The last race before Grand Prix racing changed forever.

In what was the second race of the 1994 World Championship, the Pacific Grand Prix was the first Grand Prix held at the TI Circuit Aida (Which had opened in 1990), serving as a replacement for the cancelled European Grand Prix at Donnington Park.

It was the third different Japanese circuit to host a Grand Prix behind Fuji and current home Suzuka, and until this year’s Japanese Grand Prix, this was the only time a Grand Prix in Japan had been run outside of the Japanese Autumn, because in 1995 the circuit was damaged by the Great Hanshin Earthquake in January 1995 and wasn’t ready for the original date of April 16, so it was moved back to October 22 (Creating a back-to-back with Suzuka)…

But owing to its remote location and subsequent lack of profitability, 1995 was the last visit to Aida.

As for the grid, Ayrton Senna once again started on pole position for Williams, the 64th pole of his career, with Brazilian Grand Prix winner Michael Schumacher once again alongside on the front row in a Benetton, with Senna’s teammate Damon Hill and McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen on the second row, with Gerhard Berger in 5th the only other driver to get within 2 seconds of Senna’s time, as it was all set to be another Senna vs Schumacher duel for victory, as it had been in Brazil:

But Senna’s race was ruined when he was overtaken at the first corner by Schumacher, was then hit from behind by Hakkinen’s McLaren, then Nicola Larini (substituting for Jean Alesi at Ferrari) went off the track and hit Senna, ending the Brazilian’s race for the second weekend running, the first and only time in Senna’s career he failed to score a point in the first two races of a season…

It was also Senna’s last appearance in Japan, the country where the Brazilian was a borderline national hero thanks to his association with Honda, and the fact that his 3 World Championships were all secured at Suzuka.

On another note, Mark Blundell also went out at the first corner after trying to avoid the carnage, only to spin his Tyrrell, stall the engine and retire there and then.

Senna spent the next 10 laps alongside the track studying the noises of passing cars, becoming suspicious that the Benetton was running illegal traction control, and that same weekend Larini had told the Italian media that Ferrari had run traction control during practice (Which both parties later denied) – The FIA later discovered that Benetton did have a launch control system in their cars, but it was never proven they’d run it during a race.

Other than that, with the circuit proving pretty dull, most of the action was away from the dominant Schumacher:

– Only a few laps after Senna went out, Damon Hill spun from 3rd place chasing Hakkinen and dropped to 10th.

– Hakkinen lost well over 30 seconds in the pits thanks to a stall before his gearbox failed on Lap 19, losing what was 2nd place, which then went to Berger’s Ferrari.

– Hill then charged back into 2nd place ahead of Berger, while Martin Brundle’s McLaren and Rubens Barrichello’s Jordan fought for 4th place, only for Hill’s transmission to fail on Lap 50, leaving Berger in a clear 2nd but over a minute behind Schumacher, and Brundle and Barrichello duelled for the last podium position, in what was the only decent duel of the race.

– Another random incident occurred when Schumacher’s teammate Jos Verstappen (The father of some guy called Max) came charging out of the pits on Lap 55, directly ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s Sauber in a duel for a points position, only to spin out and retire at Turn 1.

– However, Brundle’s bad luck struck when his Peugeot engine overheated on Lap 68, handing what would be a breakthrough podium to Barrichello and Jordan.

So the long and the short, Schumacher led all 83 laps and claimed his second win in a row (His fourth of the eventual 91 Grand Prix) wins) by 75 seconds from Berger’s Ferrari, with Rubens Barrichello finishing a lap down in 3rd for Jordan, a maiden podium for both the Brazilian and Eddie Jordan’s team, in what was their 50th Grand Prix entry as a team.

Finishing the points were Christian Fittipaldi in 4th in a Footwork Arrows, Frentzen was 5th for Sauber to claim his first career points, and Erik Comas got the last point in 6th for Larrousse after starting 16th, albeit 3 laps down, as only 11 drivers saw the chequered flag.

Interesting note that Roland Ratzenberger in a Simtek was the last classified runner, 5 laps down in 11th, in what would be the only race the Austrian finished during his career, prior to the events that unfolded at Imola a fortnight later.

What a podium -A maverick Italian (Flavio Briatore), a Ferrari driver, and two future Ferrari drivers.