Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Grand Prix race report

The 1994 Pacific Grand Prix (formally the I Pacific Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 17 April 1994 at the TI Circuit, Aida, Japan. It was the second race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.

The 83-lap race was won by German driver Michael Schumacher, driving a Benetton-Ford, after he started from second position. Brazilian Ayrton Senna took pole position in his Williams-Renault but retired following a first-corner collision with the Ferrari of Italian Nicola Larini, leaving Schumacher to lead all 83 laps. Austrian Gerhard Berger was second in the other Ferrari with another Brazilian, Rubens Barrichello, third in a Jordan-Hart, his and the Jordan team's first podium finish.

BackgroundEdit

The Pacific Grand Prix was the first of two races scheduled to be held in Japan in 1994 with the Japanese Grand Prix due to take place at Suzuka in October. The race at the new to the calendar TI Circuit acted as a replacement for the European Grand Prix at Donington Park that had been originally scheduled for this date but was later cancelledTemplate:Citation needed, though the European Grand Prix would later reappear on the calendar with the event taking place in early October at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain as a replacement for the Argentine Grand Prix.Template:Citation needed Ferrari driver Jean Alesi injured his back in a testing accident at Mugello,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> while Jordan driver Eddie Irvine unsuccessfully appealed against the one-race ban handed to him for his involvement in the four-car accident in Brazil, this ban being increased to three races.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Nicola Larini would substitute for Alesi at the Pacific race, while Aguri Suzuki would take Irvine's place.

Qualifying reportEdit

Most drivers set their best qualifying times during Friday's session, the track conditions on Saturday being slower. Ayrton Senna took pole position in his Williams by 0.22 seconds from Michael Schumacher in the Benetton. Damon Hill was third in the other Williams with Mika Häkkinen fourth in the McLaren, followed by Gerhard Berger in the Ferrari and Martin Brundle in the other McLaren. The top ten was completed by Larini in the other Ferrari, Rubens Barrichello in the Jordan, Christian Fittipaldi in the Footwork and Jos Verstappen in the other Benetton. Suzuki was 20th in the other Jordan, while the two Simteks of David Brabham and Roland Ratzenberger were 25th and 26th respectively, condemning the two Pacifics of Bertrand Gachot and Paul Belmondo to non-qualification.

Qualifying classificationEdit

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 2 Template:Flagicon Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 1:10.218 1:19.304
2 5 Template:Flagicon Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:10.440 no time +0.222
3 0 Template:Flagicon Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:10.771 1:12.048 +0.553
4 7 Template:Flagicon Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 1:11.683 no time +1.465
5 28 Template:Flagicon Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:11.744 1:12.184 +1.526
6 8 Template:Flagicon Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 1:12.351 no time +2.133
7 27 Template:Flagicon Nicola Larini Ferrari 1:12.372 5:32.428 +2.154
8 14 Template:Flagicon Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:12.409 1:13.172 +2.191
9 9 Template:Flagicon Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 1:13.169 1:12.444 +2.226
10 6 Template:Flagicon Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 1:12.554 1:12.681 +2.336
11 30 Template:Flagicon Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 1:12.686 1:12.797 +2.468
12 4 Template:Flagicon Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:13.013 1:12.751 +2.533
13 10 Template:Flagicon Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 1:12.866 1:13.090 +2.648
14 3 Template:Flagicon Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:13.013 1:13.411 +2.795
15 24 Template:Flagicon Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 1:13.342 1:13.016 +2.798
16 20 Template:Flagicon Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 1:13.111 1:13.550 +2.893
17 23 Template:Flagicon Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:13.529 1:13.756 +3.311
18 25 Template:Flagicon Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 1:13.613 1:14.204 +3.395
19 29 Template:Flagicon Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 1:13.855 1:14.163 +3.637
20 15 Template:Flagicon Aguri Suzuki Jordan-Hart 1:14.036 1:13.932 +3.714
21 19 Template:Flagicon Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 1:14.101 1:14.271 +3.883
22 26 Template:Flagicon Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 1:14.106 1:14.667 +3.888
23 12 Template:Flagicon Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:14.538 1:14.424 +4.206
24 11 Template:Flagicon Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:14.657 1:15.146 +4.439
25 31 Template:Flagicon David Brabham Simtek-Ford 1:14.946 1:14.748 +4.530
26 32 Template:Flagicon Roland Ratzenberger Simtek-Ford no time 1:16.536 +6.318
DNQ 34 Template:Flagicon Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 1:16.927 1:18.571 +6.709
DNQ 33 Template:Flagicon Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 1:18.671 1:17.450 +7.232
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Race reportEdit

