download

#549 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix

2021-04-14 01:00

Osservatore Sportivo

#1994, Fulvio Conti, Translated by Nicola Carriero,

#549 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix

Give us today our daily bread, that is a beautiful controversy. Of this lives (and will live long, happy and delighted) Formula 1. Overcome without pr

fotor_2023-5-15_10_29_39.jpeg

Give us today our daily bread, that is a beautiful controversy. Of this lives (and will live long, happy and delighted) Formula 1. Overcome without problems the dreaded technical checks, obtained by Ferrari the green light for his gasoline, on Thursday, March 24, 1994, the tires issue bursts out. But first things first. Immediately good news for the team of Maranello who win their first battle, at least as far as fuel is concerned. The F10 petrol, in fact, which had been considered by the FIA non-compliant to the spirit of the regulation, was accepted after a further examination carried out at a third laboratory. However, it is not known if the technicians will decide to use it immediately in Brazil, because no tests have been done on track yet. But, since fuel seems to offer 7-8 more horsepower, an immediate attempt is not ruled out. But Brazil offers other surprises: on the eve of the first day of official practice of the 1994 World Championship, Goodyear also animates the environment: the American company, which supplies the tires to all the teams (there are fourteen, with twenty-eight cars), decides to strike. They close the tires in the warehouses, and they refuse to hand them over to the staff. The reason for the protest (a bit trivial, if you like, but everyone has their needs) is the need for Goodyear to have some extra passes (entrance card) for its men. And because the organisers refused to increase the endowment, they all stopped working. Probably this situation will be solved as soon as possible, with the arrival of Bernie Ecclestone, but one fact is certain: in Interlagos there is not a day that goes by that does not register some sensational event. As expected, the doubts surrounding the suspension of Williams and Ferrari have been resolved peacefully. The stewards have just taken a look and moved on. McLaren is legal as well, which has removed the electronic accelerator (wireless) that they intended to use despite the ban. All eyes are on Ayrton Senna, considered the great favourite, and his most credited rival, Michael Schumacher. Already on Friday, March 25, 1994, after the first qualifying round, it can be seen if in the winter testing someone bluffed. Niki Lauda, joined by his partner Giovanna Amati, says: 

 

"I am convinced that Senna and Schumacher will give us the show we are waiting for. It’s normal: they drive the two best cars. McLaren changed the engine and lost the Brazilian. If I had 100 dollars, I would bet them on Ayrton. Indeed I would bet even 1000". 

 

Coming from him being so thrifty... What about Ferrari? 

 

"It’s been terrible for two seasons. Now with Todt everything has to resurface. But the car is too new, it did only a few days of testing to be able to squeeze it to the maximum. However, already here you can see what are its limits and the possibilities to improve the performance (John Barnard has already modified 62 details after the presentation of the 412 TI). The atmosphere in the team is very good. Alesi is strong and sufficiently crazy, Berger fast and able to make a good setup. I am quite optimistic, even if we will have to wait a couple of races to see all our potential". 

 

Let’s start the engines, then. On Friday  the first comparison between Renault and Peugeot will start, and it will be the debut of two new English teams: Simtek and Pacific. Beautiful colours and new for many cars, important regulatory innovations, with drivers who should count a little more than cars and the uncertainty of the pit stops for refuelling. But what matters, as always, is to go faster than the others. After so many years, Alain Prost has seriously decided not to race: he tried the McLaren, but he preferred not to start a project that would have taken too long to become successful, and rather than leave it halfway through, he decided not to make this kind of commitment. Thus, Ayrton Senna remains the only driver on the grid to have already won the World Championship. The predictions are all on his side. Although he was very fast in the winter testing with his Benetton, no one bets on Michael Schumacher, of whom it is thought that he can win some races and that he can be a good outsider, but for the World Championship it is expected the absolute dominance of Ayrton Senna and his Williams-Renault, despite the active suspensions have been removed, a technological innovation that allowed the British team to easily triumph in the last two World Championships. 

