1996 Monaco Grand Prix Explained

Type:F1
Country:Monaco
Grand Prix:Monaco
Official Name:LIV Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco
Date:19 May
Year:1996
Race No:6
Season No:16
Location:Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo
Course:Street circuit
Course Mi:2.068
Course Km:3.328
Distance Laps:75
Distance Mi:155.094
Distance Km:249.600
Scheduled Laps:78
Scheduled Mi:161.298
Scheduled Km:259.584
Weather:Overcast, mild, wet at first, drying later, light rain at finish
Pole Driver:Michael Schumacher
Pole Team:Ferrari
Pole Time:1:20.356
Pole Country:Germany
Fast Driver:Jean Alesi
Fast Team:Benetton-Renault
Fast Time:1:25.205
Fast Lap:59
Fast Country:France
First Driver:Olivier Panis
First Team:Ligier-Mugen-Honda
First Country:France
Second Driver:David Coulthard
Second Team:McLaren-Mercedes
Second Country:United Kingdom
Third Driver:Johnny Herbert
Third Team:Sauber-Ford
Third Country:United Kingdom
Previous Round:1996 San Marino Grand Prix
Next Round:1996 Spanish Grand Prix

The 1996 Monaco Grand Prix (formally the LIV Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco) was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 19 May 1996. It was the sixth race of the 1996 Formula One season. The race was run in very wet weather, and set a record for the fewest cars to be running at the end of a Grand Prix race, with the three podium finishers being the only cars left.

Olivier Panis scored his first and only win of his Formula One career, earning the last Formula One victory for the Ligier team, and the first ever for engine manufacturer Mugen-Honda, after switching to slick tyres in a well-timed pitstop. Second place went to David Coulthard in a McLaren-Mercedes. Johnny Herbert was the last finisher in a Sauber, scoring his only points of the season.

This was the last win by a French Formula One driver until Pierre Gasly won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix and also the last Grand Prix win by a French-licensed Formula One constructor until Renault won the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Report

Practice and qualifying

Michael Schumacher had taken pole position but had caused controversy on his slowing down lap when he impeded Gerhard Berger right at the end of the session. Coming out of the tunnel Schumacher was cruising slowly, acknowledging the crowd, while Berger was on a fast lap. Schumacher tried to get out of Berger's way but the Austrian had to spin at high speed to avoid the Ferrari, entering the chicane backwards.

The Ligiers were 14th and 17th in qualifying, both below their expectations after the team had mis-firing issues, preventing a top six position.[1]

Race day

Olivier Panis was fastest in the warm-up.[2] Jacques Villeneuve was 18th after running a wet-setup in preparation for the expected rain.[3] Between the warm-up session and the race, heavy rain fell at the circuit, and an additional 15-minute session was added to allow the drivers to get used to the changed conditions as it was the first time rain had fallen over the race weekend.[4] [5] [6] The session took place at 13:15 CEST (GMT +2).[7] Several drivers went off during the session, including Pedro Lamy, Pedro Diniz and Giancarlo Fisichella, but all continued.[8] [9] [10] The only two drivers to escape with damage were Mika Häkkinen and Andrea Montermini.[11] [12] Jean Alesi suffered a puncture at the end of the session, but was able to return to the pitlane.[13] Several drivers opted to skip the session. The Footwork team chose not to participate as they did not have any spare parts, and any crash would have marked the end of their weekend.[14] Häkkinen was fastest, setting his time before his crash, with Alesi, Rubens Barrichello and Johnny Herbert behind. The two Williams cars were 7th and 8th, Villeneuve ahead of Damon Hill with Schumacher behind them in 9th.[15]

The race started at 14:30 CEST.[16] During the warm-up session, Montermini crashed his Forti coming out of the tunnel, and the team's lack of a spare car meant the Italian was unable to start, leaving 21 cars on the grid. Hill overtook Schumacher into Sainte-Dévote, while further back, Jos Verstappen, who had opted to start the race on slicks, slid straight into the wall. The two Minardis were then eliminated when they tangled coming out of the first corner. Hill began to pull away while polesitter Schumacher lost control coming out of Lower Mirabeau and hit the wall. Coming into the Rascasse, Barrichello spun and retired. After five laps, there were only 13 cars remaining as Ukyo Katayama (accident), Ricardo Rosset (accident) and Diniz (transmission) retired. A significant gap began to open between the leaders and Eddie Irvine in fourth. A queue of eight cars formed behind the slow Ferrari. Berger retired from third place on the 10th lap with gearbox trouble leaving 12 cars, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen damaged his front wing trying to pass Irvine, dropping to second last, ahead of Luca Badoer.

On lap 31, Martin Brundle spun off, which left only 11 cars in the race. Three laps later, Irvine was passed when Panis forced his way through at the Loews hairpin. Irvine lost control, became stuck and had undone his seatbelts before he restarted his car with the assistance of the marshals. Hill, meanwhile, had briefly lost the lead to Alesi when he made a pit stop on lap 30 to change to slicks as the track began to dry, but regained it a lap later when he overtook the Frenchman (who was still on wet tyres) on the track. Alesi made his pit stop shortly afterwards, allowing Hill to extend his lead to nearly 30 seconds and continue untroubled at the front until the 40th lap, when a failed oil pump caused his engine to blow coming out of the tunnel, his first retirement of the season. Alesi then led for 20 laps before his suspension failed, handing the lead to Panis. Luca Badoer was running six laps down in the Forti when he collided with Villeneuve at Mirabeau on lap 66, retiring both drivers.

