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The1994 Japanese Grand Prix(officially theXX Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was aFormula Onemotor race held on 6 November 1994 at theSuzuka Circuit,Suzuka.It was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the1994 Formula One World Championship.In wet conditions, the 50-lap race was won byDamon Hill,driving aWilliams-Renault,after he started from second position. Hill's Drivers' Championship rivalMichael Schumacherfinished second in hisBenetton-Ford,having started frompole position,withJean Alesithird in hisFerrari.The win left Hill just one point behind Schumacher in the Drivers' Championship with one race remaining. This also proved to be the last Grand Prix forÉrik Comas.This was also the last time in Formula 1 history when the race was split in two parts due to race stoppage and final classification has been set by aggregate time.
| 1994 Japanese Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 16 in the1994 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details[1] | |||
| Date | 6 November 1994 | ||
| Official name | XX Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix | ||
| Location |
Suzuka Circuit Suzuka,Mie,Japan | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.860 km (3.641 miles) | ||
| Distance | 50 laps, 293.000 km (182.062 miles) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 53 laps, 310.580 km (192.985 miles) | ||
| Weather | Heavy rain, followed by light showers | ||
| Attendance | 357,000[2] | ||
| 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 | ||
|
Lap leaders | |||
Report
editGoing into the race,BenettondriverMichael Schumacherled the Drivers' Championship with 86 points, five ahead of rivalDamon Hillin theWilliamson 81.[3]Schumacher felt he was "very confident" about the race,[4]and Hill similarly declared that he was "positive".[4]
There were several changes of driver for this race:Johnny Herbertmoved fromLigiertoBenettonafter just one race for the French team, replacingJos Verstappen.His place at Ligier was taken byFranck Lagorce.Eric Bernardlost his seat atLotustoMika Salowho had been racing in JapaneseFormula 3000,and likewiseSimtekhiredTaki Inoueon a one-race deal, replacingDomenico Schiattarella.Finally,JJ Lehtoreturned toSauberto replaceAndrea de Cesarisafter the Italian's sudden retirement from Formula One.
The race started in torrential rain, and as a result, several cars spun out of the race by aquaplaning, including Schumacher's team-mate Herbert on lap 4, Lagorce, theMinardisofPierluigi MartiniandMichele Alboreto,and all three Japanese drivers by the end of lap 3 (with bothUkyo KatayamaandHideki Nodabeing injured in separate crashes). Lehto also retired at the start with an engine failure. As didGerhard Bergerin the second Ferrari with battery problems by lap 11.
On lap 13,Gianni Morbidellicrashed hisFootworkat one of the Esses at the first sector. Shortly afterwards,Martin Brundlespun hisMcLarenoff the track and crashed 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 both Brundle and Morbidelli were fortunately able to escape uninjured.Rubens Barrichellosoon retired in the pits with transmission problems by lap 17, Blundell was also forced to retire from 10th position when his engine failed on lap 27, which ended an appalling weekend for Tyrrell.[5]This left 13 runners, and there were no further retirements for the remaining 23 laps.
As the rain eased, 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 Hill had a bigger lead (10.1 seconds) at the chequered flag, and thus took the win by 3.3 seconds on aggregate. This remains the last instance of aggregate race time being used in Formula One to determine the winner.[6][7]
Classification
editQualifying
edit| 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 |
| Sources:[8][9][10] | ||||||
Race
editChampionship standings after the race
edit
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References
edit- ^"1994 Japanese Grand Prix | Motorsport Database".
- ^"Formula 1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2022 – Media Kit"(PDF).Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.5 October 2022.Retrieved5 October2022.
- ^Murray Walker, Jonathan Palmer (1994).Grand Prix(Television Presentation). London, England: BBC. Event occurs at 01:30-01:41.
Rundown of Drivers Championship table
- ^abMurray Walker (1994).Grand Prix(Television Presentation). London, England: BBC. Event occurs at 01:58-02:13 02:28-02:45.
- ^"Japanese Grand Prix: Down to the wire".Motor Sport.December 1994. p. 10.Retrieved27 April2019.
- ^"1994 Japanese Grand Prix".F1 since 81.September 2018.Retrieved27 December2024.
- ^Smith, Luke (22 April 2020)."Remembering Formula 1's last aggregate race".Archived fromthe originalon 30 March 2024.Retrieved27 December2024.
- ^"Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying 1".Formula1.Retrieved29 December2023.
- ^"Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying 2".Formula1.Retrieved29 December2023.
- ^"1994 Japanese GP – Qualifying".ChicaneF1.Retrieved29 December2023.
- ^"1994 Japanese Grand Prix - Race Result".Formula1.2020-02-16.Retrieved16 February2020.
- ^ab"Japan 1994 - Championship • STATS F1".statsf1.Retrieved18 March2019.