| 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 16 in the1994 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 27 March 1994 | ||
| Official name | XXIII Grande Prêmio do Brasil | ||
| Location | Autódromo José Carlos Pace São Paulo,Brazil | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.325 km (2.687 miles) | ||
| Distance | 71 laps, 307.075 km (190.808 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:15.962 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Michael Schumacher | Benetton-Ford | |
| Time | 1:18.455 on lap 7 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Benetton-Ford | ||
| Second | Williams-Renault | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1994 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally theXXIII Grande Prêmio do Brasil) was aFormula Onemotor race held on 27 March 1994 at theAutódromo José Carlos Pace,São Paulo. It was the first race of the1994 Formula One World Championship.
The 71-lap race was won by German driverMichael Schumacher, driving aBenetton-Ford, after starting from second position. Local heroAyrton Senna tookpole position in hisWilliams-Renault and led before being overtaken by Schumacher at the first round of pit stops, after which he spun off. Senna's British teammateDamon Hill finished second, with FrenchmanJean Alesi third in aFerrari.
The first race of the 1994 season saw five drivers made their F1 debuts:Heinz-Harald Frentzen,Olivier Panis,Jos Verstappen,Olivier Beretta andRoland Ratzenberger. There were also two new teams:Simtek, who had previously been involved in F1 as the designers of theAndrea Moda S921 in 1992, andPacific Racing, who had enjoyed much success in lower formulae. This race also was first Grand Prix since 1983 to permit refuelling during in-race pit stops.
In his first race forWilliams,Ayrton Senna took pole position by 0.3 of a second fromMichael Schumacher'sBenetton.Jean Alesi was third in hisFerrari, over a second behind Schumacher, withDamon Hill fourth in the other Williams. Frentzen impressed by taking fifth in hisSauber, withGianni Morbidelli – back in F1 after contesting the1993 Italian Superturismo Championship – taking sixth in hisFootwork. The top ten was completed byKarl Wendlinger in the second Sauber,Mika Häkkinen in theMcLaren, Verstappen in the second Benetton andUkyo Katayama in theTyrrell. Of the two new teams,Bertrand Gachot qualified 25th in his Pacific andDavid Brabham 26th in his Simtek, with their respective teammatesPaul Belmondo and Ratzenberger failing to qualify.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |  Ayrton Senna | Williams-Renault | 1:16.386 | 1:15.962 | — |
| 2 | 5 | Michael Schumacher | Benetton-Ford | 1:16.575 | 1:16.290 | +0.328 |
| 3 | 27 |  Jean Alesi | Ferrari | 1:17.772 | 1:17.385 | +1.423 |
| 4 | 0 |  Damon Hill | Williams-Renault | 1:18.270 | 1:17.554 | +1.592 |
| 5 | 30 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Sauber-Mercedes | 1:18.144 | 1:17.806 | +1.844 |
| 6 | 10 |  Gianni Morbidelli | Footwork-Ford | 1:18.970 | 1:17.866 | +1.904 |
| 7 | 29 |  Karl Wendlinger | Sauber-Mercedes | 1:17.982 | 1:17.927 | +1.965 |
| 8 | 7 |  Mika Häkkinen | McLaren-Peugeot | 1:18.122 | 1:19.576 | +2.160 |
| 9 | 6 |  Jos Verstappen | Benetton-Ford | 1:18.787 | 1:18.183 | +2.221 |
| 10 | 3 |  Ukyo Katayama | Tyrrell-Yamaha | 1:19.519 | 1:18.194 | +2.232 |
| 11 | 9 | Christian Fittipaldi | Footwork-Ford | 1:18.730 | 1:18.204 | +2.242 |
| 12 | 4 | Mark Blundell | Tyrrell-Yamaha | 1:19.045 | 1:18.246 | +2.284 |
| 13 | 20 | Érik Comas | Larrousse-Ford | 1:18.990 | 1:18.321 | +2.359 |
| 14 | 14 | Rubens Barrichello | Jordan-Hart | 1:18.759 | 1:18.414 | +2.452 |
| 15 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ford | 1:18.659 | no time | +2.697 |
| 16 | 15 | Eddie Irvine | Jordan-Hart | 1:19.269 | 1:18.751 | +2.789 |
| 17 | 28 | Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 1:18.931 | 1:18.855 | +2.893 |
| 18 | 8 | Martin Brundle | McLaren-Peugeot | 1:18.864 | 13:18.601 | +2.902 |
| 19 | 26 | Olivier Panis | Ligier-Renault | 1:19.304 | 1:19.533 | +3.342 |
| 20 | 25 | Éric Bernard | Ligier-Renault | 1:19.396 | 1:19.633 | +3.434 |
| 21 | 12 | Johnny Herbert | Lotus-Mugen-Honda | 1:19.798 | 1:19.483 | +3.521 |
| 22 | 24 | Michele Alboreto | Minardi-Ford | 1:19.517 | no time | +3.555 |
| 23 | 19 |  Olivier Beretta | Larrousse-Ford | 1:19.922 | 1:19.524 | +3.562 |
| 24 | 11 |  Pedro Lamy | Lotus-Mugen-Honda | 1:21.029 | 1:19.975 | +4.013 |
| 25 | 34 | Bertrand Gachot | Pacific-Ilmor | 1:22.495 | 1:20.729 | +4.767 |
| 26 | 31 |  David Brabham | Simtek-Ford | 1:22.266 | 1:21.186 | +5.224 |
| DNQ | 32 | Roland Ratzenberger | Simtek-Ford | 1:22.707 | 1:23.109 | +6.745 |
| DNQ | 33 | Paul Belmondo | Pacific-Ilmor | no time | no time | — |
| Sources:[1][2][3] | ||||||
At the start Senna led from pole position, while Alesi overtook Schumacher. Schumacher retook second place on lap 2 and started chasing after Senna, who had pulled a four-second lead in the opening laps. Before the pit stops Schumacher had reduced the gap to just over a second, and on lap 21 the leading pair entered the pit lane together. Despite both teams running the same fuel strategy, Schumacher's stop was faster than Senna's, and thus he took the lead.
On lap 35, there was a four-car pile-up asEddie Irvine and Verstappen came up to lap theLigier ofÉric Bernard. All three were rapidly closing up onMartin Brundle'sMcLaren which had suffered an engine failure. Faced with the prospect of colliding with the McLaren, Irvine jinked left as Verstappen attempted an overtake on that side thus forcing Verstappen on to the grass; Verstappen then lost control of his car and somersaulted over the McLaren whilst Bernard took avoiding action to the right. Brundle's helmet was impacted by the airborne Benetton although he escaped serious injury. Irvine was subsequently sanctioned by the FIA with a one-race ban, which was increased to three after the appeal ofJordan failed; Irvine was already under investigation due to an incident with Senna in Suzuka the year before.
Schumacher increased his lead to 10 seconds after the second round of pit stops, after which Senna started to close. By lap 55 the pair had lapped third-place runner Hill and the gap was down to 5 seconds, but then Senna lost control of his Williams and retired. After Senna's retirement Schumacher won comfortably, a lap ahead of Hill in second place and Alesi finishing third.Rubens Barrichello, Katayama and Wendlinger completed the top six, Katayama scoring his first points.
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| Previous race: 1993 Australian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1994 season | Next race: 1994 Pacific Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix | Brazilian Grand Prix | Next race: 1995 Brazilian Grand Prix |
