The 1994 Australian Grand Prix, the final act of that troubled season, will always be remembered for the sensational epilogue of the world championship fight between Michael Schumacher, at the time in Benetton, and Damon Hill, Williams’ standard bearer. On the circuit of Adelaide, the German kept the lead until the 35th lap, back in which the Kaiser he lost control of his car, ending up off the track and hitting the barriers sideways. Managed to regain control of the car, Schumacher had to defend himself from the decisive attack inside the oncoming British rival, tightening excessively in the corners and causing a contact between the two. While the future Ferrari took off against the protections, Hill had to pit for the damage suffered, but the breakage of the left front suspension was fatal to the hopes of Graham’s son of art, forced to retire. At that point, with both pilots offside, mathematics rewarded Schumacher as the new world champion – the first world champion success for him – despite the controversy that arose in the following days for his maneuver.
Today, almost 28 years after that controversial episode, the co-founder and chief engineer of Williams, Patrick Head, went back to analyzing that case over the course of the podcast Beyond The Grid, commenting on one of the most famous crashes in F1 history: “Everyone knew that Schumacher had killed Hill – he has declared – I had the utmost consideration for Michael. He was a pilot and an extraordinary person, and those who worked with him, which did not happen to me, still have the highest consideration for him today. But anyone who watches the footage of what happened in Adelaide can realize that Michael’s car was already fatally damaged after the first contact with the barriers. At that point he headed straight for Damon. Anyone who knows anything about racing car driving knows that Michael deliberately knocked Damon out of that contest“.
Head, despite the heavy defeat suffered in Adelaide, nevertheless confessed that, in case of victory, he would not have been able to fully enjoy it: in that year, in fact, Formula 1 lost one of the greatest champions in its history in a dramatic accident during the San Marino GP, with Ayrton Senna – moved to Williams in 1994 – victim of a fatal accident at the Tamburello corner: “I don’t think I felt totally offended by what happened in Australia – he added – because, with Senna’s death and Michael being banned from driving for at least two or three races, all of which Damon won, I don’t think I would have felt totally happy to win the championship that year. In any case, Michael was an immensely competitive person. I think Jacques Villeneuve knew what Michael could do in Jerez in 1997. I don’t want to damage the reputation of a driver like Michael, but if you also look at what Monaco did in 2006, he once again proved unsportsmanlike, at least not as much as his fans would have. wanted. He was a fierce competitor, and I respect him ”.
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