Ayrton Senna was overtaken by Schumacher before the first corner and was then hit from behind by Mika Häkkinen and spun off the track. Nicola Larini also went off the track and crashed into Senna, causing race-ending damage to both cars. Mark Blundell also spun on the same corner after a collision at the apex of the first corner, stalling his car in the middle of the track. On lap 3 Damon Hill spun off trying to overtake Hakkinen, but rejoined and climbed back to second place before stopping with transmission failure on lap 49. As Jos Verstappen in the second Benetton retired after he spun off just as soon as he came out of the pits on lap 55 as he was 3 laps behind teammate Schumacher. Martin Brundle meanwhile was looking secure in 3rd place after Barrichello pitted before he retired shortly after with his engine overheating on lap 68. Alboreto and Wendlinger to whom were just behind the top 6 had collided and both went off into the gravel trap forcing both drivers to retire whilst the Minardi was trying to get past the Sauber at the time. Michael Schumacher won comfortably from Gerhard Berger and Rubens Barrichello. Roland Ratzenberger's 11th place would be the Austrian's only finish before his death during qualifying for the following Grand Prix at Imola.

Illegal driver aidsEdit

During the weekend, Ferrari test driver Nicola Larini (who had replaced the injured Jean Alesi for the early part of the season), leaked to the Italian media that he had used traction control (one of the banned for 1994 electronic driver aids) during the practice session for the race. Ferrari and Larini later denied the claims to the worldwide press.<ref name=telegraphyears>Template:Cite book</ref> The "leak" by Larini further raised suspicions about teams using illegal aids to help them in races. Further, after the first corner collision that put him out of the race, instead of going back to the Williams pit area, Ayrton Senna opted to sit on the wall on the outside of the turn and watch the cars for a number of laps to see if he could hear any noises that suggested traction control was being used illegally in the other cars.<ref name=grandprix-pacific94>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Senna returned to the Williams pit area after about 10 laps had been completed, suspicious that the Benetton B194 was illegal.<ref name="saward">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Race classificationEdit

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 Template:Flagicon Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 83 1:46:01.693 2 10
2 28 Template:Flagicon Gerhard Berger Ferrari 83 + 1:15.300 5 6
3 14 Template:Flagicon Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 82 + 1 lap 8 4
4 9 Template:Flagicon Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 82 + 1 lap 9 3
5 30 Template:Flagicon Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 82 + 1 lap 11 2
6 20 Template:Flagicon Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 80 + 3 laps 16 1
7 12 Template:Flagicon Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 80 + 3 laps 23  
8 11 Template:Flagicon Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 79 + 4 laps 24  
9 26 Template:Flagicon Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 78 + 5 laps 22  
10 25 Template:Flagicon Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 78 + 5 laps 18  
11 32 Template:Flagicon Roland Ratzenberger Simtek-Ford 78 + 5 laps 26  
Ret 10 Template:Flagicon Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 69 Engine/Spun off 13  
Ret 29 Template:Flagicon Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 69 Collision damage 19  
Ret 24 Template:Flagicon Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 69 Collision 15  
Ret 8 Template:Flagicon Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 67 Overheating 6  
Ret 23 Template:Flagicon Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 63 Spun off 17  
Ret 6 Template:Flagicon Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 54 Spun off 10  
Ret 0 Template:Flagicon Damon Hill Williams-Renault 49 Transmission 3  
Ret 15 Template:Flagicon Aguri Suzuki Jordan-Hart 44 Steering 20  
Ret 3 Template:Flagicon Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 42 Engine 14  
Ret 7 Template:Flagicon Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 19 Gearbox 4  
Ret 19 Template:Flagicon Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 14 Electrical 21  
Ret 31 Template:Flagicon David Brabham Simtek-Ford 2 Electrical 25  
Ret 2 Template:Flagicon Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 0 Collision 1  
Ret 27 Template:Flagicon Nicola Larini Ferrari 0 Collision 7  
Ret 4 Template:Flagicon Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 0 Collision 12  
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Championship standings after the raceEdit

Template:Col-start Template:Col-2

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Template:Flagicon Michael Schumacher 20
2 Template:Flagicon Rubens Barrichello 7
3 Template:Flagicon Damon Hill 6
4 Template:Flagicon Gerhard Berger 6
5 Template:Flagicon Jean Alesi 4
Source: <ref name="Championship">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

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Template:Col-2

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 Template:Flagicon Benetton-Ford 20
2 Template:Flagicon Ferrari 10
3 Template:Flagicon Jordan-Hart 7
4 Template:Flagicon Williams-Renault 6
5 Template:Flagicon Footwork-Ford 3
Source: <ref name="Championship"/>

Template:Col-end

ReferencesEdit

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