1995 Argentine Grand Prix

The 1995 Argentine Grand Prix (formally the XVIII Gran Premio Marlboro de la Republica Argentina) was a Formula One motor race held on 9 April 1995 at the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was the second race of the 1995 Formula One World Championship and the first running of the Argentine Grand Prix since 1981.[1]

1995 Argentine Grand Prix
Race 2 of 17 in the 1995 Formula One World Championship
Race details[1]
Date 9 April 1995
Official name XVIII Gran Premio Marlboro de la Republica Argentina
Location Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.259 km (2.646 mi)
Distance 72 laps, 306.482[2] km (190.439 mi)
Weather Cloudy
Pole position
Driver
Williams-Renault
Time 1:53.241
Fastest lap
Driver Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault
Time 1:30.522 on lap 55
Podium
First
Williams-Renault
Second
Ferrari
Third
Benetton-Renault

The 72-lap race was won by Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault, after starting from second position. Jean Alesi was second in a Ferrari, with Michael Schumacher third in a Benetton-Renault. Hill's teammate, David Coulthard, took the first pole position of his F1 career before retiring with an electrical failure.[3]

Report

Background

This was the first running of the Argentine Grand Prix since 1981. The race had been removed from the Formula One calendar due to the retirement of Carlos Reutemann and Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands, before being reinstated following President Carlos Menem's rise to power in 1989 and the subsequent modernisation of the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez.[4]

The No. 6 configuration of the circuit was to be used - the race having previously used the No. 2 and No. 9 configurations, as well as the long and fast No. 15 configuration. To celebrate the race's return, Reutemann drove a demonstration lap of the circuit aboard the 1994 Ferrari 412 T1 on the Thursday afternoon before the race.[5] The track, however, was criticised due to its "dirtiness".[6]

In the two weeks between the Brazilian and Argentine Grands Prix, the FIA rescinded the rule requiring that holes be cut in the airboxes; consequently, all the cars arrived at the circuit with their airbox holes filled.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 No. 6 configuration of the circuit was new to the Formula One calendar, a familiarisation session was held on the Thursday.[7] The first practice session proper was held on Friday morning, followed in the afternoon by the first one-hour qualifying session. On Saturday, the second practice session was held, followed by the second qualifying session.[8]

Both qualifying session took place in wet conditions, with several drivers spinning; only towards the end of the Saturday session did the conditions improve.[7] David Coulthard took the first pole position of his F1 career, with a time of 1:53.241 in his Williams.[1] Teammate Damon Hill was alongside him on the front row of the grid, despite his time being 0.8 seconds slower, with Michael Schumacher third in the Benetton. Eddie Irvine took fourth in the Jordan, followed by Mika Häkkinen in the McLaren, Jean Alesi in the Ferrari, and Mika Salo in the Tyrrell. The top ten was completed by Gerhard Berger in the second Ferrari, Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Sauber and Rubens Barrichello in the second Jordan. The Simteks impressed with Jos Verstappen taking 14th, ahead of Mark Blundell in the second McLaren and both Ligiers, and Domenico Schiattarella 20th.

Race

In dry conditions and with President Menem in attendance,[7] Coulthard led away while, behind him, Alesi spun on the inside of the first corner. Salo, braking to avoid Alesi, was hit from behind by Luca Badoer's Minardi, causing him to run into the side of the second Benetton of Johnny Herbert. In turn, Herbert hit Barrichello, as did Badoer, with the second Tyrrell of Ukyo Katayama also becoming involved. Behind them, Olivier Panis in the Ligier hit the back of Pierluigi Martini in the second Minardi. The race was red-flagged, and Alesi, Herbert, Barrichello, Katayama, Panis and Martini returned to the pits to take their teams' respective spare cars for the restart (meaning Badoer's weekend was over), while Salo's car was repaired on the grid.

