The 1995 Argentine Grand Prix (formally the XVIII Gran Premio Marlboro de la Republica Argentina) was a Formula One motor race held on 9 April 1995 at the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was the second race of the 1995 Formula One World Championship and the first running of the Argentine Grand Prix since .

Report

Background

This was the first running of the Argentine Grand Prix since . The race had been removed from the Formula One calendar due to the retirement of Carlos Reutemann and Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands, before being reinstated following President Carlos Menem's rise to power in 1989 and the subsequent modernisation of the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez.

The No. 6 configuration of the circuit was to be used - the race having previously used the No. 2 and No. 9 configurations, as well as the long and fast No. 15 configuration. To celebrate the race's return, Reutemann drove a demonstration lap of the circuit aboard the Ferrari 412 T1 on the Thursday afternoon before the race. The track, however, was criticised due to its "dirtiness".

In the two weeks between the Brazilian and Argentine Grands Prix, the FIA rescinded the rule requiring that holes be cut in the airboxes; consequently, all the cars arrived at the circuit with their airbox holes filled.

Practice and qualifying

As the No. 6 configuration of the circuit was new to the Formula One calendar, a familiarisation session was held on the Thursday. The first practice session proper was held on Friday morning, followed in the afternoon by the first one-hour qualifying session. On Saturday, the second practice session was held, followed by the second qualifying session.

Both qualifying session took place in wet conditions, with several drivers spinning; only towards the end of the Saturday session did the conditions improve.

After his stop, Alesi was nearly half a minute behind Hill, but ahead of Schumacher. Hill retained the lead for the rest of the race, though Alesi closed the gap to 6.4 seconds by the chequered flag. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 55, Schumacher finished 27 seconds behind Alesi, with teammate Herbert fourth. Salo was running fifth, close behind Herbert, when he collided with Aguri Suzuki in the second Ligier on lap 48; he angrily confronted the Japanese driver in the pit lane before telling the BBC that "drivers like Suzuki should not be in Formula One". Fifth thus went to Frentzen, with Berger picking up the final point for sixth. Following Verstappen's retirement, Schiattarella finished ninth to equal Simtek's best-ever result.

Berger's point kept him in the lead of the Drivers' Championship, pending the appeals to Schumacher and Coulthard's disqualifications from the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Post-race

Four days after the race, the FIA International Court of Appeal overturned the disqualifications from Brazil, meaning that Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship by four points from Hill with Berger dropping to fifth.

Meanwhile, in response to the criticism, the track was resurfaced over the winter of 1995–96, ready for the 1996 running of the race.

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Race

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"

|-

! Pos !! No !! Driver !! Constructor !! Laps !! Time/Retired !! Grid !! Points

|-

! 1

| 5

| Damon Hill

| Williams-Renault

| 72

| 1:53:14.532

| 2

| 10

|-

! 2

| 27

| Jean Alesi

| Ferrari

| 72

| + 6.407

| 6

| 6

|-

! 3

| 1

| Michael Schumacher

| Benetton-Renault

| 72

| + 33.376

| 3

| 4

|-

! 4

| 2

| Johnny Herbert

| Benetton-Renault

| 71

| + 1 Lap

| 11

| 3

|-

! 5

| 30

| Heinz-Harald Frentzen

| Sauber-Ford

| 70

| + 2 Laps

| 9

| 2

|-

! 6

| 28

| Gerhard Berger

| Ferrari

| 70

| + 2 Laps

| 8

| 1

|-

! 7

| 26

| Olivier Panis

| Ligier-Mugen-Honda

| 70

| + 2 Laps

| 18

|  

|-

! 8

| 3

| Ukyo Katayama

| Tyrrell-Yamaha

| 69

| + 3 Laps

| 15

|  

|-

! 9

| 11

| Domenico Schiattarella

| Simtek-Ford

| 68

| + 4 Laps

| 20

|  

|-

!

| 21

| Pedro Diniz

| Forti-Ford

| 63

| + 9 Laps

| 25

|  

|-

!

| 22

| Roberto Moreno

| Forti-Ford

| 63

| + 9 Laps

| 24

|  

|-

!

| 4

| Mika Salo

| Tyrrell-Yamaha

| 48

| Collision

| 7

|  

|-

!

| 25

| Aguri Suzuki

| Ligier-Mugen-Honda

| 47

| Collision

| 19

|  

|-

!

| 23

| Pierluigi Martini

| Minardi-Ford

| 44

| Spun Off

| 16

|  

|-

!

| 9

| Gianni Morbidelli

| Footwork-Hart

| 43

| Electrical

| 12

|  

|-

!

| 10

| Taki Inoue

| Footwork-Hart

| 40

| Spun Off

| 26

|  

|-

!

| 14

| Rubens Barrichello

| Jordan-Peugeot

| 33

| Oil Pressure

| 10

|  

|-

!

| 12

| Jos Verstappen

| Simtek-Ford

| 23

| Gearbox

| 14

|  

|-

!

| 6

| David Coulthard

| Williams-Renault

| 16

| Electrical

| 1

|  

|-

!

| 7

| Mark Blundell

| McLaren-Mercedes

| 9

| Engine

| 17

|  

|-

!

| 15

| Eddie Irvine

| Jordan-Peugeot

| 6

| Engine

| 4

|  

|-

!

| 17

| Andrea Montermini

| Pacific-Ford

| 1

| Collision

| 22

|  

|-

!

| 8

| Mika Häkkinen

| McLaren-Mercedes

| 0

| Collision

| 5

|  

|-

!

| 16

| Bertrand Gachot

| Pacific-Ford

| 0

| Collision

| 23

|  

|-

!

| 29

| Karl Wendlinger

| Sauber-Ford

| 0

| Collision

| 21

|  

|-

!

| 24

| Luca Badoer

| Minardi-Ford

| 0

| Collision

| 13

|  

|-

!colspan="8"|