1994 Belgian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Schumacher leads the Drivers’ Championship going into Belgium; his margin has eroded since the mid-season high.

Previous race

At Hungary, Schumacher won from pole; Hill finished second. Verstappen took third after Brundle’s McLaren failed with an electrical fault on the final lap. Both Ferraris retired with engine failures. Irvine and Barrichello collided at the second corner on lap 1; Coulthard also spun on oil from Alesi’s expired engine.

Between-race developments

Häkkinen returns to McLaren after his one-race ban. The financially stretched Lotus replaces Alessandro Zanardi with local driver Philippe Adams, who brings funding to the team. Philippe Alliot, who deputised for Häkkinen at McLaren in Hungary, moves to the Larrousse team for Belgium, replacing Olivier Beretta whose sponsorship money has run out.

Track changes

Following the deaths of Senna and Ratzenberger at Imola, the FIA identified 27 corners on the remaining circuits as high-risk. At Spa, Eau Rouge has been converted into a slow chicane by painting new boundary lines onto the track — the first running of the Belgian Grand Prix without the full Eau Rouge sweep.