1994 Italian Grand Prix


The 1994 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 11 September 1994 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza. It was the twelfth race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.
The 53-lap race was won by British driver Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault, with Austria's Gerhard Berger second in a Ferrari and Finland's Mika Häkkinen third in a McLaren-Peugeot. Frenchman Jean Alesi took pole position in the other Ferrari and led before suffering a gearbox failure on lap 15.
The win enabled Hill to move to within 11 points of Michael Schumacher in the Drivers' Championship. Schumacher was banned for this race and the following race in Portugal for his actions at the British Grand Prix; his place at Benetton was taken by Finland's JJ Lehto, who had been his teammate earlier in the season.
The day after the race, Lotus went into receivership; however, they would compete in the remaining races of the 1994 season. Lotus had brought an upgraded Mugen engine to Monza, allowing Johnny Herbert to qualify in a season-best fourth place, but hopes of a points finish were ended by a first-corner collision with Eddie Irvine's Jordan.

Report

Background

The Grand Prix was originally cancelled on 12 August 1994 when local officials refused a demand to cut down 123 trees for reasons related to safety. The trees in question were located at the Lesmo corners which lacked suitable run off-areas. After the announcement, Gianni Letta, an Italian cabinet under-secretary went to Cannes to meet with FIA president Max Mosley to discuss the issue. The meeting, also attended by Ferrari driver and representative to the drivers Gerhard Berger, agreed that changes to the shape of the curve would reduce its speed.

Race

The two Ferraris got off the line well heading into turn 1 with Damon Hill going alongside the Ferrari cars. Eddie Irvine locked up causing him to hit the Lotus-Mugen of Johnny Herbert. Herbert spun around clipping the right rear of David Coulthard which caused a blockage in the road and led to the race being stopped. Coulthard took Hill's spare car, and Herbert sacrificed his starting position to get in his spare as well. At the second start, both Ferraris got away well, but going into Curva Grande, Jos Verstappen and Alessandro Zanardi tangled which forced Gianni Morbidelli off the track and sliding into the outer wall. Jean Alesi kept extending his lead over teammate Gerhard Berger until he suffered clutch problems while exiting his pitbox. Berger inherited the lead but he himself had problems in the pitlane getting stuck behind Olivier Panis and losing out track position to both Williams. On lap 30, Michele Alboreto's gearbox failed at the Variante Ascari spraying oil on the track. As a result, Pierluigi Martini spun off on lap 32, and then Mark Blundell on lap 40. These retirements promoted Ukyo Katayama to 5th place before he spun out and crashed at the second Lesmo six laps later. David Brabham became the final retirement when a puncture had given his Simtek terminal damage, he retired just one lap after Katayama. The two Williams led a 1-2 race until the last corner of the race when Coulthard ran out of fuel, thus gifting Berger a second place, Häkkinen third, Barrichello fourth and Brundle fifth in the second McLaren. Coulthard was still classified in sixth as all other runners were a lap down.

Classification

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
127 Jean AlesiFerrari1:24.6201:23.844
228 Gerhard BergerFerrari1:24.9151:23.978+0.134
30 Damon HillWilliams-Renault1:24.7341:24.158+0.314
412 Johnny HerbertLotus-Mugen-Honda1:26.3651:24.374+0.530
52 David CoulthardWilliams-Renault1:24.8691:24.502+0.658
626 Olivier PanisLigier-Renault1:26.9581:25.455+1.611
77 Mika HäkkinenMcLaren-Peugeot1:26.0041:25.528+1.684
829 Andrea de CesarisSauber-Mercedes1:27.1881:25.540+1.696
915 Eddie IrvineJordan-HartNo time1:25.568+1.724
106 Jos VerstappenBenetton-Ford1:27.3611:25.618+1.774
1130 Heinz-Harald FrentzenSauber-Mercedes1:26.4061:25.628+1.784
1225 Éric BernardLigier-Renault1:27.3871:25.718+1.874
1311 Alessandro ZanardiLotus-Mugen-Honda1:27.6171:25.733+1.889
143 Ukyo KatayamaTyrrell-Yamaha1:26.5251:25.889+2.045
158 Martin BrundleMcLaren-Peugeot1:26.8991:25.933+2.089
1614 Rubens BarrichelloJordan-Hart1:27.0341:25.946+2.102
1710 Gianni MorbidelliFootwork-Ford1:27.9391:26.002+2.158
1823 Pierluigi MartiniMinardi-Ford1:42.3201:26.056+2.212
199 Christian FittipaldiFootwork-Ford1:27.6751:26.337+2.493
205 JJ LehtoBenetton-Ford1:27.6111:26.384+2.540
214 Mark BlundellTyrrell-Yamaha1:26.5741:26.697+2.730
2224 Michele AlboretoMinardi-Ford1:27.6231:26.832+2.988
2319 Yannick DalmasLarrousse-Ford1:29.5281:27.846+4.002
2420 Érik ComasLarrousse-Ford1:30.5301:27.894+4.050
2532 Jean-Marc GounonSimtek-Ford1:29.5941:28.353+4.509
2631 David BrabhamSimtek-Ford1:30.6911:28.619+4.775
DNQ34 Bertrand GachotPacific-Ilmor1:31.5491:31.387+7.543
DNQ33 Paul BelmondoPacific-Ilmor1:32.035No time+8.191

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standings