The 1995 British Grand Prix (formally the XLVIII British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 16 July 1995 at Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England. It was the eighth round of the 1995 Formula One World Championship. Johnny Herbert for the Benetton team won the 61-lap race from fifth position. Jean Alesi finished second in a Ferrari, with David Coulthard third in a Williams car. The remaining points-scoring positions were filled by Olivier Panis (Ligier), Mark Blundell (McLaren) and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Sauber). Herbert's victory was his first in Formula One, and the Benetton team's fifth of the season.
The race was dominated, however, by the fight between World Drivers' Championship protagonists, Michael Schumacher (Benetton) and Damon Hill (Williams). Hill, who started from a pole position achieved during qualifying sessions held in variable weather conditions, retained his lead during the opening stages of the race whilst Schumacher, who was alongside him on the starting grid, fell behind Alesi in the run to the first corner. Despite being held up behind the slower Ferrari until it made a pit stop, Schumacher used a more favourable one-stop strategy to move ahead of Hill, who made two pit stops for fuel and tyres, on lap 41. Four laps later, Hill attempted to pass Schumacher, but the two collided and were forced to retire from the race. This promoted Herbert and Coulthard, who were battling for third place, into the fight for the lead. Coulthard passed Herbert, but dropped to third, behind Alesi, after incurring a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Background
Heading into the eighth race of the season, Benetton driver Michael Schumacher was leading the Drivers' Championship with 46 points; ahead of Williams driver Damon Hill on 35, and the two Ferrari drivers, Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger, on 26 and 17 points respectively. The Constructors' Championship was closer, with Benetton on 48 points leading Ferrari and Williams on 43 and 42 points respectively. Hill, on the other hand, had won the 1994 British Grand Prix and was eager to repeat the feat in front of his home fans. He had also set the fastest lap time in pre-event testing at Silverstone during the final week of June, almost a second in front of teammate David Coulthard, and a further 0.2 seconds ahead of Schumacher. The McLaren, Jordan, Footwork and Pacific teams also took part in these test sessions. Hill was also under some additional pressure going into the weekend, as his wife, Georgie, was due to give birth to their third child imminently. Morbidelli was kept on as the team's test driver, and returned to racing action at the later in the year.
thumb|[[Massimiliano Papis made his Formula One debut for the Footwork Arrows team, in place of Gianni Morbidelli.]]
Pre-race discussion centred on the following year's driver line-up, with Schumacher rumoured to be moving to Ferrari to replace Berger, who was considering a move to Williams. Hill's future was also uncertain, as was his teammate David Coulthard's, due to the McLaren team possessing an option on his services for . Sauber driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen was also linked to a possible vacant position for 1996 in the Williams team. Schumacher's future plans dictated the rest of the driver market, due to his status as the reigning World Champion—and, indeed, the only such champion of all the contemporary drivers—and reputation as the best driver currently in Formula One. It was also reported that Schumacher's teammate, Johnny Herbert, was in imminent danger of losing his Benetton seat to test driver Jos Verstappen, who was available due to the collapse of the Simtek team after the and was contractually owed race drives by team principal Flavio Briatore. Despite taking a podium finish earlier in the year, Herbert had rarely been close to Schumacher's pace and had only completed two laps in the two previous Grands Prix. A potential new entry was also being discussed: the Japanese racing car constructor Dome was in the process of building a Formula One car with which to enter the World Championship in .
thumb|left|[[Martin Brundle's Ligier car was equipped with power steering for the first time.]]
Several teams had made modifications to their cars in preparation for the event. Ferrari made changes to the 412T2 chassis's sidepods to improve airflow around the tyres, and reverted to a diffuser design used earlier in the season. The Ligier team had Martin Brundle's car fitted with power steering for the first time and he chose to use it for the race, but teammate Olivier Panis, who had run with the system earlier in the season, decided against it. McLaren revised its troubled MP4/10B chassis's suspension geometry, and Mika Häkkinen's car was equipped with a more powerful version of its Mercedes V10 engine for Sunday's warm-up session and the race itself. Team principal Ron Dennis also re-hired experienced designer Steve Nichols, who had worked for the outfit in the 1980s, in the week before the race. Footwork also arrived with revised suspension, whilst the Jordan team ran with brake disc sensors on its car. Further down the field, the Forti team introduced the revised version of its FG01 chassis for Roberto Moreno. Lead driver Pedro Diniz had first driven the car in its revised specification at the preceding . The revised aerodynamic package included a higher nose and new sidepods. Both drivers also tested a new development of the Ford-Cosworth ED engine in practice.
In the week leading up to the race, Williams chief designer Adrian Newey reignited the controversy over the similarities between the Benetton B195 and Ligier JS41 chassis, which had first flared up at the season-opening . Despite the fact that a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) investigation had declared the JS41 legal earlier in the season, Newey stated that "as far as suspension geometry and aerodynamics are concerned, I'd say they are identical. [...] Taken to a logical conclusion, we'll be in an IndyCar position. It is very dangerous."
