Although not the car Schumacher used in Adelaide to damage Damon Hill’s Williams’ suspension, putting him out of the race, therefore clinching the championship for Schumacher – that’s part of Schumacher’s collection, stored on display at Motorworld, but not in running condition – B194-05 too was mired in controversy. It was the car Schumacher was driving when, after overtaking Damon Hill on the parade lap at the British Grand Prix, he was first penalised, then black-flagged for ignoring the penalty (on team advice), then disqualified from the race and banned for two more races for ignoring that. In addition, the 1994 season had seen electronic driver aids banned, and the teams suspected Benetton of still using a hidden traction control system.
“There was this thought that everybody tried to stop Benetton from winning the championship,” says Bergermann. “There were so many controversies like the Spa incident with the skid plate, the overtaking stuff in the British Grand Prix, and the ideas of launch control in the car.
“I asked Ross Brawn what he thought was so special about the car and why it was so good. He said basically it was Michael, and that the car was very simple. It was a simple V8 with a very low centre of gravity, which was the main change from the 1993 car. What they did was train launches every test, 10-20 times every time. They were really the first in the whole F1 field to train launches, before nobody did it. But they realised after they did it that the other teams started doing it. It really was Michael’s attitude and attention to detail.”