1994 Japanese Grand Prix  |
| Date:4-6 Oct 1994, Weather Wet, cool and cloudy |
From this race…
Brundle, Martin
On lap thirteen Morbidelli crashed out of the race at the second Degner curve. A tractor was sent to recover the stranded Footwork and the work was being covered under waved yellow flags. On the next lap martin Brundle lost control of his McLaren and slid into the gravel, toward the tractor. “I really though that was the end for me. I just closed my eyes, not expecting to be able to open them, but at the last moment the car spun around a little further and I missed it;” recounted a lucky Brundle. Less lucky was the marshal that he hit who sustained a broken leg. The race was quite rightly red flagged at the end of lap fifteen.
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Drivers Points
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Constructors Points
| Position |
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Name |
Points |
| No points awarded |
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Top 5 drivers before
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Top 5 drivers current
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| Who? |
What |
Points |
Action |
Lap |
| Misc |
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Herbert, Johnny (Benetton)
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1 pts
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Herbert had returned to Benetton, the team that he started his Formula One career with for the last two races of the 1994 season in an effort to help the team take the constructors championship. In Saturday’s wet qualifying session he crashed heavily at the point were Mansell crashed in qualifying in 1987. “The car was very good on my first run in the wet. We made a few small changes to the race set-up, which meant I got a littler more under steer than before. I got a wheel on the kerb and the car spun.”
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Frentzen, Heinz-Harald (Sauber)
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1 pts
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On the second lap of the race Frentzen slid off the drenched track and over a gravel trap. He rejoined the track but his under tray had been damaged.
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Katayama, Ukyo (Tyrrell)
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1 pts
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During the downpour on lap three Katayama lost control of his Tyrrell and slammed into the barriers. He was out of the race and was fortunate that the only injury he sustained was a bruised leg.
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Inoue, Taki (Simtek)
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4 pts
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Inoue, in his second home race of the season spun off in the torrential rain on lap three, in front of is home crowd. Ironically the safety car was deployed the next lap due to the worsening weather.
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Herbert, Johnny (Benetton)
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4 pts
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Coming on to the start / finish straight to start his fourth lap Herbert spun wildly on the straight, taking the nose cone off his B194. He was out of the race. This along with Inoue and Katayama’s accidents prompted the race organisers to get the safety car out to slow the race down on the treacherous surface.
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Martini, Pierluigi (Minardi)
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1 pts
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On lap ten, the second lap after the safety car had pulled in Martini triggered an incident that would see three cars eliminated. Ligier and F1 debutant, Franck Lagorce was battling round the track in seventeenth place when Martini tapped the back of his Ligier pitching the Gaelic car into a spin and retirement. Martini lost control too and spun off. David Brabham was able to sail through the melee unscathed but Martini’s team mate, Alboreto was caught out and span off trying to avoid the accident. The end result was three cars out. Minardi was not pleased with its driver!
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Morbidelli, Gianni (Footwork)
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1 pts
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On unlucky lap thirteen Morbidelli lost control of his Arrows on the second Degner curve in the appalling conditions. The front of the car was destroyed; the suspension torn form the car and the nose cone was long gone. The young Italian walked from the accident because the TUB had fulfilled it’d function and remained intact in the accident.
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Mansell, Nigel (McLaren)
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1 pts
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After the restart Mansell battled Alesi for third place all the way home. Coming into the lat corner of the last lap Mansell got the jump on the Ferrari and crossed the line punching his fist into the air. He was gutted when he was reminded that Alesi was awarded third as he was a head on aggregate time from the two “sessions“ that made up the full race distance.
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| Race |
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Brundle, Martin (McLaren)
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1 pts
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On lap thirteen Morbidelli crashed out of the race at the second Degner curve. A tractor was sent to recover the stranded Footwork and the work was being covered under waved yellow flags. On the next lap martin Brundle lost control of his McLaren and slid into the gravel, toward the tractor. “I really though that was the end for me. I just closed my eyes, not expecting to be able to open them, but at the last moment the car spun around a little further and I missed it;” recounted a lucky Brundle. Less lucky was the marshal that he hit who sustained a broken leg. The race was quite rightly red flagged at the end of lap fifteen.
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15 |
| Qualifying |
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Barrichello, Rubens (Jordan)
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1 pts
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Barrichello had a sizable accident in Saturday’s qualifying session that resulted in the session being red flagged with sixteen minuets left to run. The right hand side of his Jordan sustained serious damage. “I just aquaplaned off…. As I went off I prayed that I would not disappear… After this crash I opened my eyes and I found myself still here and I was very pleased about that.”
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