The Pacific Grand Prix name was first applied to non-championship sports car and Formula events held at Laguna Seca in California from 1960 through 1963. The title resurfaced in 1994 when a new permanent circuit in the Aida district of Okayama Prefecture, Japan, sought a world championship slot. Because the Japanese Grand Prix was already an established fixture at Suzuka Circuit, the Aida event could not use that name, so the Pacific Grand Prix title was revived. The Tanaka International Aida circuit, later renamed Okayama International Circuit, measured 3.7 kilometres (2.3 miles) and was characterised by its slow, twisty layout in a rural setting far from major urban centres.
The inaugural championship edition in 1994 was settled almost immediately. Ayrton Senna, starting from pole, was caught in a first-corner accident involving Mika Häkkinen and Nicola Larini. Michael Schumacher, starting alongside Senna, made his move at the opening turn, seized the lead, and was never seriously threatened. He built a comfortable gap over second-placed Gerhard Berger, and though he could have lapped Berger in the final stages, chose not to. The race is most remembered for delivering Rubens Barrichello and the Jordan team their first podium finishes in Formula One, with Barrichello finishing third. The fastest lap was set on lap 3.
The 1995 edition was a more eventful contest with closer racing throughout the field. The event was moved late in the calendar following the January 1995 Kobe earthquake, which disrupted Japan's sporting schedule. Schumacher again won, but this time the victory carried championship-deciding significance: it sealed his second Formula One World Championship, making him the youngest double world champion at the time. That record was later surpassed by Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. The result meant Japan joined a select group of countries that have hosted more than one Formula One round in the same season, alongside Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, and the United States. In later years Austria and Bahrain also joined that group due to emergency schedule changes during the 2020 season.
The Pacific Grand Prix was dropped after 1995, primarily because the TI Circuit's remote location made it difficult to attract the crowds and commercial interest needed to sustain a world championship event — a concern that had also derailed plans for Autopolis to host an Asian Grand Prix in 1993. A proposal to carry the Pacific Grand Prix name to Sentul International Circuit in Indonesia was examined for 1996, with a date of 13 October tentatively scheduled, but the corners at Sentul were judged too tight for Formula One machinery and the plan was abandoned.
The name briefly re-entered discussion in the mid-2000s when it was announced that the Japanese Grand Prix would move to Fuji Speedway from 2007, raising speculation that Suzuka might retain a race under the Pacific Grand Prix banner. An alternating arrangement between Fuji and Suzuka was subsequently announced for 2009, but Toyota's withdrawal from Formula One at the end of that year ended Fuji's involvement in the championship entirely, closing the chapter on any revival of the Pacific Grand Prix.
The two championship races produced the same winning driver, Michael Schumacher, in both editions. The 1994 race is credited as the occasion of the Jordan team's first Formula One podium, achieved by Rubens Barrichello. The 1995 race is notable as the event that secured Schumacher's second drivers' title.