Victory for Hill lifts Williams spirits

It was on this day that Williams folk began to smile again. When Damon Hill climbed the top step of the podium, the throng beneath cheered with a vigour not heard in a very long time. The length of the pitlane was represented – everyone appreciated what Frank’s team had been through these past weeks.

It was no surprise when Hill waved both arms in joy as he took the flag, nor that he counted this as the most satisfying of his Grand Prix victories. At Barcelona the clouds began to lift a little.

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Qualifying for the Spanish GP had not suggested a Williams-Renault victory. Hill might ultimately have set the second fastest time, but each session had been dominated by Michael Schumacher, and it appeared that the new rules, which have significantly reduced downforce, had done nothing to reduce his Benetton-Ford’s overall superiority. In particular, its peerless ability to change direction clearly remained. At will, it seemed, Schumacher could set times beyond reach.

In the morning warm-up, though, it was his team-mate, JJ Lehto, who was quickest, with Schumacher next up, followed by Mika Hakkinen in the McLaren-Peugeot. Fourth fastest, remarkably, was David Coulthard, going into his first Grand Prix and doing it, what was more, in the number two Williams-Renault.

Hill, meantime, had a troubled session, but he got away well at the green light, and if he could do nothing about the inevitable Schumacher, he was at least able to keep Hakkinen from second place. Lehto, though, was beaten away by the acceleration of Jean Alesi’s Ferrari, and this was to cost him.

Everyone’s fear had been of an altercation at the temporary wall chicane. But in the end, there was no such thing, the drivers threading their single-file way through it in commendably restrained fashion. Here, as at every corner, Schumacher and the Benetton had a visible edge.

At the end of the first lap, Michael led Damon by 2.5 seconds, after which the gap grew more progressively to 4.0, 5.2, 6.5, 7.7. “In the early stages,” said Schumacher, “the car was perfect, and I was able to open a good lead quite easily.” That’s how it looked, too, and for his rivals the situation must have been depressing.

If the Benetton stroked away into the middle distance, however, behind it there was plenty of motor racing. Hill and Hakkinen settled themselves into a duel for second place, and after them a trio comprising Alesi, Lehto and the astonishingly composed Coulthard disputed fourth, with Rubens Barrichello, Martin Brundle, Eddie Irvine and Mark Blundell along next.

Coulthard had made a superb start from his ninth on the grid and said he felt very much at ease in the top six. Almost from the beginning, though, an electronics problem was affecting his engine at low revs, and both he and his team knew there could be problems when it came to the pitstops.

For now, though, he ran closely behind Lehto, both of them clearly delayed by Alesi’s Ferrari, which was tardy in the turns but quicker than hell on the pitstraight. Into the first turn, Barcelona’s favoured overtaking spot, Lehto was never close enough to make a move. “It was frustrating,” he said, “so we decided to make an early pitstop and it was a good move because it got me ahead of him. After that, my lap times came down.”

For the balance of the Spanish GP – some 42 laps – Schumacher drove only in fifth gear. For much of the way, his lap times would be virtually a match for the two drivers ahead of him. If it spoke volumes for his driving ability, it also said much for the qualities of his car

The first of the major players to stop, though, was Hakkinen, at the end of lap 15. Next time around it was Coulthard who came in, and his problems, although anticipated by the team, were heartbreaking to witness.

In no time, the fuel was in, the fresh tyres on, but when Coulthard tried to get on his way the Renault V10 stalled. The Williams mechanics fired it up, whereupon it stalled again. And again.

“It was very difficult,” said Coulthard, “to keep the revs up.” In ignorance of the problem at the time, onlookers surmised that he was making a rookie’s mistake. No such thing. Coulthard rejoined in 20th place, but soon settled into a rhythm again. He had made it back to 12th by lap 32 when the team brought him in, the electronics problem now affecting the gearbox, too.

“I learned a lot about how they run in a Grand Prix,” he said. “I felt relaxed in the race. I feel good about my performance. I think I was quick and safe.”

His boss was thrilled. “David drove magnificently,” Frank said. “This is a new star, no question about it.”

David Coulthard, Williams Renault

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Hill’s pitstop, on lap 19, was accomplished without drama, as also was Schumacher’s two laps later. But no sooner was the German back out on the circuit than his Benetton began to show signs of failing for the first time this season. On lap 23, it slowed conspicuously, and soon Hakkinen was through into the lead, shortly to be followed by Hill.

Schumacher, though, did not head for the pits. Having initially lost a lot of time, he appeared then to pick up some of his former pace, and there was some mystification as to his problem. Given that he was able easily to run in third place, conceding relatively little time to Hakkinen and Hill, no one would have guessed of his plight.

“It was the gearbox,” Michael said. “It refused to do what I wanted it to do. Whatever was wrong with it, I just know that eventually it went into fifth, and stayed there.”

And there you had it. For the balance of the Spanish GP – some 42 laps – Schumacher drove only in fifth gear. For much of the way, his lap times would be virtually a match for the two drivers ahead of him. If it spoke volumes for his driving ability, it also said much for the qualities of his car.

“At first it was a bit difficult to take all the corners in fifth,” he said, “but I managed to find a good line, and keep up reasonable lap times.”

Benetton team boss Flavio Briatore did not exaggerate when he rated this “the best drive ever from Michael”. His fastest lap of the race, set before the gearbox problem intervened, was 1m25.155s; with fifth gear only, his times occasionally dipped below the 1m27s. The man is something of a phenomenon.

