GP4: Benetton B197 v1.1 updated

If you’ve downloaded the B197 recently, you’ll know it already features David Marques’ excellent mapping and 4K textures as part of the original release.

While he was preparing the F1 Challenge release (available here), David noticed a detail that deserved a slight correction.

Specifically, the yellow section at the rear of the B197 — an important mark of the colours of Benetton livery — wasn’t matching its real-world reference as closely as it could. Even subtle variations in tone  can be noticeable when compared to period photography or in-game lighting, so David made a quick adjustment which looks a lot better.

All texture files have now been updated to incorporate this change for all races.

You can download the updated version here.

1997 Benetton B197 v1.1

by fongu & David Marques

Download v1.1

GP4: 1997 Benetton B197 Renault by fongu & David Marques

I’m excited to unveil my newest release: the Benetton B197 (1997) in collaboration with the talented David Marques.

If you’ve tried my 1997 Jordan, you’ll notice immediately: this 3D model is on another level. I faced a familiar dilemma every modder knows too well — do I sink countless hours into a hyper-detailed model that could stand proudly in a modern engine? Or aim for something simpler and more in line with an older game’s limits?

This time, thanks to the wealth of reference photos from track-run B197s in recent years, I went for detail!

The result is we have a high quality car, complete with a fully built cockpit, accurate rear-end geometry, diffuser, crash structure, gearbox, and subtle internal components. The best thing is that this car is still within GP4 limits for polygon counts. 

While I tackled the painting on most of the internal elements, David Marques once again elevated the project with his impeccable mapping and paintwork on the main body, plus new 3D bolts, multiple wing specs, and gorgeous full 4K textures. Every race of the 1997 season gets its own unique livery — all thanks to David’s dedication and obsessive eye for historical detail, with help from Quickslick.

Since the B197 evolved directly from the ’96 car — itself evolved from the ’95 championship winner, which I made not too long ago, it helped me recreate some parts quickly and accurately that would usually take me a long time in making parts that are difficult to see from pictures. 

On track, the B197 had flashes of brilliance. Wurz debuted in it and immediately impressed with a podium at Silverstone. Alesi delivered a pole and several strong finishes. And of course, after recovering from illness and reeling from personal tragedy, Berger returned to the cockpit with that unforgettable, inspired victory at the German Grand Prix. This would also be Berger's swansong season finishing a strong fourth place, just shy of the podium at the final round at Jerez. 

This release is for Grand Prix 4 of course, but it is also jointly being released in F1 Challenge. 

I hope you enjoy driving it as much as we enjoyed bringing it back to life.

1997 Benetton B197

by fongu & David Marques

version 1.1 updated February 2026

Download v1.1

GP4: 1995 Benetton B195 by David Marques & Fongu

I'm really excited to share with you this new car package, created in partnership with David Marques, for the 1995 season. It's a brand new Benetton B195 Renault that took Michael Schumacher to his second World Championship, in dominant fashion, and brought home the Constructors' Championship to Enstone for the first time. 

After a tumultuous 1994 season, Benetton proved they were a Championship winning team, without the cloud of scandal and cheating hanging over them. For a number of years, Schumacher had shown signs of his generational talent, and it was on full display during a 1995 season when he did not always have the best car. In a genius move, Briatore had bought the Ligier team in 1994, which secured him the lucrative Renault engine contracts, which he duly put in the Benetton. 

Johnny Herbert  had a less happy time, as he and Flavio simply did not get on. However, the season still produced two wins for the Brit, but neither he, nor Alesi or Berger when they tested the car post season, were able to exploit the pace out of the Benetton that Schumacher was. 

1995 Benetton B195 by David Marques and fongu

Similar to the 1994 Benetton that I created a year prior, I was able to use the Codemasters F1 2020 as a template to make this car, ensuring I had good accuracy and detail to emulate. I was able to create this car using my own skills and modelling preferences that I have acquired over the years. Having such a good reference really does help speed things up when modelling, but be sure to know that no parts of the Codemasters car is on this car, this is 100% my car shape. Similar to the 1995 Ferrari which I made a few years back (also with David Marques), I've tried to keep this car simple rather than spending too much time on the finer details, as I would do for the 1994 cars, however it still holds up in terms of quality. 

