As the Grand Prix fraternity arrived in Britain for round eight of the 1995 F1 World Championship, Damon Hill was in desperate need of a second consecutive win in front of his home crowd. After a commanding drive by title rival Michael Schumacher at the previous round in France, the German led the championship standings by eleven points with Hill in second.
In qualifying, Hill’s lap on Friday on was enough to earn him pole position after a wet second session on the Saturday, in which no-one could better their times from the previous day’s dry session. Schumacher was approximately two-and-a-half tenths slower in second place. FIA president Max Mosley informed the press that there would be a review of the qualifying format, which was subsequently changed to a single one-hour Saturday session from 1996 onwards.
On race day, Hill led away from pole, with a fast-starting Jean Alesi slotting in ahead of Schumacher from sixth on the grid. With Alesi able to hold-off Schumacher’s charge for a number of laps, Hill was able to build a solid lead which grew to almost 20 seconds by the time Alesi came in for his first stop, which enabled Schumacher to move into second, and slowly ate into Hill’s lead.
Hill’s team-mate, David Coulthard, suffered with an electronic problem immediately after his first stop which left him down in ninth. Schumacher took the lead on lap 22 after Hill’s first stop, with the German yet to pit himself. On fresher tyres, Hill began to reduce Schumacher’s lead for a short while before Schumacher made his one and only stop on lap 31. With other drivers seemingly out of contention, it looked like another battle Hill and Schumacher, Williams and Benetton.
Hill set the fastest lap of the race on lap 37 as he attempted to create a large enough gap between himself and Schumacher before he had to pit again. Four laps later, he made his second stop with a gap of 27 seconds. Schumacher approached as Hill exited the pits, with the Benetton’s momentum the stronger going into Copse corner, forcing Hill narrowly into second place, his hard work undone. The Brit was able to stick with the Benetton and attempted to pass Schumacher on lap 46 but was thwarted by the presence of the lapped Sauber of Jean-Christophe Bullion.
Towards the end of the same lap, Hill attempted a foolhardy overtake at Priory, spinning both he and Schumacher out of the race. This left Schumacher’s team-mate, Johnny Herbert, in the lead, with Coulthard, who had recovered from his Williams’ electronic fault earlier in the race, charging closely in second. With a close battle ensuing between the sister Williams and Benetton cars, Coulthard was reprimanded by the stewards for speeding in the pitlane earlier in the race (due to the electronic fault hampering his car’s speed-limiter). He passed Herbert on lap 49 and took his penalty two laps later, dropping him down to third behind Alesi.
After 61 laps, Herbert took the chequered flag 16 seconds ahead of Alesi to win his first Grand Prix. Olivier Panis brought his Ligier home fourth, with McLaren’s Mark Blundell fifth and Sauber’s Heinz Harald Frentzen completing the top six. Similarly to Schumacher and Hill for their accident, Blundell was given a reprimand for a collision with Rubens Barrichello’s Jordan two laps from the end, but his fifth place was allowed to stand.
The top of the driver’s standings were unchanged, with Schumacher still leading Hill by eleven points, with Alesi third, three points behind Hill. Herbert’s win moved him from sixth to fourth. In the constructor’s standings, Benetton-Renault led with 58 points to second-placed Ferrari’s 46, with Williams-Renault in third with 49 as the teams prepared to travel to Germany for round nine.
