Pacific Grand Prix

Pacific Grand Prix

Laguna Seca Raceway (1960–1963) TI Circuit (1994–1995)
Race information
Number of times held	6
First held	1960
Last held	1995
Most wins (drivers)	Michael Schumacher (2) Stirling Moss (2)
Most wins (constructors)	Benetton (2) Lotus (2)
Circuit length	3.703 km (2.300 mi)
Race length	307.349 km (192.093 mi)
Laps	83
Last race (1995)
Pole position
David Coulthard Williams-Renault 1:14.013
Podium
1. M. Schumacher Benetton-Renault 1:48:49.972 2. D. Coulthard Williams-Renault +14.920 3. D. Hill Williams-Renault +48.333
Fastest lap
Michael Schumacher Benetton-Renault 1:16.374

The Pacific Grand Prix (Japanese: パシフィックグランプリ) was a round of the Formula One World Championship twice in the mid-1990s and non-championship events in the 1960s. The non-championship events were held at Laguna Seca from 1960 through 1963. The two championship races were held at the Tanaka International Aida circuit (now Okayama International Circuit), a slow and twisty 3.7-kilometre (2.3-mile) track in the countryside of Aida, Japan.

Championship races[]

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The inaugural Championship race in 1994 saw Michael Schumacher take an easy victory after Ayrton Senna was involved in a first corner accident with Mika Häkkinen and Nicola Larini. Schumacher overtook Senna into the first corner and was never threatened for the lead from that point onward. Schumacher could have lapped second placed Gerhard Berger in the last third of the race, but chose not to. The fastest lap was set on lap 3. The race was notable for the Jordan team and Rubens Barrichello's first podium finishes in F1 with third place. The more recent Pacific Grand Prix in 1995 was a more eventful affair, with some close racing throughout the field. Following the 1995 Kobe earthquake, the Pacific Grand Prix was moved from early in the calendar to the end of the calendar. The race culminated in a tactical victory for Michael Schumacher, securing his second World Championship, and making him the youngest double World Champion at the time (later surpassed by Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel).

This race made Japan one of only nine countries (the others being Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, the United States, and, as a result of emergency schedule realignment for the 2020 season due to COVID-19 pandemic, Austria and Bahrain) to host multiple Grands Prix in the same year. It was discontinued primarily due to the TI Circuit's location in a remote area of Japan; a similar criticism precluded Autopolis' plans (under "Asian Grand Prix" name) to host a second Japanese race in 1993.^[1]

With the announcement that the Japanese Grand Prix would switch from the Suzuka Circuit to the Fuji Speedway from 2007, there had been media speculation that Suzuka may retain a race under a resurrection of the Pacific Grand Prix title.^[2] However, it was later announced that the Japanese Grand Prix would alternate between Fuji and Suzuka from 2009 onward^[3] although the alternation was cancelled as Toyota, the current Fuji Speedway owner discontinued further F1 races at Fuji, having pulled out of F1 at the end of 2009.^[4]

Official names[]

• 1994: Foster's Pacific Grand Prix^[5]
• 1995: Pacific Grand Prix^[6]

Winners of the Pacific Grand Prix[]

Repeat winners (drivers)[]

A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Wins	Driver	Years won
2	Stirling Moss	,
	Michael Schumacher	1994, 1995

Repeat winners (constructors)[]

A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Wins	Constructor	Years won
2	Lotus	,
	Benetton	1994, 1995

Repeat winners (engine manufacturers)[]

A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Wins	Manufacturer	Years won
3	Climax	, ,
2	Ford *	, 1994

* Built by Cosworth

By year[]

Layout of Laguna Seca at the time the event was held there as a non-championship event.

A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Year	Driver	Constructor	Location	Report
1960	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax	Laguna Seca
1961	Stirling Moss	Lotus-Climax
1962	Roger Penske	Zerex Special–Climax
1963	Dave MacDonald	Cooper-Ford
1964 – 1993	Not held
1994	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	TI Circuit	Report
1995	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Renault		Report

References[]