Aida F1 Records & Statistics

Aida F1 records and Pacific Grand Prix statistics

TI Circuit Aida, now known as Okayama International Circuit, hosted only two Formula 1 World Championship races, but both became important chapters in Michael Schumacher’s rise to the top of the sport. The Japanese circuit staged the Pacific Grand Prix in 1994 and 1995, with Schumacher winning on both occasions for Benetton.

Ferrari never won at Aida, although Gerhard Berger finished second in the inaugural Formula 1 race and later returned alongside Jean Alesi for the final Pacific Grand Prix. Ayrton Senna holds the circuit’s Formula 1 qualifying record, while Schumacher owns both the victory record and the official fastest race lap.

Formula 1 raced at Aida only twice

The Formula 1 World Championship visited TI Circuit Aida for the Pacific Grand Prix in 1994 and 1995. Both races were contested over 83 laps of the compact 3.703 km circuit in Japan.

The first event took place on 17 April 1994 as the second round of the season. Formula 1 returned on 22 October 1995 for what became the circuit’s second and final World Championship Grand Prix.

With just two championship races, Aida has one of the shortest Formula 1 histories among circuits to have hosted more than a single Grand Prix.

Why the race was called the Pacific Grand Prix

Japan already had the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka when Formula 1 added a second race in the country. The Aida event therefore competed under the Pacific Grand Prix title rather than becoming another Japanese Grand Prix.

The arrangement gave Japan two Formula 1 World Championship races during both 1994 and 1995.

Aida’s two races remain the only World Championship editions of the Pacific Grand Prix, despite the same title having previously been used for non-championship motor races elsewhere.

Ayrton Senna took pole for the first Pacific Grand Prix in 1994

Ayrton Senna established Aida’s Formula 1 qualifying benchmark during the inaugural Grand Prix weekend.

The Williams driver secured pole position with a 1:10.218, beating Michael Schumacher’s Benetton by 0.222 seconds. Damon Hill qualified third in the second Williams.

Gerhard Berger was Ferrari’s fastest driver in fifth with a 1:11.744, while Nicola Larini qualified the second Ferrari seventh with a 1:12.372.

Ayrton Senna’s 1:10.218 remains the Aida Formula 1 qualifying record

Senna’s 1994 pole lap was never beaten during a Formula 1 World Championship weekend at Aida.

When Formula 1 returned in 1995, David Coulthard took pole with a 1:14.013, substantially slower than Senna’s benchmark from the previous season.

Senna therefore remains the holder of the fastest official Formula 1 qualifying lap recorded at the circuit.

The 1994 Pacific Grand Prix changed immediately at the first corner

Senna’s advantage from pole disappeared at the start. Michael Schumacher made the stronger getaway and moved ahead, while Senna was hit from behind by Mika Häkkinen as the field entered the opening sequence.

The Williams spun off, and Ferrari’s Nicola Larini was also caught up in the incident. Both Senna and Larini were eliminated without completing a racing lap.

The accident removed one of Schumacher’s main rivals immediately and left the Benetton driver in control of the Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher won Formula 1’s first race at Aida

Michael Schumacher dominated the inaugural Pacific Grand Prix after taking the lead at the start.

The Benetton driver completed the 83 laps in 1:46:01.693 and finished 75.300 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Gerhard Berger.

Rubens Barrichello finished third for Jordan, one lap behind Schumacher, while Christian Fittipaldi and Heinz-Harald Frentzen completed the top five.

The victory was Schumacher’s second consecutive win at the beginning of the 1994 season following his success in Brazil.

Gerhard Berger gave Ferrari its best Aida result

Ferrari’s strongest Formula 1 result at Aida came during the circuit’s first World Championship race.

Gerhard Berger started fifth and finished second, becoming the only Ferrari driver to stand on the podium at TI Circuit Aida.

Although he completed the full 83-lap distance, Berger finished more than a minute behind Michael Schumacher. His runner-up finish nevertheless secured Ferrari’s only Aida podium.

Nicola Larini replaced Jean Alesi for Ferrari in 1994

Ferrari did not arrive at the first Pacific Grand Prix with its regular driver line-up. Jean Alesi was unavailable after suffering a neck injury during testing, so Ferrari test driver Nicola Larini partnered Gerhard Berger.

Larini qualified seventh but became involved in the opening-corner incident that also eliminated Ayrton Senna.

His race therefore ended before he could complete a lap, leaving Berger as Ferrari’s only finisher in 1994.

Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap in 1994

Schumacher’s control of the inaugural race extended to the fastest-lap classification.

