1994 Belgian Grand Prix

  1994 Belgian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 11 of 16 in the 1994 Formula One season
Date	28 August 1994
Official name	LII Grand Prix de Belgique
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	7.001 km (4.375 mi)
Distance	44 laps, 308.044 km (192.527 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart
Time	2:21.163
Fastest lap
Driver	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Time	1:57.117 on lap 41
Podium
First	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Second	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Peugeot
Third	Jos Verstappen	Benetton-Ford

The 1994 Belgian Grand Prix (formally the LII Grand Prix de Belgique) 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 season. The 44-lap race was won by Williams driver Damon Hill after he started from third position. Mika Häkkinen finished second for the McLaren team and Benetton driver Jos Verstappen came in third.

Background

Philippe Alliot replaced Olivier Beretta at Larrousse. It would prove to be Alliot's last appearance in a Formula One World Championship race. Zanardi was replaced at the Lotus team for this race by Philippe Adams. Alliot had raced for McLaren at the previous race in Hungary as Mika Häkkinen was suspended. Häkkinen returned to the McLaren seat for this race.

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

Qualifying

In the Friday's first qualifying session the conditions were difficult as the track was drying but still wet. Barrichello took the first position in the closing stages. Second was Schumacher ahead of Hill, Irvine in the second Jordan, Alesi in the Ferrari and Verstappen in the Benetton completed the top six. On Saturday the track was wet and nobody managed to improve their time, except Fittipaldi. Rubens Barrichello thus took the first pole position of his career, which was also the first for the Jordan team.

It was also the first pole position for a Hart powered car since Teo Fabi claimed pole for the 1985 German Grand Prix using the 1.5L 4cyl Hart 415T turbo, a wait of 9 years and 24 days for Brian Hart's company. It was also to be the last Hart powered F1 pole position as the company pulled out of F1 after 1997.

Race

At the start Barrichello managed to keep the lead from Schumacher, Alesi who gained 2 positions, then Hill, Verstappen and Coulthard. During the first lap Schumacher managed to pass Barrichello at Le Combes and took the lead and Coulthard passed Verstappen. Before the end of the lap Alesi overtook Barrichello as well and moved to second. The engine of his Ferrari however failed at the end of lap 2 and the Frenchman was out of race.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen spun at the new chicane while attempting to pass Barrichello, the Jordan struggling to keep track position amongst clearly faster cars coming through.

On lap 12 Hill makes his first pit stop followed one lap later by Coulthard. The order was then Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard and Hill. On lap 19 Schumacher had a spin but kept the lead. Barrichello went off the track and retired. On lap 37 Coulthard let Hill into second. Coulthard then had to make an extra pit stop to check the wing of the car. After returning to the track he suffered problems with the gearbox and hit Blundell from behind sending the Tyrrell driver into a spin. Michael Schumacher crossed the finish line in first place, ahead of Hill, Häkkinen, Verstappen, Coulthard and Blundell. Post race the German was stripped of his win due to excessive wear on his Benetton's skid block (the mandatory wooden plank introduced at Germany).^[1] This indicated that the car's ride height was too low, hence an illegal aerodynamic advantage. The Benetton team's claim that it was due to Schumacher making a full spin on top of the curbs on lap 19 was rejected by the Stewards because of the wear pattern. Damon Hill was therefore awarded the victory.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Gap
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

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
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
DSQ	5	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	44	Disqualified	2
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
DNQ	34	Bertrand Gachot	Pacific-Ilmor
DNQ	33	Paul Belmondo	Pacific-Ilmor
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 76 2 Damon Hill 55 3 Gerhard Berger 27 4 Jean Alesi 19 5 Mika Häkkinen 14

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Benetton-Ford 85 2 Williams-Renault 62 3 Ferrari 52 4 McLaren-Peugeot 23 5 Jordan-Hart 14

References

1. "GP Encyclopedia" : 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". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.