1995 Australian Grand Prix
Race 17 of 17 in the 1995 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 12 November 1995
Official name LX EDS Australian Grand Prix[1]
Location Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide, Australia
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 3.780 km (2.362 miles)
Distance 81 laps, 306.180[2] km (191.362 miles)
Weather Sunny[2]
Attendance 520,000[3]
Pole position
Driver
Williams-Renault
Time 1:15.505
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault
Time 1:17.943 on lap 16
Podium
First
Williams-Renault
Second
Ligier-Mugen-Honda
Third
Footwork-Hart
Lap leaders

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 and Karl Wendlinger.

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, 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

Pre-race

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 Häkkinen 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. Häkkinen 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. Häkkinen 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

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.

Classification

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
1 5 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:15.505 1:15.988 –
2 6 United Kingdom David Coulthard Williams-Renault 1:15.628 1:15.792 +0.123
3 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault 1:16.039 1:15.839 +0.334
4 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:15.932 1:16.994 +0.427
5 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 15:52.653 1:16.305 +0.800
6 30 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 1:16.837 1:16.647 +1.142
7 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 1:16.725 1:16.971 +1.220
8 2 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Benetton-Renault 1:17.289 1:16.950 +1.445
9 15 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jordan-Peugeot 1:17.197 1:17.116 +1.611
10 7 United Kingdom Mark Blundell McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.348 1:17.721 +1.843
11 25 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:17.788 1:17.624 +2.119
12 26 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:18.033 1:18.065 +2.528
13 9 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Hart 1:18.814 1:18.391 +2.886
14 4 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:18.604 1:19.083 +3.099
15 24 Italy Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 1:19.285 1:18.810 +3.305
16 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:18.828 1:19.114 +3.323
17 23 Portugal Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 1:18.875 1:19.114 +3.370
18 29 Austria Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Ford 1:19.561 no time +4.056
19 10 Japan Taki Inoue Footwork-Hart 1:19.764 1:19.677 +4.172
20 22 Brazil Roberto Moreno Forti-Ford 1:21.419 1:20.657 +5.152
21 21 Brazil Pedro Diniz Forti-Ford 1:22.154 1:20.878 +5.373
22 17 Italy Andrea Montermini Pacific-Ford 1:21.659 1:21.870 +6.154
23 16 France Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ford 1:22.881 1:21.998 +6.493
24 8 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:37.998 +22.483
Sources:[13][14][15]

Race

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/Retired[4]GridPoints
1 5 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 81 1:49:15.946 1 10
2 26 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 79 +2 Laps 12 6
3 9 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Footwork-Hart 79 +2 Laps 13 4
4 7 United Kingdom Mark Blundell McLaren-Mercedes 79 +2 Laps 10 3
5 4 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 78 +3 Laps 14 2
6 23 Portugal Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 78 +3 Laps 17 1
7 21 Brazil Pedro Diniz Forti-Ford 77 +4 Laps 21  
8 16 France Bertrand Gachot Pacific-Ford 76 +5 Laps 23  
Ret 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 70 Engine 16  
Ret 2 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Benetton-Renault 69 Driveshaft 8  
Ret 15 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jordan-Peugeot 62 Engine 9  
Ret 30 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 39 Gearbox 6  
Ret 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 34 Engine 4  
Ret 25 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Ligier-Mugen-Honda 29 Spun off 11  
Ret 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault 25 Collision damage 3  
Ret 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 23 Collision damage 5  
Ret 22 Brazil Roberto Moreno Forti-Ford 21 Spun off 20  
Ret 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 20 Spun off 7  
Ret 6 United Kingdom David Coulthard Williams-Renault 19 Accident 2  
Ret 10 Japan Taki Inoue Footwork-Hart 15 Spun off 19  
Ret 29 Austria Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Ford 8 Physical 18  
Ret 17 Italy Andrea Montermini Pacific-Ford 2 Gearbox 22  
DNS 24 Italy Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 0 Electrical 15  
DNS 8 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes – Withdrew 24  
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

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

  1. 1 2 "1995 Australian GP – LX EDS Australian Grand Prix". ChicaneF1.com. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
  2. 1 2 "EDS Australian Grand Prix – 1995". The Formula One DataBase. Archived from the original on 3 July 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
  3. ↑ "Features – Globetrotter – Thank you Adelaide". Grandprix.com. 12 November 1995. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 "1995 Australian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  5. ↑ "Statistics Grands Prix - Gap - The most • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "Grand Prix Results: Australian GP, 1995". GrandPrix.com. Archived from the original on 20 February 2008. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
  7. ↑ "Schumacher – simply the best – again". Grand Prix Racing. Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
  8. 1 2 "1995 – Glimpses of greatness". F1Fanatic. Archived from the original on 22 February 2008. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
  9. ↑ "Constructors' title goes to Benetton – care of Mr Schumacher". Grand Prix Racing. Archived from the original on 14 August 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
  10. ↑ Saward, Joe (12 November 1995). "Globetrotter: Thank you Adelaide". GrandPrix.com. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  11. ↑ Taylor, Simon (September 2010). "Lunch with...Mika Hakkinen". Motor Sport. London: 80–86.
  12. ↑ "Hill takes a consolation win". Grand Prix Racing. Archived from the original on 20 May 2003. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  13. ↑ "EDS Australian Grand Prix – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  14. ↑ "EDS Australian Grand Prix – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  15. ↑ "1995 Australian Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  16. 1 2 "Australia 1995 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
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