1994 Formula One World Championship
The San Marino Grand Prix saw the deaths of Austrian rookie Roland Ratzenberger and Brazilian three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna, while a number of other incidents throughout the season resulted in injuries to drivers, mechanics, spectators and a track marshal.
The Argentine Grand Prix had been originally scheduled for 16 October, but was cancelled on 1 June as the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez track, which was being modernized since 1991, was still undergoing work and the owners were not finished with the project.
[13] After the fatal crashes at Imola, several rule changes were introduced to slow the cars down: Furthermore, extra safety checks were implemented:[11] The season started off in Brazil and all the native fans were supporting Senna.
At the start, Alesi took second from Schumacher while Wendlinger and Verstappen, who was driving in place of Lehto who had suffered a neck injury in testing, got ahead of Frentzen and Morbidelli.
Ferrari's Jean Alesi had injured his back in a testing crash at Mugello and was replaced by Nicola Larini who immediately caused controversy when he told the Italian media that he had used the now-banned traction control in practice, though both the team and driver later denied this.
In qualifying, a front wing flap fell off Roland Ratzenberger's car, causing major suspension damage and worsened aerodynamics.
On his next lap the front wing broke off entirely and became lodged underneath the car, causing Ratzenberger to lose control and crash into the wall at the Villeneuve kink at over 180 mph.
His Simtek S941 was severely damaged, and he suffered a basal skull fracture caused by the impact and was pronounced dead at Bologna's Maggiore Hospital shortly afterwards.
The safety car—a sports variant of an Opel Vectra whose pace would later be criticized as being inadequate[15] to help maintain the competitors' tyres up to temperature—was called out with Senna leading Schumacher, Berger, Hill, Frentzen and Häkkinen.
At the start of the 7th lap, Senna lost control, for reasons that are still the subject of controversy, and his car went straight on at Tamburello into an unprotected concrete wall.
Damon Hill gained fifth, but lost it again to Katayama with two laps to go, and only kept a one-second lead over Heinz-Harald Frentzen to score the last point in the San Marino Grand Prix.
Schumacher won ahead of Larini, Häkkinen, Wendlinger, Katayama and Hill but there were no celebrations on the podium and all the talk after the race centred on Senna and Ratzenberger.
Alesi returned as the mourning F1 field moved to Monaco where there would be more bad news as Wendlinger crashed heavily into the Nouvelle Chicane wall at high speed during the first free practice session.
The FIA responded quickly and introduced changes to the regulations as follows:[16] For next race, the Spanish Grand Prix, Combined this would reduce the amount of downforce by about 15%.
Alessandro Zanardi was also in at Lotus alongside Johnny Herbert as Pedro Lamy had suffered a massive testing accident at Silverstone which resulted in him sustaining two dislocated legs and a broken wrist.
In Saturday morning's free practice session Andrea Montermini, who had replaced Ratzenberger in the Simtek, had a huge crash exiting the high-speed final corner.
In light of recent events, the paddock breathed a sigh of relief when it was announced Montermini had escaped with only a broken ankle and chipped heel.
The new regulations introduced during the Monaco weekend to modify amongst other things the airboxes of the cars were now in effect and were visibly shown as teams had to cut holes in the engine covers.
Schumacher stayed out beyond the three laps required to adhere to the penalty, and was then shown the black flag meaning he was excluded from the race and from that point would have to return to the pits and retire.
The second half of the season started in Germany but the Schumacher fans went home disappointed as the Ferraris locked out the front row in qualifying.
There was mayhem behind as Häkkinen hit Brundle and spun off, taking out Frentzen, Barrichello and Irvine, as well as knocking Coulthard's front wing out of place.
On the run down to the first chicane Alesi slowed with an electrical problem and retired in the pits, but also blocked Katayama, allowing both Schumacher and Hill to attack.
Berger was closing in on them both, however the Williamses held him off and looked set to finish 1–2 until Coulthard slowed dramatically, as he ran out of fuel on the last lap.
Hill won with Coulthard second, giving Williams a 1–2 and the lead in the Constructors' Championship, ahead of Häkkinen, Barrichello, Verstappen, and Brundle.
Two new faces arrived at the back of the grid, as Hideki Noda joined Larrousse and Domenico "Mimmo" Schiattarella replaced Jean-Marc Gounon at Simtek.
This meant that Hill rejoined 7 seconds ahead on lap 25 when he pitted and fueled to the end of the race, but only 3 of his tyres were changed due to a sticking wheel nut.
Renowned for his ability in the wet and on fresher tyres, Schumacher closed in on Hill at a rate of over a second a lap, but ran out of time to catch him.
For the final race of the season Jean-Denis Délétraz replaced Erik Comas at Larrousse and Schiattarella was back with Simtek after Taki Inoue's one-off deal at Suzuka.
Mansell and the two Ferraris fought for the lead, but Alesi lost a full lap and dropped down to eighth during the second round of stops because of trouble fixing a tyre and then stalling his car while trying to leave.
Controversy and speculation was abound about this result[citation needed], but the FIA took no action as Williams did not protest; they were still dealing with the death of Senna, to whom Schumacher dedicated his title.