Included are a number of shape changes as you progress through the season. The early season car started with a bendy edges to the front wing, the additional part of the rear of the airbox, and rectangular barge boards. The front wing became a more conventional flat shape for the later part of the season, along with a conventional smooth engine cover, whilst the bargeboards developed in shape, something they would keep for 1996 and 1997. There are also low downforce configurations for both the front and rear wings and hopefully all of these changes are captured in the release poster for the car above. 

Whilst I did a very early draft of the livery, the main credits for the textures goes to David Marques in providing the textures and logos for the whole season. He was able to fix my terrible attempt at mapping and has done a great job in making the car look as great as it does. 

1995 Benetton B195 by David Marques and fongu

Now before you get too excited about the rate at which I've been releasing cars of late, it's worth saying that the car took over a month to build, and I did about a year ago. The development of the car lay dormant for a long time until David Marques helped me to progress this project. It's probably of no surprise to you that the next car is not too far away, that being the 1995 Ligier, which on the outside, really resembles the B195. There are subtle differences and they did go in some different development paths, but more on that when that car is released. But to try and temper your expectations, after that release, don't expect the same rate of releases of more 1990s cars. 

As with the 1997 Jordan released recently, this is a joint F1C '99-02 community and GP4 release. You can see how this car looks in that game, as well as downloading this car for F1C's 1995 mod here: https://wookey.forumotion.com/t1265-f1-1995-season

Whilst I admire and envy the editability that F1 Challenge game, I do think, albeit I am quite biased, that the cars do look better in GP4 overall. In parts, I wish GP4 had a similarly deep repository of mods. But I'm glad, as always, that my work benefits not just the one game, but is being ported and used in other games.

1995 Benetton B195 by David Marques and fongu

Back in the world of Grand Prix 4, at the moment, you will receive the car as a stand-alone package, but I do intend to include it as a 1995 mod update in the near future. I want to at least use a more up to date helmet shape for this Benetton and upgrade the helmet textures for Schumi and Johnny. Anyway, until then, enjoy this car. 

Happy racing!

GP4: 1994 Benetton B194 Ford Cosworth - Australian GP version released

I proudly present to you the 1994 Benetton B194, created from scratch by me. I had previously written about the car and some insights into creating this car on another post, which you can read here:

more info

This car is the sixth car created for the 1994 season in GP4, based on how the car appeared at the Australian GP, with Michael Schumacher and Johnny Herbert at the wheel. Stay tuned for a 1994 mod update with more variations. I also include in this pack an external steering wheel, based on the internal wheel already included in the mod. I've also included a CSM update package for ease of install, obviously you'll need the 1994 Mod v4 installed first. 

So without further ado, here's the links. 

Enjoy!

GP4: 1994 Benetton B194 Ford Cosworth - coming soon

Coming soon to the 1994 mod is a new Benetton B194 made by me. This is presented as it appeared at the Australian GP, with Schumacher and Herbert at the wheel. 

1994 Benetton B194 by Fongu

Since Codemasters released their version of the B194 in the F1 2020 game, I was grateful to have that resource to be able to check my dimensions and proportions to it, taking nothing from that car at all. Indeed that car is based off one of the current show cars, which Mick Schumacher drove at Spa a few years back, and Damon Hill at Goodwood, but that configuration never actually raced, but is an amalgamation of parts from various races. 

1994 Benetton B194 by Fongu

This championship winning car is a cause of much debate and controversy, with many maintaining that it cheated to gain an advantage, whilst everyone involved with the team at the time, even nearly 30 years later, maintain they did not. I'm not going to solve any arguements with this blogpost, but my leaning is towards them not cheating. 

Martin Brundle drove his old 1992 Benetton B192 recently at the 2022 Austrian GP weekend, saying he and the team were taking an analogue car to race against the technologically-advanced and well-funded teams in Williams and McLaren. I believe when 'driver-aids' were banned from the 1994 season, the Benetton team were in the best position to adapt to the new regulations. Indeed they spent much of 1993 preparing for this. 

The team and Schumacher were working on a very basic and early iteration of a blown diffuser, and whilst Vettel and Red Bull in the 2010 era got Renault to continue to pump out hot exhaust gasses when the driver was off throttle, Schumacher had to learn to do this manually with his foot, and I think it's this odd usage of the throttle that Senna mistakenly confused for traction control, and also why Schumacher had such a large advantage over all three of his team-mates that season. 