fotor_2023-5-15_10_32_27.jpeg

Yet, despite the public waiting for a boring and monotonous championship, Ayrton arrives in São Paulo with more than a few doubts that grip him, and with the belief that Benetton-Ford can prove to be a worthy opponent. This is mainly for two reasons. Unlike in the past, Senna is now forced to devote some of his time to the promotional requests of the new partners, and for this he often has to interrupt his technical discussions with Patrick Head and Adrian Newey to fulfil the obligations that he has already assumed. This is claimed by Rothmans and Renault Sport that, with its president Patrick Faure, wants to present it to the press and to the many customers of his car manufacturer. In the same press conference Ayrton presents the editorial project Sennina, the comic that will represent him to the children of his tormented country; a positive hero, full of hope and certainties. All this can only annoy the Brazilian driver beyond the excess, since, secondly, during the winter tests, many problems of adaptation have emerged inside his Williams. For this reason, even during the first race weekend, Ayrton and his technicians look for the minimum solutions that can satisfy him:

 

"The cockpit is too tight, the driving position is invalid, it is tiring. I can’t drive this car as I would like and as I could. It is too rigid and sensitive to any slight ripple of the track or any height’s variation".

 

In addition to this, Senna also complains about the pit entrance and the track asphalt which is very bumpy: on a humped circuit like that of São Paulo, the Williams FW16, precisely because so exasperated, must be trimmed with the springs of the dampers almost locked, to pin in this way the suspension, transforming the single-seater into some kind of go-kart with 790 horsepower.

 

"He came down from the sky". 

 

The Brazilian fans exclaimed on Friday, March 25, 1994,, forgetting to specify that their idol has succeeded in the accomplishment using a wonderful but normal helicopter to arrive at the circuit. In any case, it did not take any divine help to allow Ayrton Senna to start in the best way the 1994 Formula 1 World Championship. That is to put himself in front of everyone. Provisional pole position for the home driver, ahead of Michael Schumacher and Jean Alesi’s Ferrari, third on his last valid lap. But even in the case of the Maranello team it is not yet time to call it a miracle. Good result for the Frenchman, but the car’s performance still leaves to be desired (Gerhard Berger, relegated to P13). Ayrton Senna finishes his lap in 1'16"386 (in the morning during free practice he even dropped to 1'16"201) and he gets close to the record time of Prost (1'15"886). If all goes well, Ayrton, in the second qualifying round, can cancel both the retired-professor and Nigel Mansell (who holds the absolute record in 1’15"703) from the Hall of Fame. But there are not only positive notes for the three-time World Champion. The first seasonal directions, in fact, sound like an alarm for Ayrton Senna. Last year, Williams had a 2-seconds advantage over McLaren and a little more over Benetton. Now the margins have thinned dangerously: less than 0.2 seconds on Benetton and 1.3 seconds on Ferrari (which was at 3.4 seconds). And many others are close. It should be noticed that it is just the beginning, that the driver from São Paulo is not yet completely satisfied with the adjustments of his car. But there are still all the signs for a good fight. What everyone was expecting with the changes in the regulation. And it still has to be seen what can happen in the race with the flying refuelling of gasoline. Mauricio Gugelmin, Brazilian driver who left Formula 1 in 1992 to race in the Indy championship, present in São Paulo to attend the tests and the Brazilian Grand Prix, comments as a spectator about the difference in the behaviour of Ayrton Senna’s car and Michael Schumacher:

fotor_2023-5-15_10_35_4.jpeg

"Schumacher’s Benetton was much more at ease on this type of circuit. Especially in the slow corners, in the mixed, Schumacher took advantage. It is a matter of setup. Williams was visibly stiffer, Benetton was softer, less exasperated. I know Adrian well, I raced with his cars at Leyton House. His ideas in aerodynamics are brilliant, but they only work with certain parameters. On a humped track like Interlagos, without the active suspension, you had to practically block the springs. There is another problem for Ayrton, we all know that he complained about the steering wheel. When you drive in the race, as the laps accumulate, the position of the hands tends to change. Under the stress you hold the steering wheel almost holding on to it. The wrist rotates forward, the knuckles swell and rub against the instrument wheel. Especially if the cockpit is as tailored as it looks like on the Williams. After six years in McLaren, it’s hard".

