1994 Formula One season

1994 FIA Formula One World Championship season Previous: 1993 Next: 1995 Index: Races by country | Races by season

The 1994 Formula One season was the 45th FIA Formula One World Championship season. It commenced on March 27, 1994, and ended on November 13 after sixteen races. The season was remembered as one of the most tragic and controversial seasons in the 1990s, if not in the sport's history. 1994 was one of the closest in history, as the Champion, Michael Schumacher, won the title by a single point from Damon Hill, after the two controversially collided at the final round in Adelaide.

Season summary

The major rule change of 1994 was the banning of driver aids in the car, such as traction control, in an attempt to "humanize" the sport, refuelling during pit-stops was also re-introduced for 1994 and so team tactics now played a major role during races. Pre-Season betting suggested that Williams new signing, Ayrton Senna, would coast to his fourth Drivers' title and aid Williams to their seventh Constructors' title.

The first round of the 1994 season was held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, named after the Brazilian racing driver, in São Paulo, Brazil. Senna took pole position for his home Grand Prix, three tenths of a second faster than Michael Schumacher's Benetton-Ford who joined the Brazilian on the front row. Alesi, Hill, Frentzen and Morbidelli made up the rest of the top six, all of them over a second slower than Senna's pole position time. Senna led the Grand Prix from the start until the first round of pit stops, where a crucial fact was revealed, Benetton were considerably faster than Williams at servicing their cars during pit stops, thus putting Schumacher into the lead. Senna couldn't keep up with Schumacher's car and span off and retired from the race, a result of his efforts to catch up with Schumacher. Schumacher went on to win the race, with Senna's teammate, Damon Hill, second and Jean Alesi came third. The race was remembered for the accident involving Jos Verstappen, on his Grand Prix debut, where the Dutch driver flipped over and collided with Martin Brundle's McLaren.

The newly constructed TI Circuit hosted the second round of the championship and Senna took pole position for the second time in succession ahead of second placed Michael Schumacher. Senna failed to complete a lap during the race, as he was tipped into the gravel by his old McLaren teammate, Mika Häkkinen. Schumacher went onto win the Grand Prix, his second in succession, ahead of Gerhard Berger and Rubens Barrichello, who had not only scored his first podium finish, but his team's, Jordan, first podium finish.

During the Friday practice session for the San Marino Grand Prix, Rubens Barrichello's Jordan left the track on the high speed chicane called Variante Bassa, giving the young Brazilian severe injuries. Swift action by Formula One doctor Sid Watkins was all that prevented Barrichello swallowing his tongue. Then, during the Saturday during qualifying, Roland Ratzenberger's Simtek hit a wall in excess of 200mph at the fast Villeneuve corner, killing the Austrian on impact. Senna was so shaken by these events he considered retiring and not taking part, but he eventually decided that he should race. At the start, there were further complications, as JJ Lehto stalled his Benetton and was hit by Pedro Lamy, which caused the safety car to be deployed. After a six-lap safety car sequence, racing resumed, but just one lap later Senna's car left the track as he went through the fast left-hander of Tamburello and the Williams-Renault FW16 slammed head-on into a wall at 135mph. Senna died, according to sources, that night in hospital. A touching and chilling thing was later discovered about Senna's car – inside his FW16 a blood-soaked Austrian flag was found, that Senna had planned to use as a victory tribute in honour of Ratzenberger.

A shaken Formula One world moved on to Monaco, where more grief was to come as Karl Wendlinger's Sauber crashed heavily during the qualifying session, leaving him in a coma for two weeks. Michael Schumacher took pole position ahead of Häkkinen. The German went onto to dominate the Grand Prix, as nobody apart from Schumacher lead the Grand Prix. Brundle and Berger completed the podium.

Following the accidents in Imola and Monaco, a majority drivers insisted on making the Circuit de Catalunya safer for the Spanish Grand Prix. This resulted in the construction of several temporary chicanes where run-off areas were considered insufficiently small. Schumacher took his second pole position of the season, over half a second faster than second place Damon Hill. The Brit went on to win the Grand Prix after Schumacher's Benetton was stuck in fifth gear for a majority of the race, emulating his father's efforts during the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix where he won after Jim Clark's death.

Schumacher took pole again for the Canadian Grand Prix with Jean Alesi's Ferrari alongside him on the front row. Schumacher went onto to win the race by 40 second with Hill and Alesi completing the top three. Nigel Mansell was brought in by Williams for the French Grand Prix to combat falling TV viewing figures, Hill broke Schumacher's run of consecutive pole positions after taking the top grid slot for himself by one tenth of a second, alongside him was his Williams teammate, Mansell. Schumacher managed to win the Grand Prix from third on the grid, ahead Hill and Berger, while Mansell retired after a gearbox failure on the 45th lap.

