1994Drivers Championship
Code: Select all
Bernard 45
D Brabham 44
Panis 43
Zanardi 39
Gounon 28
Herbert 22
Comas 22
Lamy 17
Beretta 16
Blundell 14
JJ Lehto 14
C Fittipaldi 14
Martini 14
Alboreto 11
Ratzenberger 10
D Hill 10
Adams 10
Schiattarella 10
Lagorce 10
Dalmas 4
Brundle 4
Morbidelli 3
Salo 3
Frentzen 3
Irvine 2
De Cesaris 2
Barrichello 1
Alesi 1
Alliot, Belmondo, Berger, Coulthard, Deletraz, Gachot, Hakkinen, Inoue, Katayama, Larini, Mansell, Montermini, Noda, M Schumacher, A Senna, Suzuki, Tarquini, Verstappen and Wendlinger all scored no points.
It was a dark year, one driver that could have been champion was killed in qualifying for the San Marino GP and another was killed in the race. Ratzenberger had won the previous Pacific GP and look set for a pole position, so it indeed was a sad loss to the motorsport world.
It was a year of many drivers, over 53 drivers stepped up to qualify (or not) to race. The teams that impressed the most in pre season testig were the new Simtek team, Ligier and Lotus. After 8 races, it was tight as 6 different drivers won races and only David Brabham managed to win more then 2, Panis was the most consistant scoring in 7 out of the 8 races getting 4 podiums. The table stood at D Brabham 32, Panis 28, Bernard 27, Lamy 17, Zanardi 16 and Gounon 16. Three more races saw Zanardi and Bernard impress the most with a win for Zanardi and constant points and 2 podiums for Bernard, D Brabham could only manage a single second and Panis struggle with a single 6th place. It stood D Brabham 38, Bernard 36, Panis 29, Zanardi 26, Gounon 22. The next two races saw D Brabham have a awful time with 2 more DNFs, Panis finally won a race in the season and Gounon got another podium. It was close at Panis 39, Bernard 39, D Brabham 38, Gounon 28, Zanardi 26.
A clause in Panises contract meant he could dictate who the 2nd driver was and he played his lead driver card and got Bernard fired, Bernard managed to get a one race deal with Lotus and thought his chance at a championship was over. Gounon also knew his championship chances were over as David Brabham wanted a team mate who would not beat him. The next three races would see the Simtek second seat be kept warm with Schiattarella and Inoue. It seemed a straight fight with Panis and D Brabham with Zanardi with an outside chance.
The European GP arrived, Schiattarella got the Simtek in pole, 7 tenths faster then David Brabham, Bernard in his one chance race qualified in 5th behind the Larrousses but ahead of team mate Zanardi, Panis had a terrible time and qualified down in 16th. The race saw Brabham in a good podium position before his engine expired, Schiattarella won the race ahead of Bernard, Zanardi was 4th and Panis finished way down in 11th. The championship stood at Bernard 45, Panis 39, D Brabham 38, Zanardi 29.
Two races left and in the penultimate race, Inoue in the Simtek qualified on pole, Salo taking the other Lotus seat was on the front row but Brabham was behind Inoue, Lagorce who replaced Bernard was in 7th a few tenths quicker the Panis who seemed to let the presure get to him. Zanardi was down in 10th and looked out of it. However the three main contenders would finish to give the most exciting final race in recent memory. Zanardi with great skill both in the car and in the pits won the race, D Brabham finished second and Panis was 3rd but would have been disappointed at not winning the race. Salo was 4th and Bernard would have been feeling bad at this point. The championship was looked tight at Bernard 45, D Brabham 44, Panis 43 and Zanardi 39. Zanardi could get the championship with a win or a 2nd place as he had more wins on count back but he needed D Brabham to finish 3rd or worse if he won or 6th or out of the points if he was second and for Panis to finish 5th or worse if he was 2nd. D Brabham just needed to finish ahead of Panis and score a 5th or better and Panis needed a 4th or better and needed to D Brabham to be 6th or worse and for Zanardi to not finish in the points.
