1994 Australian Grand Prix

Report

Background

Heading into the final race of the season, Benetton driver Michael Schumacher was leading the Drivers' Championship with 92 points; Williams driver Damon Hill was second on 91 points, one point behind Schumacher. Williams led the Constructors' Championship with 108 points, while Benetton were 5 points behind with 103. Thus, both titles were still at stake, and they would be determined in the final round.

Race

Schumacher took the lead at the start, with Hill second behind him. The order between the two remained the same until lap 36. Hill was catching Schumacher when the Benetton driver went off the track at the East Terrace corner, hitting a wall with his right side wheels before pulling back onto the track. Hill had rounded the fifth corner of the track when Schumacher pulled across the track ahead of him to the left. At the next corner, Hill attempted to pass Schumacher; the two collided when Schumacher turned in. Schumacher was eliminated on the spot. Hill attempted to continue the race and pitted immediately, but retired from the race with irreparable damage to the car's front left suspension wishbone. As neither driver scored, Schumacher took the title.

After Schumacher and Hill retired, Nigel Mansell took the lead of the race. Mansell stayed in the lead until he made his second pit stop. After Mansell pitted, Berger took the lead and stayed in the lead after his second pit stop. On lap 64, Mansell overtook Berger to retake the lead of the race. Mika Häkkinen was running 5th in the closing stages behind teammate Brundle and Barrichello until his brakes failed on lap 77, sending him off into the wall backwards into retirement but was classified 12th. Mansell stayed in the lead for the rest of the race to win, with Berger finishing second and Brundle finishing third ahead of Barrichello, Panis, and Jean Alesi in the other Ferrari completing the top 6. Mansell's victory was first time a driver over the age of 40 had won a Formula One race since Jack Brabham in 1970. , Mansell remains the last driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix over the age of 40.

Post-race

Schumacher was blamed for the incident by many Formula One insiders despite having won the Championship. After investigation, the race stewards judged it as a racing incident and took no action against Schumacher. At age 25, Schumacher was Germany's first Formula One World Drivers' Champion (given that Jochen Rindt, posthumous 1970 World's Champion, competed for Austria, his adoptive country), albeit under highly controversial circumstances. Schumacher always maintained that the collision was a racing incident, a view that met with a large degree of media cynicism, particularly in the United Kingdom. Schumacher has been blamed by the United Kingdom public for the incident. In 2003, the BBC conducted a search for "The Most Unsporting Moment" in which the Adelaide incident was nominated. Hill's 1994 season earned him the 1994 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Although Hill deliberately avoided becoming involved in the outcry at the time, in later years he explicitly accused Schumacher of deliberately driving into him. Formula One commentator Murray Walker maintained that Schumacher did not cause the crash intentionally while his co-commentators for the race, former Formula One driver Jonathan Palmer and pit reporter Barry Sheene, both argued that the crash was entirely Schumacher's fault. Patrick Head of the Williams team stated to F1 Racing magazine that in 1994 "Williams were already 100% certain that Michael was guilty of foul play" but did not protest Schumacher's title because the team was still dealing with the death of Ayrton Senna, to whom Schumacher dedicated his title after his death in the San Marino Grand Prix earlier in the year.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

Championship standings after the race

• Bold text indicates the World Champions. ;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

References

Year_of_race = 1994 | Previous_year's_race = 1993 Australian Grand Prix | Next_year's_race = 1995 Australian Grand Prix

References

1. (6 November 1995). "Grand Prix fever in Adelaide". Inside F1, Inc..
2. "Schumacher 500: Has the King Lost His Crown". autosport.com.
3. "Schumacher's chequered history". news.bbc.co.uk.
4. Henry, Alan. (1996). "Wheel to Wheel: Great Duels of Formula One Racing". Weidenfeld Nicolson Illustrated.
5. "Most unsporting moment?". news.bbc.co.uk.
6. "Roll call of past winners". news.bbc.co.uk.
7. ''Motor Sport'', January 2007, p. 43
8. "'Ruthless' Schumi blasted". motoring.iafrica.com.
9. "Australian Grand Prix – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com.
10. "Australian Grand Prix – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com.
11. "1994 Australian GP – Qualifying". ChicaneF1.
12. (2020-10-22). "1994 Australian Grand Prix - Race Result".
13. "Australia 1994 - Championship • STATS F1".