If there is one word that does not describe the 1994 Formula One season,
it's "uneventful." Potential technical rule violations, mayhem at the
start-finish line, a fire in the pits, fresh faces on the podium and
further FIA suspensions were all in evidence as the F1 circus made its
way to Hockenheim for the 1994 German Grand Prix.

With championship leader Benetton-Ford under FIA scrutiny for its
"launch control" software and the second driver, young dutchman
Jos Verstappen, repeatedly off the track during the practice and
qualifying, Michael Schumacher would be taxed to the limit to get past
the all-Ferrari front row at the start. But others had similar plans --
including Damon Hill in the #0 Williams-Renault and Mika Hakkinen in his
McLaren-Peugeot.

As the light went green, Gerhard Berger, sitting on the pole, got a
good start and clean lead, but chaos erupted behind him. His teammate,
Jean Alesi, got a poor start as his engine was destined to die on the
very first lap, while Schumacher was outraced to the corner by the
ever-improving Ukyo Katayama in the Tyrrell-Yamaha. Fighting for the
next position was Hill, while Hakkinen was attempting to find room on
the white line on the outside of the track. When Hill ran out of room
and had to move to the right, while Hakkinen attempted to avoid him, but
eventually his rear wheel clipped David Coulthard's front wing, sending
the McLaren careening across the track, damaging the Williams' wing and
further inducing the accidents of three other drivers.

Hakkinen was unaware of exactly how the accident took place, but
Coulthard was pointing the finger at the Finn. "I didn't make the best
start and I was a bit slow into second gear, Hakkinen tried to come up
on the inside and Blundell on the outside so they both tried to squeeze
me not realising the other was there . With both of them doing that
Hakkinen hit my front wheel and then went across and took off my front
wing and took out Blundell as well."

At the end of the day, Hakkinen was to pay the price, with FIA
maintaining its current hard line on driver behaviour, and banning him
from Hungary for causing an "avoidable accident," the penalty that was
also imposed on Jordan's Eddie Irvine earlier this year. Hakkinen and
McLaren decided not to appeal the sentence and risk a heavier sentence,
sand Philippe Alliot is expected to be in action on Hungaroring.

The five-car accident at the front of the field was not all, though;
Hakkinen's teammate, Martin Brundle, forced Johnny Herbert's Lotus off
the road, and at the back the two Minardis, Andrea de Cesaris' Sauber
and Alessandro Zanardi's Lotus mixed it up and ended their races early.
In further rule enforcement action, Alboreto, de Cesaris and Zanardi
received suspended one-race bans for leaving the circuit after a crash
without reporting to the stewards.

Once all the mayhem was left behind, it was Berger in the lead, Katayama
in the second in his best-ever race position, and Hill looking for a
way past Tyrrell. The cars touched in the third corner as the Williams
driver attempted to force his way past, and Hill damaged his suspension
in the contact. By the end of the lap, Katayama had lost second, but to
Schumacher and not Hill.

The Williams was in the pits for a tie rod replacement -- but it had to
line up behind Coulthard, who was already there for front wing repairs.
As a result, Hill was to lose almost two laps during the repairs,
rejoining the race in last place. "I lost a golden opportunity today.
I'm not going to make excuses. [...] But at least Schumacher has not got
points today either. The championship is still open."

Katayama's time in the spotlight was to run out quickly, though, as his
throttle stuck open on the sixth lap, causing a spin in the stadium
section. The Tyrrell retired from the race a lap later, the twelfth
retirement in the race.

By this time Schumacher's Benetton was dogging the red Ferrari through
the tight stadium turns, making several unsuccessful attempts to pass.
On the fast back and front straights, though, the Ford V8 was no match
for Berger's Ferrari V12 power, with the Benetton managing to stay close
only by sliptreaming behind the leader.

Berger admitted that it was not easy to fight off Schumacher, though:
"He still has the better car, it is very quick in the braking areas.
Although I was in trouble, I could keep him behind. I was only in a
dangerous position once, when he came alongside me, but I was able to
block him. I was just able to keep him behind, although I was on the
limit." Nevertheless, the packed grandstands -- with 150,00 fans in
attendance -- waved German and Benetton fans furiously each time the
leaders passed by.

