FF1M 1995 Review : Part 7

Japanese Grand Prix

Heading into the penultimate race of the 1995 season, the situation in the drivers championship was clear. Damon Hill had to win the final two races to stand any chance of winning the drivers championship. Any other result would see Michael Schumacher win his second FF1M championship having achieved his first three seasons before with Pedersen. To guarantee the championship regardless of how Hill did, Schumacher needed to finish 3rd. Things didn’t start brilliantly for the German in qualifying with his first lap being unrepresentative, but his next three were more to form with his best being good enough for 5th. Ahead of him were the two Willows Racing and two Gojira AutoSport drivers with Hill on pole ahead of Rubens Barrichello, Roberto Moreno, and Mika Salo. The crowd also had their eyes on their home hero Taki Inoue, who celebrated outqualifying Jean Alesi like he’d won the championship, even if it was only for 21st.

Hill got the start he needed as he led going into the first corner, but the bad news for him was that Schumacher had a great getaway and went in between Moreno and Salo to move up to 3rd, while further back, Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine were lucky to avoid a helicopter crash when the Finn aggressively swerved across the track and clobbered the Ulsterman, but both escaped without damage. Meanwhile, Alessandro Zanardi, who had qualified a brilliant 6th in the underpowered Mitchell, was already beginning a rapid descent down the order with David Coulthard, Olivier Panis, and Mark Blundell, overtaking the Italian during the first lap, and then Nigel Mansell moved ahead going into Spoon on lap 2.

Although in the lead, Hill wasn’t able to shake off Barrichello with the Brazilian having taken on four laps less fuel and was piling on the pressure, but Willows’ superior straight line speed was able to keep Hill in the lead for the time being with Schumacher keeping watch. Meanwhile, Blundell was on the move, overtaking Panis for 7th going into 130R and shortly afterwards made light work of the other CBA Racing driver, while Zanardi helplessly lost another place to the lightly-fuelled Nicola Larini. On lap 4, Schumacher slipstreamed past Barrichello going into the first corner to move up to 2nd and spent the next few laps staring at Hill’s rear wing with occasional feints going into Degner 1.

Salo had been attempting to play some sort of team game as ever, but Blundell was wise to the Finn’s tactics as he muscled his way up to 5th on lap 6 with the other Tornado next in line to try and overhaul Salo. The other Willows nearly found himself out of the race completely as on lap 11, Schumacher lunged at Hill going into Degner 1 with the two making contact at the corner exit. The impact resulted in a spectacular wheelie for Hill, who fortunately managed to come back down to earth with no damage, but with Barrichello alongside him, he ended up running wide at Degner 2 and fell to 3rd.

Larini was the first to pit on lap 12 with Barrichello and Blundell pitting two laps later, all three drivers having chosen three-stop strategies. With Salo holding up about half the field once again, Barrichello was able to rejoin ahead of the Finn in 4th place, while Blundell dropped to 11th behind Panis, but made light work of the Frenchman on his outlap. He then immediately caught up to the battle Coulthard and Hakkinen with the Monolith performing a good manoeuvre through the first two corners to overtake the CBA, but all were stuck behind Salo. This brought Larini back in to play as he was able to lap two seconds quicker than those in front of him and move up to 6th behind Blundell when the two-stoppers made their first stops. In amongst those pitstops, Mansell managed to jump Salo thanks to a strong outlap.

At the front, the gap between Schumacher and Barrichello was over two seconds, but on lap 22, Schumacher suddenly dived into the pits due to concerns over a crossed-threaded wheel nut, similar to his problem in Estoril. Despite the late call, the team were still able to service him in under seven seconds and he rejoined 3rd ahead of Moreno. Further back, Coulthard had fallen behind his teammate after his first stop, but fresher tyres and a compliant teammate helped him back up to 9th, while Gianni Morbidelli somehow powered past Salo for 11th despite Willows’ dominant straight line speed. The other Andrew had the possibility of a points finish on the cards but gearbox trouble put him out of the race on lap 27. This put Hakkinen into the points for about half a lap before Mansell overtook him going into 130R.

