1995 Argentine Grand Prix

  1995 Argentine Grand Prix

Race details
Race 2 of 17 in the 1995 Formula One season
Date	April 9, 1995
Official name	XVIII Gran Premio Marlboro de la Republica Argentina
Location	Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.259 km (2.661 mi)
Distance	72 laps, 306.648 km (191.655 mi)
Weather	Cloudy
Pole position
Driver	David Coulthard	Williams-Renault
Time	1:53.241
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Renault
Time	1:30.522 on lap 55
Podium
First	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Second	Jean Alesi	Ferrari
Third	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Renault

The 1995 Argentine Grand Prix (formally the XVIII Gran Premio Marlboro de la Republica Argentina) was a Formula One motor race held on April 9, 1995 at the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was the second round of the 1995 Formula One season and was the first Formula One race to take place in Argentina since 1981. The race, contested over 72 laps, was won by Damon Hill for the Williams team after starting from second position. Jean Alesi finished second in a Ferrari, with Michael Schumacher third in a Benetton car. David Coulthard, who started the race from pole position, spun out of the race on lap 16 with an electrical problem.

Report

Background

The race marked the return to the Formula One calendar for the Argentine country after being off the calendar since 1981. The race was removed from the calendar originally due to the retirement of Carlos Reutemann and Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands. It was reinstated following President Carlos Menem's rise into power in 1989. To celebrate its return to the calendar, Reutemann drove a demonstration lap aboard the 1994 Ferrari 412 T1 car around the wet Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez circuit on the Thursday afternoon before the race.

The track, however, was criticised due to its "dirtiness". The track was held on the "No.6" configuration, the previous Argentine Grands Prix were all held at Oscar Galvez, but on the "No.9" and the fast and rather dangerous "No.15" configurations.

During the break between the Brazilian Grand Prix and the Argentine Grand Prix, the FIA rescinded the rule requiring that holes be cut in the airboxes; consequently, all the cars arrived at the circuit with their airbox holes filled.

Practice and qualifying

As the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez was a new track on the Formula One calendar, an extra day of practice was added to the schedule on the Thursday.

Two practice sessions were held before the race; the first was held on Friday morning, with the second held on Saturday morning. Both sessions lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Qualifying was split into two one-hour sessions; the first was held on Friday afternoon with the second held on Saturday afternoon. The fastest time from either of the two qualifying sessions counted towards their final grid position. Both sessions on Friday and Saturday were rain interrupted, leading to not much action on the track initially until conditions towards the end of the second session began to improve. Coulthard clinched his first career pole position, in his Williams, with a time of 1:53.241.

Race

The race was stopped on the first lap after accidents in the first three corners. Jean Alesi spun on the inside of the first corner, causing Mika Salo to brake sharply and be hit from behind by Luca Badoer. The resulting jam of cars caused Olivier Panis to hit the back of Pierluigi Martini, and slide into the gravel on the outside of the corner. Salo's ailing Tyrrell then tangled with Johnny Herbert on the exit of the corner. At Turn 3 Rubens Barrichello was knocked from behind by Herbert and slid to a halt, only to be rammed by the damaged Minardi of Badoer. Ukyo Katayama's Tyrrell was also damaged in the accident.

Alesi, Panis and Barrichello returned to the pits on foot for their spare cars while Badoer was left without a car as teammate Martini was given the Minardi spare. Herbert and Katayama had managed to drive back to the pits for their spare cars while Salo's car was repaired on the grid. On the second formation lap Karl Wendlinger stalled and started at the back alongside Barrichello who was late coming out of the pits. At the second start Mika Häkkinen and Eddie Irvine touched on the run down to the first corner, with Häkkinen's left rear tyre punctured which caused him to spin off. Further back, Wendlinger managed to tangle with both the Pacific cars of Bertrand Gachot and Andrea Montermini at the first corner, putting all three out. Irvine made it back to the pits for a replacement nose.

David Coulthard led from Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill. Coulthard was leading when his throttle failed and restarted, dropping him to 3rd. Hill passed Schumacher for the lead on lap 11 and built a lead of 12 seconds before pitting on lap 16, when Schumacher was then passed by the recovering Coulthard for the lead. One lap later Coulthard stopped with throttle problems, this time permanently. Alesi, using a 2-stop strategy, took the lead after Hill and Schumacher's pit stops and held it until pitting on lap 26. Alesi was able to rejoin just in front of Schumacher for second, 26 seconds behind Hill. Hill and Schumacher made their second stops near the half-way point, with Schumacher getting delayed about 7 seconds by a refueling problem. Hill then led by 9 seconds from Alesi, with Schumacher another 30 seconds behind. Alesi then closed on Hill, getting the gap down to 4 seconds by around lap 50 when the top three all made their final stops. Hill was then able to pull away from Alesi again, getting the gap up to 12 seconds. On his last set of tires Schumacher was able to close on Alesi and set the fastest lap of the race, but was much too far behind to challenge for second. Berger was to finish sixth and get one championship point, which put him in the championship lead briefly before Coulthard and Schumacher's points from Brazil were restored on appeal.

