1994 Spanish Grand Prix

Report

Pre-race

This was the first race for the newly formed Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA). Several top level names, including Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, and Gerhard Berger, were instrumental in the setup and running of the GPDA, and they took the decision to install a temporary chicane before the Nissan corner. This was an attempt to improve safety, as well as limit speeds around the track, as the Nissan corner was generally taken at near flat-out speeds.

Sauber entered only one car for this race due to Karl Wendlinger's injury at the previous race.

Qualifying

Michael Schumacher took the second pole position in succession and the second of his career. Damon Hill also lined up on the front row, his time had been beaten by Schumacher's by over half a second, and he was only one thousandth of a second ahead of Mika Häkkinen. The pair's respective Williams and McLaren teammates lined up eighth and ninth, McLaren's Martin Brundle on the fourth row in front of a disappointed David Coulthard for Williams. JJ Lehto, Schumacher's Benetton teammate had done a bit better for himself and lined up fourth. Rubens Barrichello's Jordan qualified in fifth, followed by the two Ferraris. Tyrrell driver Ukyo Katayama was the other driver in the top ten, while at the back Andrea Montermini crashed heavily in the Simtek previously driven by Roland Ratzenberger and broke his left heel and his right foot. He thus did not set a timed lap in the second session, and failed to qualify, although he would have been unable to start the race anyway.

Race

Olivier Beretta retired when his Larousse-Ford's engine failed on the formation lap. Schumacher led from pole position at the start of the race whilst Barrichello and Berger touched at the first corner. Neither driver retired as a direct result of the collision, although both did retire eventually. Later in the race Berger ran across the grass and lost places and would retire on lap 28 with gearbox problems. Coulthard climbed up to fifth place from his ninth place starting spot, but his car stalled in the pits on lap 16. Despite retiring from twelfth place on lap 32 with electrical problems, he described his race as a "good debut overall". Michael Schumacher led comfortably for first 22 laps, but became stuck in fifth gear after his first pit stop which led to overtakes by Mika Häkkinen and Damon Hill. Rubens Barrichello retired after he went off the track on lap 40. After the pit stops, Mika Häkkinen was in third place for McLaren behind Hill and Schumacher, having temporarily been in front of Schumacher earlier in the race. Häkkinen's engine failed on lap 49, as did JJ Lehto's Benetton-Ford 5 laps later, granting the place to Hakkinen's teammate Martin Brundle. Brundle then retired himself after a transmission explosion from the back of his car at the first corner on lap 60 and was classified 11th. While Williams notched up their first victory of the season with Damon Hill, and first after the death of Ayrton Senna, championship leader Michael Schumacher finished a strong second, despite being stuck in fifth gear for most of the race. Mark Blundell, for Tyrrell, completed the podium celebrations, scoring his 3rd and last podium of his career as well as Tyrrell's last Formula 1 podium. Jean Alesi, Pierluigi Martini and Eddie Irvine scored the remaining points. In a high attrition race only ten drivers took checkered flag and Martin Brundle was classified 11th as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Post-race

After the race, the Williams team were very emotional with Hill's win.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

References

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

References

1. "1994 Spanish Grand Prix". [[Motor Sport (magazine).
2. "Ayrton Senna death: David Coulthard - I owe him my career". BBC Sport.
3. "F1 – 1994 FIA Review – 05 Spain". YouTube.
4. "At last - Hill challenges the Schumacher monopoly". Grand Prix Racing.
5. "1994 Spanish Grand Prix flashback". F1 Fanatic.
6. "Gran Premio Marlboro de España – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com.
7. "Gran Premio Marlboro de España – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com.
8. "1994 Spanish Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats.
9. "Past Results - Spanish Grand Prix". www.skysports.com.
10. (2020-02-08). "1994 Spanish Grand Prix - Race Result".
11. "Spain 1994 - Result".
12. "Spain 1994 - Championship • STATS F1".