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.
| 1996 European Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 4 of 16 in the 1996 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
 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 |
 Damon Hill | Williams-Renault | |||
| Time | 1:21.363 on lap 55 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
|
Lap leaders | |||||
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
Race edit
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 |  Jacques Villeneuve
|
Williams-Renault | 67 | 1:33:26.473 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | 1 |  Michael Schumacher
|
Ferrari | 67 | + 0.762 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 8 | David Coulthard
|
McLaren-Mercedes | 67 | + 32.834 | 6 | 4 |
| 4 | 5 | Damon Hill
|
Williams-Renault | 67 | + 33.511 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | 11 |  Rubens Barrichello
|
Jordan-Peugeot | 67 | + 33.713 | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | 12 | Martin Brundle
|
Jordan-Peugeot | 67 | + 55.567 | 11 | 1 |
| 7 | 14 | Johnny Herbert
|
Sauber-Ford | 67 | + 1:18.027 | 12 | |
| 8 | 7 |  Mika Häkkinen
|
McLaren-Mercedes | 67 | + 1:18.438 | 9 | |
| 9 | 4 |  Gerhard Berger
|
Benetton-Renault | 67 | + 1:21.061 | 8 | |
| 10 | 10 | Pedro Diniz
|
Ligier-Mugen-Honda | 66 | + 1 Lap | 17 | |
| 11 | 16 | Ricardo Rosset
|
Footwork-Hart | 65 | + 2 Laps | 20 | |
| 12 | 20 |  Pedro Lamy
|
Minardi-Ford | 65 | + 2 Laps | 19 | |
| 13 | 21 |  Giancarlo Fisichella
|
Minardi-Ford | 65 | + 2 Laps | 18 | |
| Ret | 15 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen
|
Sauber-Ford | 59 | Brakes | 10 | |
| Ret | 17 |  Jos Verstappen
|
Footwork-Hart | 38 | Engine | 13 | |
| Ret | 9 |  Olivier Panis
|
Ligier-Mugen-Honda | 6 | Collision | 15 | |
| Ret | 2 | Eddie Irvine
|
Ferrari | 6 | Collision | 7 | |
| Ret | 3 | Jean Alesi
|
Benetton-Renault | 1 | Collision | 4 | |
| DSQ | 19 | Mika Salo
|
Tyrrell-Yamaha | 66 | Underweight | 14 | |
| DSQ | 18 |  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
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References edit
- ^ "Europe 1996 – Qualifications". StatsF1. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
- ^ "1996 European Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
- ^ "1996 European Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
- ^ a b "Europe 1996 - Championship". Statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.