On that amazing French GP start, Steve Matchett reveals in his book, 'The Mechanic's Tale', reveals that Michael had spent a test day that very week on perfecting his starts, knowing it was a weakness earlier that year. In terms of Option 13, I can understand having working in Software development, that sometimes its easier to not mess with code by deleting huge amounts of it, because it may break the whole thing, so it was easier to just hide it and not use it. In fact Larini admitted Ferrari had used traction control, albeit during practice only, in 1994 and McLaren were fined for using an automated upshift on their car, however they never fined Benetton for traction control deeming that the mechanism was there, but never used. 

*** Edit Jan 2023 -  A fantastic article, taking input from William Toet ***

The fire at the German GP is well documented, and whilst it was cheating, it is understandable how the Benetton team thought they had legitimate grounds to take the action that they did (removing a part from refueling rig) rather than erring on the side of caution.

I think this car is under-rated because of the cloud that hangs over it,  but it was a brilliantly nimble car that with a Ford V8 Cosworth engine, competed and beat the leading Renault V10s and Ferrari V12s. Generally, Schumacher was driving excellently that season, and there were mistakes, especially at the season finale in Adelaide where he had a massive shunt in practice, and then that famous off in the race, and that chop on Damon Hill that cost the Williams driver the championship. But he was unbeatable in the first half of the season, and it took a lot of events that conspired against the German that lead to Hill getting anywhere near the championship battle in the second half of the year. Whilst the Williams ended the season with the better car, in my opinion, and controversy aside, on a pure racing level, this Benetton B194 driven by Schumacher was fully deserving of the 1994 title. They prepared the best for the new regulations, Schumacher was extracting the very best out of the car, having spent years fine tuning it with the team, and I think the 1995 season which they dominated, should have been a repeat of the 1994 on a pure racing level - it was looking this was in the early races. 

1994 Benetton B194 by Fongu

So with all that in mind, I wanted especially to do justice with this car, a true legend of the sport, whatever side of the fence you fall on. I'm putting my best techniques learned over the last two decades to do this. With me still using Zmodeler 1 to create my shapes, it still takes time to manually put the car together in a polygon efficient manner, without key curves looking blocky. With having spent a bit more time in Photoshop in the past couple of years, my texture work continues to improve and there is a better mapping relationship between shaping and texturing processes. 

To make sure I'm well under GP4's polygon limit, I decided I would not create the engine and keep the gearbox detail to a minimum, sticking with a similar level of detail to the Codemasters version. In the end, this comes to around 55,000 faces, which is by comparison around 10,000 less than my Williams. 

1994 Benetton B194 by Fongu

On the shape front, I have opted for more rounded edges on the front and rear wing endplates, as well as the bargeboards. Where there are more curves, I've put more polygons to smooth them more than I have done in previous 1994 cars. To compensate for this increase in detail, I tried to use much less polygons on flat edges, on parts of the nose and the sidepod in particular. For details like screws and bolts, I've opted to shape them separately, mapping them to a larger and more detailed part of the texture, where previously I had painted them in a smaller resolution. This way, you can zoom in and see the detail. There's more detail in the wheel hub assembly than other cars, though the brake pad itself is still borrowed from when I created my 1996 cars. So pumping more energy into areas that you will see is hopefully a better solution than spending lots of time on an engine that you'll very rarely see in-game. For the cockpit, again I wasn't shy in using polygons where I needed to there. This will carry over into the internal cockpit shape. For wing levels, I tried to match the level of downforce with photos from the Australian Grand Prix as reference. 

On the texture side, I kept a similar mapping to the original 1994 car by Mckey and Oggo, with a second texture at half the size for various details, and I've created a new carbon texture. 

The livery is not that straight forward, and there's curves that passes various seams, so it took a while to get the base livery right. I was able to use a combination of the codemasters car and various photos to make sure the livery is as accurate as possible. 

1994 Benetton B194 by Fongu

For the logos, most of them are personally sourced, but I'm grateful to consult with GP4 logo-master Jurgen (Quickslick), to help me find better quality versions of some logos. On that, I ended up creating my own personal Mild Seven (and Benetton non-tobacco equivalent) vector myself. I searched for a long time, the logo on modern cars, on models, on decal sheets, well let's just say I noticed variations from the original car. Also the one on the engine cover, as it's on a slightly slanted surface, it's stretched vertically, as well as arced to fit - so making my own vector logo ensured the quality remained on the logo itself. Again with the text like 'Power By' on the engine cover, and the font on the lower rear wing, I took care to find the best match using a favourite online tool of mine, whatsthefont.com. I've also taken time to distinguish between black parts, carbon parts, and parts that look like a plain black plastic, and amended the alpha channel (reflection management) to suit. 

1994 Benetton B194 by Fongu

I'm always trying to improve and push myself to create as accurate a model as I can, without breaking the game when I put it in. Hopefully you can see some of the effort I've put into this model when you run it in game. 

My plan is to release this car as a stand alone release first, and then with a couple of variations and other new content in a 1994 mod update at a later date. 

1994 Benetton B194 by Fongu

1/43 Model Review: 1999 Benetton B199 Playlife

Background

The 1999 Benetton tried some new radical technology, a front torque transfer system and twin clutch gearbox, but these proved troublesome. But the car was heavy and the aerodynamics were not as sophisticated as its rivals and the car was disappointing compared to its predecessors. The team managed 16 points, with Fisichella's 2nd place in Canada the highlight of the year. Fisichella was in contention for the win at the crazy European Grand Prix but spun out of the lead. Wurz only scored two points finishes in a disappointing season.

Minichamps

Minichamps 430990010

The Benetton is another long 1999 car, only just fitting in the old Minichamps box. The model is the standard Minichamps, with good proportions and simple details. With there being no alternative models of this car in this scale, this is a reasonable car to have in your collection, but it's not a particularly popular model, trading for cheap prices and not many being actually bought/sold.
Score: 7/10

1/43 Model Review: 1995 World Champion Michael Schumacher (Benetton B195 Renault)

Background

After a controversial 1994 season, Schumacher dominated the 1995 season on merit in the Benetton who had scooped  up the standard setting Renault engine. Despite the Williams team producing a better car than his Benetton B195, Schumacher drove incredibly well all season to claim his second Drivers' World Championship, his first Championship double.

The full raft of technical changes that started in 1994 after the San Marino Grand Prix were taking shape in the 1995 season, with the cars estimated to be around 5 seconds a lap slower than the previous year. Stepped floors, lower rear wings, smaller front wings, smaller engines, raised sidepods, more open and higher cockpits, and crash testing was introduced.

More detail on the Grand Prix races are featured in the many different Minichamps versions available.

Minichamps

Michael Schumacher Collection

Brazilian GP

Minichamps 510954301

The season began in Brazil, where Hill started in pole position and led from the start. Hill looked the faster and was on course for victory but was halted by suspension failure pitching him into spin, leaving Schumacher to pick up the win, the first of 9 wins that year - a joint record at the time with Nigel Mansell. After the race, Schumacher and Coulthard, who finished 2nd, were disqualified for fuel irregularites, but both were reinstated following an appeal, though the teams did not earn any Constructor Championship points.

The earliest version of the B195 comes from the season opener at Brazil. The main shape is generally good, one of the better models of that era. With Minichamps sponsoring the team with its various brands on the front wing, we see Minichamps release many versions of the car. The original helmet is quite big, and the decals just in front of the sidepod opening stop short too early showing a bit too much dark blue.

French GP

Minichamps 510954311

It's strange that Minichamps did not do many other early season versions. By now, Schumacher was leading the Championship, and despite Hill taking pole position, Schumacher eased to victory taking an 11 point lead in the title fight.

The next version released was this French GP version. This is the rarest Michael Schumacher Collection cars because Minichamps noticed that the rollover bar had changed to a traditional smooth one rather than the stepped one from the early season. Though not perfect, it has become one of the most valuable models that I know of, even today.
Score: 6/10

British GP

Minichamps 510954312

Schumacher was leading the race with Hill close behind, when the Englishman lunged up the inside and took the two of them out of the race. The British GP was where Schumacher's team mate, Herbert, would take his first every F1 victory.

The British GP saw the revised a updated model with the primary change being the engine cover. New decals are much better and the additional winglets on the rear wing endplates. The driver's helmet is also smaller and better shaped and proportioned. In the race, Hill made a very ambitious move that took the both of them out, 1995 being a low point in Hill's career.

German GP

Minichamps 510954313

The German was coming home to a hero's welcome and he delivered his first home victory, the first German to win his home race, in front of his adoring fans, the grandstands a sea of Benetton blue. Though Hill secured pole and lead away at the start, a broken driveshaft caused him to spin at the beginning of the second lap.