The race did not run its full distance as the two-hour time limit came into effect. Panis was leading David Coulthard by a small margin with only five other cars behind them. Irvine spun at the same point that his teammate Schumacher had crashed, and as he tried to rejoin, he was hit by Mika Salo, who was in turn hit by Häkkinen. All three of them retired, leaving only four cars circulating, with Frentzen running last. The German decided to pull into the pits on the final lap as he was already last anyway, far behind everyone else who had taken the chequered flag. Panis thus won his one and only Grand Prix, taking Ligier's first win in 15 years. Frentzen, Salo and Häkkinen were classified in the final points positions while Irvine was credited with seventh place.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Diff.
11 Michael SchumacherFerrari1:20.356
25 Damon HillWilliams-Renault1:20.866+0.510
33 Jean AlesiBenetton-Renault1:20.918+0.562
44 Gerhard BergerBenetton-Renault1:21.067+0.711
58 David CoulthardMcLaren-Mercedes1:21.460+1.104
611 Rubens BarrichelloJordan-Peugeot1:21.504+1.148
72 Eddie IrvineFerrari1:21.542+1.186
87 Mika HäkkinenMcLaren-Mercedes1:21.688+1.332
915 Heinz-Harald FrentzenSauber-Ford1:21.929+1.573
106 Jacques VilleneuveWilliams-Renault1:21.963+1.607
1119 Mika SaloTyrrell-Yamaha1:22.235+1.879
1217 Jos VerstappenFootwork-Hart1:22.327+1.971
1314 Johnny HerbertSauber-Ford1:22.346+1.990
149 Olivier PanisLigier-Mugen-Honda1:22.358+2.002
1518 Ukyo KatayamaTyrrell-Yamaha1:22.460+2.104
1612 Martin BrundleJordan-Peugeot1:22.519+2.163
1710 Pedro DinizLigier-Mugen-Honda1:22.682+2.326
1821 Giancarlo FisichellaMinardi-Ford1:22.684+2.328
1920 Pedro LamyMinardi-Ford1:23.350+2.994
2016 Ricardo RossetFootwork-Hart1:24.976+4.620
2122 Luca BadoerForti-Ford1:25.059+4.703
2223 Andrea MonterminiForti-Ford1:25.393+5.037
107% time

1:25.981

Source: [17]

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
19 Olivier PanisLigier-Mugen-Honda752:00:45.6291410
28 David CoulthardMcLaren-Mercedes75+4.82856
314 Johnny HerbertSauber-Ford75+37.503134
415 Heinz-Harald FrentzenSauber-Ford74Retired in pits93
519 Mika SaloTyrrell-Yamaha70Collision112
67 Mika HäkkinenMcLaren-Mercedes70Collision81
72 Eddie IrvineFerrari68Collision7 
Ret6 Jacques VilleneuveWilliams-Renault66Collision10 
Ret22 Luca BadoerForti-Ford60Collision + Electrical21 
Ret3 Jean AlesiBenetton-Renault60Suspension3 
Ret5 Damon HillWilliams-Renault40Engine2 
Ret12 Martin BrundleJordan-Peugeot30Accident16 
Ret4 Gerhard BergerBenetton-Renault9Gearbox4 
Ret10 Pedro DinizLigier-Mugen-Honda5Transmission17 
Ret16 Ricardo RossetFootwork-Hart3Accident20 
Ret18 Ukyo KatayamaTyrrell-Yamaha2Accident15 
Ret1 Michael SchumacherFerrari0Accident1 
Ret11 Rubens BarrichelloJordan-Peugeot0Spun off6 
Ret20 Pedro LamyMinardi-Ford0Collision19 
Ret21 Giancarlo FisichellaMinardi-Ford0Collision18 
Ret17 Jos VerstappenFootwork-Hart0Accident12 
DNS23 Andrea MonterminiForti-Ford Warm-up crash22 
Source:[18] [19]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
1 Damon Hill43
2 Jacques Villeneuve22
3 Michael Schumacher16
4 Olivier Panis11
5 Jean Alesi11
Source: [20]
Constructors' Championship standings
PosConstructorPoints
1 Williams-Renault65
2 Ferrari25
3 Benetton-Renault18
4 McLaren-Mercedes16
5 Ligier-Mugen-Honda11
Source:

External links

Notes and References

  1. Edwards, Ben (commentator) . 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 08:25 (excluding commercials).
  2. Edwards, Ben (commentator) . 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 08:05 (excluding commercials).
  3. Edwards, Ben
    Watson, John (commentators)
    . 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 01:00–01:20 (excluding commercials).
  4. Edwards, Ben (commentator) . 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 00:00–00:05.
  5. Edwards, Ben (commentator) . 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 00:57.
  6. Edwards, Ben (commentator) . 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 02:10–02:15.
  7. Edwards, Ben (commentator) . 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 15:37.
  8. 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 05:00.
  9. 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 07:30.
  10. 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 12:45.
  11. 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 13:45.
  12. 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 15:56.
  13. 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 16:56–19:00.
  14. Watson, John (commentator) . 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 18:45.
  15. 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 19:47.
  16. Edwards, Ben (commentator) . 1996-05-19 . Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live . Television production . . London, England . 00:40.
  17. Web site: Monaco 1996 – Qualifications . statsf1.com . 4 November 2018.
  18. Web site: 1996 Monaco Grand Prix . formula1.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20141101204142/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1996/136/ . 1 November 2014 . 24 December 2015.
  19. Web site: Monaco 1996 - Result. www.statsf1.com. 2020-04-14.
  20. Web site: Monaco 1996 - Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 19 March 2019.