Italian GP 1994

Italian GP, 1994

The controversy surrounding the Benetton team continued with the team going unpunished for its tampering with the refuelling system at the German Grand Prix. As part of the deal with the FIA Benetton agreed to make "substantial management changes". Michael Schumacher had received a two-race ban for ignoring black flags at Silverstone. He was replaced by JJ Lehto. Larrousse was struggling for money and, hoping to get a better result, had hired Yannick Dalmas to drive the second car. Team Lotus was within days of going into receivership and rather than hire a pay-driver it was decided to run Alex Zanardi again and hope for a good result. Lotus regular Johnny Herbert had the first of the new Mugen V10 engines and he was the sensation of qualifying, lining up fourth on the grid behind the dominant Ferraris of Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger and the Williams-Renault of Damon Hill. Then came David Coulthard (Williams-Renault), Olivier Panis (Ligier-Renault), Mika Hakkinen (McLaren-Peugeot), Andrea de Cesaris (Sauber), Eddie Irvine (Jordan-Hart) and Jos Verstappen (Benetton).

On race morning Berger had a huge crash in the warm-up and had to go to hospital for x-rays before returning to start the race. Alesi led Berger into the first corner while Herbert was third ahead of Hill, Coulthard and the rest. Irvine made a mistake and punted Herbert from behind and the Lotus spun in front of the pack, causing numerous crashes which resulted in a red flag which stopped the race. Although Herbert started in the spare from the pitlane, it was the end of the road for Lotus. They went into receivership the day afterwards.

Irvine was sent to the back of the grid for his behaviour (and later given a one-race ban suspended for three races). At the second start Alesi took the lead from Berger. The Frenchman led in dominant fashion until he pitted on lap 15. When he tried to rejoin the Ferrari refused to engage a gear and a furious Alesi departed without a word to the team. Berger led until he pitted and then Hill took the lead until his stop. This was slower than that of his team mate David Coulthard and so the Scotsman was ahead after the stops. Hill quickly caught him and on lap 29 Coulthard moved over to let Hill go into the lead.

On the last lap Coulthard ran out of fuel on the run to the flag from the last corner and so Berger finished second with Hakkinen third, Rubens Barrichello fourth for Jordan and Martin Brundle's McLaren fifth. Coulthard was classified sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Damon Hill Williams-Renault FW16 53 1h18m02.754s  
28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari  53 1h18m07.684s  
Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Peugeot  53 1h18m28.394s  
14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart  53 1h18m53.388s  16 
Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot  53 1h19m28.329s  15 
6r David Coulthard Williams-Renault  52 Out Of Fuel 
Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha  52  12 
20 Erik Comas Larrousse-Cosworth  52  24 
Michael Schumacher Benetton-Cosworth  52  20 
10 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault  51  
31 David Brabham Simtek-Cosworth  46 Brakes 26 
Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha  45 Brake Disc/accident 14 
Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Cosworth  43 Engine 19 
15 Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart  41 Engine 
Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha  39 Brake Disc/accident 21 
23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  30 Spin 18 
24 Michele Alboreto Minardi-Cosworth  28 Gearbox 22 
30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes  22 Engine 11 
29 Andreas de Cesaris Sauber-Mercedes  20 Engine 
32 Andrea Montermini Simtek-Cosworth  20 Transmission 25 
19 Yannick Dalmas Larrousse-Cosworth  18 Spin 23 
27 Jean Alesi Ferrari  14 Gearbox 
12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen Honda  13 Engine 
Jos Verstappen Benetton-Cosworth  Puncture 10 
11 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Mugen Honda  Accident 13 
10 Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Cosworth  Tyre Blow-out/accident 17 
nq 34 Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor     
nq 33 Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor