1:18 Benetton Ford B195 – Michael Schumacher – Winner 1995 German GP

Description

The Benetton B195 is a Formula One racing car that was designed by Ross Brawn, Pat Symonds, Rory Byrne and Nikolas Tombazis. It was to be used in the 1995 Formula One World Championship.

This F1 car is similar to its predecessor, the B194, in many ways. However, there is one rather striking difference, and that is the switch from the engine supplier from Ford to Renault. Ultimately, this resulted in a complete overhaul and redesign of the engine installation, gearbox and the rear suspension. It was powered by the same Renault RS7 V10 engine that was being used by Benetton’s rivals, Williams, in their FW17, but was notably less stable. What this led to was many critical observations, claiming the B195 was far inferior to the FW17. Even Michael Schumacher said that the B195 was “very twitchy…” and that “…if he (Gerhard Berger, another F1 driver who drove the B195 in winter testing) had driven the car at the beginning of the season, he would have spun in the pit-lane!”

The B195 had to be designed with the aerodynamic limitations imposed by the FIA in-mind. This consisted of smaller wings, improved crash protection, and the engine capacity had to be reduced from 3.5 to 3 litres. During the season, the car also underwent two major design changes. The first of which being the airbox. When the car debuted, the airbox was a hump shape, but by the time of the French Grand Prix, the airbox was a more familiar slope. The second change was to do with the front wing. At the very start of the season, the B195’s wing had a pair of notches on either side, but these were removed prior to the German Grand Prix. Both these changes were in line with what the other teams were running.

Schumacher’s own car was also fitted with menacing red stripes, which set him apart from his teammates, and he was a fan-favourite, after all.