Barrichello made his second pitstop on lap 28 and rejoined 3rd behind Schumacher with Hill retaking the lead. The three were separated by less than eight seconds on lap 30 but Hill’s lead was being eaten into, although not like Johnny Herbert’s engine cover which was being eaten by a massive fireball that erupted as the Tildesley driver came in for his second stop. The fire was quickly put out by his mechanics and he was sent on his way. Back at the front, Hill had been caught by Schumacher and planned to pit on lap 34 in the hope that new tyres would give him an edge, but Schumacher went to disrupt his inlap with another overtake into Degner 1. Unlike before, no contact was made and Hill was forced to yield before heading straight for the pits. Schumacher made his final stop three laps later, temporarily handing the lead to Barrichello. Despite his inlap being compromised by Panis, Barrichello had done enough to rejoin from his final stop on lap 41 ahead of Hill.

The race settled down over the final quarter of the race with Schumacher managing the gap to Barrichello to take his eighth win of the season, but more importantly, win his second drivers championship and FJR’s first (chronologically). The teams championship was also nearly decided on the final lap when Hill’s car developed a gremlin and finished his race in the pits rather than going to the finish line, but he was still awarded 3rd. Mansell finished 4th after overtaking Moreno into Spoon on the final lap while Blundell rounded out the points finishers after a decent race.

Australian Grand Prix

Before the final race of the season, there were rumours of a driver change with Jean Alesi teaming up with new drivers champion Michael Schumacher at FJR and Domenico Schiattarella taking the vacant Shake ‘n’ Bake seat, but this failed to materialise. Therefore the line-ups had remained the same all season just as in 1993. In the final qualifying session of the season, Damon Hill was a man on a mission as he secured his ninth pole of the season by a whopping eight tenths of a second from the in-form Rubens Barrichello. The second row was filled by Schumacher and Mika Salo, and it seemed as if the Adelaide circuit suited Willows Racing, so even though it was an unlikely prospect, a 1-2 finish and a teams championship was possible if something went wrong for Schumacher and FJR in the race.

At the start, the front row got away well while Schumacher had the opposite start compared his blinder at Suzuka as he seemed to react slowly to the lights going off. This dropped him from 3rd to 5th and was then attacked by Alessandro Zanardi under braking for Wakefield, but both survived without damage. Going down Brabham Straight, David Coulthard got alongside the Mitchell and moved up to 6th under braking at Dequetteville, while Mark Blundell performed the same manoeuvre on the other CBA to move up to 12th. Further back, Alesi was running last having made contact with Heinz-Harald Frentzen even before the first corner and probably wished the driver swap had happened. Alesi would at least enjoy Frentzen being nudged off the circuit by Take Inoue at Mistral.

Just as at Suzuka, Zanardi had overperformed in qualifying and was struggling in the race as Nigel Mansell overtook the 1993 champion in the more unconventional Brewery bend on lap 2. Gianni Morbidelli’s move up to 9th ahead of Jan Magnussen down Brabham straight was move straightforward, while Eddie Irvine was a little ruder on Martin Brundle at Dequetteville to move up to 15th. On the next lap, Mansell overtook Coulthard for 6th and looked to catch up to 5th-placed Schumacher, who himself was staring at the battle for 3rd between Salo and Roberto Moreno, while Blundell got ahead of Magnussen for 10th. Meanwhile, Panis understeered into the tyre barrier at the left after Dequetteville on lap 4 and subsequently pitted so his car could have a front end again.

Although not as dramatic as in previous races, Salo had initiated his slow goods services but at least it was just three cars behind him this time. The other Willows was also absorbing pressure with Barrichello seemingly unable to overtake, while Coulthard was struggling for top speed as he was overtaken by Nicola Larini with Blundell next to pounce. Salo’s train then had a minor reshuffle on lap 11 as Schumacher overtook Moreno for 4th with Mansell following through two laps later, while Barrichello had finally managed to find a way past Hill for the lead. Salo’s grip on 3rd was also relinquished on lap 15 with Schumacher late on the brakes into Dequetteville. Moments later, Salo headed for the pits for his first of three stops, triggering a flurry of activity in the pitlane over the next series of laps.

