The 1994 Portuguese Grand Prix (formally the XXIII Grande Premio de Portugal) was a Formula One motor race held at Estoril on 25 September 1994. It was the thirteenth race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.
The 71-lap race was won by Briton Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault. Teammate David Coulthard finished second, achieving his first podium finish, with Finn Mika Häkkinen third in a McLaren-Peugeot. The win, Hill's fifth of the season and third in succession, enabled him to move within one point of Drivers' Championship leader, German Michael Schumacher, while the 1–2 finish allowed Williams to take over the lead of the Constructors' Championship from Benetton.
As of , this is the last race in Formula One history not to feature an active World Drivers' Champion on the grid.
Background With Michael Schumacher still banned, the Benetton team continued to run JJ Lehto alongside Jos Verstappen, while the financially-troubled Lotus team brought back Philippe Adams to partner Johnny Herbert.
Qualifying report
During the Friday qualifying session, Eddie Irvine spun his Jordan and in the process collided with Damon Hill's Williams. Hill's car flipped upside down, but he escaped unhurt. Irvine was warned a similar incident would see his Super Licence revoked.
Gerhard Berger took pole position, his second of the season and the third for Ferrari, by 0.158 seconds from Hill. On the second row of the grid were David Coulthard in the other Williams and Mika Häkkinen in the McLaren, and on the third row were Jean Alesi in the other Ferrari and Ukyo Katayama in the Tyrrell. The top ten was completed by Martin Brundle in the other McLaren, Rubens Barrichello in the other Jordan, Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Sauber, and Verstappen. Once again, the Pacifics of Bertrand Gachot and Paul Belmondo were the two non-qualifiers.
Qualifying classification
Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap 1 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:20.608 1:21.863 2 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:20.803 1:20.766 +0.158 3 2 David Coulthard Williams-Renault 1:21.120 1:21.033 +0.425 4 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 1:21.251 1:21.700 +0.643 5 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:21.517 1:22.086 +0.909 6 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:21.590 4:03.441 +0.982 7 8 Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 1:21.656 1:22.035 +1.048 8 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:21.839 1:21.796 +1.188 9 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 1:22.795 1:21.921 +1.313 10 6 Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 1:22.614 1:22.000 +1.392 11 9 Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 1:22.636 1:22.132 +1.524 12 4 Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:22.288 1:22.971 +1.680 13 15 Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 1:23.411 1:22.294 +1.686 14 5 JJ Lehto Benetton-Ford 1:22.613 1:22.369 +1.761 15 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 1:23.711 1:22.672 +2.064 16 10 Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 1:22.974 1:22.756 +2.148 17 29 Andrea de Cesaris Sauber-Mercedes 1:22.885 1:22.888 +2.277 18 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:23.243 1:23.464 +2.635 19 24 Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 1:23.364 1:24.186 +2.756 20 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda no time 1:23.408 +2.800 21 25 Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 1:25.039 1:23.699 +3.091 22 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 1:24.192 1:24.306 +3.584 23 19 Yannick Dalmas Larrousse-Ford 1:24.438 1:24.920 +3.830 24 31 David Brabham Simtek-Ford 1:24.527 1:24.514 +3.906 25 11 Philippe Adams Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:25.313 1:25.708 +4.705 26 32 Jean-Marc Gounon Simtek-Ford 1:25.686 1:25.649 +5.041 34 Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 1:27.960 1:27.385 +6.777 33 Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 1:32.706 1:29.000 +8.392 Sources:
Race report
Gerhard Berger led in the early stages for Ferrari, ahead of Coulthard who had got ahead of Hill on the start. Berger retired on lap 8 with his gearbox failed, and Katayama's gearbox also failed by lap 27, which promoted Rubens Barrichello into the points for Jordan. Coulthard ran wide whilst trying to lap a backmarker on lap 33 which allowed Hill to edge ahead of the Scotsman. By lap 39 the other Ferrari of Jean Alesi had retired after colliding with the Simtek of David Brabham while trying to lap him. Soon afterwards, Jos Verstappen was able to pass Martin Brundle's McLaren for 5th. Damon Hill went on to take his third consecutive race win, ahead of Coulthard. The 1-2 finish gave Williams the lead in the Constructors Championship. Mika Hakkinen finished third for McLaren, Barrichello 4th for Jordan, Verstappen 5th for Benetton and Martin Brundle 6th in the second McLaren. Olivier Panis originally finished 9th but was disqualified for having illegal skidblock wear.
Race classification
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 71 1:45:10.146 2 10 2 2 David Coulthard Williams-Renault 71 + 0.603 3 6 3 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 71 + 20.193 4 4 4 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 71 + 28.003 8 3 5 6 Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 71 + 29.385 10 2 6 8 Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 71 + 52.702 7 1 7 15 Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 70 + 1 lap 13 8 9 Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 70 + 1 lap 11 9 10 Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 70 + 1 lap 16 10 25 Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 70 + 1 lap 21 11 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 70 + 1 lap 20 12 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 69 + 2 laps 18 13 24 Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 69 + 2 laps 19 14 19 Yannick Dalmas Larrousse-Ford 69 + 2 laps 23 15 32 Jean-Marc Gounon Simtek-Ford 67 + 4 laps 26 16 11 Philippe Adams Lotus-Mugen-Honda 67 + 4 laps 25 4 Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 61 Engine 12 5 JJ Lehto Benetton-Ford 60 Spun off 14 29 Andrea de Cesaris Sauber-Mercedes 54 Spun off 17 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 38 Collision 5 31 David Brabham Simtek-Ford 36 Collision 24 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 31 Differential 9 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 27 Suspension 22 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 26 Gearbox 6 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 7 Gearbox 1 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 70 Illegal skid block 15 Source:
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Michael Schumacher 76 2 Damon Hill 75 3 Gerhard Berger 33 4 Mika Häkkinen 22 5 Jean Alesi 19Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault89 2 Benetton-Ford87 3 Ferrari58 4 McLaren-Peugeot34 5 Jordan-Hart20Source:
References