On lap 13, with Schumacher unable to make an impression on Berger, made
an early pit stop for fuel and tires, dropping just two positions,
behind the surprising Ligiers of Olivier Panis and Eric Bernard, and
quickly regaining second place, but now 22 seconds behind. Berger,
planning to go for a single-stop race, kept going, but without the
luxury of easing of his pace. Said Berger: "If he had made two stops he
would have been in trouble anyway, and if he was planning one stop by
keeping him behind me until we had both stopped, I had a good chance
anyway."

Further drama was to come two laps later, as Verstappen brought the
second Benetton into the pits for fuel and tires. The refueling hose
did not seat correctly on the fuel filler valve, and as it came loose,
fuel was sprayed liberally over the driver, car and crew. The fumes
erupted in flames a fraction of a second later, with Verstappen still
strapped in the car. In the four seconds that elapsed before the fire
was put out, the heat melted a mechanic's visor and Verstappen's race
suit's right arm: "At first I thought it was water, not petrol. Then
when it caught fire I was panicking. Those few seconds seemed like half
an hour."

While the refueling process was shown not to be 100% secure, the fire
crews acted rapidly and efficiently to put out the 10-metre high flames.
The fire was certainly far more spectacular than the one experienced
the same day at the IndyCar race in Michigan, but FOCA president Bernie
Ecclestone is not panicking: "I'm no more worried about this than any
other accident. Somebody made a mistake and we have to find out what
happened, but it does not make me have a rethink on refuelling."

The Ligiers were running well, with the power of the Renault engine
quite useable on the long straights of Hockenheim, and maintaining
third and fourth positions after Schumacher's pit stop -- after scoring
not a single point in the first half of the year. Olivier Panis was
maintaining a 10-second lead on teammate Bernard, who was confortably
ahead of the Arrows-Fords of Christian Fittipaldi and Gianni Morbidelli.

The retirement list was about grow, though, and on the 17th lap
Coulthard parked his car with an electrical problem preventing him from
shifting gears. Two laps later, Brundle, who had been working his way
back up the field after the first-lap incident, parked his McLaren with
yet another blown Peugeot engine. "I was having a really good race,
driving my way up through the field when quite suddenly the engine
appeared to misfire and then blew."

The most significant retirement, at least from the World Championship
perspective, though, was Schumacher's Benetton-Ford. He had been
experiencing some performance problems since his pit stop, and finally
retired on the 20th lap with a problem in the "fly-by-wire" electronic
throttle system.

Once Schumacher retired, Berger held a 40-second lead over the
second-place Ligier, and there was now an opportunity for Damon Hill
to make up some ground in the points standings. However, the Williams
was mired at the back of the field, some ten seconds askew of even the
Simtek-Ford of Jean-Marc Gounon in ninth place. Hill would continue a
charge through the field, but would be destined to finish in eighth
place, behind the Larrousse-Fords of Erik Comas and Olivier Beretta.

The only events of significance in the second half of the race were the
retirements of both Simtek-Fords, David Brabham with clutch problems
and Gounon with engine electricals. This left a solitary Ferrari at the
front, followed by both Ligiers, both Arrows, both Larrousses and the
Williams of Hill to finish the race.

So it was to be the first victory for Prancing Horse; a Ferrari driver
had not been on the topmost step of the podium since Alain Prost's
victory in the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix, narly four years earlier. Berger
gave much of the credit to team manager, Luca di Montezemolo: "I am very
happy, happy for myself, of course, happy for the team, too, because
they needed this. [...] I know how Luca di Montezemolo must be feeling:
since he has been there he has been driving us very hard to improve the
situation and build up a good structure."

Panis and Bernard were understandable happy at their first podium
finishes and Ligier's first since Blundell scored a third at Hockenheim
a year ago. "I'm delighted for the team, they have done so much work
since it was taken over by Flavio Briatore," said Panis, while for
Bernard the result also culminated a personal comeback: "It is a
tremendous boost after the difficult period I have been through since my
accident in 1991. It's also a fabulous reward for the team."

The teams now move on to the twisty Hungaroring in two weeks's time.
With Hakkinen sitting the race out, and with Schumacher rumoured to
start his pending two-race suspension there, there are surely more
interesting developments in store. And of course the Italian Grand Prix,
at Monza, is still in doubt because of environmental concerns, too ...

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This article is copyright (c) 1994 by Tom Haapanen and rec.autos.sport.info.
It may not be distributed on other online services without the permission of
the author.