The unhappy 1994 season continued with the inquiry into the Hockenheim pitlane fire revealing that Benetton was using a refuelling system which had been tampered with by the team. The credibility of the Benetton team was gone after the black flag scandal at Silverstone and the allegations of illegal software which gave their drivers an advantage over the others. Mika Häkkinen was missing from the ranks having been given a one-race ban for causing the first corner accident at Hockenheim and so his place at McLaren was taken by Philippe Alliot.

Qualifying resulted in Benetton's Michael Schumacher being on pole ahead of the Williams-Renaults of Damon Hill and David Coulthard. Gerhard Berger (Ferrari) was fourth ahead of Ukyo Katayama (Tyrrell-Yamaha) and Martin Brundle (McLaren-Peugeot). The top 10 was completed by Eddie Irvine (Jordan-Hart), Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Sauber), Olivier Panis (Ligier-Renault) and Rubens Barrichello (Jordan). Jean Alési (Ferrari) had a difficult time and was only 13th on the grid.

Schumacher did not make a good start and so chopped in front of Hill to stop the Englishman taking the lead. Coulthard was third ahead of Berger, Irvine, Barrichello and Katayama. On the run down to the second corner Jordan's hopes took a dive when Irvine and Barrichello collided and rammed into Katayama. This meant that Brundle and Panis were fifth and sixth with Alési seventh.

By lap 15 Schumacher was nearly 10 seconds ahead of Hill and Coulthard was 15secs behind Damon but still well clear of Berger. Brundle was still fifth but Panis had been overtaken by Alési for sixth place. Schumacher pitted early, having decided on a three stop strategy, and so when Hill came in for the first of his two stops Schumacher went into the lead. Once the pits stops were all done Schumacher was 45 seconds ahead, having dealt with the traffic in a much better fashion than Hill. Coulthard was third but a lap behind with Brundle fourth, Alési fifth and Jos Verstappen (Benetton) sixth, Berger having dropped back with seventh.

In the closing stages Alési went out with an engine problem which put oil on the track and caused Coulthard to crash heavily. This promoted Brundle, Verstappen, Berger and Mark Blundell (Tyrrell) into the points. In the last few laps Berger ran into engine trouble and retired. On the last lap Brundle's engine stopped and so Verstappen was third. Brundle was classified fourth while the battle for fifth place was exciting with Blundell, Panis and Éric Bernard (Ligier) all crossing the line together. Blundell took fifth and Panis sixth.