1 World Drivers’ Championship – All drivers
35 drivers participated in 1995 – there would be one-third fewer the following year. Matrin Brundle and Aguri Suzuki participated in a seat-share scheme at Ligier the likes of which was seen again at Red Bull in 2005 with Vitantonio Liuzzi and Christian Klien. Brundle had the upper hand, scored most of the points and got most of the drives.
2 World Drivers’ Championship – Battle for the title
Damon Hill held the advantage early in the season but Michael Schumacher prevailed, winning the title with two rounds to go.
3 World Drivers’ Championship – Points systems 1981-present
Had the 2003 points system been used in 1995, Johnny Herbert would have been third overall, instead of David Coulthard.
4 World Constructors’ Championships – All constructors
1995 was the final year when teams used their ‘traditional’ numbers instead of being numbered in championship order.
NB. Benetton were docked ten points and Williams six due to fuel irregularities in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Their final totals were 137 and 112 respectively.
5 World Constructors’ Championships – Battle for the title
Benetton took their sole constructor’s championship victory with their second driver’s championship.
NB. Benetton were docked ten points and Williams six due to fuel irregularities in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Their final totals were 137 and 112 respectively.
6 Drivers’ Average Start Positions
Williams duo Hill and Coulthard typically qualified ahead of Schumacher. Nigel Mansell fared better on his two outings for McLaren than Mark Blundell subsequently did, but still judged the team’s performance too poor for it to be worth staying.
7 Drivers’ Top 3 Qualifying Positions
Hill took more poles than Schumacher, but Schumacher qualified for every round in the top three, except at Spa when he was 16th after a wet qualifying session.
8 Drivers’ Average Position Changes and Participations
16 drivers started in every round – there were 17 in 1995, a new high. Schumacher and Alesi impressed with their ability to consistently pick up places despite qualifying well to begin with.
9 Drivers’ Points per Round and per Finish
Hill’s failure to extract the potetial of the Williams-Renault package is evident in the fact that he scored only just over half the points available to him in the races he finished. Brundle, too, suffered poor reliability and lost out to the likes of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Rubens Barrichello as a result.
10 Drivers’ DNFs (totals)
The mechanical failure rate in 1995 was nearly one-third of all participations – twice the number of racing incidents.
11 Drivers’ DNFs (by driver)
Bertrand Gachot (Pacific) suffered eight retirements from eleven starts; team-mate Andrea Montermini eight from 17 and Pedro Diniz likewise in his debut season for newcomers Forti. Hill had four fewer than team-mate Coulthard.