Hill took his second pole of the season at his home Grand Prix. During the formation lap, Schumacher illegally overtook Hill on two occasions. He was given a stop-and-go penalty, which he decided to ignore as his team protested. For several laps, Schumacher refused to honour his penalty, which resulted in a black flag. He was stripped of his second place behind Hill, and banned for two races, pending an appeal.

Benetton managed to arrange for Schumacher to run in his home Grand Prix. The German qualified in fourth, behind Berger, Alesi and Hill. Schumacher never completed the full race distance as he retired on the 20th lap of the 45, after an engine failure, leaving Gerhard Berger to take victory and ending a 58 race victory drought for Ferrari. The race was remembered for 2 incidents, the first being an accident involving 11 cars; Mika Häkkinen was later blamed by the FIA for the incident and was given a one race ban. The second was during a pit stop where Jos Verstappen's Benetton caught fire in spectacular fashion after fuel had been accidentally sprayed onto the hot bodywork of the Benetton, Verstappen received minor burns to his nose.

Schumacher took pole position at the Hungaroring, with Hill partnering him on the front row. The front two finished the race in their grid positions with Verstappen finishing third, after starting the race in twelfth. It was Rubens Barrichello who surprised everyone in Belgium after qualifying his Jordan-Hart, a car which prior to the Belgian Grand Prix qualified as high as fifth position, in pole position with Schumacher alongside him. Despite winning the race, Schumacher was disqualified because his car was found to have illegal wear on its skidblock. Although Benetton protested that the skidblock had been damaged when Schumacher spun over a kerb, the FIA rejected their appeal, allowing Hill to close the points gap even further.

With no Schumacher for the next two races, Hill needed to win both Grand Prix to keep Schumacher under pressure. Alesi pleased the tifosi by taking pole position in Monza, ahead of his Ferrari teammate, Gerhard Berger. Hill got past both Ferraris to win the race closing the gap between himself and Schumacher to 11 points. Gerhard Berger took pole position for the Grand Prix in Estoril, making it the second successive pole position for Ferrari, with Hill alongside him. Both the Williams cars of Hill and Coulthard got past Berger to make it a Williams one-two finish ahead of Häkkinen's McLaren. Schumacher's lead in the Drivers' Championship was now one point.

Schumacher came back from his ban to take pole position at Jerez and went onto win the race, ahead of Hill and Häkkinen, so Schumacher increased his lead in the Drivers' Championship to five points. Schumacher and Hill were on the front row for the Japanese Grand Prix. The race was played out in torrential conditions and the race was red flagged after Martin Brundle crashed his McLaren and seriously injured a track marshal. After discussions with the drivers it was agreed that the race would be restarted behind the safety car. After the restart, Schumacher went to pit for fuel and he was given a heavy load of fuel, the team were gambling that the race would not go the full distance because of the rain. Hill went ahead until he stopped and then Alesi was briefly the leader until his pit stop and Hill went into the lead again. Schumacher closed in on him and on lap 36 he went ahead on aggregate, if not on the road. Schumacher's time in the second part of the race, added to his time in the first part before the restart, meant that he was technically leading the race, even if he was behind Hill on the road. The track dried up and so the race was not going to be stopped early. That meant Schumacher had to stop again and so he dropped away. He charged back after the stop but this time Hill was able to hold the gap. Hill won by 3.3 seconds ahead of Schumacher with Alesi third, Mansell fourth, Irvine fifth and Frentzen sixth.

