both to take fourth position. In the closing stages, Morbidelli and Blundell both overtook Salo, only for the Footwork driver to retire on lap 62 with a blocked fuel line. Blundell, who had earlier changed his steering wheel and was driving without the use of third gear, thus took the final point in sixth place, ahead of Salo, Suzuki, Montermini – who completed the race distance despite struggling with a broken floor on his chassis, taking the Pacific team's first race finish – and Diniz. The race saw a high attrition rate; only ten out of the 25 starters finished the race. Of the other late retirements, Wendlinger suffered a broken battery cable on lap 41, Roberto Moreno and Badoer retired on lap 47 due to a spin and gearbox problem respectively, and Inoue's car caught fire on lap 48. The Japanese driver was in any case due to receive the black flag for receiving an illegal push-start from the marshals following a spin on the circuit. Post-race Moments after his spin, Hill was interviewed by the BBC, revealing that his spin was due to a gearbox problem; the Williams car losing second gear before apparently seizing completely. Hill also said that he was "very, very disappointed" with the result, and that "we could have beaten him [Schumacher] today". Further post-race analysis conducted by the Williams team, however, found that the problem was actually a broken left-rear suspension pushrod. Schumacher felt lucky to win the race, conceding that "Damon was a little bit quicker than me...he ended up going off and that's racing, but I don't think I could have caught him." He also believed that his good start was fortunate, as it was the first one he had made in the new Benetton car; the team had not practised starts previously due to being short of time. He also specified his evasion of Barrichello's slowing car in the pit-lane entry while making his first stop as a crucial moment of the race. Coulthard admitted that he had been affected by his tonsillitis: "I wasn't able to match Michael and Damon's pace so I settled for running my own race". Berger, meanwhile, was frustrated to finish a lap down on Schumacher, saying that "He was faster everywhere: down the straights, going in and out of the corners. What can you do in these conditions? Okay, the car's roadholding is not