The Benetton driver recorded a 1:14.023 on lap 10, comfortably faster than the best race laps achieved by his main rivals.

Damon Hill recorded a 1:14.348 for Williams, while Gerhard Berger’s best Ferrari lap was a 1:15.931.

Michael Schumacher’s 1:14.023 is the Aida Formula 1 race lap record

Schumacher’s 1994 fastest lap remains the official Formula 1 World Championship race-lap record for TI Circuit Aida.

When Formula 1 returned in 1995, Schumacher again set the fastest lap, but his 1:16.374 was more than two seconds slower than his 1994 benchmark.

The German therefore owns both of the fastest-lap awards from Aida’s Formula 1 history as well as the circuit’s outright official Grand Prix race record.

The 1995 Pacific Grand Prix was postponed until October

The second Pacific Grand Prix had originally been planned for April 1995 but was moved later in the season following the Great Hanshin earthquake.

The earthquake caused severe damage to transport links, infrastructure and communications in the surrounding region, making it impractical to stage the race on its original date.

The rescheduled Grand Prix eventually took place on 22 October, only one week before the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

David Coulthard took pole at Aida in 1995

Williams controlled the front row for Formula 1’s final visit to Aida. David Coulthard took pole position with a 1:14.013, while Damon Hill qualified second at 1:14.213.

Michael Schumacher started third for Benetton with a 1:14.284.

Ferrari occupied the next two grid positions. Jean Alesi qualified fourth with a 1:14.919 and Gerhard Berger fifth with a 1:14.974, separated by only 0.055 seconds.

Jean Alesi recorded Ferrari’s best qualifying position at Aida

Alesi’s fourth place on the 1995 grid represents Ferrari’s best Formula 1 qualifying result at TI Circuit Aida.

Gerhard Berger had qualified fifth in 1994 and repeated fifth place in 1995, while Nicola Larini had started seventh during the inaugural Grand Prix.

Ferrari therefore never started an Aida Formula 1 race from the first two rows’ leading three positions and did not record a pole position at the circuit.

Michael Schumacher recovered from third to win the 1995 Pacific Grand Prix

Schumacher did not begin the final Aida race from pole, and his opening lap initially made the task more difficult.

David Coulthard led from pole, while Schumacher lost positions during the opening exchanges. The Benetton team subsequently used an aggressive strategy, with Schumacher producing extremely fast laps around his pit-stop windows.

He eventually moved into control and completed the 83 laps in 1:48:49.972.

Coulthard finished second, 14.920 seconds behind, while Damon Hill was third, 48.333 seconds behind the winner.

Schumacher secured the 1995 Formula 1 World Championship at Aida

The 1995 Pacific Grand Prix became the defining race in Aida’s Formula 1 history because Michael Schumacher’s victory secured the Drivers’ Championship.

Schumacher arrived in Japan with a substantial advantage over Damon Hill and needed only to maintain enough of that lead to make the championship mathematically secure.

Instead, he won the race outright. With Hill finishing third, Schumacher clinched his second consecutive Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship with two Grands Prix still remaining.

Aida therefore became the circuit where Schumacher secured the second of the seven World Championships he would ultimately win during his career.

Michael Schumacher won every Formula 1 race held at Aida

No other driver won a Formula 1 World Championship race at TI Circuit Aida.

Schumacher won in 1994 with Benetton-Ford and repeated the achievement in 1995 after Benetton had switched to Renault power.

His two victories from two starts give him a perfect 100 per cent winning record at the circuit.

Benetton likewise holds the Aida constructor victory record with two wins from the venue’s two World Championship races.

Schumacher also set both Aida fastest race laps

Schumacher’s statistical dominance extended beyond victories. He recorded the fastest lap in both Pacific Grands Prix.

His 1:14.023 from 1994 remains the circuit’s official Formula 1 race-lap record. In 1995 he set a 1:16.374 on lap 40.

No Ferrari, Williams or McLaren driver therefore recorded a fastest lap during Aida’s brief World Championship history.

Ferrari finished fourth and fifth in the final Pacific Grand Prix

Ferrari brought both cars to the finish in 1995 but could not challenge the top three.

Gerhard Berger finished fourth, one lap behind Michael Schumacher, while Jean Alesi followed in fifth, also one lap down.

The result gave Ferrari five championship points under the scoring system used at the time but did not add another podium to Berger’s second place from 1994.

Ferrari’s Formula 1 record at Aida

Ferrari competed in both World Championship Pacific Grands Prix at TI Circuit Aida but never recorded a victory, pole position or fastest lap.