 

Despite everything, in qualifying Ayrton manages to precede Schumacher and to take pole position:

 

"I am mildly satisfied and optimistic, and for several reasons. First because I did not have the slightest mechanical problem. Then because my car is not yet perfect in the adjustment of the chassis. I have worked hard, but I have not been forced to risk beyond the limits. So I can improve. I was not surprised by the recovery of Benetton, but I think that in the race it could have some problems. As for Ferrari it could only grow. We’ll see. Certainly this year the battle will be tighter and it will play a lot on the cars’ reliability, on racing tactics and on the physical endurance of the drivers. If it rains there will be some good ones. These cars are difficult to drive: getting off the track like fools is a matter of a moment".

 

Despite the pole, Senna continues to remind everyone that the FW16 still has many problems to solve. It is not without a reason that Damon Hill almost goes crazy in trying to understand the car, which has huge problems of understeer. Ayrton, for his part, knows very well that the very tight set-up in practice will force him to take strong risks in the race, regardless of whether he is in the lead or has to chase his opponents. In one of the driver discussions, Ayrton Senna asks Damon Hill: 

 

"Is it normal for the car to behave like this?"

 

Hill’s reply is far from reassuring:

 

"Well, I’m relatively new here too. I was hoping you could tell me".

 

The decrease of the technological gap between the teams leads to the top Sauber-Mercedes (Karl Wendlinger P4, the debutant Heinz-Harald Frentzen P6) and shows a nice leap forward of Minardi married to Scuderia Italia: P8 for Pierluigi Martini, a positive sign. Arrows-Footwork also impresses favourably, even if in the end Fittipaldi and Morbidelli slide back a bit. It is difficult, instead, to judge McLaren: Mika Hakkinen’s P5 could also be considered promising, if the adoption of the mechanical accelerator (the electronic one was forbidden) had not created countless problems, even of functionality, against the new Peugeot engine, which still needs considerable development. Confirmation for Rubens Barrichello, who brings his Jordan-Hart in P10. The driver, whose grandparents come from Treviso, is on everyone’s lips these days because the Brazilian newspapers gives him as the favourite for driving a Ferrari, when one of the two current drivers of the Maranello team will decide to change direction. The fact that Barrichello has become Fiat ambassador in Brazil, supporting the advertising of the Italian company (in third place in sales after Volkswagen and General Motors, but clearly ahead of Ford), is considered as a possible step towards a future agreement. When there are about four minutes left of practice, Jean Alesi climbs from P7 to P3 with a good lap to the agony. So a day that seemed difficult for Ferrari, has at least partially calmed down. Also because at the beginning of the practice Gerhard Berger had remained standing beside the track a long time and had returned to the pits dejected, after a long march: 

fotor_2023-5-15_10_32_37.jpeg

"The pressure of the gearbox oil: it was not good even during the morning. I hope to recover in the second round". 

 

While Jean Alesi, at the end of the tests, says:

 

"I’m happy about the grid placement. But I don’t want to hide that the performance of our cars leaves something to be desired. Understeer in slow corners, balancing a bit too precarious. There’s a lot to work on. It is good, however, that every time we sit around a table and check the evidence data we find something new to do and there are improvements. This gives me a certain confidence, even if all the necessary changes can’t come in a very short time".