Once Mansell made his first stop on lap 21, the field had been reorganised with Willows losing out heavily in the pitstop sequence as Salo had fallen behind Moreno and Larini and Hill had dropped to 4th behind Schumacher and Mansell. On new tyres, Schumacher felt comfortable and looked to close in on race leader Barrichello, while Blundell’s race came to a complete close when he crashed into the barrier at Stag on lap 24. Three laps later, Magnussen’s race was ruined when Morbidelli shoved him into the wall at Wakefield, and the FJR driver then spent the best part of two laps doing an Austin Powers with a three point turn becoming closer to a three hundred point turn. At least he made it back to the pits, unlike Irvine, whose car broke down on circuit with gearbox problems on lap 33.

With the entire field on three-stop strategies, Moreno triggered the second round of pitstops on lap 37 with other cars following suit. Morbidelli was in on the same lap and rejoined right into the path of Barrichello and Schumacher, nearly causing the FJR to rear end the Gojira into the Senna chicane. Half a lap later, Schumacher pounced on Barrichello into Dequetteville and took the lead, but then he encountered the same problem at the pit exit when Brundle rejoined into his path. Schumacher and Barrichello then pitted and rejoined in the same order as before, but then on his outlap, Schumacher pushed too hard and crashed out at Stag.

Mansell again stayed out longer and pitted on lap 44, rejoining seven seconds behind Barrichello, but the Tornado driver was keen to end his FF1M career on a high and on his new tyres, closed in on the race leader throughout the third stint. Also close were Moreno and Larini in their battle for 4th. A potential scenario arose where if they collided, followed by Barrichello and Mansell, then Willows would inherit a 1-2 which would seal them the teams championship. This became unlikely when Larini cleanly passed Moreno on lap 50 and steadily pulled away from the Gojira driver before both pitted on lap 57. Both rejoined ahead of Salo, but Moreno’s slow pit exit force Salo to brake which allowed Panis the excitement of a double overtake, but only to briefly unlap himself before getting out of the way.

Attention then switched to the lead battle which nearly ended disastrously when Mansell thought about a dummy move into Dequetteville on lap 61 before changing his mind and tagging the back of Barrichello. Both escaped unharmed, but Gojira brought Barrichello straight into the pits for a new set of tyres. Having to overtake Frentzen on his outlap presented an opportunity to Mansell, who pitted on the next lap and rejoined just in front of Barrichello, who was still being pestered by Frentzen. The 18th-placed German would then be overtaken by 19th-placed Magnussen, but Magnussen was only unlapping himself, just to illustrate how much time he lost thanks to the earlier collision with Morbidelli.

With both Willows drivers running 3rd and 6th, they needed divine intervention to win the teams championship, but it never came as despite a needless lock up into Wakefield with four laps remaining, Mansell did what Ayrton Senna did in the previous season, round off his FF1M career with a win, seven seasons after winning his only championship. Barrichello capped off a strong end to the season with his fifth podium finish in six races with Hill sealing the runner-up spot in the drivers championship with 3rd. Larini ended his time with Andrew Racing with 4th with Moreno rounding out his FF1M career with 5th ahead of Salo. Despite both Willows drivers finishing in the points, it wasn’t enough to overhaul FJR in the teams championship, although their engine supplier, Peugeot, did beat Mercedes to the engine trophy.

Paddock News

During the Japanese Grand Prix, the AFIA announced that Bridgestone would be the sole tyre supplier for 1996 with Goodyear planning to take a year off to address issues with their tyre integrity after a bruising Italian Grand Prix. Damon Hill in particular had been badly affected by this with tyre failures costing him possible victories at Magny-Cours and Monza. The AFIA also announced a new points system for 1996 with points being awarded to the top eight finishers and the winner being awarded 12 points.

