The inaugural Championship race in
1994 saw
Michael Schumacher take an easy victory after
Ayrton Senna was involved in a first corner accident with
Mika Häkkinen and
Nicola Larini. Schumacher overtook Senna into the first corner and was never threatened for the lead from that point onward. Schumacher could have lapped second placed Gerhard Berger in the last third of the race, but chose not to. The fastest lap was set on lap 3. The race was notable for the Jordan team and Rubens Barrichello's first podium finishes in F1 with third place. The more recent Pacific Grand Prix in
1995 was a more eventful affair, with some close racing throughout the field. Following the 1995
Kobe earthquake, the Pacific Grand Prix was moved from early in the calendar to the end of the calendar. The race culminated in a tactical victory for
Michael Schumacher, securing his second
World Championship, and making him the youngest double World Champion at the time (later surpassed by
Fernando Alonso and
Sebastian Vettel). This race made Japan one of only nine countries (the others being Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, the United States, and, as a result of emergency schedule realignment for the season due to
COVID-19 pandemic, Austria and Bahrain) to host multiple Grands Prix in the same year. It was discontinued primarily due to the TI Circuit's location in a remote area of Japan; a similar criticism precluded
Autopolis' plans (under "Asian Grand Prix" name) to host a second Japanese race in . A proposed attempt to continue the event's name with a race in
Sentul International Circuit in Indonesia was considered for 1996 (with date scheduled for 13 October), but it was cancelled as the corners were deemed too tight and unsuitable for Formula 1. With the announcement that the
Japanese Grand Prix would switch from the
Suzuka Circuit to the
Fuji Speedway from 2007, there had been media speculation that Suzuka may retain a race under a resurrection of the Pacific Grand Prix title. However, it was later announced that the Japanese Grand Prix would alternate between Fuji and Suzuka from 2009 onward although the alternation was cancelled as Toyota, the current Fuji Speedway owner discontinued further F1 races at Fuji, having pulled out of F1 at the end of 2009. == Winners ==