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.
Background 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 cancelled, 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. Ferrari driver Jean Alesi injured his back in a testing accident at Mugello, 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. Nicola Larini would substitute for Alesi at the Pacific race, while Aguri Suzuki would take Irvine's place.
Qualifying report 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 classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 2 Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 1:10.218 1:19.304 2 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:10.440 no time +0.222 3 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:10.771 1:12.048 +0.553 4 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 1:11.683 no time +1.465 5 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:11.744 1:12.184 +1.526 6 8 Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 1:12.351 no time +2.133 7 27 Nicola Larini Ferrari 1:12.372 5:32.428 +2.154 8 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:12.409 1:13.172 +2.191 9 9 Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 1:13.169 1:12.444 +2.226 10 6 Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 1:12.554 1:12.681 +2.336 11 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 1:12.686 1:12.797 +2.468 12 4 Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:13.013 1:12.751 +2.533 13 10 Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 1:12.866 1:13.090 +2.648 14 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:13.013 1:13.411 +2.795 15 24 Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 1:13.342 1:13.016 +2.798 16 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 1:13.111 1:13.550 +2.893 17 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:13.529 1:13.756 +3.311 18 25 Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 1:13.613 1:14.204 +3.395 19 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 1:13.855 1:14.163 +3.637 20 15 Aguri Suzuki Jordan-Hart 1:14.036 1:13.932 +3.714 21 19 Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 1:14.101 1:14.271 +3.883 22 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 1:14.106 1:14.667 +3.888 23 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:14.538 1:14.424 +4.206 24 11 Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:14.657 1:15.146 +4.439 25 31 David Brabham Simtek-Ford 1:14.946 1:14.748 +4.530 26 32 Roland Ratzenberger Simtek-Ford no time 1:16.536 +6.318 34 Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 1:16.927 1:18.571 +6.709 33 Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 1:18.671 1:17.450 +7.232 Sources:
Race report 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 aids 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. 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. Senna returned to the Williams pit area after about 10 laps had been completed, suspicious that the Benetton B194 was illegal.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 83 1:46:01.693 2 10 2 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 83 + 1:15.300 5 6 3 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 82 + 1 lap 8 4 4 9 Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 82 + 1 lap 9 3 5 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 82 + 1 lap 11 2 6 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 80 + 3 laps 16 1 7 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 80 + 3 laps 23 8 11 Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 79 + 4 laps 24 9 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 78 + 5 laps 22 10 25 Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 78 + 5 laps 18 11 32 Roland Ratzenberger Simtek-Ford 78 + 5 laps 26 10 Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 69 Engine/Spun off 13 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes 69 Collision damage 19 24 Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 69 Collision 15 8 Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 67 Overheating 6 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 63 Spun off 17 6 Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 54 Spun off 10 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 49 Transmission 3 15 Aguri Suzuki Jordan-Hart 44 Steering 20 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 42 Engine 14 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 19 Gearbox 4 19 Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 14 Electrical 21 31 David Brabham Simtek-Ford 2 Electrical 25 2 Ayrton Senna Williams-Renault 0 Collision 1 27 Nicola Larini Ferrari 0 Collision 7 4 Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 0 Collision 12
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Michael Schumacher 20 2 Rubens Barrichello 7 3 Damon Hill 6 4 Gerhard Berger 6 5 Jean Alesi 4Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Benetton-Ford 20 2 Ferrari 10 3 Jordan-Hart 7 4 Williams-Renault 6 5 Footwork-Ford 3Source:
References