“My experience in Group C sportscars helped me in this,” Schumacher said, “because I learned a lot of ways of running differently, of changing my driving style, usually to save fuel. I used that same driving style today, and it certainly helped me a lot.”

Podium: winner Damon Hill, Williams, second place Michael Schumacher, Benetton, third place Mark Blundell, Tyrrell

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In the lead, though, we now had the refreshing sight of Hakkinen and the McLaren-Peugeot, with Hill in second. Initially, Hakkinen opened up the gap, but clearly the McLaren plan was to make three tyre/fuel stops, while Williams intended only two for Damon. On lap 30 Hakkinen duly came in for his second, putting Hill into a lead he was never to lose.

At this point, Damon was 11s clear of Schumacher, with Hakkinen rejoining third, ahead of Lehto, Brundle, Alesi and Blundell. By now there had been many significant retirements, including Coulthard, of course, and Gerhard Berger, whose ill-handling Ferrari had finally succumbed to gear selection problems. “Somebody hit me on the first lap,” said Gerhard, “and then I ran over a kerb, damaging the undertray. But I don’t think it made much difference.”

Ukyo Katayama, startlingly quick in the opening laps, was also missing. Gone, too, were the Footworks of Gianni Morbidelli and Christian Fittipaldi, as well as the lone Sauber of Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Soon to follow them, on lap 39, was Barrichello’s Jordan, after its gearbox failed.

Hill looked set fair at the front, and all but Benetton folk put their hands together for him, hoping that someone other than Schumacher would win a GP at last, but more that something good would come of May 1994 for the Williams team

Everything went wrong for the Jordan team at approximately the same time, for Irvine, who had got as high as sixth, went off the road immediately after his second tyre stop: “I made a mistake near the temporary chicane, so I thought I’d better change the tyres again. Unfortunately, it was a long stop, and the clutch overheated.

“Afterwards, it was slipping, and I just concentrated on making the finish. We got sixth in the end, but really we should have had a better result than that.”

At the time of Hill’s second, and final stop, on lap 41, Schumacher was still within 10s of him, and for four laps, remarkably, the stuck-in-fifth Benetton went back into the lead. On lap 45, though, Schumacher had to make another stop, and he did a fine job in getting the car on its way again afterwards – no doubt rejoicing that pitlane speed limits are now de rigueur in Formula 1. In the old blast-away days, his stop would have been far more costly in time.

Schumacher rejoined in second place, 6s behind Hill, and 3s ahead of Hakkinen, who had pitted at the same moment. Mika briefly gained on the Benetton, but he knew that his engine was losing power, and on lap 49, in an immense cloud of smoke, it lost all of it. Schumacher was now safe in second place, and the other Benetton of Lehto moved up to third, followed by the surviving McLaren-Peugeot driven by Brundle, Blundell’s Tyrrell-Yamaha and Alesi’s cumbersome Ferrari.

Irvine secured sixth for Jordan but felt more was possible without an off that forced his extra pitstop

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Now Hill looked set fair at the front, and all but Benetton folk put their hands together for him, hoping that someone other than Schumacher would win a GP at last, but more that something good would come of May 1994 for the Williams team.

It did. In the closing laps, Schumacher slowed his pace, being worried about his clutch now, well aware that he could not threaten Hill. At the finish Damon was 24s to the good, and his untypically extravagant acknowledgement of the flag told its own tale of what his fourth GP victory meant.

Others, too, celebrated. Schumacher was slightly disbelieving that he made it to the finish, let alone in second place, and no doubt the Ford engineers will have congratulated themselves on the Zetec-R’s fifth-gear run to the end.

Third after an excellent drive in the increasingly competitive Tyrrell-Yamaha was Blundell, who scored his first points of the season. The remaining places went to Alesi, Pierluigi Martini, who excelled at the wheel of his Minardi-Ford, and Irvine.

The late laps had accounted, sadly, for Lehto and Brundle, both with engine failure. But whereas the former’s Ford V8 merely expired, the latter’s Peugeot V10 literally exploded, the McLaren trailed by something of a fireball as it pulled off. For Lehto, the loss of third place was particularly harsh, but clearly he had regained much of his lost confidence, and he should figure increasingly in the GPs to come.

In the Williams camp afterwards many found difficulty in expressing their feelings, in conveying how much this victory – the team’s first since Monza last September – meant to everyone. Coulthard, the new boy, set aside his personal disappointment. “It was wonderful,” he said, “to see Damon so happy on the podium – I felt I could cry for him.”

“I’m very proud of Damon today,” said Frank Williams, smiling at last. “He was put to the test and found not to be wanting. In recent weeks I think we’ve all found it difficult to keep things going, but Damon has probably had the hardest time of all, and I think he’s shown what a strong man he is.

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“Alright, perhaps he was fortunate that Schumacher had problems, but the important thing is that he was in the right place at the right time. Most of all,” Frank concluded, “I suppose we all feel a great sense of relief. We needed a win for a million reasons – and number one was to honour Ayrton Senna.”

It was a month to the day since Imola, and Frank spoke for the entire paddock. The delight in Damon Hill’s victory went far beyond his own team. The race in Barcelona may have been relatively ordinary; the aftermath was unforgettable.

Hill celebrates victory for Williams – the team’s first since the tragic death of Senna

Photo by: Sutton Images