FF1M 1995 Review : Part 1

Brazilian Grand Prix

The pre-season test sessions indicated a close season with Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher topping the two sessions at Jerez and Sebring with Tornado lurking in the background. During qualifying, it was clear that having a works engine was going to be a major advantage as Hakkinen struggled to 14th on the grid with the highest Tornado in 8th courtesy of Nigel Mansell. Michael Schumacher had a decent run to 3rd, but the session was dominated by the two Willows drivers with Damon Hill taking his maiden pole position ahead of the sensational Mika Salo. Hill had initially set the pace in the first series of laps before Salo took provisional pole on his second flying lap, but Hill quickly responded with a lap that proved to be unbeatable. The best of the two Brazilian drivers was Rubens Barrichello, showing better pace for Gojira AutoSport in 7th with teammate Roberto Moreno 13th. Two notable performances came from Nicola Larini, who defied the customer disadvantage to qualify an incredible 4th on his return to FF1M, and Jan Magnussen, who qualified 5th on his debut with a brilliant second lap. Further back, CBA Racing struggled to 16th and 20th with Renault seemingly having work to do.

At the start, Salo had a brilliant reaction to the lights by taking the lead from his teammate on the run to the Senna S, while Schumacher also caught Hill napping into Descida do Lago to run 2nd. Salo had more fuel and was planning a one-stop strategy while Schumacher and Hill were planning to stop twice, and on lap 2, Schumacher took the lead despite Salo’s robust defences into the Senna S. Hill’s move up to 2nd occurred on lap 3 into Descida do Lago, and then Salo generously handed 3rd to Larini after a minor off at Ferra Dura. Further back, Jan Magnussen began a rapid descent down the order as it became clear he had vastly overperformed in qualifying with Gianni Morbidelli and Nigel Mansell overtaking him on lap 2, followed by the lightly fuelled Pedersen drivers on the next lap, and then Hakkinen and David Coulthard on lap 4. More positions would be lost over the next two laps with Eddie Irvine, Barrichello, Mark Blundell, and Johnny Herbert making light work of the Dane.

Mansell was making up for the lack of works support from Peugeot by overtaking Morbidelli for 5th at the start of lap 4 and started his quest for a podium finish. The two drivers in his way, Larini and Salo, were both on one-stop strategies while Mansell was planning to pit twice. The differences between the fuel loads were evident throughout the field with Coulthard overtaking the very heavy Hakkinen for 9th and Gerhard Berger putting the pressure on Morbidelli for 6th. Further back, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was yet another driver to have overtaken Magnussen, spun at Laranja on lap 16 and fell to last, but this turned out to be the beginnings of a gear selection problem that would become terminal three laps later.

Not long before the first round of pitstops, Salo overtook Larini for 3rd with Mansell following suit, and then Mansell’s lighter fuel load helped him up to the required 3rd place on lap 17 with Larini moving back ahead of Salo and the other Andrew following through on the next lap. Further back, Hakkinen was starting to find his rhythm as he got back ahead of Coulthard on lap 24. Both had been overtaken by Irvine, who was having a decent drive on his return to Tildesley, but somewhat flattered by a two-stop strategy. At the front, Schumacher had built up a six second lead over Hill but lost two of those after tagging the back of Alessandro Zanardi going into Bico de Pato. Olivier Panis was a little easier to deal with before Schumacher made his first stop on lap 25. He rejoined 3rd but immediately regained the lead on the next lap when Hill and Mansell made their first stops. With Hill rejoining behind the two Andrew drivers and Salo, Schumacher started to extend his lead once again, eventually setting the fastest lap on lap 40.

Larini was the first of the one-stoppers to pit on lap 30, and his earlier stop meant that he was jumped by Salo and Morbidelli when the two made their only stops two laps later. The trio stayed close together for a while as they traded places over the next few laps, while on fresher tyres, Martin Brundle overtook Blundell to move up to 6th. Not happy with the news of moving outside of the points, Blundell clobbered into Brundle at Juncao after missing his braking point lapping Zanardi, dropping the Pedersen to 12th. Keen to make up for lost time before his second stop, Brundle moved ahead of Larini on lap 42 for what was 8th after Hakkinen and Barrichello made their only stops, and then this became 7th when to the dismay of Willows, Hill’s Peugeot engine blew up, costing him a certain podium finish. To rub salt in the wound, Brundle then overtook Salo for 6th, although the Finn would get back ahead once Brundle headed for the pits.

Irvine was having a fine drive in the Tildesley, overtaking Morbidelli for 4th on lap 46 and then briefly ran 3rd after Berger’s second stop, but his two stop strategy wouldn’t pay off as he lost track position to Hakkinen and Coulthard, unlike Berger, whose strong middle stint meant he was running in the points and on course to bring joy to the hapless Yamaha, who have historically been about as reliable as a teapot made out of candyfloss. Berger wasn’t satisfied with just a single point however and on lap 63, he doubled Yamaha’s potential payload by overtaking Larini for 5th, and then things got better for the Austrian when Salo lost 4th place on the penultimate lap thanks to a left rear tyre failure, compounding Willows’ unlucky race. Berger did have one inconvenience to deal with in the form of Magnussen, whose reluctance to be lapped caused him to lose places to the Shake ‘n’ Bake drivers, with Taki Inoue performing a brave double overtake on teammate Jean Alesi and Magnussen into Descida do Lago.

None of this concerned Schumacher, who had the race entirely under his control and went on to take his first win since the 1992 French Grand Prix, kicking off his championship campaign in the best possible way. Mansell came home a well-earned 2nd, albeit over 50 seconds behind, while Morbidelli took his second consecutive Brazilian Grand Prix podium finish. Berger took 4th for Pedersen, giving Yamaha their best ever result, Larini finished 5th in his first race since 1988, while Hakkinen rescued a point after a difficult qualifying session, although it meant that Monolith scored in their debut race.

Paddock News

On the eve of the Argentine Grand Prix qualifying session, a press conference was held where the mystery 12th team that had their entry rejected by the AFIA was revealed to be Darkfire. The team last raced in the 1992 FF1M season where a chronically underdeveloped car hamstrung Ayrton Senna and Stefano Modena to the rear of the field, and an entry was made for 1995 in the hope of replacing the departed Goomba Engineering, but with there being a maximum of 11 teams that could take part, the AFIA chose Monolith Racing System’s entry over Darkfire’s rather than impose a pre-qualifying system.

In an extraordinary press conference, Darkfire’s team principal Jaakko Valkoinen announced plans to form a new governing body titled JOCA with the main purpose being to create a new racing series to rival FF1M called Grand Prix Make Belief (GPMB). Valkoinen pledged to hold the first season in 1996 and also claimed to have the support of former FF1M champions Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Valkoinen ended the press conference by stating in typically Finnish deadpan that his “newfound connections can coax the two legends out of retirement and race for me” before swaggering out of the room.

Coverage

The FF1M Classic circus swaps Brasil for Argentina on Tuesday 28th July, with the race live on the FF1M Youtube at 8pm. Paddock Club patreons will be able to enjoy coverage of qualifying however the time for that is dependant on British Rail.

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