1995 Monaco Grand Prix

The 1995 Monaco Grand Prix (formally the LIII Grand Prix de Monaco) was a Formula One motor race held on May 28, 1995 at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco. It was the fifth round of the 1995 Formula One season. The race, contested over 78 laps, was won by Michael Schumacher for the Benetton team after starting from second position. Damon Hill finished second for Williams after starting from pole position and leading the first 23 laps of the race, ahead of Gerhard Berger in a Ferrari car. The remaining points-scoring positions were filled by Johnny Herbert in the second Benetton, Mark Blundell (McLaren) and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Sauber). Schumacher's win was his third of the season thus far and extended his lead in the World Drivers' Championship over Hill to five points. It was also Renault's first win in the Monaco Grand Prix, as Benetton's engine supplier.

Schumacher won the race comfortably, over 30 seconds ahead of Hill. Hill's speed advantage in qualifying, in which he had set a lap time almost one second faster than Schumacher, vanished in the race, enabling Schumacher to follow him closely from the start, despite carrying a heavier fuel load for a one-stop pit strategy, as opposed to Hill's two. When Hill made his first pit stop, Schumacher took the lead, and stayed ahead of his rival for the remainder of the race. Hill also dropped behind the one-stopping Ferrari of Jean Alesi, but the latter crashed on lap 42 whilst attempting to avoid the lapped Ligier of Martin Brundle, who had spun in front of him. Hill's Williams team-mate, David Coulthard, retired from the race due to a gearbox failure after initially running in third place. In total, sixteen of the 26 entrants failed to finish, including both drivers for the Simtek team, which subsequently ran out of money and withdrew from the sport before the Canadian Grand Prix. The race was also marked by an accident at the first corner of the first lap involving Coulthard, Alesi and Berger, which caused the track to become blocked and the race to be restarted as a result.