The German GP car is practically the same as the British GP version bar the Minichamps branding on the front wing. No changes to the shape to cater for the low downforce, low drag cars, but at least Minichamps made two different shapes for the year.

Belgian GP

Minichamps 510954314

The track at Spa is liable to provide mixed weather conditions and it resulted in a slightly topsy-turvy grid with a Ferrari one-two at the front, Hill down in 8th and Schumacher in 16th. This was one of the great come-back drives in F1 history from Schumacher. As the Ferrari's retired and Herbert slow in the dry, runaway leader Coulthard also retired. Hill stopped for wet tyres when it rained and was 6 seconds a lap quicker than the German who stayed out on slicks, now in the lead. Schumacher defended valiantly, though some of his moves were too aggressive, angering Hill. Schumacher didn't technically break any rules, but clarifications were made after this race and he was given a suspended race ban. Schumacher went wide, allowing Hill past, but the track dried and Hill had to pit again. Another rain downpour came and the Safety Car was deployed, with Schumacher and Hill battling at the front until Hill had to serve a 10 second stop-go penalty for pit-lane speeding.

The Belgian GP car is almost as rare and as valuable as the French GP car, presumably because of the German's great drive.

Minichamps 510954315

Italian GP
Coulthard spun out on the warm up lap from pole position (was it this or the Australian GP crash on pit entry the most embarrassing moment for Coulthard in 1995?) but a red flag after a second lap collision gave him a second chance. Hill, for the second time this year, ran into the back of Schumacher when lapping a backmarker and the two retired, with Taki Inoue (famous for being taken out by a Safety Car in Monaco and being run over by an ambulance in Hungary) in the Footwork later taking the blame for sliding in front of Hill causing him to take avoiding action. Alesi led from Berger when Jean's camera fell off his car and broke Bergers car (I think 1995 was the funniest year!). Then Alesi's brakes caught fire with seven laps to go, allowing Herbert through to his second victory of the year.

The Italian GP car, again does not come in low downforce configuration, but is more of the same as the previous cars really.

Minichamps 510954316

European GP
He started the European GP in third on a damp track, but Alesi in the Ferrari started on slick tyres and was leading into the closing stages of the race. But he was caught up in a bit of traffic which allowed Schumacher to catch up to the Ferrari, dramatically taking the lead with 2 laps remaining.

The European GP car has the distinct feature as the only car in this series to come with wet tyres. It was rare in those days for Minichamps to do wet tyre shod cars, but this car was not particularly valuable in the market.

Minichamps 510954317

Australian GP
Schumacher's final race for Benetton came at the Australian Grand Prix, which he struggled to match the pace of the Williams who were streaking ahead. But after his pit-stop, he came across Jean Alesi's Ferrari, and the two tangled clumsily into the hairpin and caused both cars to eventually retire, a sad end to such a triumphant year where he equalled Mansell's win tally of 9 in a season.

The Australian GP car was one of the first models I ever got, and though I didn't know it at the time, was one of the slightly more valuable ones.

French GP ...  again

Minichamps 510954318

The re-released French GP car on the new shape was not particularly valuable. The French GP did not allow alcohol advertising, nor tobacco advertising, so it ran Drive Alkoholfrei on the sidepods instead.
Score: 6/10

Other Releases

Canadian GP

Minichamps 431952701

My favourite version of the B195 from Minichamps is the early season model with Alesi on the rollover bar. It was Alesi's first and only GP victory for the popular French-Sicilian. Schumacher had earned a huge lead, but suffered from the commentators curse when he came in for a lengthy pitstop due to a gearbox fault that also required a new steering wheel. This dropped him back allowing Alesi in the Ferrari to come through for victory and both Jordans in 2nd and 3rd, the first double podium for that team. Alesi's car stopped on the inlap and he hitched a lift on the back of Schumacher's Benetton. Schumacher's hand is raised as well as Alesi waving to the fans.

World Champion - based on the French GP

Minichamps 403950101

The car was updated recently, again disappointingly it was on the old diecast model, but the decals have been heavily revised and comes with a new driver figure. With so many B195s out already, this was hardly a must have, and with two version of the French GP car already available, it wasn't necessary to get another one, though this car came as part of the new Schumacher collection.