 

The whole Ferrari team (with Todt, Bianchi, Barnard, Lombardi: for once the engines aren’t on trial, indeed, everyone says they’re satisfied) follows the practice carefully, done with the new Agip fuel without problems. A first remedy has been found for the flat bottom of the cars: before it was detached, in two pieces, now it is glued into one and seems to guarantee greater rigidity. Of course, if you look carefully at the 412 T1 when they come out of the corners, excessive wagging can be noticed, more suitable for a dancer than a Formula 1 car. And it will be appropriate that John Barnard, recognized magician of Formula 1, succeeds as soon as possible, with a wind tunnel blow, to transform it into one of those super-speed trains that, travelling on rails, go very strong without moving an inch. On Saturday, 26 March, 1994, at the end of practice, the first pole position of Ayrton Senna becomes official. And it was to be expected. In front of his wild audience, at the wheel of Williams, the Brazilian will start in front of everyone in the race that opens the Formula 1 World Championship. But for him it will not be as easy as it was last year for Alain Prost. He will have to sweat the proverbial seven shirts. The advantage of the car World Champion seems to have reduced enormously. Just 0.3 seconds separate Ayrton Senna from his great rival Michael Schumacher with Benetton. 

 

"It’s all a lottery. The reliability of the cars, the pit stops for the fuel supplies, the threat of bad weather. In addition, the single-seaters are now very difficult to drive, they are tiring. In other words, I am not sure of winning. I’ll try, but I’m afraid I’m gonna find someone clinging to me for the whole race. Like being engaged in a qualifying that lasts for 71 laps". 

 

In fact, in the last round of timed practice, Ayrton Senna is forced to push beyond the limit to take pole position, after Michael Schumacher had started the day overtaking him. A help came for him, as after half an hour a terrible downpour nullified further attempts at the fastest laps. So Ayrton Senna remained in first position thanks to the time of 1'15"962 (the record of Mansell, 1'15"703, of 1992 does not collapse) at the average speed of 204.900 km/h. However, the rain hasn’t prevented Jean Alesi and his Ferrari from confirming a good third position on the grid. The Frenchman has improved slightly, and as usual he is optimistic:

 

"We are not phenomenal, but we have an excellent engine and, according to the rankings of these days, Ferrari could also make me end up on the podium. There are still many things to check, but I hope with all my heart". 

 

The situation is more difficult for Gerhard Berger, relegated to P17. The Austrian driver had to take the reserve car in the morning, then he had an engine problem (replaced), but above all he did not run and was not happy with the setup of his car. It must be said that the Maranello team still needs a running-in. He seems anxious with the changes of the 412 T1, perhaps missing some spare parts and therefore he cannot take too many risks. Like getting on the track in the rain. So they remained in the pits, while Williams and Benetton tried on the wet track and for the race they will have some extra indications to adjust the cars in case of bad weather (expected). There is still a small part of Italy that finally moves. The P6 of 25-year-old Gianni Morbidelli with the Footwork-Yamaha is the best qualifying of the Pesaro driver in four seasons in Formula 1 and after a year of absence. 