At Adelaide, Schumacher had one thing on his mind: aerodynamics. The angles of his front and rear wings were set to extremely low levels, giving a high straightline speed, but impaired cornering due to lack of downforce and therefore grip. This was in order to achieve a top speed comparable with the more powerful Williams-Renault. Nigel Mansell assisted at keeping Schumacher at bay for Williams by taking pole position, but he was eventually left behind in third after a poor start as the two title protagonists fought hard for the lead, and indeed, the title. Schumacher's extreme aerodynamic package began to unravel late in the race when his car ran wide and clipped a wall on the outside of a corner. Hill slipped through on the inside of the next corner, but Schumacher turned into Hill, taking them both out of the race. Schumacher, at age 25 was Germany's first Formula 1 World Drivers' Champion, but under highly controversial circumstances, although no action was ever taken against him. Mansell took his 31st and final win of his career.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1994 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	No	Driver	Test driver(s)
Rothmans Williams Renault	Williams	FW16 FW16B	Renault RS6 3.5 V10	G	0	Damon Hill	David Coulthard
					2	Ayrton Senna
						David Coulthard
						Nigel Mansell
Tyrrell	Tyrrell	022	Yamaha OX10B 3.5 V10	G	3	Ukyo Katayama	n/a
					4	Mark Blundell
Mild Seven Benetton Ford	Benetton	B194	Ford ECA Zetec-R 3.5 V8	G	5	Michael Schumacher	Jos Verstappen
					5/6	JJ Lehto
					6	Jos Verstappen
						Johnny Herbert
Marlboro McLaren Peugeot	McLaren	MP4-9	Peugeot A6 3.5 V10	G	7	Mika Häkkinen	Philippe Alliot
						Philippe Alliot
					8	Martin Brundle
Footwork Ford	Footwork	FA15	Ford HBE7/8 3.5 V8	G	9	Christian Fittipaldi	n/a
					10	Gianni Morbidelli
Team Lotus	Lotus	107C 109	Mugen Honda MF-351 HB 3.5 V10	G	11	Pedro Lamy	n/a
						Philippe Adams
						Mika Salo
					11/12	Alessandro Zanardi
					12	Johnny Herbert
						Eric Bernard
Sasol Jordan	Jordan	194	Hart 1035 3.5 V10	G	14	Rubens Barrichello	n/a
					15	Eddie Irvine
						Aguri Suzuki
						Andrea de Cesaris
Tourtel Larrousse F1	Larrousse	LH94	Ford HBF7/8 3.5 V8	G	19	Olivier Beretta	n/a
						Philippe Alliot
						Yannick Dalmas
						Hideki Noda
					20	Érik Comas
						Jean-Denis Deletraz
Minardi Scuderia Italia	Minardi	M193B M194	Ford HBC7/8 3.5 V8	G	23	Pierluigi Martini	Luca Badoer
					24	Michele Alboreto
Ligier Gitanes Blondes	Ligier	JS39B	Renault RS6 3.5 V10	G	25	Eric Bernard	Franck Lagorce
						Johnny Herbert
						Franck Lagorce
					26	Olivier Panis
Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	412T1 412T1B	Ferrari 043 3.5 V12	G	27	Jean Alesi	Nicola Larini
						Nicola Larini
					28	Gerhard Berger
Broker Sauber Mercedes	Sauber	C13	Mercedes-Benz 2175B 3.5 V10	G	29	Karl Wendlinger	n/a
						Andrea De Cesaris
						JJ Lehto
					30	Heinz-Harald Frentzen
MTV Simtek Ford	Simtek	S941	Ford HBD6 3.5 V8	G	31	David Brabham	Andrea Montermini
					32	Roland Ratzenberger
						Andrea Montermini
						Jean-Marc Gounon
						Mimmo Schiattarella
						Taki Inoue
Pacific Grand Prix Ltd Ursus Pacific Grand Prix	Pacific	PR01	Ilmor 2175A 3.5 V10	G	33	Paul Belmondo	Giovanni Lavaggi Oliver Gavin
					34	Bertrand Gachot

• With the retirement of reigning champion Alain Prost, the car number 1 was not assigned and Hill ran with number 0.

Season review

Grands Prix

Rnd	Race	Date	Location	Winning Driver	Constructor	Report
1	Brazilian Grand Prix	March 27	Interlagos	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	Report
2	Pacific Grand Prix	April 17	TI Circuit, Aida	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	Report
3	San Marino Grand Prix	May 1	Imola	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	Report
4	Monaco Grand Prix	May 15	Monaco	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	Report
5	Spanish Grand Prix	May 29	Catalunya	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	Report
6	Canadian Grand Prix	June 12	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	Report
7	French Grand Prix	July 3	Magny-Cours	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	Report
8	British Grand Prix	July 10	Silverstone	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	Report
9	German Grand Prix	July 31	Hockenheimring	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	Report
10	Hungarian Grand Prix	August 14	Hungaroring	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	Report
11	Belgian Grand Prix	August 28	Spa-Francorchamps	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	Report
12	Italian Grand Prix	September 11	Monza	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	Report
13	Portuguese Grand Prix	September 25	Estoril	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	Report
14	European Grand Prix	October 16	Jerez	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	Report
15	Japanese Grand Prix	November 6	Suzuka	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	Report
16	Australian Grand Prix	November 13	Adelaide	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	Report

• An Argentine Grand Prix had been set on the schedule for October 16, but it was aborted as the track, which was being modernized since 1991, was not finished with the project. The race was moved to Jerez to make the European Grand Prix.

