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1994 Japanese Grand Prix

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Thanks for following the 1994 Japanese Grand Prix with us! Here's Hill being congratulated by Schumacher in a thrilling - and sometimes confusing - race!

Thanks for following the 1994 Japanese Grand Prix with us! Here's Hill being congratulated by Schumacher in a thrilling - and sometimes confusing - race!

Finishing positions:
1. Hill, 2. Schumacher, 3. Alesi, 4. Mansell, 5. Irvine, 6. Frentzen, 7. Hakkinen, 8. Fittipaldi, 9. Comas, 10. Salo, 11. Panis, 12. Brabham, 13. Zanardi
Mansell passes Alesi for third on the road! After that race-long battle, Mansell takes it - but Alesi keeps third on the timing boards.
It's 3.4 seconds! Hill wins the Japanese Grand Prix from Schumacher!
Hill crosses the line! But what's the gap to Schumacher?
Hill begins the final lap - but Schumacher has brought the gap down to 2.4s. This is going to be so so close here.
And Hill hits traffic again! But Footwork's Fittipaldi is wise and lets the leader through.
We've just two laps left! The gap is at 4.2s - Hill might just hang on here.
And we've got another Alesi/Mansell scrap! This won't be for position on the timing boards, this is for pride and honour, and Alesi is still hanging on for all his worth.
Hill has cleared Comas and has also cleared one of the Lotuses, so traffic is now out of the way - but Schumacher has brought the gap down to 5.2s!
And Schumacher's now whittled it down to seven seconds - Comas is asleep to the implications of the race and doesn't let Hill go through.
Hakkinen is just 0.033s ahead of Frentzen on the timesheets - so Frentzen should take sixth any time now...
The gap is now down to 8.3s. Hill's got Comas ahead of him on the road, and is also on older tyres compared to Schumacher.
That's down to 10 seconds already - so Schumacher will be at this rate on course to pass Hill on the timing boards. Alesi is still ahead of Mansell, both on-track and on times. Irvine is currently a net fifth from Hakkinen.
Schumacher is now less than 12s behind Hill, so he could still do this. There should be about six or seven laps left - so he'll have to dig a little deeper to overcome that gap.
Further back, there's a battle brewing over the final point; Frentzen is winding Hakkinen in and will hope to capture sixth having started this race from third.
Mansell, meanwhile, is still right on Alesi's gearbox. He's not going to let this go, is he?
Schumacher can overcome Hill here, but he needs to go over a second a lap faster than his rival. Can he do it?
Glum faces on the Benetton pit wall as Hill reclaims the aggregate lead by 15 seconds

Glum faces on the Benetton pit wall as Hill reclaims the aggregate lead by 15 seconds

Just as the picture returns, Schumacher gets back on track - but he's well down on Hill now! At this rate, Hill will close in on Schumacher colossally in the battle for the title.
That's a picture, and just in time too - Benetton are indeed out in the pits! Schumacher will come in...
It appears that Benetton is readying up to bring Schumacher in! He just got clear of Hill, will he have to do it all over again?
That being said, the cars are about as visible as they were at the start of the race. Hopefully, we'll lose the technical difficulties soon.
It looks like there's a problem with the recorder there. Someone might need to give the VCR a bit of a knock...
And no, aggregate isn't a scandal involving an aggre, whatever that is. This isn't Watergate.
Alesi is five seconds ahead of Mansell. It doesn't look like it, given Mansell's about a moustache hair's breadth from the back of the Ferrari, but there's that word again: aggregate.
Meanwhile, Schumacher takes the lead! Sure, he's behind Hill, but the timesheets don't lie and the German is back ahead!
Mansell is right back on Alesi's tail, going very wide at the hairpin to try and find a bit more purchase on the outside line.
Schumacher has taken a huge chunk out of Hill's lead. He's nowhere near the Williams on track, but on the combined times he's just 1.3s behind.
Almost a moment there for Mansell, taking his rear-right tyre off-road and somehow managing to avoid spinning. He's really cruising in on Alesi here.
As we say that, Irvine comes in to pit. The Larrousse crew also looks set to bring Comas in.
Mansell is getting ready to turn to his battle with Alesi, as he closes in on the back of the Ferrari. Eddie Irvine is slowly homing in on the pair, too.
Damon Hill remains in the lead - but Schumacher is eating into his gap at the front, whittling down the aggregate lead to about four seconds.

Damon Hill remains in the lead - but Schumacher is eating into his gap at the front, whittling down the aggregate lead to about four seconds.

Schumacher is closing in on Hill - but will have to stop again.
A reminder for those confused by the timing system: the times at the red flag are set in stone - Schumacher was 7s ahead of Hill. These are added to the times following the restart. Because Hill is about 12s up the road from Schumacher, he holds a net lead of about 5s once the times are added.
And Alesi is in, meaning Schumacher will return to a net second place.
Alesi is getting away from Hill, eating the British driver's aggregate lead, as Schumacher is 4.8s behind Alesi on the timing board.
And Blundell is out! He pulls over at the side of the road, joining Tyrrell team-mate in retirement.

By: Jake Boxall-Legge

Published: