1994 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on March 27, 1994 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo. It was the first race of the 1994 Formula One season.

Pre-Race
With it being the first race of the season, new drivers made their debuts. Roland Ratzenberger, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Olivier Panis, Olivier Beretta and Jos Verstappen made their debuts and Simtek and Pacific Racing also debuted.

Qualifying
Ayrton Senna took pole ahead of Michael Schumacher, with Jean Alesi over a second further behind. Heavy rain disrupted Saturday's proceedings.

Race
At the start Ayrton Senna took advantage of his pole position and kept the lead. Behind him Jean Alesi overtook the slow starting Michael Schumacher. Schumacher retook second place on lap 2 and started chasing after Senna, who had pulled a 4 second lead in the opening laps. Before the pit stops Schumacher had reduced the gap to just over a second, and on lap 21 the leading pair entered the pit lane together. Despite both teams running the same fuel strategy, Benetton's stop was much faster than Williams' stop, and Schumacher left the pitlane in the lead.

On lap 35 there was a four-car pile-up as Eddie Irvine and Jos Verstappen came up to lap the Ligier of Éric Bernard. Irvine forced Verstappen on to the grass, who then lost control of his car and somersaulted over Martin Brundle's McLaren. Irvine was later penalized for this maneuver by a one race ban, which was increased to three after the appeal of Jordan failed. Irvine was already under investigation due to an incident with Ayrton Senna in Suzuka the year before.

Schumacher increased his lead to 10 seconds after the second pit stops, after which Senna started to close. By lap 55 the pair had lapped third-place runner Damon Hill and the gap was down to 5 seconds. But then Senna lost control of his Williams and retired. After Senna's retirement Schumacher won comfortably. Damon Hill finished second and Jean Alesi third.

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Constructors' Championship standings


 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.