The 1994 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 15 May 1994 at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo. It was the fourth race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship, and the first following the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at the San Marino Grand Prix two weeks previously.
The 78-lap race was won from pole position by Michael Schumacher driving a Benetton-Ford, his fourth victory from the first four races of 1994. Martin Brundle finished second in a McLaren-Peugeot, with Gerhard Berger third in a Ferrari.
Report
Background After the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at the San Marino Grand Prix, sweeping changes were announced by the FIA to the rules and regulations of Formula One in a bid to improve safety. The majority were scheduled to come into force after the Monaco Grand Prix, but an 80 km/h pit-lane speed limit was brought into force in time for this race.
Both Williams and Simtek, the teams for whom Senna and Ratzenberger drove, ran only one car each during the race weekend.
Eddie Irvine was serving the third race of his three-race ban issued to him for his part in the crash during the Brazilian Grand Prix. Andrea de Cesaris again took Irvine's place at Jordan, whilst Irvine acted as a pit-lane reporter for ESPN.ESPN Speedworld: Formula 1 Grand Prix of Monaco. 1994.
Olivier Beretta became the first Monégasque to compete in the Monaco Grand Prix since André Testut in 1959. This was the last time a driver from Monaco competed in his home race, until Charles Leclerc took part in the 2018 race.
Practice and qualifying During the first free practice session on Thursday morning, Austrian driver Karl Wendlinger had a major accident at the Nouvelle Chicane. Travelling at almost he appeared to brake too late, and the car slid sideways into the water-filled barriers. Wendlinger was knocked unconscious and was taken initially to the Princess Grace Hospital, and later to Saint Roch Hospital in Nice. He suffered a serious head injury and remained in a coma for several weeks. The Sauber-Mercedes team decided to withdraw from the race after this incident.
Michael Schumacher claimed the first pole position of his Grand Prix career (and the first for a German driver since the 1961 Italian Grand Prix with Wolfgang von Trips, the race in which he suffered his fatal accident). Mika Häkkinen qualified second, which was also the highest starting position thus far in his career. Martin Brundle qualified 2nd in the first qualifying session on the Thursday, three tenths of a second in front of team mate Mika Häkkinen, but could not repeat this on the Saturday and dropped to 8th.
Race
As a mark of respect for Senna and Ratzenberger, the FIA decided to leave the first two grid positions empty for the race and painted them with the colours of the Brazilian and Austrian flags. For the first time since the 1959 United States Grand Prix, there was no previous World Champion competing in the race and also no former Monaco Grand Prix winner. There were also only four previous race winners: Schumacher, Hill, Berger and Alboreto.
At the start of the race, Damon Hill clipped the left rear tyre of Mika Häkkinen's McLaren just before the Sainte Dévote corner. Häkkinen retired immediately, while Hill continued for a few corners before retiring with broken right front suspension. Gianni Morbidelli and Pierluigi Martini also collided before Sainte Dévote, putting each other out. Eric Bernard in the second Ligier had soon spun out of the race at the Nouvelle chicane.
Katayama retired his Tyrrell from 6th position on lap 39 when his gearbox failed, as of which by lap 41, the engine on Mark Blundell's Tyrrell failed, leaving oil on the track at Sainte Dévote retiring 2 laps after Katayama which Schumacher, leading the race, had to avoid. The second placed Ferrari of Gerhard Berger did slip on the oil, however, and required a three-point turn to escape from the run off area beside the stricken Tyrrell. Berger returned to the track still in his second place, but dirty tyres left him vulnerable to the McLaren of Martin Brundle, who promptly overtook him down the outside of Mirabeau on the same lap. Christian Fittipaldi in his Footwork-Ford ran close behind the Ferraris of Berger and Alesi in fourth position until his first refuelling stop near the start of the race. Fittipaldi continued to run strongly in a points position until lap 47 when the gearbox failed.
The race was led from start to finish by Schumacher, who continued his perfect start to the 1994 season with four victories in the first four races. As Schumacher also held the fastest lap, this meant he scored the first Grand Slam of his career, and he was the first driver other than Alain Prost or Ayrton Senna to win the Monaco Grand Prix since 1983. Brundle's second place equalled the best finish of his F1 career. Michele Alboreto finished sixth in his Minardi to score his final point in F1.
Post-race
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap 1 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:20.230 1:18.560 2 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 1:21.881 1:19.488 +0.928 3 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:22.038 1:19.958 +1.398 4 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:22.605 1:20.079 +1.519 5 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:22.521 1:20.452 +1.892 6 9 Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 1:23.588 1:21.053 +2.493 7 10 Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 1:23.580 1:21.189 +2.629 8 8 Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 1:21.580 1:21.222 +2.662 9 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:23.162 1:21.288 +2.728 10 4 Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:23.522 1:21.614 +3.054 11 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:24.488 1:21.731 +3.171 12 24 Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 1:25.421 1:21.793 +3.233 13 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 1:23.514 1:22.211 +3.651 14 15 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Hart 1:24.519 1:22.265 +3.701 15 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:24.731 1:22.359 +3.799 16 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:24.103 1:22.375 +3.815 17 6 JJ Lehto Benetton-Ford 1:23.885 1:22.679 +4.119 18 19 Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 1:24.126 1:23.025 +4.465 19 11 Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:25.859 1:23.858 +5.298 20 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 1:25.115 1:24.131 +5.571 21 25 Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 1:27.694 1:24.377 +5.817 22 31 David Brabham Simtek-Ford 1:26.690 1:24.656 +6.096 23 34 Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 1:48.173 1:26.082 +7.522 24 33 Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 1:29.984 8:36.897 +11.424 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes Sources:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 78 1:49:55.372 1 10 2 8 Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 78 + 37.278 8 6 3 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 78 + 1:16.824 3 4 4 15 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Hart 77 + 1 Lap 14 3 5 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 77 + 1 Lap 5 2 6 24 Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 12 1 7 6 JJ Lehto Benetton-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 17 8 19 Olivier Beretta Larrousse-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 18 9 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 76 + 2 Laps 20 10 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 75 + 3 Laps 13 11 11 Pedro Lamy Lotus-Mugen-Honda 73 + 5 Laps 19 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Mugen-Honda 68 Gearbox 16 33 Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 53 Physical 24 34 Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 49 Gearbox 23 9 Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 47 Gearbox 6 31 David Brabham Simtek-Ford 45 Engine 22 4 Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 40 Engine 10 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 38 Gearbox 11 25 Éric Bernard Ligier-Renault 34 Spun off 21 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 27 Electrical 15 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 0 Collision 2 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 0 Collision damage 4 10 Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 0 Collision 7 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 0 Collision 9 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes Withdrawn 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Mercedes Injury Source:
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Michael Schumacher 40 2 Gerhard Berger 10 3 Damon Hill 7 4 Rubens Barrichello 7 5 Martin Brundle 6Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Benetton-Ford40 2 Ferrari22 3 McLaren-Peugeot10 4 Jordan-Hart10 5 Williams-Renault7Source:
References