Gerhard Berger delivered the Scuderia’s best result by finishing second in 1994. He later finished fourth in 1995, immediately ahead of teammate Jean Alesi.

Alesi’s fourth-place start in 1995 represents Ferrari’s best qualifying result at the circuit. Nicola Larini’s 1994 appearance ended in the opening-lap collision involving Ayrton Senna.

Ferrari’s complete Aida Formula 1 record therefore contains one podium, three points-scoring finishes and no wins, poles or fastest laps.

Ayrton Senna and David Coulthard share Aida’s pole history

Aida’s two Formula 1 pole positions were split between two Williams drivers.

Ayrton Senna took the inaugural pole in 1994 with the circuit-record 1:10.218. David Coulthard then started first in 1995 with a 1:14.013.

Williams consequently holds the constructor pole-position record at Aida with two poles despite never winning a Grand Prix at the circuit.

Benetton won both races despite never taking pole

One of the more distinctive features of Aida’s Formula 1 statistics is the contrast between qualifying and race results.

Williams took pole position for both Grands Prix, yet Benetton won both races through Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher started second in 1994 and third in 1995, meaning neither of Aida’s Formula 1 victories came from pole position.

Aida qualifying record versus fastest race lap

The circuit’s two principal Formula 1 lap records belong to different drivers.

Ayrton Senna holds the outright qualifying benchmark with his 1:10.218 Williams lap from 1994. Michael Schumacher holds the official race-lap record with the 1:14.023 he set for Benetton during the same Grand Prix.

Both benchmarks were established during Formula 1’s first visit to Aida and survived the second and final World Championship weekend in 1995.

Aida’s Formula 1 layout measured 3.703 km

F1DB records the Formula 1 configuration at 3.703 km with 13 turns, running clockwise.

The compact permanent circuit was characterised by relatively short straights, repeated braking zones and a technical sequence of corners. Its short lap meant the 1994 and 1995 Pacific Grands Prix each required 83 laps.

Compared with Suzuka, Japan’s established Grand Prix venue, Aida offered a much more compact Formula 1 challenge.

One Formula 1 layout at Aida

F1DB associates both Pacific Grands Prix with a single 3.703 km, 13-turn Formula 1 layout.

There is therefore no need to separate the 1994 and 1995 records by circuit configuration. Ayrton Senna’s qualifying record, Michael Schumacher’s race-lap record and Ferrari’s results all belong to the same recorded layout.

The slower times seen during the 1995 weekend reflect sporting, technical and track-condition differences rather than a separately classified Formula 1 configuration.

TI Circuit Aida opened in 1990

The circuit opened on 18 November 1990 under the name TI Circuit Aida.

Only a few years later it reached the Formula 1 World Championship, staging its first Pacific Grand Prix in April 1994 and its second in October 1995.

The venue continued operating after Formula 1 left and remained active in Japanese and international motorsport.

TI Circuit Aida became Okayama International Circuit

The circuit no longer uses the name under which Formula 1 raced there.

In January 2005, TI Circuit Aida was renamed Okayama International Circuit. F1DB reflects this history by listing Okayama International Circuit as the full current name and TI Circuit Aida as a previous name.

For historical Formula 1 searches, however, both Aida and TI Circuit Aida remain important because those were the names associated with the Pacific Grand Prix era.

Aida versus Suzuka Formula 1 history

Aida’s two-race Formula 1 history contrasts sharply with Suzuka’s long association with the Japanese Grand Prix.

Both circuits hosted World Championship events in 1994 and 1995, giving Japan two Formula 1 races during those seasons.

Aida disappeared from the championship after 1995, while Suzuka continued to develop into one of Formula 1’s most established and historically important circuits.

You can compare the records through our Suzuka F1 Records & Statistics page.

Why Aida remains significant in Formula 1 history

Aida’s Formula 1 period lasted only two seasons, yet both races intersected with major moments from the mid-1990s.

The inaugural race featured Ayrton Senna on pole, Michael Schumacher dominating for Benetton and Gerhard Berger scoring Ferrari’s only podium at the circuit.

One year later Schumacher returned, won again and secured his second Formula 1 World Championship. Those events give Aida a historical importance that extends well beyond its small number of Grands Prix.

Explore more Formula 1 circuit records

Use the F1 Circuit Records & Statistics database to compare Aida with other current and historic Formula 1 venues. You can also browse the Formula 1 circuits section for broader Grand Prix history, circuit guides and track information.