The 1994 European Grand Prix (formally the XXXIX Gran Premio de Europa) was a Formula One motor race held on 16 October 1994 at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Jerez, Spain. It was the fourteenth race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.
The 69-lap race was won from pole position by Michael Schumacher, driving a Benetton-Ford. Schumacher, returning from a two-race ban, took his eighth victory of the season by 24.6 seconds from Drivers' Championship rival Damon Hill in the Williams-Renault, with Mika Häkkinen third in a McLaren-Peugeot.
The win put Schumacher five points ahead of Hill with two races remaining, while Benetton regained the lead of the Constructors' Championship from Williams.
Background The Argentine Grand Prix had been due to return to the Formula One calendar on this date, but ongoing modernisation of the Buenos Aires circuit meant that this was postponed until early in the season. A race at Jerez, the first since , was organised in its place, and was given the title of the European Grand Prix, which had been used the previous year for the race at Donington Park.
Michael Schumacher returned to the Benetton team following his ban from the Italian and Portuguese Grands Prix, while Nigel Mansell returned to Williams, the 1994 CART season having ended the previous week. Elsewhere, Flavio Briatore bought Johnny Herbert's contract from Lotus's administrators and transferred him to Ligier, trading places with Éric Bernard, while rookies Hideki Noda and Domenico Schiattarella joined the Larrousse and Simtek teams respectively, replacing Yannick Dalmas and Jean-Marc Gounon.
Qualifying Qualifying report Schumacher took pole from Drivers' Championship rival Damon Hill by 0.13 seconds, with Mansell third but five tenths of a second behind Hill. Heinz-Harald Frentzen took fourth in the Sauber, followed by Rubens Barrichello in the Jordan and Gerhard Berger in the Ferrari. Herbert was seventh in the Ligier, with Gianni Morbidelli in the Footwork, Mika Häkkinen in the McLaren and Eddie Irvine in the second Jordan completing the top ten. Debutants Noda and Schiattarella were 24th and 26th respectively, with the two Pacifics of Bertrand Gachot and Paul Belmondo once again failing to qualify.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap 1 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:24.207 1:22.762 2 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:24.137 1:22.892 +0.130 3 2 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:24.971 1:23.392 +0.630 4 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 1:24.184 1:23.431 +0.669 5 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:24.700 1:23.455 +0.693 6 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:25.079 1:23.677 +0.915 7 25 Johnny Herbert Ligier-Renault 1:26.241 1:24.040 +1.278 8 10 Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 1:26.048 1:24.079 +1.317 9 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 1:25.275 1:24.122 +1.360 10 15 Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 1:24.794 1:24.157 +1.395 11 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 1:25.384 1:24.432 +1.670 12 6 Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 1:35.441 1:24.643 +1.881 13 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:26.304 1:24.738 +1.976 14 4 Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:25.995 1:24.770 +2.008 15 8 Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 1:25.942 1:25.110 +2.348 16 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:25.182 1:44.801 +2.420 17 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:25.812 1:25.294 +2.532 18 29 Andrea de Cesaris Sauber-Mercedes 1:25.407 1:25.411 +2.645 19 9 Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 1:26.094 1:25.427 +2.665 20 24 Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 1:26.744 1:25.511 +2.749 21 12 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:26.973 1:25.557 +2.795 22 11 Éric Bernard Lotus-Mugen-Honda 1:28.047 1:25.595 +2.833 23 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 1:28.042 1:26.272 +3.510 24 19 Hideki Noda Larrousse-Ford 1:29.041 1:27.168 +4.406 25 31 David Brabham Simtek-Ford 1:28.388 1:27.201 +4.439 26 32 Domenico Schiattarella Simtek-Ford 1:30.069 1:27.976 +5.214 34 Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ilmor 1:30.099 1:29.488 +6.726 33 Paul Belmondo Pacific-Ilmor 1:31.162 1:30.234 +7.472 Sources:
Race Race report At the start, Hill got ahead of Schumacher, while Mansell fell to sixth behind Frentzen, Barrichello and Berger. Mansell re-passed Berger on lap 2 and Barrichello on lap 6, before the Jordan driver got by again on lap 12. Noda's debut ended with a gearbox failure after ten laps; as he slowed, he was hit by Mansell, who subsequently pitted for a new nosecone and dropped out of contention.
Schumacher overtook Hill during the first round of pit stops; both were well clear of Frentzen - who was running a one-stop strategy - with Häkkinen up to fourth and Irvine fifth. Hill briefly went ahead again during the second stops, after which Schumacher retained a comfortable lead for the rest of the race. Frentzen's strategy backfired as he fell to seventh, behind Berger and Barrichello. Irvine moved ahead of Häkkinen and into third, only to be re-passed by the McLaren driver as a result of a quicker second stop. In the closing stages, Barrichello developed a left rear puncture, putting Frentzen back in the top six, just ahead of Ukyo Katayama's Tyrrell.
In a race of high reliability, nineteen cars were still running at the end, the last being Schiattarella (albeit five laps down), while Mansell was the last driver to retire, spinning off on lap 48. Schumacher's eventual margin of victory over Hill was 24.6 seconds, with another 45 seconds back to Häkkinen and a further nine back to Irvine, the last driver on the lead lap. Berger and Frentzen completed the top six, Frentzen holding off Katayama for the final point by 0.2 seconds. With two races remaining, Schumacher led Hill in the Drivers' Championship by five points, while Benetton moved back into the lead of the Constructors' Championship by two points from Williams.
In the second Sauber, Andrea de Cesaris made his 208th and final Grand Prix start, at the time second only to Riccardo Patrese in terms of the number of races. Karl Wendlinger was due to return to the Swiss team at the next race in Japan, following his crash at Monaco earlier in the season.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 69 1:40:26.689 1 10 2 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 69 + 24.689 2 6 3 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Peugeot 69 + 1:09.648 9 4 4 15 Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 69 + 1:18.446 10 3 5 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 68 + 1 Lap 6 2 6 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Mercedes 68 + 1 Lap 4 1 7 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 68 + 1 Lap 13 8 25 Johnny Herbert Ligier-Renault 68 + 1 Lap 7 9 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Renault 68 + 1 Lap 11 10 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 68 + 1 Lap 16 11 10 Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Ford 68 + 1 Lap 8 12 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 68 + 1 Lap 5 13 4 Mark Blundell Tyrrell-Yamaha 68 + 1 Lap 14 14 24 Michele Alboreto Minardi-Ford 67 + 2 Laps 20 15 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 67 + 2 Laps 17 16 12 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Mugen-Honda 67 + 2 Laps 21 17 9 Christian Fittipaldi Footwork-Ford 66 + 3 Laps 19 18 11 Éric Bernard Lotus-Mugen-Honda 66 + 3 Laps 22 19 32 Domenico Schiattarella Simtek-Ford 64 + 5 Laps 26 2 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 47 Spun off 3 31 David Brabham Simtek-Ford 42 Engine 25 29 Andrea de Cesaris Sauber-Mercedes 37 Throttle 18 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Ford 37 Alternator 23 6 Jos Verstappen Benetton-Ford 15 Spun off 12 19 Hideki Noda Larrousse-Ford 10 Gearbox 24 8 Martin Brundle McLaren-Peugeot 8 Engine 15 Source:
Notes Last win for V8-engined Formula One car until their mandatory return at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Michael Schumacher 86 2 Damon Hill 81 3 Gerhard Berger 35 4 Mika Häkkinen 26 5 Jean Alesi 19Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Benetton-Ford 97 2 Williams-Renault 95 3 Ferrari 60 4 McLaren-Peugeot 38 5 Jordan-Hart 23Source:
References