Schumacher set the pace in Friday free practice, which took place in dry and cloudy weather conditions, with a time of 1:29.238. Hill was less than four hundredths of a second behind, ahead of Alesi, Coulthard, Herbert and Berger; the drivers from the top three teams in the Constructors' Championship thus filled the top six positions.
thumb|left|[[Damon Hill took pole position for his home race for the second consecutive year.]]
Weather conditions for Friday qualifying were dry and sunny, albeit blustery, which meant that drivers had to cope with strong crosswinds in the circuit's many high-speed corners. Team principal Jean Todt, however, described lack of testing as "a feeble excuse" for the team's loss of form compared with earlier races in the season. Andrea Montermini did not take part in the session at all due to a failure of his car's brake master cylinder; the underfunded Pacific team lacked the resources to bring a spare car to the event. There was also frustration amongst the drivers and teams who felt that they had underperformed on Friday, and for Häkkinen and Irvine who had both been scheduled to run with more powerful engines which should have given an advantage in dry conditions. or watch it on television, were being short-changed as a result. FIA President Max Mosley confirmed that the current qualifying procedure was to be the subject of a review, with possible changes due to be introduced for the 1996 season. One-day qualifying was subsequently introduced from the 1996 Australian Grand Prix onwards.
Qualifying classification
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Driver
! scope="col" | Constructor
! scope="col" | Q1 Time
! scope="col" | Q2 Time
! scope="col" | Gap
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| 5
| data-sort-value="hil"| Damon Hill
| Williams-Renault
| 1:28.124
| 1:48.800
|
|-
! scope="row" | 2
| 1
| data-sort-value="sch, m"| Michael Schumacher
| Benetton-Renault
| 1:28.397
| 1:48.204
| +0.273
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| 6
| data-sort-value="cou"| David Coulthard
| Williams-Renault
| 1:28.947
| 1:48.012
| +0.823
|-
! scope="row" | 4
| 28
| data-sort-value="ber"| Gerhard Berger
| Ferrari
| 1:29.657
| 1:51.818
| +1.533
|-
! scope="row" | 5
| 2
| data-sort-value="her"| Johnny Herbert
| Benetton-Renault
| 1:29.867
| 1:55.011
| +1.743
|-
! scope="row" | 6
| 27
| data-sort-value="ale"| Jean Alesi
| Ferrari
| 1:29.874
| 1:48.205
| +1.750
|-
! scope="row" | 7
| 15
| data-sort-value="irv"| Eddie Irvine
| Jordan-Peugeot
| 1:30.083
| 1:51.045
| +1.959
|-
! scope="row" | 8
| 8
| data-sort-value="hak"| Mika Häkkinen
| McLaren-Mercedes
| 1:30.140
| No time
| +2.016
|-
! scope="row" | 9
| 14
|data-sort-value="bar"| Rubens Barrichello
| Jordan-Peugeot
| 1:30.354
| 1:49.152
| +2.230
|-
! scope="row" | 10
| 7
| data-sort-value="blu"| Mark Blundell
| McLaren-Mercedes
| 1:30.453
| 56:10.060
| +2.329
|-
! scope="row" | 11
| 25
| data-sort-value="bru"| Martin Brundle
| Ligier-Mugen-Honda
| 1:30.946
| 1:49.414
| +2.822
|-
! scope="row" | 12
| 30
| data-sort-value="fre"| Heinz-Harald Frentzen
| Sauber-Ford
| 1:31.602
| 1:51.059
| +3.478
|-
! scope="row" | 13
| 26
| data-sort-value="pan"| Olivier Panis
| Ligier-Mugen-Honda
| 1:31.842
| 1:51.657
| +3.718
|-
! scope="row" | 14
| 3
| data-sort-value="kat"| Ukyo Katayama
| Tyrrell-Yamaha
| 1:32.087
| 1:52.054
| +3.963
|-
! scope="row" | 15
| 23
| data-sort-value="mar"| Pierluigi Martini
| Minardi-Ford
| 1:32.259
| 2:13.471
| +4.135
|-
! scope="row" | 16
| 29
| data-sort-value="bou"| Jean-Christophe Boullion
| Sauber-Ford
| 1:33.166
| 1:51.086
| +5.042
|-
! scope="row" | 17
| 9
| data-sort-value="pap"| Massimiliano Papis
| Footwork-Hart
| 1:34.154
| 1:53.097
| +6.030
|-
! scope="row" | 18
| 24
|data-sort-value="bad"| Luca Badoer
| Minardi-Ford
| 1:34.556
| 1:50.959
| +6.432
|-
! scope="row" | 19
| 10
| data-sort-value="ino"| Taki Inoue
| Footwork-Hart
| 1:35.323
| No time
| +7.199
|-
! scope="row" | 20
| 21
| data-sort-value="dini"| Pedro Diniz
| Forti-Ford
| 1:36.023
| 5:51.829
| +7.899
|-
! scope="row" | 21
| 16
| data-sort-value="gac"| Bertrand Gachot
| Pacific-Ford
| 1:36.076
| No time
| +7.952
|-
! scope="row" | 22
| 22
| data-sort-value="mor"| Roberto Moreno
| Forti-Ford
| 1:36.651
| 1:56.374
| +8.527
|-
! scope="row" | 23
| 4
| data-sort-value="Sal"| Mika Salo
| Tyrrell-Yamaha
| No time
| 1:48.639
| +20.515
|-
! scope="row" | 24
| 17
| data-sort-value="mon"| Andrea Montermini
| Pacific-Ford
| No time
| 1:52.398
| +24.274
|-
!colspan="7"|