fotor_2023-5-15_10_16_2.jpeg

On Sunday, March 27, 1994, at the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix, starting from pole position, Ayrton Senna immediately takes the lead of the race. Behind him Jean Alesi overtakes Michael Schumacher, who starts badly, but already on the second lap he overtakes the Frenchman and starts chasing Ayrton Senna, who has already accumulated 4 seconds of advantage. Lap after lap, Schumacher reduces the gap to around 1 second: during lap 21 both Schumacher and Senna return to the pits for a pit-stop, practically at the same time. The Benetton men turn out to be faster than those of Williams, and Schumacher manages to leave in front of Senna. With Michael Schumacher in the lead with a good margin, which gradually increases in the following laps, the race heats up in the middle part of the grid: on lap 35 Eddie Irvine approaches Éric Bernard’s Ligier-Renault, preparing to round it; behind him is Jos Verstappen, trying to take advantage of it to overtake Jordan-Hart’s Northern Irish driver. The latter, however, does not notice and - in an attempt to overtake the much slower French car - widens his trajectory: the Dutch driver of Benetton-Ford must therefore dodge the Jordan-Hart by bringing the car on the outside lawn. The tires in contact with the grass lose grip and the car #6 spins, cuts the road to Eddie Irvine and Éric Bernard, hits the rear of the McLaren-Peugeot of Martin Brundle and lifts off, doing a somersault in mid-air and falling heavily into the escape route overlooking. In the carambola Brundle is hit on the head by the right rear wheel of the Benetton, but neither he, nor the other drivers involved suffer physical consequences. Following this manoeuvre, Eddie Irvine gets disqualified for a race (penalty extended to three races on appeal). Michael Schumacher meanwhile gains 10 seconds on the chasers before the second pit-stop, after which Ayrton Senna begins to lose almost 1 second per lap: during lap 55 the two leading drivers round Damon Hill, third in the standings, separated by only 5 seconds. Shortly after, however, Ayrton Senna spins at the Junçao corner and is forced to retire, paving the way for the victory obtained by Michael Schumacher, who precedes Damon Hill and Jean Alesi, who finishes third. Following are Damon Hill’s Williams-Renault, Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s Sauber-Mercedes, and Gianni Morbidelli’s Footwork-Ford. In Formula 1, the extraordinary result that the Italians achieved at the debut in the World Championship has not been repeated yet. But the result is still satisfactory. Benetton, which is at least Italian by name, wins the Brazilian Grand Prix with thrill. And Ferrari, still very fragile, gets on the podium with the generous Jean Alesi. For the Maranello team it is a much more positive debut than last year. At the Interlagos circuit, Michael Schumacher wins the first round of his personal challenge with Ayrton Senna. Success questioned by a Jordan-Hart complaint for some aerodynamic appendices deemed illegal.

 

"I was certain that they could not disqualify me for the side bulkheads of the car not being connected to the flat bottom. They had been verified and they were deemed regular. This story will not stop me from enjoying a success I did not expect. I knew we were strong but I didn’t know the exact value of Williams. Now I know we can beat it. We have the advantage of having tried the most in winter. It is nice to get out of the pits after the first refuelling and see Senna in the mirrors! Even more beautiful to see that he was losing ground. At the start I made a mistake. Luckily I fixed it. And we intend to improve, although it is clear that the Senna team will do everything to recover and that other teams can grow. Thinking about the world title doesn’t cost anything but it seems ridiculous, it’s too early, there are fifteen races left at the end of the championship. Let’s say I started well and the prospects are good. Our stated goal is to fight for the final victory. But it will be hard, just as it will not be easy for Senna or anyone who wants to try. With the new technical rules, with the abolition of the most sophisticated electronics, every race will make history and you have to play every chance without making a mistake. There will also be a third wheel. Alesi showed at the beginning of the race that Ferrari can be an obstacle, and if it improves, everything will become more difficult for everyone. However, I am booking for the next Pacific Grand Prix. Better exploit our advantage now".

 

Ayrton Senna spun out when he was trying to come back. A useless attempt to get back on track, and Senna was forced to abandon, causing an immediate exodus of the disappointed crowd. So his rival, a lap ahead of Damon Hill, practically made a very long lap of honour. Second the English, third Jean Alesi, who resisted the return of Rubens Barrichello with Jordan-Hart. For Michael Schumacher, it is the third personal success and the fourth consecutive success of the Ford engine, after the three of the final part of the past World Championship. 