World Champion (Driver getting out of the car) - based on the French GP

Minichamps 400950101

Another World Champion edition, again based on the French GP, but this time in Minichamps branding. This comes with Schumacher climbing out of his Benetton and his steering wheel on top of the monocoque.
Score: 7/10

UT Models

This isnt' really a model, but it was a nice novelty when UT models came out with a couple of 1995 F1 cars in pull back toy form. You can get a Sauber, Ferrari or Williams as an alternative if I remember correctly. For a toy, this is really not bad in terms of shape, and there's nothing particularly lacking on the decals either, so this is a surprisingly good toy.
Score: 5/10

Spark

Spark S4775

With the disappointment that Minichamps would not update the shape of their B195, when Spark announced they would be applying their skills to their own version, I was quite excited to see it. Sadly I was disappointed the product. As mentioned on other Spark 1990s models, the wheels are oversized, and I'm not a big fan of their helmets. The car does have nice details that were missing from the Minichamps car. The bodylines are nice, including the fuel caps, the little engine inlet by the Renault logo is a nice touch, and the wings are of good quality as well as the nice suspension arms.

It's not a bad model, but the rollover bar, I was hoping for more of a triangular shape and it is too big, the nose could be more defined, the lower rear wing doesn't have the right curvature. It's hard to put into words what I find wrong with it, but I think the lack of definition in the overall shape is what lets it down for me. Let me put a comparison up of the real thing and the model from similar angles.

So sadly, perhaps my expectation was too high, but this was a real let down for me, a season where Schumacher proved his excellence and his rightful claim to being World Champion that many don't give him enough credit for in 1994, probably because of the Adelaide clash, perhaps because of allegations of cheating, but the FIA were particularly harsh and singled out the team several times in 1994 that lead to many lost points, so the Championship was artificially closer than it should have been. Anyway, 1995 was a triumph for Benetton, Schumacher and Renault and for me it deserves a better model. The late season car is also available but only with Johnny Herbert, the winner of the British GP.
Score: 7/10

BBR

BBR MET34

BBR's kit models come with an early season and a late season version. These models are brilliant, the kind of quality I was hoping for from Spark. The nose is much more accurate, and the rolloever bars are nicely shaped and has lots of lovely detail.
Score: 9/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK206

Slightly more impressive than BBR's excellent offering is Tameo's version of the B195 which is absolutely beautiful and a great representation of the championship winning car. I believe there is a Spanish GP version and this, from the Japanese GP.

Score: 10/10

Remembering Ayrton Senna 25 years after his death

1st May, 1994 was the day when the San Marino Grand Prix took place and the life of Ayrton Senna was taken from this world in a tragic accident at the Tamburello corner. In this post, I wanted to remember the early parts of the 1994 season.

The pictures are from the Minichamps cars released in 2016 in resin for each of the Grand Prix that Ayrton took part in, beautifully recreated.

Senna made his anticipated move to Williams, a front running team that would probably add to his championship tally. Judging by McLaren's woeful performance in 1994 with the new Peugeot engines, Senna was right to leave. But with 'driver aids' being banned for 1994, Williams had to prepare, set up and run a car without active suspension for the first time since 1991. The FW16's aero that had been fine tuned for active suspension now had to work in a wider range of conditions. Sadly the car was aerodynamically flawed, with the sidepods too far forward and causing intermittent stalls, thus losing massive amounts of grip suddenly, all of which doesn't give a driver too much confidence. But whilst Hill held back until this issue was fixed (and contending with Mansell returning for a few Grand Prix in the other seat), Senna pushed through it with a great self-belief in his car control. 

Benetton had produced the front running car in the hands of F1's next superstar, Michael Schumacher. Senna was all to weary of the threat, and perhaps over-stated the rivalry in his mind before it properly began. Senna needed a rival to motivate him, just as a superhero needs a super-villain. Senna needed a reason why the German's car was now the benchmark, and illegal traction control on the Benetton was his reasoning. 

Ibrar Malik researched the 1994 season along with its many controversies including Benetton's alleged cheating particularly on the issue of traction control. This is published in his book, 1994: The Untold Story. Though the writer leaves the reader to make their own conclusions, it is quite clear from the evidence that it is more than likely that Benetton did not have traction control and what Senna had heard in Aida was Schumacher's left-foot braking driving style as well as energising the exhaust blown diffuser on the B194. You'd have to buy this excellent book for the detail, but the evidence is quite compelling. 

