581st Formula 1 Championship Grand Prix
Motor car race
The
1995 Australian Grand Prix
(officially the
LX
EDS
Australian Grand Prix
) was a
Formula One
motor race
held on 12 November 1995 at the
Adelaide Street Circuit
,
Adelaide
. The race, contested over 81 laps, was the seventeenth and final race of the
1995 Formula One season
,
[1]
and the eleventh and last Australian Grand Prix to be held at Adelaide before the event moved to
Melbourne
the following year. This would also prove to be the last Grand Prix for
Mark Blundell
,
Bertrand Gachot
,
Roberto Moreno
,
Taki Inoue
,
Karl Wendlinger
. This was also the last race for
Pacific
as they folded at the end of the season.
In a race of attrition, all the front-running cars retired except for the
pole
-sitting
Williams
-
Renault
of
Damon Hill
. Hill won by two clear laps, only the second time this had been achieved in Formula One history.
Ligier
-
Mugen-Honda
driver
Olivier Panis
was second, with
Gianni Morbidelli
achieving his best-ever F1 result with third in a
Footwork
-
Hart
.
[4]
Of the 23 drivers who started, only eight finished, the lowest number in the 1995 season. As of 2023
[update]
, this is the last time the race winner lapped every other competitor. This was also the last race that used the traffic light system with coloured lights (red and green) at the start (system used since the
1975 British Grand Prix
).
[5]
The Grand Prix had a record attendance of 520,000 during the weekend, with 210,000 on race day, a Formula One record until
2000
, when 250,000 people attended that year's
United States Grand Prix
at
Indianapolis
.
[6]
Report
[
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]
Pre-race
[
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]
Heading into the final round of the
1995 Formula One season
, both the Drivers' Championship and Constructors' Championship were already settled, with
Michael Schumacher
having claimed the Drivers' Championship two rounds earlier at the
Pacific Grand Prix
.
[7]
It was Schumacher's last race with the
Benetton
team, before his move to
Ferrari
for the
1996 season
.
[8]
Benetton had claimed the Constructors' Championship at the previous event, the
Japanese Grand Prix
, with
Williams
too many points behind to be able to catch them.
[9]
It was announced beforehand that it would be the last Formula One event to be held at the
Adelaide Street Circuit
, with the Australian Grand Prix moving to
Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit
in
Melbourne
from the 1996 season.
[8]
[10]
In the Friday afternoon qualifying session,
Mika Hakkinen
in his
McLaren
car suffered a puncture in his left rear tyre heading towards Brewery Bend. This caused him to lose control, become airborne and crash heavily into a tyre barrier at 120 mph. The impact caused his helmet to strike the steering wheel, fracturing his skull. Within seconds he was attended by two doctors who were stationed at the corner, who found Hakkinen unresponsive and with a blocked airway. Hakkinen later said that he was aware of what had happened immediately after the impact, but subsequently lost consciousness. Unable to establish an airway, the doctors performed an emergency
tracheotomy
before taking him to the nearby
Royal Adelaide Hospital
. Hakkinen would recover in time to race the following season.
[11]
The Williams cars dominated qualifying, with
Damon Hill
in
pole position
and
David Coulthard
alongside him.
[6]
Schumacher was third in his Benetton, with the Ferrari drivers fourth and fifth,
Gerhard Berger
ahead of
Jean Alesi
.
[6]
Heinz-Harald Frentzen
rounded out the top six in his
Sauber
.
[6]
Race
[
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]
The race took place in the afternoon from 14:00
ACDT
(
UTC
+10:30). Hill lost the lead to Coulthard at the start.
[6]
Schumacher also lost ground at the start, with Berger moving into third and Alesi moving into fourth.
[6]
Schumacher made his way back up to third, overtaking Alesi on lap one, before overtaking Berger a few laps later.
[6]
Coulthard kept the lead until the first round of pitstops. However, he came into the pitlane too fast, locking his front tyres and running into the pitwall. He was forced to retire from the race.
[6]
A few laps later, Forti's
Roberto Moreno
had spun and caused terminal damage to his suspension in the same place where Coulthard had crashed earlier.
After the first round of pitstops, Schumacher and Alesi collided, with both retiring.
[6]
Schumacher's Benetton team-mate,
Johnny Herbert
took second place briefly before coming in for his first stop later than many of the other drivers, while surviving a potential accident in which he missed the pit entry and rejoined the track.
[6]
Berger was promoted to second, but his Ferrari encountered an engine problem, forcing him to retire. This promoted Frentzen to second, but he too retired due to a gearbox problem. With many of the front-runners out, Hill led at the front, even with a 22-second botched pit stop, with Herbert second.
Jordan
driver
Eddie Irvine
rounded out the top three, before retiring after losing all of his pneumatic pressure.
[6]
Herbert was still second, and looked set as a result to claim third place in the Drivers' Championship.
[12]
However, he was forced out of the race as his Benetton suffered a driveshaft failure.
[6]
Olivier Panis
was now second in his
Ligier
a lap behind Hill, with
Footwork
driver
Gianni Morbidelli
third, two laps down. With a few laps remaining, Panis' Ligier was suffering an oil leak, and Hill lapped him for a second time on his way to victory.
[6]
Panis remained second, with Morbidelli third for his only career podium, and the first podium for the Footwork/Arrows team in six years.
[6]
Behind the top three,
Mark Blundell
was fourth in the sole McLaren, with
Mika Salo
fifth in the
Tyrrell
.
Pedro Lamy
had a mid-race spin, but recovered to take sixth in his
Minardi
? his only Formula One point, and Minardi's last until the
1999 European Grand Prix
.
[6]
Only eight cars finished the race, with
Pedro Diniz
seventh place being
Forti
's best Formula One finish.
[6]
The eighth place for Pacific also equalled their best result since the
1995 German Grand Prix
. The race was televised by
Channel 9
in Australia and by the
BBC
in the UK.
The race marked the end of
Pacific Racing
, as the team went back to
International Formula 3000
for 1996. In a last gasp effort, Pacific tried to have their test driver
Oliver Gavin
in the seat, but he was not granted an FIA Super License and shareholder
Bertrand Gachot
raced instead. It was only the second time in Formula One history that the winner won by two laps? the first time was at the
1969 Spanish Grand Prix
when
Jackie Stewart
won.
[6]
Hill, who had been criticised for his performances in all of the three previous races, was praised by commentator
Murray Walker
for this performance, with Walker saying that, with Schumacher and Coulthard's imminent moves to Ferrari and McLaren respectively, Hill would be a strong favourite to win the title in 1996 if he could continue to perform in the way he had done so in this particular race. This would also be the last race for a V12 engine. Only Ferrari used this configuration, but would switch to a more fuel-efficient V10 engine for 1996.
Although he failed to finish, by competing in the race Gerhard Berger became the only driver to have driven in all 11 Formula One Grands Prix held in Adelaide. He had driven for
Arrows
-
BMW
(
1985
),
Benetton
-BMW (
1986
), Ferrari (
1987
,
1988
,
1989
,
1993
,
1994
, 1995) and
McLaren
-
Honda
(
1990
,
1991
,
1992
), winning the race for Ferrari in 1987 (as well as claiming pole position and fastest lap) and McLaren in 1992.
The post-race concert was headlined by American rock band
Bon Jovi
, who performed at the
Victoria Park Racecourse
as part of their
These Days Tour
.
[
citation needed
]
Classification
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]
Qualifying
[
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]
Race
[
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]
Championship standings after the race
[
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]
- Drivers' Championship standings
|
- Constructors' Championship standings
|
- Note
: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
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]