fotor_2023-5-15_10_16_57.jpeg

The first race of the season, however, has kept its promises. Although at the moment the battle is limited to Benetton and Williams, who have rounded all the other competitors, the show did not miss. Indeed, there was even too much with an incredible accident, without any damages for the drivers, which involved four cars. A risky manoeuvre by Northern Irish driver Eddie Irvine resulted in a carambola on lap 36. The inexperienced Jordan-Hart driver, to overtake Éric Bernard’s Ligier-Renault, widened to the left, hitting the Benetton of the Dutch debutant Jos Verstappen. The car of the latter was glimpsed and was hit by the Jordan. Verstappen made a loop and fell back on the McLaren of the unaware Martin Brundle. Body parts, suspension, wheels everywhere, single-seater wrecked, millions of dollars worth of damage. Shock for Martin Brundle and the Dutch driver, fear but, fortunately, no one went to the hospital. The novelty of refuelling certainly has put interest in the race. But there have been no surprises. Almost all the teams had planned two stops, with the exception of Williams, which made Damon Hill stop once, playing the caution card, rewarded by the result. The lack of reliability, however, played bad tricks to many, especially to Minardi that did not go beyond the 8th place of Martini (retired Alboreto) and Morbidelli with the Footwork that also had started with many hopes. Finally, Ferrari. Alesi’s third place must be considered above all an injection of confidence. The performance in the race is still not there: Alesi was lapped and had to run with the reserve car because an hour before the start the hydraulic adjustment system of the intake horns had jammed. His car had been handed over to Berger who was practically stuck after two engines had jammed on the Austrian’s car in the morning. Berger himself was then forced to retire again due to a problem with the engine, after being the author of an exceptional start that led him from P17 to P9. In short, there is a lot to do. The same goes for Senna, but only in terms of the result. For Ayrton the defeat is a slap in the face. He has lost in front of his audience and in front of Prost. Eddie Irvine pays dearly for his dangerous driving: the Northern Irish driver is suspended for a race and fined 10.000 dollars. For him, therefore, no Pacific Grand Prix. There is a driver in the boxes who has a big smile. While, for its part, Ayrton Senna admits:

 

"There are no excuses. I was driving to the limit to try to recover but it wasn’t possible, I wasn’t as fast. The off track on lap 56 was caused by my mistake. Then I couldn’t find the right gear, the engine turned off and I stayed in the grass. A really uphill start and I think it will be difficult to recover". 

 

However, a little later, the same Brazilian driver, who with the press admitted his mistake, discusses violently with the technicians, to whom he explains that after an hour of race the steering wheel grip tends to change due to fatigue. Essentially, just as Gugelmin said, the hands tend more and more to cling to the steering wheel, thus also changing the position of the arms, which in the very narrow cockpit of the FW16 do not find space; then, the wrists rotate forward and the knuckles swell, going to rub against the instrument cluster. Ayrton wants a remedy to be found as soon as possible, and while not looking for a confrontation with Adrian Newey, he invites him to modify the car. The Brazilian has done everything to take the World Champion Williams, and now he is already chasing. And with a zero in the standings, for the mistake that took him off track and took away his second place in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Who knows how Alain Prost laughed, standing in front of the video at the TF1 headquarters in Paris. The talent of the young German, however, is not a surprise. Since his arrival in Formula 1, Schumacher has made himself known as a potential champion. Hypothesis confirmed immediately, at the first race, the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, raced with Jordan. It was on that occasion (seventh in qualifying, then retired due to a broken clutch) that Flavio Briatore, Benetton’s manager, decided to take him to the team. Fifteen days later, in Monza, taking advantage of the folds of an inaccurate contract, Michael got rid of the British team and went to the Italian one. Born on January 3, 1969, in Hürth-Hermülheim, Schumacher was destined for the motor world. His father Rolf took over the management of a kart track in Kerpen, a village near Cologne. And on that short track the boy learned the first tricks of the steering wheel, along with some technical notions: he worked as an apprentice mechanic at a Volkswagen dealer. European kart champion, the German title of Formula 3 in 1990, some races in the World Championship prototypes with Mercedes, then Formula 1. His skills? Great will, an obsessive passion for physical preparation, no other hobby besides sport. 

fotor_2023-5-15_10_25_5.jpeg

Flavio Briatore tells about him:

 

"Michael has a remarkable ability to concentrate, courage, a pinch of recklessness, a dose of selfishness that does not hurt for the job of the driver, enormous self-confidence, sensitivity in the set up of the car, fast learning, skill in driving. The pleasure of earning a lot, but never at the expense of the best choices". 