Round 1: Brazil

Minichamps 547940102

The Brazilian Grand Prix opened the 1994 season. Senna managed to gain pole position with a three-tenth's of a second advantage over Schumacher and a whopping 1.5 seconds ahead of team-mate Hill who started in 4th place. Senna got away well into the lead, whilst Schumacher fell behind Alesi in the Ferrari. The German passed the Ferrari at the end of lap 2 and closed the 4 second gap, showing that the Benetton was quicker. Schumacher got ahead in the pitstops and had a comfortable 10 second lead. But by lap 55, the two had lapped the rest of the field, and Senna closed the gap to 5 seconds when suddenly the Williams spun and Senna was out of the race. 10 points earned for Schumacher and a disappointing 0 points for Senna from his home race. This set up an tantalizingly competitive season, something F1 had been lacking since 1991.

Round 2: Pacific GP

Minichamps 57940202

Japan's first of two races in the country was held at the Aida track for the first time, and the race was dubbed the Pacific Grand Prix. Senna again took pole position, two-tenths ahead of Schumacher and half-a-tenth ahead of team-mate Hill. It was Schumacher who got away well and passed Senna well before the first corner. Hakkinen tagged the Williams going into the first corner, sending Senna spinning off. To make matters worse, Ferrari substitute, Nicola Larini, also went off in turn 1 and ploughed into the stricken Williams, ending both their races. At the end of round 2, Schumacher now had a perfect 20 points whilst Senna remained on 0 points.

Round 3: San Marino

Minichamps 547940302

It was well documented that Senna had safety in the very forefront of his mind. You can read more about the many serious crashes that happened during the early parts of 1994 in this 

blog post. Barrichello's accident and Roland Ratzenberger's death in qualifying would have rattled anyone, but with Senna visiting Rubens in hospital, and being driven to the scene of Roland's accident would not help anyone's mental state if you were about to jump into one of these machines and push it to the limit.

Yet Senna had no choice but to push the car to the limit. He was already 20 points behind a fast Schumacher, and with Monaco around the corner which should have suited Schumacher's Benetton (and history proved correct with a dominant display), Senna had to make the most his opportunity at Imola, a track that suited his powerful Renault engine.

Senna took pole position with a three-tenths of a second advantage over Schumacher in second. Senna took the lead at the start, but a huge start line accident lead to the Safety Car being deployed. F1 had wanted to spice up the show and introduced a number of things from Indycars, which was growing in popularity at the time. Though the Safety Car was reintroduced to F1 in 1993, there was pressure from the powers that be to use it more often. However the Opel Vectra was not really quick enough for F1 cars to maintain tyre temperature and tyre pressures at safe racing levels. Though not proven, it is the most likely cause of Senna's car bottoming out and causing the Brazilian to lose control of his car. Other factors may have been the aerodynamic stall, mentioned above, and a hastily extended steering column which was found to be broken.

Whatever the reason for the cause for the FW16 flying off the track, the impact, though heavy, was not in itself the reason for the fatality, the reason being a stray suspension element that came away from the car from the impact.

As it turns out, Schumacher was on a three stop strategy and Senna on a two-stop strategy, meaning the German had a lighter and faster car at the start of the race and so Senna didn't really need to push as hard as he did to stay ahead of the Benetton because Senna would have to stop less times.


A whole lot of what-ifs could be asked if Senna had survived the accident, would Senna have been able to win the 1994 championship? Hill was only able to close the gap to Schumacher because the German was disqualified from the British and Belgian Grand Prix and was banned for the Italian and Portuguese Grand Prix. But without Senna's accident, perhaps there would not have been the drive for safety, perhaps there would not have been the push to implement mid-season changes (which in the end favoured the FW16), perhaps the FIA might not have singled Benetton out with its penalties when other teams committing similar offences had lesser punishments. The likelihood was that had Senna stayed at Williams (and that was by no-means sure as he had talked with Luca Di Montezemolo about joining Ferrari prior to the San Marino GP), he probably would have challenge for the next three titles at least in fantastic Adrian Newey designed cars. Would Prost have been tempted back into the sport had Senna survived?

But what happened is what happened and we should be grateful for what we have of Senna's career including his three World titles and from his death came the drive for a safer F1 we have today. Sadly there has been a fatality since that day 25 years ago, but thankfully it is not the norm and the threat is much reduced. Senna is remembered as a true F1 legend, a driver of unbelievable talent and dedication, and rallied a nation behind him.

