1995 Pacific Grand Prix

1995 Pacific Grand Prix
Race 15 of 17 in the 1995 Formula One World Championship
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Race details[1]
Date 22 October 1995
Official name II Pacific Grand Prix
Location TI Circuit, Aida, Japan
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 3.704 km (2.314 miles)
Distance 83 laps, 307.349 km (192.093 miles)
Weather Cloudy, dry
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:14.013
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault
Time 1:16.374 on lap 40
Podium
First Benetton-Renault
Second Williams-Renault
Third Williams-Renault
Lap leaders

The 1995 Pacific Grand Prix (formally the II Pacific Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 22 October 1995 at the TI Circuit, Aida, Japan. It was the fifteenth round of the 1995 Formula One World Championship.[1] Michael Schumacher for the Benetton team won the 83-lap race starting from third position. David Coulthard, who started the Grand Prix from pole position, finished second in a Williams car, with Damon Hill third in the other Williams.[2] Schumacher's win confirmed him as 1995 Drivers' Champion, as Hill could not pass Schumacher's points total with only two races remaining.[3] This was also the last race for Jean-Christophe Boullion.

Hill started the race alongside Coulthard on the front row, amidst pressure from the British media for not being "forceful" enough in battles.[4] Schumacher attempted to drive around the outside of Hill at the first corner, but Hill held Schumacher off as Jean Alesi, driving for Ferrari, got past both on the inside line to take second position. As a result, Hill dropped down to third and Schumacher dropped down to fifth behind Gerhard Berger.[1] Schumacher then managed to get past Alesi and Hill during the first of three pit stops. This allowed him, on a new set of slick tyres, to close on Coulthard who was on a two-stop strategy. Schumacher opened up a gap of 21 seconds by lapping two seconds faster per lap than Coulthard, so that when his third stop came, he still led the race.[5]

  1. ^ a b c Henry, Alan (December 1995) [1995]. "1995 Grands Prix: Pacific Grand Prix". Autocourse 1995–96. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 214–215. ISBN 1-874557-36-5.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference formula1.com-officialresult was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Schumacher is World Champion". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1. 23 October 1995. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2008.
  4. ^ Walker, Murray (Commentator) (22 October 1995). Grand Prix: Pacific (Television production). BBC Sport. Event occurs at 24:00–24:30. Damon Hill has had a lot of criticism for not being "forceful" enough, well it's a very different point of view from inside the cockpit
  5. ^ "Grand Prix Results: Pacific GP, 1995". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1. Archived from the original on 17 April 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2007.