 

Schumacher smiles safely, even after trembling for a couple of hours following Eddie Jordans complaint against his Benetton. 

 

"I was certain that they could not disqualify me for the side bulkheads of the car not connected to the flat bottom. They had been verified and found to be regular. This story will not stop me from enjoying a success I did not expect. I knew we were strong but I didnt know the exact value of Williams. Now I know we can beat them. We have the advantage of having tried the most in winter. And we intend to improve, although it is clear that the Senna team will do everything to recover and that other teams can grow". 

 

Can you think of winning the World Championship? 

 

"Thinking costs nothing. But it seems ridiculous, its too early, there are fifteen races left at the end of the championship. Lets say I started well and the prospects are good. Our stated goal is to fight for the final victory. But it will be hard, just as it will not be easy for Senna or anyone who wants to try. With the new technical rules, with the abolition of the most sophisticated electronics, every race will make history and you have to play every chance without making a mistake. There will also be third wheel. Alesi showed at the beginning of the race that Ferrari can be an obstacle. And if the Italian team improves, everything will become more difficult for everyone. I still book myself for the next Pacific Grand Prix. Better exploit our advantage now". 

 

Ayrton Senna’s team-mate, Damon Hill, is obviously more satisfied. But the English does not spare criticism for his car:

 

"It is still to be developed, it will take time".

 

The result is considered positive by Scuderia Ferrari’s Sport Director, Jean Todt: 

 

"We were afraid because there were too many problems in the warm-up. A material defect in the pneumatic valves has stopped Berger again. And the trouble could have repeated for Alesi. It went well, especially for the moral of the team. But we are definitely not at the level of Benetton and Williams".

 

Jean Alesi replies:

 

"It was a struggle. But in the end I got on the podium and for me this is the best way to start the season. The car was not mine and this caused me other problems. I started well, at the first corner I could have tried to overtake Senna, but the risk was excessive. Then I duelled a bit with Schumacher. We overtook each other a couple of times. But he was much faster and I had to give up. There’s still a lot to work on. In the next race we will introduce some news, but we aim especially at Imola where we hope to be at the level of the best to fight on equal terms with Benetton and Williams". 

fotor_2023-5-15_10_24_23.jpeg

While Gerhard Berger talks about why he was forced to retire:

 

"I was betrayed by the pneumatic valves of the engine; nothing went well this weekend, except the start where I got the right line and I passed a dozen cars. But it is too little to be satisfied. Now we go to Maranello to work hard, as these are problems that can and must be solved". 

 

A mixture of joy and anger characterises the after race of Minardi. The eighth place of Pierluigi Martini, despite being appreciated, does not satisfy neither the driver nor the team. 

 

"We could have started much better; the car can become competitive. In the race, however, it jumped from one side to another of the track and bringing it to the finish was a feat". 

 

More trouble for the pneumatic valves of the Ford engine. Michele Alboreto paid the price, forced to retire after only four laps. 

 

"Too bad, because it was a good opportunity to get a positive result. But I am convinced that with a bit of practice we will stand out".

 

Meanwhile, the Ligier case seems to be coming to an end. On Tuesday March 29th 1994, the French team, in a financial crisis, could be sold. Benetton is in the front row. The advantage of the Italian company over the competitor group (a team with Williams and former driver Philippe Streiff) would be to have an immediate cash payment. That’s close to 10 million dollars. Ligier’s current sponsors would also agree because of the guarantees of competitiveness provided by Benetton. If the deal goes well, it will be the first time in the history of Formula 1 of two teams with a single owner.


instagram
twitter
youtube
whatsapp
tiktok
spotify