1996 European Grand Prix

1996 European Grand Prix
Race 4 of 16 in the 1996 Formula One World Championship
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The Nürburgring in its 1996 configuration
The Nürburgring in its 1996 configuration
Race details
Date 28 April 1996
Official name XL Grand Prix of Europe
Location Nürburgring
Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.556 km (2.842 miles)
Distance 67 laps, 305.252 km (190.425 miles)
Weather Cloudy, but dry
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:18.941
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault
Time 1:21.363 on lap 55
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second Ferrari
Third McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 1996 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring in Germany on 28 April 1996. It was the fourth race of the 1996 Formula One World Championship.

The 67-lap race was won by Jacques Villeneuve, driving a Williams-Renault. Villeneuve beat teammate and pole-sitter Damon Hill off the line and led all 67 laps, taking his first F1 victory in only his fourth race. Local driver Michael Schumacher finished second in a Ferrari, with David Coulthard third in a McLaren-Mercedes, just ahead of Hill.

Both Benetton cars made extremely slow starts, due to the brakes locking on. Berger was forced to pit for fresh tyres after a flat-spot was caused, while Alesi finished lap 1 in 13th place and spun while trying to recover.

The Tyrrells were disqualified for separate infringements - Salo finished 10th but his car was found post-race to be underweight, while Katayama finished 12th but was disqualified for receiving an illegal push-start on the parade lap.

Classification

[edit]

Qualifying

[edit]
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 5 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:18.941
2 6 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:19.721 +0.780
3 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:20.149 +1.208
4 3 France Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:20.711 +1.770
5 11 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 1:20.818 +1.877
6 8 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.888 +1.947
7 2 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:20.931 +1.990
8 4 Austria Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:21.054 +2.113
9 7 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.078 +2.137
10 15 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 1:21.113 +2.172
11 12 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 1:21.177 +2.236
12 14 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 1:21.210 +2.269
13 17 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Footwork-Hart 1:21.367 +2.426
14 19 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:21.458 +2.517
15 9 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:21.509 +2.568
16 18 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:21.812 +2.871
17 10 Brazil Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:22.733 +3.792
18 21 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Minardi-Ford 1:22.921 +3.980
19 20 Portugal Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 1:23.139 +4.198
20 16 Brazil Ricardo Rosset Footwork-Hart 1:23.620 +4.679
107% time: 1:24.467
DNQ 23 Italy Andrea Montermini Forti-Ford 1:25.053 +6.112
DNQ 22 Italy Luca Badoer Forti-Ford 1:25.840 +6.899
Sources:[1][2]

Race

[edit]
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 6 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 67 1:33:26.473 2 10
2 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 67 + 0.762 3 6
3 8 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 67 + 32.834 6 4
4 5 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 67 + 33.511 1 3
5 11 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 67 + 33.713 5 2
6 12 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 67 + 55.567 11 1
7 14 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 67 + 1:18.027 12  
8 7 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 67 + 1:18.438 9  
9 4 Austria Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 67 + 1:21.061 8  
10 10 Brazil Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 66 + 1 Lap 17  
11 16 Brazil Ricardo Rosset Footwork-Hart 65 + 2 Laps 20  
12 20 Portugal Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 65 + 2 Laps 19  
13 21 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Minardi-Ford 65 + 2 Laps 18  
Ret 15 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 59 Brakes 10  
Ret 17 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Footwork-Hart 38 Engine 13  
Ret 9 France Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 6 Collision 15  
Ret 2 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 6 Collision 7  
Ret 3 France Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1 Collision 4  
DSQ 19 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 66 Underweight 14  
DSQ 18 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 65 Push Start 16  
Source:[3]

Notes

[edit]
  • Both of Mika Häkkinen's pit lane speeding penalties in this race were caused by a problem with his pit speed limiter.

Championship standings after the race

[edit]
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Europe 1996 – Qualifications". StatsF1. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  2. ^ "1996 European Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  3. ^ "1996 European Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Europe 1996 - Championship". Statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.


Previous race:
1996 Argentine Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1996 season
Next race:
1996 San Marino Grand Prix
Previous race:
1995 European Grand Prix
European Grand Prix Next race:
1997 European Grand Prix
Next race at the Nürburgring: 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix