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| 1994 Belgian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 11 of 16 in the1994 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 28 August 1994 | ||
| Official name | LII Grand Prix de Belgique | ||
| Location | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Francorchamps,Wallonia,Belgium[1] | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 7.001 km (4.350 miles) | ||
| Distance | 44 laps, 308.044 km (191.410 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Jordan-Hart | ||
| Time | 2:21.163 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Damon Hill | Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:57.117 on lap 41(lap record) | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||
| Second | McLaren-Peugeot | ||
| Third | Benetton-Ford | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1994 Belgian Grand Prix was aFormula Onemotor race held on 28 August 1994 at theCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps, near the village ofFrancorchamps,Wallonia. It was the eleventh race of the1994 Formula One World Championship.
The 44-lap race was won by British driverDamon Hill, driving aWilliams-Renault. After BrazilianRubens Barrichello took the firstpole position for theJordan team, GermanMichael Schumacher crossed the finish line first in hisBenetton-Ford, only to be disqualified due to excessive wear on the woodenskid block underneath his car. Hill was thus awarded the win, his third of the season, with FinnMika Häkkinen second in aMcLaren-Peugeot and Schumacher's Dutch teammateJos Verstappen third.
This was the last time a race-winning driver was disqualified in Formula One untilGeorge Russell thirty years later atthe same event.[2]
Having deputised for a suspendedMika Häkkinen atMcLaren at the previous race inHungary,Philippe Alliot now returned to his oldLarrousse team for this race, taking the place ofOlivier Beretta. Meanwhile, the cash-strappedLotus replacedAlessandro Zanardi with local driverPhilippe Adams, who brought significant funding to the team.[3]
Following the deaths ofRoland Ratzenberger andAyrton Senna atImola earlier in the season, a chicane was installed at Eau Rouge to slow the cars.
The Friday qualifying session was held in wet but drying conditions. Towards the end of the session, theJordan cars were sent out on slick tyres, andRubens Barrichello duly put his car on provisional pole with teammateEddie Irvine fourth. More rain fell on Saturday, with most of the drivers lapping several seconds slower than the day before, and onlyChristian Fittipaldi improving his time. Thus, Barrichello took the first pole position of his career and the first for Jordan. At 22 years and 98 days, Barrichello became the youngest ever F1 polesitter up to that point, beating the record set by Andrea de Cesaris at the1982 United States Grand Prix West.[4]
Drivers' Championship leaderMichael Schumacher was second in hisBenetton, withDamon Hill third in hisWilliams. After Irvine cameJean Alesi in theFerrari,Jos Verstappen in the second Benetton,David Coulthard in the second Williams and the returning Häkkinen, withHeinz-Harald Frentzen in theSauber andPierluigi Martini in theMinardi completing the top ten.
In dry conditions, Barrichello led away from Schumacher and a fast-starting Alesi. Schumacher passed Barrichello at Les Combes, and Alesi soon followed, only for his engine to fail on lap 3. With the Jordans struggling to hold on to track position against faster cars, Hill moved into second, ahead of Coulthard and Häkkinen.Gerhard Berger in the remainingFerrari also retired with engine failure by lap 12.Philippe Adams who made his debut Grand Prix appearance at his home circuit soon spun out into the gravel trap, five laps after Berger retired.
Coulthard overtook teammate Hill during the first round of pit stops, while Barrichello moved back up to second before making his stop. On lap 19, Schumacher spun exiting Fagnes but retained the lead; the following lap, Barrichello spun into retirement at Pouhon and clipped the armco barrier giving hisJordan 194 terminal suspension damage.Martin Brundle moved into fifth in the second McLaren, before he himself had spun off and clipped the armco like Barrichello by lap 25.
When Schumacher and Hill made their second pit stops on lap 28, Coulthard led a lap for the first time in his F1 career. After making his own second stop, he remained ahead of Hill until the Williams team called him in on lap 37 to check his rear wing. He then developed gearbox problems and was passed by Häkkinen, Verstappen andMark Blundell in theTyrrell. On lap 40, Coulthard hit the back of Blundell's car going through La Source; both were able to continue, with Coulthard apologising to Blundell afterwards.Eddie Irvine was the final retirement with the result of analternator failure with only three laps to go and was classified fourteenth, leaving thirteen runners left in the race up to the finish.
Though Hill set the fastest lap of the race on lap 41, Schumacher crossed the finish line some 13 seconds ahead, with Häkkinen a further 51 seconds back and Verstappen, Coulthard, Blundell and Morbidelli completing the top six.
Shortly after the race, excessive wear was found on the woodenskid block on the underside of Schumacher's car. The skid block was amandatory requirement on all cars, introduced two races before inGermany, to increase ride height and reduceground effect advantages. Wear on the skid block of up to one millimetre was permitted; any greater would make the ride height too low and result in an illegal aerodynamic advantage.[5] The Benetton team claimed that the excessive wear resulted from Schumacher's spin on lap 19, but the stewards rejected the claim because of the wear pattern. Schumacher was thus disqualified and Hill awarded the victory, with Häkkinen second, Verstappen third, Coulthard fourth, Blundell fifth andGianni Morbidelli sixth in theFootwork.
Schumacher's lead over Hill in the Drivers' Championship was reduced to 21 points with five races remaining.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 |  Rubens Barrichello | Jordan-Hart | 2:21.163 | no time | |
| 2 | 5 |  Michael Schumacher | Benetton-Ford | 2:21.494 | 2:25.501 | +0.331 |
| 3 | 0 | Damon Hill | Williams-Renault | 2:21.681 | 2:25.570 | +0.518 |
| 4 | 15 | Eddie Irvine | Jordan-Hart | 2:22.074 | no time | +0.911 |
| 5 | 27 |  Jean Alesi | Ferrari | 2:22.202 | 2:25.099 | +1.039 |
| 6 | 6 |  Jos Verstappen | Benetton-Ford | 2:22.218 | 2:28.576 | +1.055 |
| 7 | 2 | David Coulthard | Williams-Renault | 2:22.359 | 2:27.180 | +1.196 |
| 8 | 7 |  Mika Häkkinen | McLaren-Peugeot | 2:22.441 | 2:28.997 | +1.278 |
| 9 | 30 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Sauber-Mercedes | 2:22.634 | 2:28.026 | +1.471 |
| 10 | 23 |  Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ford | 2:23.326 | 2:30.896 | +2.163 |
| 11 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 2:23.895 | 2:29.391 | +2.732 |
| 12 | 4 | Mark Blundell | Tyrrell-Yamaha | 2:24.048 | 2:28.164 | +2.885 |
| 13 | 8 | Martin Brundle | McLaren-Peugeot | 2:24.117 | 2:28.428 | +2.954 |
| 14 | 10 | Gianni Morbidelli | Footwork-Ford | 2:25.114 | 2:31.403 | +3.951 |
| 15 | 29 | Andrea de Cesaris | Sauber-Mercedes | 2:25.695 | 2:30.475 | +4.532 |
| 16 | 25 | Éric Bernard | Ligier-Renault | 2:26.044 | 2:31.025 | +4.881 |
| 17 | 26 | Olivier Panis | Ligier-Renault | 2:26.079 | 2:31.501 | +4.916 |
| 18 | 24 | Michele Alboreto | Minardi-Ford | 2:26.738 | 2:32.286 | +5.575 |
| 19 | 19 | Philippe Alliot | Larrousse-Ford | 2:26.901 | 2:31.350 | +5.738 |
| 20 | 12 | Johnny Herbert | Lotus-Mugen-Honda | 2:27.155 | 2:32.610 | +5.992 |
| 21 | 31 |  David Brabham | Simtek-Ford | 2:27.212 | 2:41.593 | +6.049 |
| 22 | 20 | Érik Comas | Larrousse-Ford | 2:28.156 | 2:30.524 | +6.993 |
| 23 | 3 |  Ukyo Katayama | Tyrrell-Yamaha | 2:28.979 | 2:29.925 | +7.816 |
| 24 | 9 | Christian Fittipaldi | Footwork-Ford | 16:56.162 | 2:30.931 | +9.768 |
| 25 | 32 | Jean-Marc Gounon | Simtek-Ford | 2:31.755 | 2:40.280 | +10.592 |
| 26 | 11 |  Philippe Adams | Lotus-Mugen-Honda | 2:33.885 | 2:34.733 | +12.722 |
| DNQ | 34 | Bertrand Gachot | Pacific-Ilmor | 2:34.582 | 2:34.951 | +13.419 |
| DNQ | 33 | Paul Belmondo | Pacific-Ilmor | 2:35.729 | no time | +14.566 |
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| Previous race: 1994 Hungarian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1994 season | Next race: 1994 Italian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1993 Belgian Grand Prix | Belgian Grand Prix | Next race: 1995 Belgian Grand Prix |
