Portuguese GP 1994
SEPTEMBER 25, 1994
Portuguese GP, 1994
The field was as it had been in Italy a fortnight earlier but Team Lotus was now in receivership and so pay-driver Philippe Adams was brought back to partner Johnny Herbert. Michael Schumacher was still banned and so Benetton ran JJ Lehto alongside Jos Verstappen. It was the chance for Damon Hill to win back points in the World Championship battle and he set out to do just that. In qualifying Damon rolled his Williams after making contact with a spinning Eddie Irvine. Gerhard Berger thus took pole for Ferrari ahead of Hill and his team mate David Coulthard. Mika Hakkinen was fourth fastest in his McLaren-Peugeot with Jean Alesi's Ferrari fifth and Ukyo Katayama sixth in his Tyrrell-Yamaha. The top 10 was completed by Martin Brundle (McLaren-Peugeot), Rubens Barrichello (Jordan-Hart) and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Sauber) and Verstappen.
At the start of the race Berger took the lead ahead of the two Williams-Renaults but his Ferrari lasted only until the eighth lap when his transmission failed. Coulthard, who been running second, thus took the lead until the pit stops. This elevated Alesi to the number one spot for a few laps until he too pitted and so Barrichello had a handful of laps as race leader before he too stopped. Coulthard was then back in the lead until he went wide while lapping a backmarker and Hill moved ahead. One ahead Hill was away and the two Williams raced around in first and second places for the rest of the afternoon. Hakkinen was third with Barrichello fourth, the Brazilian holding of Verstappen in the closing laps. Brundle completed the points scorers.
The result meant that Hill had closed to within one point of Schumacher in the World Championship.
POS | NO | DRIVER | ENTRANT | LAPS | TIME/RETIREMENT | QUAL POS |
1 | 0 | Damon Hill | Williams-Renault FW16 | 71 | 1h41m10.165s | 2 |
2 | 2 | David Coulthard | Williams-Renault | 71 | 1h41m10.768s | 3 |
3 | 7 | Mika Hakkinen | McLaren-Peugeot | 71 | 1h41m30.358s | 4 |
4 | 14 | Rubens Barrichello | Jordan-Hart | 71 | 1h41m38.168s | 8 |
5 | 6 | Jos Verstappen | Benetton-Cosworth | 71 | 1h41m39.550s | 10 |
6 | 8 | Martin Brundle | McLaren-Peugeot | 71 | 1h42m02.867s | 7 |
7 | 15 | Eddie Irvine | Jordan-Hart | 70 | 13 | |
8 | 9 | Christian Fittipaldi | Footwork-Cosworth | 70 | 11 | |
dq | 26 | Olivier Panis | Ligier-Renault | 70 | Illegal Skidblock Wear | 15 |
9 | 10 | Gianni Morbidelli | Footwork-Cosworth | 70 | 16 | |
10 | 25 | Eric Bernard | Ligier-Renault | 70 | 21 | |
11 | 12 | Johnny Herbert | Lotus-Mugen Honda | 70 | 20 | |
12 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Cosworth | 69 | 18 | |
13 | 24 | Michele Alboreto | Minardi-Cosworth | 69 | 19 | |
14 | 19 | Yannick Dalmas | Larrousse-Cosworth | 69 | 23 | |
15 | 32 | Jean-Marc Gounon | Simtek-Cosworth | 67 | 26 | |
16 | 11 | Philippe Adams | Lotus-Mugen Honda | 67 | 25 | |
r | 4 | Mark Blundell | Tyrrell-Yamaha | 61 | Engine | 12 |
r | 5 | JJ Lehto | Benetton-Cosworth | 60 | Spin | 14 |
r | 29 | Andreas de Cesaris | Sauber-Mercedes | 54 | Spin | 17 |
r | 27 | Jean Alesi | Ferrari | 38 | Accident | 5 |
r | 31 | David Brabham | Simtek-Cosworth | 36 | Accident | 24 |
r | 30 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Sauber-Mercedes | 31 | Transmission | 9 |
r | 20 | Erik Comas | Larrousse-Cosworth | 27 | Accident | 22 |
r | 3 | Ukyo Katayama | Tyrrell-Yamaha | 26 | Gearbox | 6 |
r | 28 | Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 7 | Gearbox Hydraulics | 1 |
nq | 34 | Bertrand Gachot | Pacific-Ilmor | |||
nq | 33 | Paul Belmondo | Pacific-Ilmor |