1995 Australian Grand Prix

Report

Pre-race

Heading into the final round of the 1995 Formula One season, both the Drivers' Championship and Constructors' Championship were already settled, with Michael Schumacher having claimed the Drivers' Championship two rounds earlier at the Pacific Grand Prix. It was Schumacher's last race with the Benetton team, before his move to Ferrari for the 1996 season. Benetton had claimed the Constructors' Championship at the previous event, the Japanese Grand Prix, with Williams too many points behind to be able to catch them. It was announced beforehand that it would be the last Formula One event to be held at the Adelaide Street Circuit, with the Australian Grand Prix moving to Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne from the 1996 season.

In the Friday afternoon qualifying session, Mika Häkkinen in his McLaren car suffered a puncture in his left rear tyre heading towards Brewery Bend. This caused him to lose control, become airborne and crash heavily into a tyre barrier at 120 mph. The impact caused his helmet to strike the steering wheel, fracturing his skull. Within seconds he was attended by two doctors who were stationed at the corner, who found Häkkinen unresponsive and with a blocked airway. Häkkinen later said that he was aware of what had happened immediately after the impact, but subsequently lost consciousness. Unable to establish an airway, the doctors performed an emergency tracheotomy before taking him to the nearby Royal Adelaide Hospital. Häkkinen would recover in time to race the following season.

The Williams cars dominated qualifying, with Damon Hill in pole position and David Coulthard alongside him. Schumacher was third in his Benetton, with the Ferrari drivers fourth and fifth, Gerhard Berger ahead of Jean Alesi. Heinz-Harald Frentzen rounded out the top six in his Sauber.

Race

The race took place in the afternoon from 14:00 ACDT (UTC+10:30). Hill lost the lead to Coulthard at the start. Schumacher also lost ground at the start, with Berger moving into third and Alesi moving into fourth. Schumacher made his way back up to third, overtaking Alesi on lap one, before overtaking Berger a few laps later. Coulthard kept the lead until the first round of pitstops. However, he came into the pitlane too fast, locking his front tyres and running into the pitwall. He was forced to retire from the race. A few laps later, Forti's Roberto Moreno had spun and caused terminal damage to his suspension in the same place where Coulthard had crashed earlier.

After the first round of pitstops, Schumacher and Alesi collided, with both retiring. However, he was forced out of the race as his Benetton suffered a driveshaft failure. Olivier Panis was now second in his Ligier a lap behind Hill, with Footwork driver Gianni Morbidelli third, two laps down. With a few laps remaining, Panis' Ligier was suffering an oil leak, and Hill lapped him for a second time on his way to victory. Panis remained second, with Morbidelli third for his only career podium, and the first podium for the Footwork/Arrows team in six years. Behind the top three, Mark Blundell was fourth in the sole McLaren, with Mika Salo fifth in the Tyrrell. Pedro Lamy had a mid-race spin, but recovered to take sixth in his Minardi – his only Formula One point, and Minardi's last until the 1999 European Grand Prix. Only eight cars finished the race, with Pedro Diniz seventh place being Forti's best Formula One finish. The eighth place for Pacific also equalled their best result since the 1995 German Grand Prix. The race was televised by Channel 9 in Australia and by the BBC in the UK.

The race marked the end of Pacific Racing, as the team went back to International Formula 3000 for 1996. In a last gasp effort, Pacific tried to have their test driver Oliver Gavin in the seat, but he was not granted an FIA Super License and shareholder Bertrand Gachot raced instead. It was only the second time in Formula One history that the winner won by two laps– the first time was at the 1969 Spanish Grand Prix when Jackie Stewart won. Hill, who had been criticised for his performances in all of the three previous races, was praised by commentator Murray Walker for this performance, with Walker saying that, with Schumacher and Coulthard's imminent moves to Ferrari and McLaren respectively, Hill would be a strong favourite to win the title in 1996 if he could continue to perform in the way he had done so in this particular race. This would also be the last race for a V12 engine. Only Ferrari used this configuration, but would switch to a more fuel-efficient V10 engine for 1996.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

| Previous_year's_race = 1994 Australian Grand Prix | Next_year's_race = 1996 Australian Grand Prix

References

1. "EDS Australian Grand Prix – 1995". The Formula One DataBase.
2. (12 November 1995). "Features – Globetrotter – Thank you Adelaide". Grandprix.com.
3. "1995 Australian GP – LX EDS Australian Grand Prix". ChicaneF1.com.
4. "Statistics Grands Prix - Gap - The most • STATS F1".
5. "Grand Prix Results: Australian GP, 1995". GrandPrix.com.
6. "Schumacher – simply the best – again". Grand Prix Racing.
7. "1995 – Glimpses of greatness". F1Fanatic.
8. "Constructors' title goes to Benetton – care of Mr Schumacher". Grand Prix Racing.
9. Saward, Joe. (12 November 1995). "Globetrotter: Thank you Adelaide". GrandPrix.com.
10. Taylor, Simon. (September 2010). "Lunch with...Mika Hakkinen". Motor Sport.
11. "Hill takes a consolation win". Grand Prix Racing.
12. "EDS Australian Grand Prix – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com.
13. "EDS Australian Grand Prix – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com.
14. "1995 Australian Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats.
15. "1995 Australian Grand Prix". formula1.com.
16. "Australia 1995 - Championship • STATS F1".