[Sun Oct-13 08h10 CET] - Today Damon Hill became the first Formula 1 World Champion
that is the son of a former Formula 1 World Champion. Hill
clinched the title by winning the Grand Prix of Japan. Michael
Schumacher was second and Fin Mika Hakkinen third.
Jacques Villeneuve spun off on lap 37 when one of his
rear wheels seemed to fall off!!
The race started with Hill and Villeneuve very close in the Championship. If Villeneuve had won and Hill not finished in the first six Villeneuve would be champion. This caused dramatic tension at the start which was further heightend by David Coulthard stalling on the grid seconds before the off. Coulthard moved to the back of the grid and after another formation lap the race began.
Wheel spin on the line dropped Villeneuve from pole to sixth before the first corner, Hill took the lead followed by Berger, Hakkinen and Schumacher. Alesi slid off and destroyed his car against the barriers.
On lap 3 Bergers attempt to out brake Hill left him with a broken front wing and an unexpected trip into the pits. On lap 39 he tried exactly the same tactic with Eddie Irvine but this time the contact was serious with the Ferrari spining around in mid air. Irvine was out but Berger continued.
Everyone was in good spirits at the end all with praise for Damon Hill the new World Champion. Michael Schumachers second place meant that Ferrari finished second in the Constructors Championship with Benetton third.
[Sat Oct-12 07h30 CET] - Jacques Villeneuve said today that he will be going for it
(the World Championship) tomorrow and that Damon had more
to lose than him. This came after a comment by Damon Hill
about beating Jacques into the first corner. These spikey words
came during the post qualifying interview as once again its
a Williams front row with Villeneuve on pole. A bemused
Michael Schumacher (3rd on the grid) said that it was getting
boring with the Williams running too fast. . .
These comments came after a qualfying session in which Hill was almost the first car on track and the last one in. He set a fast lap within the first few minutes, was beated by Coulthard and then the session was stopped when Johhny Herbert touched a kerb and destroyed his car in the barriers - Johnny was OK and later qualified 13th with the spare car.
At the restart Villeneuve took fastest lap and kept it. With only a few minutes to the session end Hill was sitting in 4th behind Villeneuve, Schumacher and Hakkinen. A last lap blast took him onto the front row.
Gerhard Berger was actually the last driver to improve his time moving from 6th to 4th on his last lap.
After much rain the last few days the qualifying was run on a dry track with an overcast sky.
[Fri Oct-11 07h10 CET] - On a track which was changing every few minutes
Gerhard Berger ended up fastest in todays free sessions.
The track started very wet but as no rain was actually falling
during the session it dried as quickly as a track of this length
can. The result was that almost every lap was quicker than
the previous one.
Story of the Top Lap 06m 2m 00.538s Frentzen 09m 1m 59.772s Hill 17m 1m 56.546s Alesi 19m 1m 51.265s Alesi 22m 1m 51.231s Salo 24m 1m 50.460s Berger 26m 1m 47.996s Berger 30m 1m 46.787s Villeneuve 35m 1m 46.380s Hill 36m 1m 45.401s Schumacher 37m 1m 44.691s Schumacher 41m 1m 44.605s Alesi 44m 1m 43.860s Alesi 49m 1m 43.321s Schumacher 53m 1m 42.954s Hakkinen 57m 1m 42.350s BergerJohnny Herbert retired with mechanical trouble near the end of the session and Pedro Diniz has to leave his car in a sand trap after only 30 minutes of use.