Mika Salo was running 5th (and catching 4th placed Johnny Herbert) when he collided with the lapped Aguri Suzuki. A pitlane punch-up followed, and Salo later told the BBC that "drivers like Suzuki should not be in Formula One".

Post-race

As a result of criticism surrounding the track, it was resurfaced over the winter months ready for the 1996 running of the race.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Gap
1	6	David Coulthard	Williams-Renault	1:54.670	1:53.241
2	5	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	1:55.677	1:54.057	+0.816
3	1	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Renault	1:57.056	1:54.272	+1.031
4	15	Eddie Irvine	Jordan-Peugeot	1:56.615	1:54.381	+1.140
5	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:56.449	1:54.529	+1.288
6	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:55.213	1:54.637	+1.396
7	4	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:57.738	1:54.757	+1.516
8	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:56.260	1:55.276	+2.035
9	30	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Ford	1:55.583	1:56.168	+2.342
10	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Peugeot	1:56.746	1:56.114	+2.873
11	2	Johnny Herbert	Benetton-Renault	1:57.068	1:57.341	+3.827
12	9	Gianni Morbidelli	Footwork-Hart	1:57.684	1:57.092	+3.851
13	24	Luca Badoer	Minardi-Ford	1:57.167	1:57.657	+3.926
14	12	Jos Verstappen	Simtek-Ford	2:02.410	1:57.231	+3.990
15	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:59.909	1:57.484	+4.243
16	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:58.066	2:01.059	+4.825
17	7	Mark Blundell	McLaren-Mercedes	1:58.660	1:58.767	+5.419
18	26	Olivier Panis	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	1:59.204	1:58.824	+5.583
19	25	Aguri Suzuki	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	2:01.446	1:58.882	+5.641
20	11	Domenico Schiattarella	Simtek-Ford	2:02.806	1:59.539	+6.298
21	29	Karl Wendlinger	Sauber-Ford	2:01.774	2:00.751	+7.510
22	17	Andrea Montermini	Pacific-Ford	2:01.763	43:31.316	+8.522
23	16	Bertrand Gachot	Pacific-Ford	2:04.050	2:09.359	+10.809
24	22	Roberto Moreno	Forti-Ford	2:04.481	2:15.398	+11.240
25	21	Pedro Diniz	Forti-Ford	2:05.932	no time	+12.691
26	10	Taki Inoue	Footwork-Hart	2:07.298	no time	+14.057

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	72	1:53:14.532	2	10
2	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	72	+6.407	6	6
3	1	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Renault	72	+33.376	3	4
4	2	Johnny Herbert	Benetton-Renault	71	+1 Lap	11	3
5	30	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Ford	70	+2 Laps	9	2
6	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	70	+2 Laps	8	1
7	26	Olivier Panis	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	70	+2 Laps	18
8	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	69	+3 Laps	15
9	11	Domenico Schiattarella	Simtek-Ford	68	+4 Laps	20
NC	21	Pedro Diniz	Forti-Ford	63	Not classified	25
NC	22	Roberto Moreno	Forti-Ford	63	Not classified	24
Ret	4	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Yamaha	48	Collision	7
Ret	25	Aguri Suzuki	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	47	Collision	19
Ret	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	44	Spun off	16
Ret	9	Gianni Morbidelli	Footwork-Hart	43	Electrical	12
Ret	10	Taki Inoue	Footwork-Hart	40	Spun off	26
Ret	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Peugeot	33	Oil pressure	10
Ret	12	Jos Verstappen	Simtek-Ford	23	Gearbox	14
Ret	6	David Coulthard	Williams-Renault	16	Electrical	1
Ret	7	Mark Blundell	McLaren-Mercedes	9	Oil leak	17
Ret	15	Eddie Irvine	Jordan-Peugeot	6	Engine	4
Ret	17	Andrea Montermini	Pacific-Ford	1	Collision	22
Ret	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	0	Collision	5
Ret	16	Bertrand Gachot	Pacific-Ford	0	Collision	23
Ret	29	Karl Wendlinger	Sauber-Ford	0	Collision	21
DNS	24	Luca Badoer	Minardi-Ford	0		13

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 14 2 Damon Hill 10 3 Jean Alesi 8 4 David Coulthard 6 5 Gerhard Berger 5

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 13 2 Williams-Renault 10 3 Benetton-Renault 7 4 McLaren-Mercedes 4 5 Sauber-Ford 2

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

References

Previous race: 1995 Brazilian Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1995 season	Next race: 1995 San Marino Grand Prix
Previous race: 1981 Argentine Grand Prix	Argentine Grand Prix	Next race: 1996 Argentine Grand Prix

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