The Australian GP arrived and qualifying seemed to favour Brabham as he was in 3rd behind his teammate Schiattarella. Zanardi was down in 13th and Panis was in 15th. At a press conference that had the three drivers and Bernard, Brabham did seem the most upbeat saying that he should get a podium which should be enough for him to wrap up the title, Zanardi also played up his chances saying he won from 10th in the last race so fate would decide, Panis looked the most nervous especially sitting next to Bernard and said he was confident of a good points score and hopefully grabbing the title, Bernard wished the three drivers the best but hoped that they would all retire with simple failures.
The race came and after 19 laps Brabham was in a commanding second behind his team mate, Zanardi and Panis were out of the points but had made up several places. Schiattarella retired with a gearbox failure the next lap and Simtek told Brabham to slow down. 20 laps later Zanardi was just outside the points but his throttle started to play up, he pitted but had to retire so it was now a three horse race. 9 laps later, possibily from overdriving the engine in D Brabhams care started to smoke and so did D Brabhams chances of a championship. Panis was now in 10th he drove hard and after 20 more laps (and some retirements) was in 4th, but a few laps from the end he was trying to overtake a back marker but made a mistake, spinning the car and touching a barrier, he kept the car going and had to make a pitstop. In the pits the Ligier crew looked at the car, changed the tyres and decided after a minute everything was okay but by this time he was lapped by his team mate plus JJ Letho and Martini, Fittipaldi, Frentzen and Alesi also passed him in the pits, he tried and tried but just could not find a way past Alesi let alone Frentzen. After the race, he went back to the motorhome and left, knowing he had blown it. Bernard was champion and he didn't have to turn a wheel.
Constructors Championship
Code: Select all
Lotus 97
Simtek 92
Ligier 92
Larrousse 42
Minardi 25
Footwork 17
Tyrrell 14
Sauber 11
Williams 10
Benetton 8
McLaren 4
Jordan 3
Ferrari 1
Pacific 0
Lotus had 6 drivers during the course of the season and each one scored points, because of other commitments Zanardi could not race the first few races of the season and this probably cost him the championship. Simtek will be happy with second as they pit Ligier to the runner up spot due to Wins. The other teams were largely disappointing with D Hill scoring a great win and the only points the underfunded Williams team managed. Pacific had a great car but it was too unreliable and failed to qualify in a lot of races due to the drivers being scared of the car, sadly Pacific could not afford new drivers and the pay drivers that tested lapped even slower.
Race wins
Code: Select all
Zanardi 3 (Canada, Hungary, Japan)
D Brabham 2 (Brazil, Spain)
Ratzenberger 1 (Pacific)
Lamy 1 (Monaco)
Blundell 1 (France)
Gounon 1 (Britain)
D Hill 1 (Germany)
Panis 1 (Italy)
Adams 1 (Portugal)
Schiattarella 1 (Europe)
Lagorce 1 (Australia)
Code: Select all
Panis 10
Bernard 10
Martini 7
Herbert 7
Comas 7
D Brabham 6
Alboreto 6
Zanardi 5
C Fittipaldi 5
Gounon 4
Beretta 4
Lamy 3
JJ Lehto 3
Blundell 3
Frentzen 2
Brundle 2
Schiattarella 1
Salo 1
Ratzenberger 1
Morbidelli 1
Lagorce 1
Irvine 1
De Cesaris 1
Dalmas 1
D Hill 1
Barrichello 1
Alesi 1
Adams 1
Alliot, Belmondo, Berger, Coulthard, Deletraz, Gachot, Hakkinen, Inoue, Katayama, Larini, Mansell, Montermini, Noda, M Schumacher, A Senna, Suzuki, Tarquini, Verstappen and Wendlinger all scored no points.
- and I can't wait until Shinji sees this thread!
Although I try to write the reports with a litle bit of drama, some epic battles of wheel to wheel action would be great.
(Tony Jardine, 1988)