Herbert's maiden Formula One victory was very popular amongst the spectators and team personnel, as not only was it his home race, but also because it came after a series of setbacks earlier in his career, not least a serious accident in an International Formula 3000 race at Brands Hatch in 1988 that left him with severe foot injuries which threatened his racing career. In the post-race press conference, Herbert paid tribute to three people who had particularly helped the progress of his career: his wife, Becky; Peter Collins, of whom Herbert said that "he got me into F1 twice"; Alesi declared himself "very happy" with his second place, but admitted to "giving up" in the second half of the race, as he knew that overtaking Herbert or Coulthard when they were ahead of him would have been almost impossible. For Coulthard, his result was bittersweet: he was pleased to finish the race despite the failure of his car's electronics, but disappointed to lose an almost certain victory due to his pit-lane speeding penalty. A few days later, he described his race in a magazine column as "one of those disappointing days when everything goes wrong". After the crash, Schumacher blamed Hill, saying that: "I think what Damon did was both stupid and totally unnecessary. There was no room for two cars there, and it's not an overtaking place. If I hadn't been there, I think he'd have gone straight on into the gravel. He just came from nowhere. Even in front of your home crowd, I think you have to keep your temperament under control. It was more or less the same situation at Adelaide last year [the occasion of the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, in which a collision between the two settled the Drivers' Championship in Schumacher's favour], where he also tried to dive inside when there was no room." Hill was more cautious in his assessment of the incident, commenting that: "I thought I saw an opportunity that I could take an advantage of, but I'm afraid Michael is a harder man to pass than that, and we had an accident—which I would describe as 'a racing accident'". Journalist Joe Saward was amongst those who speculated, however, that Schumacher had played a role in the collision by taking a wider line into the Priory corner than usual, and thus encouraging Hill to attempt the manoeuvre. The incident was subject to a stewards' investigation, which resulted in both drivers being given a severe reprimand and a warning that "future similar actions may result in severe penalties". The collision overshadowed the fact that, in the opinion of Roebuck, Benetton had again chosen a better race strategy than Williams, and that Schumacher would have had a comfortable lead had he not been stuck behind Alesi in the early stages of the race. The stewards also investigated this incident and gave Blundell a severe reprimand for his actions.
thumb|Blundell was issued with a severe reprimand by the race stewards for his part in the collision with Barrichello; a similar caution was given to Schumacher and Hill for their incident.
In the week following the race, it was reported in several British newspapers that Frank Williams, founder and team principal of the Williams team, had visited the Benetton garage after the race where he had apologised to Schumacher and Briatore for the incident, during which he had allegedly referred to Hill as a "prat". On the same day, a Williams team spokesman stated that Hill was backed by Frank Williams and technical director Patrick Head, and that the incident was a natural part of motor racing. Frank Williams then issued a personal statement denying the newspaper reports. Hill also telephoned the owner of Formula One's commercial rights, Bernie Ecclestone, for advice on how to handle the situation. Ecclestone advised him to apologise to Schumacher, which Hill decided against. The crash was still the main talking point throughout the sport by the time of the , exacerbated by the fact that Hill's home race was immediately followed by Schumacher's.
|}
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
!
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Driver
! scope="col" | Points
|-
|align="left"| 10px
| scope="row" | 1
| Michael Schumacher
| align="right"| 46
|-
|align="left"| 10px
| scope="row" | 2
| Damon Hill
| align="right"| 35
|-
|align="left"| 10px
| scope="row" | 3
| Jean Alesi
| align="right"| 32
|-
|align="left"| 10px 2
| scope="row" | 4
| Johnny Herbert
| align="right"| 22
|-
|align="left"| 10px
| scope="row" | 5
| David Coulthard
| align="right"| 17
|-
!colspan=4|Source:
|}
;Constructors' Championship standings
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
!
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Constructor
! scope="col" | Points
|-
|align="left"| 10px
| scope="row" | 1
| Benetton-Renault
| align="right"| 58
|-
|align="left"| 10px
| scope="row" | 2
| Ferrari
| align="right"| 49
|-
|align="left"| 10px
| scope="row" | 3
| Williams-Renault
| align="right"| 46
|-
|align="left"| 10px
| scope="row" | 4
| Jordan-Peugeot
| align="right"| 13
|-
|align="left"| 10px 1
| scope="row" | 5
| Ligier-Mugen-Honda
| align="right"| 10
|-
!colspan=4|Source: