The 1995 Portuguese Grand Prix (formally the XXIV Grande Prémio de Portugal) was a Formula One motor race held on 24 September 1995 at the Autódromo do Estoril, Estoril, Portugal. It was the thirteenth race of the 1995 Formula One season. The 71-lap race was the first Formula One win for David Coulthard of the Williams team after starting from pole position Coulthard became the first Scottish driver to win a Grand Prix since Jackie Stewart won the 1973 German Grand Prix 22 years previously. Michael Schumacher was second in a Benetton, with Damon Hill third in the latter Williams car. After several controversial incidents previously involving Schumacher and Hill in the 1995 season, including collisions at Silverstone, Spa and Monza (the latter two of which saw confrontations between the two drivers respectively on the podium and at track-side), Schumacher and Hill shook hands with each other at the podium presentation following this race.
Report
Background To optimise their chances of winning at the Autódromo do Estoril, Williams brought an upgraded chassis to the race, a "B" specification of their FW17 car. The upgraded chassis would be used throughout the remainder of the season.
Practice and qualifying Two practice sessions were held before the race; the first was held on Friday morning and the second on Saturday morning. Both sessions lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes with weather conditions dry throughout. Häkkinen set the fastest time in the first session, posting a lap of 1:23.073, one-tenth of a second quicker than Hill and Schumacher, in second and third places respectively. Coulthard was fourth, with the Ferrari cars fifth and sixth fastest; Gerhard Berger ahead of Jean Alesi. Häkkinen was eleventh in the second practice session, two seconds slower than Hill, who was fastest with a time of 1:21.443. Coulthard was second in the Williams, eight-tenths of a second behind Hill. Schumacher was third, with Alesi fourth, both over a second behind Hill. Heinz-Harald Frentzen in a Sauber was fifth with Martin Brundle in the Ligier, Eddie Irvine in a Jordan and Berger rounding out the top eight positions.
Race As the race began from its standing start, Ukyo Katayama who qualified in 16th moved into the racing path of Luca Badoer, whose Minardi began in 18th. The contact caused Katayama's Tyrrell to launch airborne and spin several times upside down along the start/finish straight. Katayama was extracted from the car and hospitalized for two days with what was later diagnosed with a strained neck and bruising in the crash.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap 1 6 David Coulthard Williams-Renault 1:21.423 1:20.537 2 5 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:21.322 1:20.905 +0.368 3 1 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault 1:21.885 1:21.301 +0.764 4 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:22.281 1:21.970 +1.433 5 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 1:23.485 1:22.226 +1.689 6 2 Johnny Herbert Benetton-Renault 1:23.786 1:22.322 +1.785 7 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:22.656 1:22.391 +1.854 8 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 1:23.142 1:22.538 +2.001 9 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:23.244 1:22.588 +2.051 10 15 Eddie Irvine Jordan-Peugeot 1:22.957 1:22.831 +2.294 11 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:23.284 1:22.904 +2.367 12 7 Mark Blundell McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.583 1:22.914 +2.377 13 8 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:23.064 1:23.114 +2.527 14 29 Jean-Christophe Boullion Sauber-Ford no time 1:23.934 +3.397 15 4 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:24.942 1:23.936 +3.399 16 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:24.631 1:24.287 +3.750 17 23 Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 1:26.210 1:24.657 +4.120 18 24 Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 1:25.746 1:24.778 +4.241 19 10 Taki Inoue Footwork-Hart 1:24.883 1:25.031 +4.346 20 9 Massimiliano Papis Footwork-Hart 1:25.696 1:25.179 +4.642 21 17 Andrea Montermini Pacific-Ford 1:27.659 1:26.172 +5.634 22 21 Pedro Diniz Forti-Ford 1:29.137 1:27.292 +6.755 23 22 Roberto Moreno Forti-Ford 1:28.672 1:27.523 +6.986 24 16 Jean-Denis Délétraz Pacific-Ford no time 1:32.769 +12.232
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 David Coulthard Williams-Renault 71 1:41:52.145 1 10 2 1 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault 71 +7.248 3 6 3 5 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 71 +22.121 2 4 4 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 71 +1:24.879 4 3 5 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 71 +1:25.429 7 2 6 30 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 70 +1 Lap 5 1 7 2 Johnny Herbert Benetton-Renault 70 +1 Lap 6 8 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Mugen-Honda 70 +1 Lap 9 9 7 Mark Blundell McLaren-Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 12 10 15 Eddie Irvine Jordan-Peugeot 70 +1 Lap 10 11 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 70 +1 Lap 8 12 29 Jean-Christophe Boullion Sauber-Ford 70 +1 Lap 14 13 4 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 69 +2 Laps 15 14 24 Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 68 +3 Laps 18 15 10 Taki Inoue Footwork-Hart 68 +3 Laps 19 16 21 Pedro Diniz Forti-Ford 66 +5 Laps 22 17 22 Roberto Moreno Forti-Ford 64 +7 Laps 23 17 Andrea Montermini Pacific-Ford 53 Gearbox 21 8 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 44 Engine 13 16 Jean-Denis Délétraz Pacific-Ford 14 Cramp 24 26 Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 10 Spun off 11 23 Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 7 Gearbox 17 9 Massimiliano Papis Footwork-Hart 0 Gearbox 20 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 0 Collision 16
Notes – Katayama started the original race but was involved in the first lap collision that resulted in a red flag. He did not take the restart but is listed as 'Retired' in the official results
Championship standings after the race Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 72 2 Damon Hill 55 3 David Coulthard 39 4 Johnny Herbert 38 5 Jean Alesi 34Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Benetton-Renault 100 2 Williams-Renault 88 3 Ferrari 62 4 McLaren-Mercedes 21 5 Sauber-Ford 18Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References