Hungarian GP 1995

Hungarian GP, 1995

Damon Hill won the Hungarian Grand Prix with ease and was followed home by his Williams-Renault team mate David Coulthard. Everyone else was a lap down.

Qualifying was crucial but there wasn't much of a fight as Damon Hill took his fourth consecutive pole with Coulthard right behind him. Schumacher was third, but a long way off the pole time, despite pushing over the limit on several occasions - notably when he indulged in a high-speed 360-degree spin on the pit straight. Ferrari was in trouble with Alesi crashing very heavily on Friday - a little desperation seemed to have been the cause. Berger qualified fourth and Alesi managed sixth, the pair split by Hakkinen's McLaren, a brave lap, but evidence that the McLaren-Mercedes combination was finally on the move - or so it seemed. For once Mika was not just battling Jordans.

In the race Hill simply drove away from his rivals, led by Coulthard and Schumacher. Hakkinen's Mercedes V10 went kaputt early on and the only overtaking manoeuvre was when David made a mistake under pressure from Michael and the Benetton driver blasted through.

Schumacher chased after Hill - who had built a 15-second lead. The pair pitted at the same time but this time Benetton's normally-impressive pitwork went badly wrong. In the back of the garage the refuelling machine suddenly begun to fountain petrol. A sealed union in the pressurised piping had not been properly connected. Michael's fuel was not in his car, it was on the floor of the garage. This sort of thing is very scary because fuel vapour can be explosively dangerous. Mercifully, the mess was cleaned up without a spark.

Whatever the case Schumacher did not have enough fuel and by the time he did he was half a minute behind Hill. During the next pit stop sequence the pair had a tussle but Schumacher soon had to pit again. At the third stop Hill was too far ahead to have to worry about Schumacher. Three laps from home, Michael's bad afternoon came to a miserable end when his engine suffered an electrical failure. Would Michael would have caught Damon if he had not had the fuel rig problem? We will never know.

Further back there was some good battling between the Ferraris, Jordans, McLarens, Ligiers, Johnny Herbert's Benetton and Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Sauber. Gradually they began to drop out: Alesi with a spark plug failure; Blundell with a fuel pressure problem; Brundle with a blown engine; Irvine with clutch failure and - on the last lap when he was running third - Barrichello with electrical trouble. He was passed by Berger, Herbert, Frentzen and Panis - all covered by 1.2secs - within sight of the chequered flag.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 5 Damon Hill Williams-Renault FW17 77 1h46m25.721s  1 
2 6 David Coulthard Williams-Renault FW17 77 1h46m59.119s  2 
3 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 412T2 76  4 
4 2 Johnny Herbert Benetton-Renault B195 76  9 
5 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Cosworth C14 76  11 
6 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen Honda JS41 76  10 
7 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 195 76  14 
8 24 Luca Badoer Minardi-Cosworth M195 75  12 
9 23 Pedro Lamy Minardi-Cosworth M195 74  15 
10 29 Jean-Christophe Boullion Sauber-Cosworth C14 74  19 
11r 1 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault B195 73 Fuel Pump 3 
12 17 Andrea Montermini Pacific-Cosworth PR02 73  22 
13r 15 Eddie Irvine Jordan-Peugeot 195 70 Clutch 7 
r 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Mugen Honda JS41 67 Engine 8 
r 4 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 023 58 Throttle Potentiometer 16 
r 7 Mark Blundell McLaren-Mercedes MP4/10 54 Engine 13 
r 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 023 46 Accident 17 
r 9 Max Papis Footwork-Hart FA16 45 Brake Fluid Loss 20 
r 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 412T2 42 Spark Plug Dropped/piston 6 
r 21 Pedro Diniz Forti-Cosworth FG01-95 32 Oil Pressure/engine 23 
r 10 Taki Inoue Footwork-Hart FA16 13 Oil Pressure Loss/fire 18 
r 22 Roberto Moreno Forti-Cosworth FG01-95 8 Gear Lever 21 
r 16 Giovanni Lavaggi Pacific-Cosworth PR02 5 Spin 24 
r 8 Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes MP4/10 3 Engine 5