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The 1996 Formula One season was the 47th FIA Formula One World Championship season. It commenced on March 10, 1996, and ended on October 13 after sixteen races. Damon Hill took his World Championship two years after being pipped by a point by Michael Schumacher, making him the only son of a World Champion to win the title himself. Hill who had finished runner-up for the past couple of seasons was not seriously threatened this year, though near the end, teammate and newcomer Jacques Villeneuve mounted a title challenge going into the final race of the season. Williams easily locked up the constructors title as well, as there was no other team strong enough to post a consistent challenge throughout the schedule. This was also the beginning of the end of Williams' 1990s dominance, as it was announced that Hill and designer Adrian Newey would depart at the conclusion of the season, with engine manufacturer Renault also leaving after 1997. Two-time defending drivers' title holder Schumacher had moved to Ferrari and despite numerous reliability problems, they had gradually developed into a front-running team by the end of the season. Defending champion Benetton began their decline towards the middle of the grid, having lost key personnel due to Schumacher's departure, and failed to win a race. Olivier Panis took the only victory of his career at the Monaco Grand Prix. This year saw the introduction of the '107% rule', which meant all cars had to be within 107% of the pole position time in order to qualify for the Grands Prix. The season also saw the car numbering system change. Previously teams had kept the same two numbers from season to season, only exchanging with the previous champion's team. Now the numbers were based on the teams' performance in the previous Constructor's Championship. Forti went bankrupt after the British Grand Prix. It should be noted that Damon Hill qualified on the front row (i.e. 1st or 2nd) for every race of the season - a feat that has yet to be repeated since.
[edit] Drivers and constructorsThe following teams and drivers competed in the 1996 FIA Formula One World Championship. [edit] Formula One 1996 race schedule[edit] Rule changes
[edit] Season review
[edit] MelbourneIn the first race of his first F1 season, Jacques Villeneuve takes his first pole with 1:32:371. Prior testing at Estoril promised he could be quick. The Canadian defended his pole with an excellent start, an achievement even more remarkable if one considers that Villeneuve, who came to Formula One from the Indy series, was only used to flying starts. In a battle between the two Williams, Villeneuve could have taken a historic first win in his first GP, aggressively defending his pole. Both Williams were on a one stop strategy (with pit stop times 17.6 for Villeneuve and 18.5 for Hill, both stops being not as smooth as they should have been). While Hill was chasing Villeneuve, the Canadian made a little mistake and slid off the track for just a few meters, crimping one of his oil pipes between the bottom of the engine and the underbody on the floor. This led to serious amounts of fluid coming from the back of his car turning the blue-white Williams of Damon Hill almost brown. From the pit walls the team signaled Villeneuve to slow down, a signal which he ignored as well as the radio messages, thinking the team wanted Hill to win. Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to finish the race at all if he wouldn’t let Damon Hill pass, Jacques Villeneuve backed up four laps to the end, allowing for a Williams double. Ferrari started with the new driver constellation Schumacher / Irvine. When Schumacher signed Ferrari, he was quasi accepting the fact that he wouldn’t stand a chance of winning the 1996 championship due to obvious problems in the Italian team at that time. In his first race for the Scuderia, Schumacher dropped out running third; due to loss of fluid, the Ferrari lost its rear breaks, giving the incumbent world champion a disappointing start in his new team. His team mate Eddie Irvine, however, was able to achieve his best result of the entire 1996 season. Earlier in the race, Irvine had to let a clearly faster Schumacher pass, dropping back to fourth position; this gave him a foretaste of what it meant to drive in the same team as Michael Schumacher, who had the full support of the Scuderia. When a too impatient Jean Alesi then tried to overtake Irvine, this meant the end of the race for the French driver of the Benetton-Renault. The Irishman was able to continue and cross the finish line in third position. Melbourne 1996 saw one of the most terrific accidents of the season, when on the first lap Martin Brundle got airborne at approximately 160-170mpH. The car rolled over several times, separating