 10 Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 43 + 1 Lap 14 1
7 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 43 + 1 Lap 17  
8 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 43 + 1 Lap 10  
9 24 Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 43 + 1 Lap 18  
10 25 Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 42 + 2 Laps 16  
11 32 Jean-Marc Gounon Simtek-Ford 42 + 2 Laps 25  
12 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 41 + 3 Laps 20  
13 15 Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 40 Alternator 4  
Ret 9 Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 33 Engine 24  
Ret 31 David Brabham Simtek-Ford 29 Wheel 21  
Ret 29 Andrea de Cesaris Sauber-Mercedes 27 Throttle 15  
Ret 8 Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 24 Spun Off 13  
Ret 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 19 Spun Off 1  
Ret 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 18 Engine 23  
Ret 11 Philippe Adams Lotus-Mugen-Honda 15 Spun Off 26  
Ret 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 11 Engine 11  
Ret 19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Ford 11 Engine 19  
Ret 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 10 Halfshaft 9  
Ret 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 3 Engine 22  
Ret 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 2 Engine 5  
DSQ 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 44 Worn Skid Block 2  
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

References
  1. "Grand Prix Results: Belgian GP, 1994". GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
  2. "Belgian GP Friday Qualifying". motorsport.com. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  3. "Belgian GP Saturday Qualifying". motorsport.com. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  4. "1994 Belgian Grand Prix - Race Result". Formula1.com. 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  5. "Belgium 1994 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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1994 Hungarian Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
1994 season		 Next race:
1994 Italian Grand Prix
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1995 Belgian Grand Prix
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