1994 Australian Grand Prix

The 1994 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 13 November 1994 at the Adelaide Street Circuit. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1994 Formula One season. The race is remembered for an incident involving the two title contenders Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher which forced both to retire and resulted in Schumacher winning the World Drivers championship. Also notable was the last appearance in a Formula One Grand Prix of the first incarnation of Team Lotus, previously seven-time Constructors' Champions. It was also the 31st and last Grand Prix victory of Nigel Mansell's Formula One career.

Race
Schumacher took the lead at the start, with Hill second behind him. The order remained the same until lap 36. Hill was catching Schumacher when the Benetton driver went off the track at the East Terrace corner, hitting a wall with his right side wheels before pulling back onto the track with obviously damaged suspension. Hill had rounded the fifth corner of the track when Schumacher pulled across the track ahead of him to the left. At the next corner Hill attempted to pass Schumacher; the two collided when Schumacher turned in. Schumacher was eliminated on the spot. Hill attempted to continue the race and pitted immediately, but retired from the race with unrepairable damage to the car's front left suspension wishbone. As neither driver scored, Schumacher took the title.

Schumacher was blamed for the incident by many Formula One insiders. Subsequently the race stewards judged it as a racing incident and took no action against Schumacher. Schumacher, at age 25 was Germany's first Formula 1 World Drivers' Champion, but under highly controversial circumstances, although no action was ever taken against him. The race was won by Nigel Mansell, the 31st and final Grand Prix victory of his career, and his only F1 victory on a street circuit.

Post-Race
Schumacher has always maintained that the collision was a racing incident, a view that met with a large degree of media cynicism, particularly in the UK. Events at the 1997 European Grand Prix, where Schumacher was found guilty of deliberately (though unsuccessfully) colliding with Jacques Villeneuve's Williams in order to eliminate him from the title, led many to reconsider the 1994 event more harshly.

Although Hill deliberately avoided becoming involved in the outcry at the time, in later years he explicitly accused Schumacher of deliberately driving into him. BBC Formula One commentator Murray Walker, a great fan and friend of Damon, has often maintained that Schumacher did not cause the crash intentionally. Patrick Head of the Williams team feels differently: After Schumacher's punishment for blocking the circuit during qualifying for the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, he told F1 Racing that in 1994 "Williams were already 100% certain that Michael was guilty of foul play", but didn't protest Schumacher's title because the team was still dealing with the death of Ayrton Senna. Schumacher has been blamed by the UK public for the incident - in 2003, the BBC conducted a search for "The Most Unsporting Moment" in which the Adelaide incident was nominated. Hill's 1994 season earned him the 1994 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Standings after the race

 * Bold Text indicates World Champions.


 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Constructors' Championship standings