1995 Belgian GP: Schumacher stars, Hill rages

Formula 1 returns to Spa Francorchamps this weekend, and 30 years ago, it was the scene of one of Michael Schumacher’s greatest drives.

The 1995 season took place at the height of the Schumacher v Damon Hill rivalry, and Belgium was one of the biggest flashpoints in the sequel.

Boosted by a timely win last start at Hungary, Hill had finally brought the title deficit to his Benetton archrival back to single figures and Spa presented a perfect opportunity to gain more ground.

Schumacher struggled in qualifying and could only manage 16th on the grid, eight spots below Hill.

However, the lowly grid spot and slippery Spa weather failed to deter the “Regenmeister” as he soared to one of his best wins, in what is currently the equal fifth lowest starting position for a victor.

But the win was not without controversy as Schumacher and Hill had their latest head-to-head battle in an ever-growing rivalry.

After again finishing second best, Hill was not happy as tensions soared on and off the track after one of many Belgian classics.

Below is the full Auto Action report written by long-time F1 scribe Mike Doodson…

Michael Schumacher had not even had a chance to wipe away the sweat of 44 laps of racing when Damon Hill – still with his helmet on – marched straight up to him in the dead car park at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday.

Vanquished, Hill was furious. Unaware that the international TV feed was focused on his conversation with the winner via a long lens, he barked a few remarks into the German’s ear.

Schumacher, probably more aware that this moment was being shared with millions of curious viewers, tried to look surprised.

He responded with something equally hard in reply, but it obviously wasn’t as heartfelt as Hill’s gripe. When asked later to share some words of the conversation with the media, Hill refused.

To a joke about not being able to lip-read, he replied, rather grimly, “that’s why I kept my helmet on.”

The race, by far the closest and most exciting of the year, was a wild affair with nine changes of lead among five drivers, roving rain showers, spins, a pitlane fire, a mystery pace car and more. It was Schumacher’s sixth win of the season – an unexpected victory due to him having started from 16th place on the grid.

With has was edgedgain, the title holder has edged out his championship lead with 66 points to Hill’s 51.

Having grabbed second place on the last lap by overtaking Martin Brundle’s tyre-disintegrating Ligier-Mugen/Honda, the Englishman made no excuses his misfortunes.

Among them were a bankrupt gamble on rain tyres just before the rain went away; a harsh stop-and-go penalty for speeding; and a lurid spin which happened so quickly that it only cost him six seconds.

Luck and strategy helped Schumacher as he chose to stay out on slicks while Hill brought his Williams-Renault in for rain tyres when the first shower fell.

Hill’s whinge against Schumacher, which earned sympathy from most of the press and inspired an official protest from the Williams team, concerned the Benetton driver’s behaviour at a critical point in the race.

Hill, who had just made an unscheduled stop for rain tyres as a heavy, but short-lived shower drenched the Circuit, was attempting to pass Schumacher, who had defied the conditions and stayed on slicks at the first of his two scheduled refuelling stops.

It only paid off, though, due to some unorthodox lines through the corners and some blatantly executed blocking which forced Hill to weave all over the track and almost ended in disaster when they touched wheels. Schumacher to justify it afterwards by saying it was common behaviour in karts, and anyway he had only been doing it in the slower corners.

The Stewards disagreed. After examining video evidence and checking Schumacher’s line through corners when driving alone, they accepted a protest from Williams against the world champion’s behaviour. He was suspended for one race, with the sentence itself suspended for four races.

Hill would end up second, 19.493 sec back after passing Brundle on the last lap when the British veteran was unable to respond due to severely worn tyres. Brundle took third ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Mark Blundell and Rubens Barrichello.

The 44 lap race started with Polesitter Gerhard Berger making a slow getaway in his Ferrari and dropping to third behind Johnny Herbert’s Benetton and Jean Alesi’s Ferrari. The latter two staged a fierce fight with Alesi taking the lead for two laps before retiring, alarmingly, with broken suspension. A brief rain shower fell, but wasn’t heavy enough to warrant a tyre change.

Now Herbert came under attack from David Coulthard, but two spins would drop Herbert back. A broken gearbox for Coulthard ended his day after he had more than fulfilled his pre-race vow.

Indeed, he led the race for six laps from Hill, who took over in front until he made his first stop two laps later. Incredibly, Schumacher, who had qualified 16th, took the lead on lap 16.