1/43 Model Review: 1996 Benetton B196 Renault

Background

Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger joined the reigning champions from Ferrari with Schumacher going the other way. The car would be the last to be designed by Rory Byrne with the influence of Ross Brawn before they too would head to Ferrari. The drivers found the car difficult to drive, as many of Schumacher's previous team-mates have in the teams cars, but the team did compete for victories at Monaco and Germany before reliability problems halted their progress. The drivers took 10 podiums between them earning the team third place in the Constructors' Championship.

It was interesting that Brawn admitted recently that Berger blocked Alesi's progress with the team due to his behind the scene antics. There's also stories of how neither driver could get their head around a simple change in the starting procedure as the grid sped past them at the European GP. The car was clearly no match for the Williams FW18, but you still wonder what Schumacher may have done in this car had he stayed with the team.

Minichamps

Off the back of the success of the Michael Schumacher collection and the various versions of the B195, Minichamps continued to sponsor Benetton and produce several versions of the B196, albeit the interest has waned with the departure of Schumacher to Ferrari. However, there is no change in shape in any of these versions which is a little disappointing, so I'll give on score at the end.

Minichamps 430960003

Minichamps 430960004

I post both cars because Berger's car had an inverted colour logo by the drivers helmet. I can't find any Grand Prix where Berger ran that nor at the launch or in testing, and its weird how it only appeared on one car. The model itself is not bad. The nose is quite chunky, and it's annoying how the under side of the nose is not flush on any of the models.

Qantas

Minichamps 430960003

For the 1997 Australian Grand Prix, a number of 1996 cars were released in a Qantas, and the Benetton is the only affordable one I have managed to get a hold of. The models themselves are the basic models, but even today, they command high prices close to £100 - though they rarely get traded at those prices.

Monaco GP (Lemaco)

Minichamps 430960063

After Hill retired from a commanding lead at the Monaco Grand Prix, Alesi actually ran in the looked on course to take the victory, but for mechanical issues forcing a retirement. There's not too many differences, other than the Hype logo now being in florescent yellow and a slight change on the nose front wing support. What's odd on all of these race specific liveries is the box with the information, most of which is covered by the car. You have to look at the back of the box at the barcode to actually confirm which GP its from. Minichamps changed their logo for all these races,

French GP (T2M)

Minichamps 430960033

The French GP was the first non-tobacco race in this Minichamps run. It's good that they remembered to move the refuelling decal to the left side of the car. The French GP was not only a non-tobacco sponsorship race, but also non-alcohol, so the Kingfisher logo was replaced. It was the first race with Rollerblade on the side.

British GP (Amerang)

Minichamps 430960054

Jean Alesi's British Grand Prix version was one of my first models I had whilst growing up, but I eventually got a hold of Berger's car as well. I do like the mid-season change of the headrest to bright green from the French GP. 

Belgian GP (Homble)

Minichamps 430960023

The Belgian GP version is one of the harder ones to find as its limited to only 500pcs, although they all sell for around the same value. 

Minichamps 430960043

I'm missing the Italian GP version (RIPA) from my collection, but I have found a picture of one with Nordica running on the sidepods.

To the score, and because of the nose, I am going to give this a slightly below average score. The rear wing is a bit low too, there is not enough gap between the upper and lower rear wings.
Score: 6/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK216

Tameo's version is from the Argentine Grand Prix. The shape on this is really nice, as is the livery. There's just something about how it all fits together, something doesn't quite fit for me, I can't put my finger on it, but it's a very minor complaint.
Score: 9/10

BBR

BBR Met60

I can't find any pictures of a built version of this, but it's here purely because it exists.

Ixo

This is  not a terrible offering from IXO, the front of the car is really not bad at all. I like the cockpit area, and the engine cover and roll-hoop looks very similar to the Minichamps offering. The sidepod opening is OK, but where the blue decal stops, it remains white which doesn't help. Ther ear of the sidepod doesn't look great, and the Benetton splashes look rushed, like I asked my toddler to draw it. The skinny rear wing gives a nice alternative, but the rims are laughably bad. So overall, some nice bits sadly ruined by some glaringly bad bits. 

Score: 4/10

To read more reviews from the 1996 season, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/1996-model-review.html