Date July 10, 1994 | Course length 5.057 km (3.160 mi) | |
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Course Permanent racing facility Distance 60 laps, 303.420 km (189.637 mi) | ||
The 1994 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 10 July 1994 at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone. It was the eighth race of the 1994 Formula One season. It marked the halfway stage of the season. Damon Hill won the race, while second-place finisher Michael Schumacher was subsequently disqualified for failing to serve a stop-go penalty in time.
Contents
Pre-Race
Following his appearance at the previous round in France, Nigel Mansell had returned to his CART commitments in America so David Coulthard returned in the second Williams to partner Damon Hill. Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers Championship by 37 points with 66 out of a possible 70, with Damon Hill in second position on 29 points.
Qualifying
Qualifying was extremely close with Hill, Schumacher and Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger in competition for pole position. Berger collided with the barrier at the end of the pitlane as he attempted to have another lap. Hill took pole position with a time of 1:24.960. Schumacher took second position on the grid, three thousandths of a second slower than Hill and Berger third, two hundredths of a second behind Hill.
Race
On the formation lap, Schumacher overtook Hill twice (once when leaving the dummy grid, and then once more further round the lap), before dropping back to take his second place on the grid for the start.
David Coulthard stalled on the grid at the start, forcing him to start from the back of the grid – he fought back to finish 5th. This prompted another formation lap, on which Eddie Irvine's car broke down. Again on this second formation lap, Schumacher overtook Hill twice. Martin Brundle's engine failed on the second start.
On lap 14, Michael Schumacher was handed a five-second stop-go penalty for overtaking Hill on the first formation lap. He failed to serve the penalty by lap 21, and as a result was shown the black flag twice, requiring him to stop immediately at the pits. Schumacher did not acknowledge the black flag, and later claimed that he had not seen it. Benetton told the race officials that there had been a misunderstanding over the 5 second stop-go penalty, and after discussing the issue with the team the officials withdrew the black flag and Schumacher finally served the stop-go penalty at the end of lap 27.
Mika Häkkinen and Rubens Barrichello collided while battling for 4th place at the final corner. Barrichello pulled his damaged car into the pits, without realising that he was on the final lap. This allowed Häkkinen to limp over the finish line before Barrichello reached it, despite his car being more severely damaged.
Behind them, Ukyo Katayama scored what proved to be his final point.
Post-Race
The stewards fined Benetton $25,000 and gave the team and their driver Michael Schumacher a severe reprimand for ignoring Schumacher's five second stop-go penalty and the subsequent black flag. On July 26, the FIA World Motorsport Council increased the penalty to a $500,000 fine for the team and a two race ban for Schumacher. The WMSC also disqualified Schumacher from his second place at the British Grand Prix. The penalty was upheld on appeal on August 30.