1995 San Marino Grand Prix

Italy  1995 San Marino Grand Prix
Race details
Race 3 of 17 in the 1995 Formula One season

Date April 30, 1995
Official name 15° Gran Premio di San Marino
Location Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Course Permanent racing facility
4.895 km (3.059 mi)
Distance 63 laps, 308.385 km (192.740 mi)
Weather Heavy Rain before the Start, before brightening up
Pole position
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault
Time 1:27.274
Fastest lap
Driver Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari
Time 1:29.568 on lap 57
Podium
First United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault
Second France Jean Alesi Ferrari
Third Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari

The 1995 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on April 30, 1995 at the Imola. It was the third race of the 1995 Formula One season.

Following the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at Imola the previous year, the track was heavily modified for 1995. New chicanes were built at Tamburello and Villeneuve corners, Aqua Minerale chicane was removed and replaced by a right-hand corner, Rivazza was eased and the final corner became a single chicane, rather than the 5th-gear sweep previously.

Damon Hill's victory at the track at which his teammate Senna died a year earlier was an emotional one and if the team had left the track a year earlier in deep distress, when they packed up this year, Williams knew that they had a car which was capable of winning races on a regular basis.

Race report

Michael Schumacher secured pole position with his time on Friday, in an exciting qualifying session. David Coulthard had looked to have set the fastest time on Friday but it only lasted for a few seconds before it was snatched back by Schumacher. Moments later Gerhard Berger - who was on a stupendously fast lap in his Ferrari - screamed towards the start-finish line and looked set to send the local Ferrari fans into raptures. Berger came agonisingly close to securing pole position and a mere 0.008 seconds separated the Austrian's Ferrari from Schumacher's Benetton.

Berger's performance guaranteed massive crowds for the rest of the weekend but on Saturday the weather was hotter and the track a lot slower. None of the fast men improved. Nigel Mansell, making his return to F1 with McLaren, qualified ninth, three places down on team-mate Häkkinen.

Before the race, all the drivers participated in a one-minute in the memory of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna who had died a year earlier at the same track.[1]

The weather took a turn on race day and Sunday morning was greeted with steady rain but the rain did not deter the fans and the hillsides of Imola were packed with the joyful Ferrari fans from dawn onwards. As the grid lined up teams had to decide whether to race on slick tyres or on wets. Six drivers chose wet tyres: the first five on the grid and Rubens Barrichello in 10th place. By the end of the first lap the men on wet tyres were lying 1-2-3-4-5-6 and everyone else was waiting for the track to dry. The drivers on wets gained about five seconds a lap on their rivals. Then they started coming in. Schumacher's race lasted only half a lap after his pit stop because, on the way up to the top of the circuit, the Benetton snapped suddenly to the right and hit the wall hard. It looked like a driver of a very sensitive car making a mistake on slicks in damp conditions, but Schumacher said it was a car problem.

With Schumacher out of the way Berger led Hill, Coulthard and Alesi. The latter pair put on a good show, ducking and weaving as they dived through the backmarkers.

The fight became more significant when Berger's Ferrari stalled during his next pit stop. This left Hill in the lead with Coulthard and Alesi on his tail. During the exciting pit stop sequence Coulthard and Alesi brushed but the Williams team did not spot a damaged front wing. An over-eager Coulthard exceeded the speed-limit when exiting the pits, resulting in the Williams driver receiving a 10-second penalty. Unfortunately for Coulthard the rules meant that the Williams team would be unable to change his now obviously damaged front wing when he returned to the pits to serve his penalty and so had to make a third trip to the pits to replace his damaged front wing, by which time his race was ruined. There was nearly disaster for Hill when a refuelling hose stuck during his final pit stop but he managed to get out ahead of Alesi.

In the midfield the returning Mansell collided with Eddie Irvine in the Jordan and both had to pit.

Hill won, with Alesi and Berger coming second and third. Coulthard was fourth and Häkkinen fifth, the McLaren a lap down, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen gave Sauber another unexpected point by finishing sixth. The Ferrari fans and the team itself were left asking what might have been had Berger not stalled in the pits while he was involved in a titanic struggle with Hill.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault 1:27.274 1:27.413
2 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:27.282 1:38.801 +0.008
3 6 United Kingdom David Coulthard Williams-Renault 1:27.459 1:27.600 +0.185
4 5 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:27.537 1:27.512 +0.238
5 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:27.813 1:28.431 +0.539
6 8 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.343 no time +1.069
7 15 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jordan-Peugeot 1:28.516 1:41.247 +1.242
8 2 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Benetton-Renault 1:29.403 1:29.350 +2.076
9 7 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.517 1:29.966 +2.243
10 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 1:29.580 1:29.551 +2.277
11 9 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Hart 1:29.582 1:31.147 +2.308
12 26 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:30.801 1:30.760 +3.486
13 4 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:31.221 1:31.035 +3.761
14 30 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 1:31.358 1:31.423 +4.084
15 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:31.630 1:31.736 +4.356
16 25 Japan Aguri Suzuki Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:32.297 1:31.913 +4.639
17 12 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Simtek-Ford 1:32.156 1:32.425 +4.882
18 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:32.445 1:33.832 +5.171
19 10 Japan Taki Inoue Footwork-Hart 1:32.988 1:32.710 +5.436
20 24 Italy Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 1:33.071 1:33.430 +5.797
21 29 Austria Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Ford 1:33.494 1:33.554 +6.220
22 16 France Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ford 1:33.892 1:35.253 +6.618
23 11 Italy Domenico Schiattarella Simtek-Ford 1:33.965 1:34.064 +6.691
24 17 Italy Andrea Montermini Pacific-Ford 1:35.169 1:35.282 +7.895
25 22 Brazil Roberto Moreno Forti-Ford 1:37.612 1:36.065 +8.791
26 21 Brazil Pedro Diniz Forti-Ford 1:36.686 1:36.624 +9.350

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 63 1:41:42.522 4 10
2 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 63 +18.510 5 6
3 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 63 +43.116 2 4
4 6 United Kingdom David Coulthard Williams-Renault 63 +51.890 3 3
5 8 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 62 +1 Lap 6 2
6 30 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 62 +1 Lap 14 1
7 2 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Benetton-Renault 61 +2 Laps 8  
8 15 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jordan-Peugeot 61 +2 Laps 7  
9 26 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 61 +2 Laps 12  
10 7 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell McLaren-Mercedes 61 +2 Laps 9  
11 25 Japan Aguri Suzuki Ligier-Mugen-Honda 60 +3 Laps 16  
12 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 59 +4 Laps 18  
13 9 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Hart 59 +4 Laps 11  
14 24 Italy Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 59 +4 Laps 20  
NC 21 Brazil Pedro Diniz Forti-Ford 56 +7 Laps 26  
NC 22 Brazil Roberto Moreno Forti-Ford 56 +7 Laps 25  
Ret 29 Austria Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Ford 43 Wheel 21  
Ret 16 France Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ford 36 Gearbox 22  
Ret 11 Italy Domenico Schiattarella Simtek-Ford 35 Suspension 23  
Ret 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 31 Transmission 10  
Ret 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 23 Spun off 15  
Ret 4 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 19 Engine 13  
Ret 17 Italy Andrea Montermini Pacific-Ford 15 Gearbox 24  
Ret 12 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Simtek-Ford 14 Gearbox 17  
Ret 10 Japan Taki Inoue Footwork-Hart 12 Spun off 19  
Ret 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault 10 Accident 1  

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 United Kingdom Damon Hill 20
2 Germany Michael Schumacher 14
3 France Jean Alesi 14
4 United Kingdom David Coulthard 9
5 Austria Gerhard Berger 9

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 United Kingdom Williams-Renault 23
2 Italy Ferrari 23
3 United Kingdom Benetton-Renault 7
4 United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 6
5 Switzerland Sauber-Ford 3

References

  1. Formula One World Championship Grand Prix Review 1995 (VHS Video Presentation). 1995. Event occurs at 37:23-37:47.
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1995 Argentine Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1995 season
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1995 Spanish Grand Prix
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1994 San Marino Grand Prix
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1996 San Marino Grand Prix