Race Report
1994 Pole: 1m 22.762s Michael Schumacher (Benetton)
The Starting Grid
| Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Renault | 1m 21.072s |
| Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1m 21.072s |
| Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Williams-Renault | 1m 21.072s |
| Damon Hill | TWR Arrows-Yamaha | 1m 21.130s |
| Mika Hakkinen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m 21.369s |
| David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m 21.476s |
| Eddie Irvine | Ferrari | 1m 21.610s |
| Gerhard Berger | Benetton-Renault | 1m 21.656s |
| Olivier Panis | Prost-Mugen | 1m 21.735s |
| Jean Alesi | Benetton-Renault | 1m 22.011s |
| Jan Magnussen | Stewart-Ford | 1m 22.167s |
| Rubens Barrichello | Stewart-Ford | 1m 22.222s |
| Pedro Diniz | TWR Arrows-Yamaha | 1m 22.234s |
| Johnny Herbert | Sauber-Petronas | 1m 22.263s |
| Shinji Nakano | Prost-Mugen | 1m 22.351s |
| Ralf Schumacher | Jordan-Peugeot | 1m 22.740s |
| Gianni Fisichella | Jordan-Peugeot | 1m 22.804s |
| Ukyo Katayama | Minardi-Hart | 1m 23.281s |
| Norberto Fontana | Sauber-Petronas | 1m 23.409s |
| Tarso Marques | Minardi-Hart | 1m 23.854s |
| Mika Salo | Tyrrell-Ford | 1m 24.222s |
| Jos Verstappen | Tyrrell-Ford | 1m 24.301s |
1994 Winner: Michael Schumacher (Benetton) 1h 40m 26.689s
The Result
| Mika Hakkinen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1h 38m 57.772s |
| David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 1h 38m 59.426s |
| Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Renault | 1h 38m 59.574s |
| Gerhard Berger | Benetton-Renault | 1h 38m 59.691s |
| Eddie Irvine | Ferrari | 1h 39m 01.561s |
| Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Williams-Renault | 1h 39m 02.309s |
| Olivier Panis | Prost-Mugen | 1h 40m 04.917s |
| Johnny Herbert | Sauber-Petronas | 1h 40m 10.732s |
| Jan Magnussen | Stewart-Ford | 1h 40m 15.259s |
| Shinji Nakano | Prost-Mugen | 1h 40m 15.987s |
| Gianni Fisichella | Jordan-Peugeot | 1 lap down |
| Mika Salo | Tyrrell-Ford | 1 lap down |
| Jean Alesi | Benetton-Renault | 1 lap down |
| Norberto Fontana | Sauber-Petronas | 1 lap down |
| Tarso Marques | Minardi-Hart | 1 lap down |
| Jos Verstappen | Tyrrell-Ford | 1 lap down |
| Ukyo Katayama | Minardi-Hart | 1 lap down |
| Damon Hill | TWR Arrows-Yamaha | 47 laps - engine failure |
| Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 47 laps - collision with Villeneuve |
| Ralf Schumacher | Jordan-Peugeot | 44 laps - mechanical |
| Rubens Barrichello | Stewart-Ford | 30 laps - mechanical |
| Pedro Diniz | TWR Arrows-Yamaha | 11 laps - engine failure |
Fastest Lap
1997 : Heinz-Harald
Frentzen (Williams) 1m 23.135s
Previous Lap Record: 1m 25.040s M Schumacher (Benetton) 1994
Analysis :
Off the line Villeneuve got too much wheelspin allowing Schumacher to jump into the lead, but without Eddie Irvine riding shotgun, the Williams cars slowly ate into the Germans' lead.
Villeneuve drove well throughout the season and despite Williams' mid-season funk, came through in true champions fashion to take the win. No doubt Mika Hakkinen will be buying Jacques something special this Christmas in return for the gift given to him this weekend.
With the Championship up for grabs, the stage was truly set after rivals Jacques Villeneuve and Micheal Schumacher, together with Heinz-Harald Frentezen all set the same time in qualifying !
Several times the lead Ferrari locked up a wheel under braking and was clear that Schumacher was going to have his work cut out staying in front of Villeneuve.
The young Canadian closed quickly and in a superb display of late braking, closed up and put the Williams along side the Ferrari entering the tight hairpin. Schumacher turned into the corner but Villeneuve was already there, then turned in some more hitting the Williams sidepod with his front wheel. The impact bounced the Ferrari out into the gravel and into retirement. Villeneuve continued, obviously feeling the car out for possible damage.
With just a couple of laps to go Coulthard slowed to let his teammate pass. Hakkinen ran down Villeneuve easily and on the last lap the Canadian, knowing the Championship was his, moved over to let the flying Finn through. He slowed so much that Coulthard (and almost Gerhard Berger) came through too, resulting in a totally unexpected first win for Hakkinen and a McLaren 1-2.
It was good to see Berger finish strongly in his last GP, his experience (and wild sense of humour) will be missed in '98. Less attractive was Schumacher's obvious attempt to hit Villeneuve. It remains to be seen what punishment will be levied on the German, and ended the otherwise thrilling season on something of a sour note.