the engine transmission from the chassis and sending both parts in different directions. Luckily, Brundle was not hurt and, after a short medical checkup, was able to take the restart in Jordan-Peugeot’s spare car. Unfortunately, Martin Brundle would again drop out of the race after an unforced contact. [edit] Sao PaoloThe race started on a wet track with almost no visibility. Hill, who loved driving in the rain, took the lead and won the race under these difficult conditions with a comfortable winning margin of 17 seconds. Sao Paolo saw the 15th GP victory of Damon Hill, who thereby outperformed a record established by his father Graham Hill, who had won 14 races. Mayor battles in the race were going on between Barrichello and Alesi as well as Schumacher and Frentzen and Schumacher and Barrichello. Barrichello, who had qualified as second, had to make way for Alesi early in the race, but he kept sticking to the back of the Benetton which allowed him to overtake Alesi three times during the race, the Jordan performing better during corners, but outpaced on the straights by the Renault engine. Barrichello showed good moves against Michael Schumacher, but, same as when he had to let Alesi pass, the Brazilian was driving too hard and was too late on the brakes until he finally ended in the gravel at the end of the back straight. Alesi would then later compete against Villeneuve for the second position, with the Canadian running wide and off the dry main line of track, ending his race in the gravel. With little time between Melbourne and Sao Paolo, the Ferrari was still underdeveloped and Schumacher did not show the performance he later would deliver in Barcelona, for example. In his early days at Ferrari, Schumacher had to use the races as testing sessions. Gerhard Berger had to park his Benetton in the pits after 27 laps. The Austrian had difficulties during qualifying which he could not explain. When the race then started under wet conditions, Berger had to drive carefully because he had never before piloted the Benetton in the rain. Not too unsatisfied with his performance, Berger experienced cut-offs due to hydraulic problems which became worse and worse and finally force the car back to the garage. Both Brundle and Coulthard didn’t see the finish line in the first two races of this season. [edit] Buenos AiresThe race started with Hill on pole, then Schumacher, Villeneuve and Alesi. The bumpy and dirty track condition caused some concerns amongst the drivers and so officials had to work over night to bring the track up to the standard required for F1 racing. Villeneuve lost all his qualifying efforts after an appalling start and was handed down to 9th position. Michael Schumacher, although pushing hard, was not able to match his qualifying performance during the race. With a three stop strategy and entering the third race still tremendously underdeveloped, it was the time for Schumacher to struggle and guide the Scuderia to developing a competitive car. Later in the race, the top part of his rear wing was broken away, when Hill’s Williams picked up debris which struck Schumacher’s wing and forced the German into the garage. Even before the first pit stops, Mika Hakkinen hat to retire early with a stuck throttle at about 7000 revs. For Damon Hill the race went well again, making all the efforts of the winter break seem to give a good return. Williams seemed to have learned from the mistakes of the 1995 season and so there were no problems with race strategy whatsoever which allowed for a perfect start into the season for Damon Hill, who finished first and got the maximum of 30 points after three races. The safety car (which back in 1996 meant a tiny Renault Clio) came out for five laps after an accident with Luca Badoer in the Forti-Ford and a Ligier slamming into the Forti’s back, the latter rolling over. Even more dramatic, during the pace car phase Pedro Diniz suddenly had tremendous problems with his Ligier-Mugen Honda, when fuel and vapor suddenly ignited on the red hot exhaust pipes, setting the car aflame. Diniz was lucky to get out of the car virtually uninjured with his helmet blackened from the flames; the tabloids of the next day would headline “Diniz in the oven”. Jean Alesi lost a lot of time with a bad pit stop, which, after years of exemplary pitting, can be interpreted as the symptom of a troubled 1996 for Benetton. After the departure of world champion Michael Schumacher, Benetton would not win a single race in 1996. Gerhard Berger, who had a chance to finish second, dropped out after suspension problems, adding more disappointment to Benetton’s nightmare season. [edit] Grands Prix[edit] 1996 Constructors Championship final standings
[edit] 1996 Drivers Championship final standings
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