On the second formation lap, Karl Wendlinger stalled his Sauber and was forced to start at the back of the grid. Coulthard again led away, while behind him there were more collisions: Häkkinen trod on Irvine's front wing on the run down to the first corner and retired immediately, while Wendlinger tangled with both Pacifics, putting all three out. Irvine made it back to the pits for a replacement nose, but retired on lap 7 when his engine failed.

Coulthard led until lap 6 when his throttle failed and restarted, allowing Schumacher and Hill past. Hill overtook Schumacher on lap 11 and led until making his first pit stop on lap 16. The recovering Coulthard passed Schumacher to take back the lead, only for his throttle to fail permanently almost immediately after. When Schumacher made his first stop, Alesi inherited the lead and held it for eight laps, before pitting himself. Behind them, Verstappen moved up to sixth in his Simtek, before suffering a long pit stop followed by a gearbox failure on lap 24.[9]

After his stop, Alesi was nearly half a minute behind Hill, but ahead of Schumacher. Hill retained the lead for the rest of the race, though Alesi closed the gap to 6.4 seconds by the chequered flag. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 55, Schumacher finished 27 seconds behind Alesi, with teammate Herbert fourth. Salo was running fifth, close behind Herbert, when he collided with Aguri Suzuki in the second Ligier on lap 48; he angrily confronted the Japanese driver in the pit lane before telling the BBC that "drivers like Suzuki should not be in Formula One". Fifth thus went to Frentzen, with Berger picking up the final point for sixth. Following Verstappen's retirement, Schiattarella finished ninth to equal Simtek's best-ever result.

Berger's point kept him in the lead of the Drivers' Championship, pending the appeals to Schumacher and Coulthard's disqualifications from the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Post-race

Four days after the race, the FIA International Court of Appeal overturned the disqualifications from Brazil, meaning that Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship by four points from Hill with Berger dropping to fifth.[10]

Meanwhile, in response to the criticism, the track was resurfaced over the winter of 1995-96, ready for the 1996 running of the race.[6]

Classification

Qualifying
PosNoDriverConstructorQ1 TimeQ2 TimeGap
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
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
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 + 9 Laps 25  
NC 22 Roberto Moreno Forti-Ford 63 + 9 Laps 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  
Source:[3]

The Forti drivers were not classified, as they did not complete 90% race distance, but they did not retire.

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
gollark: What is ”scene”?
gollark: Software was probably about the same perceptible speed.
gollark: Maybe it is just a rebranded calculator of a mildly different model. Maybe it was a secret prototype stolen from the factory which ended up in your hands through an unlikely series of coincidences. Maybe the documentation was deleted by accident. Maybe it's fake.
gollark: Why specifically 2009?
gollark: How do you know it does?

References
  1. Henry, Alan (1995). "1995 Grands Prix: Argentine Grand Prix". Autocourse 1995-96. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 102–103. ISBN 1-874557-36-5.
  2. Video on YouTube
  3. "1995 Argentine Grand Prix". The Official Formula 1 Website. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
  4. "What you may not know about Buenos Aires". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 3 April 1995. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
  5. Formula 1: Season Review (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. December 1995. Event occurs at 15:00–18:00.
  6. "Argentine Grand Prix Preview". Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 4 April 1996. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  7. "Grand Prix Results: Argentine GP, 1995". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  8. Domenjoz, Luc (1995). "Rules and Regulations". Formula 1 Yearbook 1995. Chronosports Editeur. pp. 216–217. ISBN 2-940125-06-6.
  9. "Simtek - Profile". F1 Rejects. Archived from the original on 21 March 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  10. Allsop, Derick (14 April 1995). "Schumacher and Coulthard reinstated". The Independent. London. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  11. "Argentina 1995 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
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1995 Brazilian Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
1995 season		 Next race:
1995 San Marino Grand Prix
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1981 Argentine Grand Prix		 Argentine Grand Prix Next race:
1996 Argentine Grand Prix
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