31 July in Ferrari history: Gerhard Berger ends the wait for victory
July 31 in Ferrari Formula 1 history
Explore Ferrari Grand Prix results, qualifying and Sprint sessions, driver birthdays, remembrance dates and selected milestones connected with this day.
Ferrari Grands Prix held on July 31
Race, qualifying, Sprint and Ferrari driver biographical dates are generated from the locally processed F1DB dataset. Session anniversaries are shown only when an explicit session date is available in the source. Selected non-race Ferrari milestones are curated separately from Ferrari sources. Historical shared-car result rows are preserved without inventing additional Grand Prix starts.
On 31 July 1994, Gerhard Berger won the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, ending Ferrari’s long wait for another Formula 1 victory. The team had not won a championship Grand Prix since Alain Prost’s success in Spain in 1990.
Ferrari locks out the front row at Hockenheim
Gerhard Berger qualified on pole position, with Jean Alesi alongside him in the second Ferrari. The front-row lockout gave the Scuderia a strong opportunity to convert its speed into a long-awaited result.
Jean Alesi retired early, but Gerhard Berger continued to lead Ferrari’s challenge. After 45 laps, the Austrian finished 54.779 seconds ahead of Olivier Panis, with Eric Bernard completing the podium in the other Ligier.
The result ended a period that had included three complete winless seasons for Ferrari. It also remained the team’s only Grand Prix victory of 1994, making Hockenheim the clear highlight of that campaign.
Another Austrian Ferrari winner on 31 July
The date also belongs to Niki Lauda’s Ferrari record. He won the 1977 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, adding an important result during the season in which he secured his second drivers’ championship.
Seventeen years separated the two victories, but both put Austrian Ferrari drivers on the top step in Germany. Explore Niki Lauda’s Formula 1 records or browse the Ferrari history calendar.