Schumacher led for three laps before his first pitstop. Then Hill led for three laps until the rains came and he ducked into the pits for rain tyres. Just as several drivers rushed into the pits for their scheduled stops, a cloud of fire extinguisher foam announced a pit fire on Eddie Irvine’s Jordan. A vent valve on the refuelling hose had briefly stuck open and dumped fuel on the exhaust.

Neither Irvine nor any of the Jordan crew were injured, though two of them had almost been scooped up by Herbert’s passing Benetton as they instinctively recoiled from the flames into the pit lane.

Schumacher obviously felt that his ‘slicks at all costs’ policy entitled him to keep the faster Hill behind him for over two laps. It was a furious duel, with the cars side-by-side and banging wheels as Hill looked for a way by.

Hill finally got around Schumacher while the latter went briefly bouncing off the track.

Meanwhile, however, the track was drying and Schumacher retook the lead on lap 25 as Hill scrabbled around. Hill pitted for slicks only to see the rain start falling again.

Although the rain wasn’t particularly heavy at the end of lap 29, someone decided to deploy the Safety Car. It stayed out for three laps, during which time both Schumacher and Hill stopped for rain tyres, with Schumacher narrowly retaining the lead.

Just why the safety pace car came out was a mystery. Officials would later say that the rain had been heavy enough to warrant its deployment. Unused to the procedure, several drivers were confused. Rather than close up, Footwork driver Taki Inoue just hung back. Herbert, immediately behind him, could do nothing because overtaking is forbidden in these circumstances.

With Frentzen, Blundell and Barrichello bottled up behind the Benetton – all at least 30 sec behind Brundle – they were therefore denied any chance of challenging for third place.

The race took its most decisive turn with 11 laps to go. While Schumacher had made only two pitstops during the race, Hill was heading for the pits for the fifth time, this time to pay a 10 sec stop-and-go penalty for breaking the 80 km/h pitlane speed limit on his previous stop.

Hill, now in third place behind Schumacher and Brundle, then had a quick spin before he started to close in on Brundle. The Ligier couldn’t hold him off.

Schumacher had held the lead from lap 25 until the chequered flag came out at the end of lap 44.

Without the penalty pit stop, would Hill have been able to win?

Perhaps not, for he had been 1.7 sec behind Schumacher when he was called in, and by then the two men were both on wet weather tyres. But the public were denied the opportunity of seeing them duel to the finish, and that is probably reason enough for the FIA to review the application of the penalty.

Image: Motorsport Images

1995 Belgian Grand Prix results

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Benetton–Renault	44	1:36:47.875	16	10
2	5	Damon Hill	Williams–Renault	44	+ 19.493	8	6
3	25	Martin Brundle	Ligier–Mugen-Honda	44	+ 24.998	13	4
4	30	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber–Ford	44	+ 26.972	10	3
5	7	Mark Blundell	McLaren–Mercedes	44	+ 33.772	6	2
6	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan–Peugeot	44	+ 39.674	12	1
7	2	Johnny Herbert	Benetton–Renault	44	+ 54.043	4
8	4	Mika Salo	Tyrrell–Yamaha	44	+ 54.548	11
9	26	Olivier Panis	Ligier–Mugen-Honda	44	+ 1:06.170	9
10	23	Pedro Lamy	Minardi–Ford	44	+ 1:19.789	17
11	29	Jean-Christophe Boullion	Sauber–Ford	43	+ 1 lap	14
12	10	Taki Inoue	Footwork–Hart	43	+ 1 lap	18
13	21	Pedro Diniz	Forti–Ford	42	+ 2 laps	24
14	22	Roberto Moreno	Forti–Ford	42	+ 2 laps	22
Ret	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell–Yamaha	28	Spun off	15
Ret	16	Giovanni Lavaggi	Pacific–Ford	27	Gearbox	23
Ret	24	Luca Badoer	Minardi–Ford	23	Accident	19
Ret	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	22	Electrical	1
Ret	15	Eddie Irvine	Jordan–Peugeot	21	Fire	7
Ret	9	Massimiliano Papis	Footwork–Hart	20	Spun off	20
Ret	17	Andrea Montermini	Pacific–Ford	18	Out of fuel	21
Ret	6	David Coulthard	Williams–Renault	13	Gearbox	5
Ret	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	4	Suspension	2
Ret	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren–Mercedes	1	Spun off	3

Read the new issue of Auto Action Digital HERE

Buy the new issue of Auto Action Premium HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here or you can purchase a copy of the latest issue from one of our outlets here.