1994 Constructors Championship final standings

Pos	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	Points	Wins	Podiums	Poles
1	Williams-Renault	FW16 FW16B	RS6 3.5 V10	G	118	7	13	6
2	Benetton-Ford	B194	ECA Zetec-R 3.5 V8	G	103	8	12	6
3	Ferrari	412T1 412T1B	043 3.5 V12	G	71	1	11	3
4	McLaren-Peugeot	MP4/9	A6 3.5 V10	G	42		8
5	Jordan-Hart	194	1035 3.5 V10	G	28		1	1
6	Tyrrell-Yamaha	023	OX10B 3.5 V10	G	13		1
7	Ligier-Renault	JS39B	RS6 3.5 V10	G	13		2
8	Sauber-Mercedes	C13	2175B 3.5 V10	G	12
9	Footwork-Ford	FA15	HBE7/8 3.5 V8	G	9
10	Minardi-Ford	M193 M194	HBC7/8 3.5 V8	G	5
11	Larrousse-Ford	LH94	HBF7/8 3.5 V8	G	2
12	Pacific-Ilmor	PR01	2175A 3.5 V10	G
13	Lotus-Mugen-Honda	107C 109	MF-351 HB 3.5 V10	G
14	Simtek-Ford	S941	HBD6 3.5 V8	G

1994 Drivers Championship final standings

Pos Driver BRA PAC SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR EUR JPN AUS Points 1 Schumacher 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 DSQ Ret 1 DSQ Ex Ex 1 2 Ret 92 2 Hill 2 Ret 6 Ret 1 2 2 1 8 2 1 1 1 2 1 Ret 91 3 Berger Ret 2 Ret 3 Ret 4 3 Ret 1 12 Ret 2 Ret 5 Ret 2 41 4 Häkkinen Ret Ret 3 Ret Ret Ret Ret 3 Ret 2 3 3 3 7 12 26 5 Alesi 3 5 4 3 Ret 2 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 10 3 6 24 6 Barrichello 4 3 DNQ Ret Ret 7 Ret 4 Ret Ret Ret 4 4 12 Ret 4 19 7 Brundle Ret Ret 8 2 11 Ret Ret Ret Ret 4 Ret 5 6 Ret Ret 3 16 8 Coulthard Ret 5 5 Ret Ret 4 6 2 14 9 Mansell Ret Ret 4 1 13 10 Verstappen Ret Ret Ret 8 Ret 3 3 Ret 5 Ret 10 11 Panis 11 9 11 9 7 12 Ret 12 2 6 7 10 DSQ 9 11 5 9 12 Blundell Ret Ret 9 Ret 3 10 10 Ret Ret 5 5 Ret Ret 13 Ret Ret 8 13 Frentzen Ret 5 7 DNQ Ret Ret 4 7 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 6 6 7 7 14 Larini Ret 2 6 15 Fittipaldi Ret 4 13 Ret Ret DSQ 8 9 4 14 Ret Ret 8 17 8 8 6 16 Irvine Ret 6 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 13 Ret 7 4 5 Ret 6 17 Katayama 5 Ret 5 Ret Ret Ret Ret 6 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 7 Ret Ret 5 18 Bernard Ret 10 12 Ret 8 13 Ret 13 3 10 10 7 10 18 4 19 Wendlinger 6 Ret 4 DNQ 4 19 de Cesaris Ret 4 Ret 6 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 4 21 Martini 8 Ret Ret Ret 5 9 5 10 Ret Ret 8 Ret 12 15 Ret 9 4 22 Morbidelli Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 Ret 6 Ret 9 11 Ret Ret 3 23 Comas 9 6 Ret 10 Ret Ret 11 Ret 6 8 Ret 8 Ret Ret 9 2 24 JJ Lehto Ret 7 Ret 6 9 Ret Ret 10 1 25 Alboreto Ret Ret Ret 6 Ret 11 Ret Ret Ret 7 9 Ret 13 14 Ret Ret 1 26 Herbert 7 7 10 Ret Ret 8 7 11 Ret Ret 12 Ret 11 8 Ret Ret 0 27 Beretta Ret Ret Ret 8 Ret Ret Ret 14 7 9 0 28 Lamy 10 8 Ret 11 0 29 Gounon 9 16 Ret Ret 11 Ret 15 0 30 Zanardi 9 15 Ret Ret Ret 13 Ret 16 13 Ret 0 31 Brabham 12 Ret Ret Ret 10 14 Ret 15 Ret 11 Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret 0 32 Salo 10 Ret 0 33 Ratzenberger DNQ 11 DNS 0 33 Lagorce Ret 11 0 35 Dalmas Ret 14 0 36 Adams Ret 16 0 37 Schiattarella 19 Ret 0 — Gachot Ret DNQ Ret Ret Ret Ret DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 — Senna Ret Ret Ret 0 — Noda Ret Ret Ret 0 — Belmondo DNQ DNQ DNQ Ret Ret DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 — Alliot Ret Ret 0 — Suzuki Ret 0 — Inoue Ret 0 — Deletraz Ret 0 — Montermini DNQ 0 Pos Driver BRA PAC SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR EUR JPN AUS Points

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Finished, in points Blue Finished, no points Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate Blank Injured (INJ) Blank Excluded (EX)