Having kept quiet during the Japanese segment of the season, CBA Racing held a press conference in preparation for the Australian Grand Prix and announced that they would be moving to GPMB for 1996 after three largely happy seasons in FF1M. CBA’s team principal Christoph Ziegel thanked the AFIA for their time in FF1M but acknowledged a “desire to explore and see if we can conquer another series as we’ve basically achieved what we wanted to achieve here.” This left just one team to decide their FF1M future, FJR, who had been most reluctant to declare their stance with team principal Tiago Ladrillos declaring 1995 “the most intensely draining season in history.”

The widely-held view was that FJR were expected to defect to GPMB and join their Yorkshire friends and family, but to the surprise of everyone, FJR finally announced after the conclusion of the final race that they would be staying in FF1M. When asked what swayed his decision, Ladrillos revealed that he “just flipped a coin.” This was met with a polarising response with the other Yorkshire teams feeling betrayed by FJR’s decision, describing Ladrillos as “a Judas with a water pistol that can only fire blanks.” Conversely, Gojira and Pedersen welcomed FJR with open arms, although they did reprimand the Yorkshire team for “taking their time.”

Meanwhile, the AFIA’s recruitment campaign resulted in the return of AquinoPlus and Dodgem, both of whom last raced in FF1M during the 1986 season, but also brand new teams in the form of A Racing, Maestro Motorsport, Vader Trophy Racing, and Willow Images, a completely different team to Willows Racing which their team principal José Salgueiro poked fun at:

“I find it very funny how the AFIA go on to accept a team for 1996 called Willow Images… guess they got unhappy about us leaving given how well we were doing and are desperate to keep the ‘Willow’ name on the grid in some capacity.”

The improved team roster also ignited the silly season with new world champion Michael Schumacher choosing to leave FJR and join the resurrected AquinoPlus, while Mika Hakkinen also took a similarly calculated risk by joining Maestro. Both drivers cited their teams’ works Renault engines as the main reason for joining their respective teams. Schumacher’s teammate would be David Coulthard, who had performed consistently well with CBA Racing, while Maestro would have an all Finnish line-up as Mika Salo joined his compatriot.

Constrained by a lack of preparation and budget due to how late they confirmed their place in FF1M, FJR were forced to take a different sort of risk by signing the promising but unproven rookie Giancarlo Fisichella alongside Jean Alesi, while the renamed Gui Racing took their own chances by signing Canadian rookie Jacques Villeneuve alongside Rubens Barrichello. Villeneuve’s North American connections also allowed the team access to works Ford engines, while FJR had to make do with a customer Ford derivative as they couldn’t afford any other engine. Meanwhile, Pedersen remained with Japanese engines as they swapped Yamaha for Mugen Honda and also had a rookie to play with in Norberto Fontana.

The team total for FF1M was at a much more encouraging nine with Ajay Motorsports willing to fill in the numbers if not enough entrants could be found. Furthermore, they had promised a seat for Damon Hill if no other team was interested in signing the Brit. Meanwhile, GPMB’s team total went from eight to 11 thanks to a successful recruitment campaign of their own.

Darkfire were true to their word in that they managed to persuade both Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna out of retirement to test for them, and the world were more than excited to see the two legends and former multiple FF1M champions go head to head with each other. However, during a post season test at Jacarepagua, both drivers vociferously voiced their concerns about the car’s unpredictable handling and a lack of power and reliability from the engine. Both drivers immediately announced that they would not be coming out of retirement which enraged Darkfire team principal Jaakko Valkoinen to the point where just two weeks after the Australian Grand Prix, he announced in a fit of petulance that Darkfire would not be participating in the series that they themselves had created.

Days later, Darkfire announced that they would be returning to FF1M under the new name of J Racing after a deal with the AFIA was done behind closed doors, bringing the FF1M team total to 11 with Ajay Motorsports’ inclusion. As for the teams who had left FF1M for the GPMB series they expressed a desire to proceed, having already sunk considerable cost into building cars to the new series regulations.