1996 Australian Grand Prix | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 1 of 16 in the 1996 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
Race details | |||||
Date | 10 March 1996 | ||||
Official name | 1996 Transurban Australian Grand Prix | ||||
Location | Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit Melbourne, Australia | ||||
Course | Temporary street circuit | ||||
Course length | 5.302 km (3.295 miles) | ||||
Distance | 58 laps, 307.516 km (191.110 miles) | ||||
Weather | Dry with temperatures reaching up to 23 °C (73 °F) [1] | ||||
Pole position | |||||
Driver | Williams-Renault | ||||
Time | 1:32.371 | ||||
Fastest lap | |||||
Driver | Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Renault | |||
Time | 1:33.421 on lap 27 | ||||
Podium | |||||
First | Williams-Renault | ||||
Second | Williams-Renault | ||||
Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders |
The 1996 Australian Grand Prix (officially the 1996 Transurban Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Melbourne on 10 March 1996. It was the first race of the 1996 Formula One World Championship, and the first Australian Grand Prix to be held at Melbourne, taking over from Adelaide.
The 58-lap race was won by Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault. Hill's teammate Jacques Villeneuve, making his Formula One debut, took pole position and led for most of the race, before an oil leak enabled Hill to catch and pass him in the closing laps. Eddie Irvine finished third in a Ferrari.
This was the second Grand Prix in a row held in Australia, the previous race being the conclusion to the 1995 season.
Taki Inoue was scheduled to race for the Minardi team as a pay driver but when no money materialised prior to the race he was replaced by Giancarlo Fisichella. [2] Marlboro had expressed interest in Fisichella running early on. [3]
The race was the first to use the new race-start system, still used in Formula 1 today, [4] replacing the old red to green light system. Under the new system, five red lights would come on at one second intervals, starting after the last driver reached his grid box. There would then be a pre-determined pause, and then the five lights would go off simultaneously. [5] This was also the first race to have a single qualifying session on Saturday afternoon; the Friday session was dropped.
Jacques Villeneuve, making his début in Formula One, took pole position.
Both Forti cars failed make the race due to the new 107% rule for qualifying, which stated that any car that qualified 107% slower than the pole time (1:38.837 in this race) would be excluded. The measure was introduced as excessively slow entrants presented potential safety hazards due to a high speed difference. [6] Incidentally, the team had logged its best result of 7th one race earlier at the season-ending 1995 Australian Grand Prix. [7]
It was an all-Williams front row with Damon Hill and debutant Jacques Villeneuve in the blue and white Rothmans cars. In the first corner. Hill was squeezed by Irvine, lost momentum and was overtaken by both Ferraris in the run down going into the third corner. Behind Hill, Alesi sliced across in front of Hakkinen and Barrichello to claim the corner and began a chain reaction of heavy braking as drivers tried to avoid colliding with one another. David Coulthard veered left under braking and his McLaren hit the side of Herbert's Sauber. Herbert tried to avoid the car and braked heavily. Martin Brundle was behind them and unable to slow sufficiently, hitting the rear of Herbert's and Coulthard's cars and was launched into a barrel roll, ending in a sand trap at turn 3 and breaking his car in two. Brundle was unhurt. The race was halted to allow the circuit to be cleared. [8] [4]
The race was restarted. Brundle (in the spare car) spun off after light contact with Pedro Diniz. The Williams dominated again, with Jacques Villeneuve leading Hill. Schumacher held on in third place, but dropped back half a minute with his second pit stop. He developed brake problems on lap 28 and retired five laps later. Irvine assumed third, despite contact with Jean Alesi's Benetton on lap 6, when Alesi had attempted to pass him. Towards the end of the race Villeneuve was slowed by an oil leak, which allowed Hill to catch and pass him. Hill took his 14th Grand Prix victory, equaling his father Graham's overall number of wins. Hill took back to back Australian victories, the previous race being the last round of 1995, in Adelaide. In the end, the podium was Hill–Villeneuve–Irvine.
|
|
The 2000 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 12 March 2000 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne. It was the first race of the 2000 Formula One season. The 58-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher for the Ferrari team after starting from third position. Schumacher's new teammate for the 2000 season, Rubens Barrichello finished second in the other Ferrari, with Ralf Schumacher third for BMW-Williams.
The 1995 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 16 July 1995 at Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England. It was the eighth round of the 1995 Formula One World Championship. Johnny Herbert for the Benetton team won the 61-lap race from fifth position. Jean Alesi finished second in a Ferrari, with David Coulthard third in a Williams car. The remaining points-scoring positions were filled by Olivier Panis (Ligier), Mark Blundell (McLaren) and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Sauber). Herbert's victory was his first in Formula One, and the Benetton team's fifth of the season.
The 1995 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 1 October 1995 at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany. It was the fourteenth race of the 1995 Formula One World Championship and the first to be held there since 1985. Michael Schumacher for the Benetton team won the 67-lap race starting from third position. Jean Alesi finished second in a Ferrari, with David Coulthard, who started the Grand Prix from pole position, third in a Williams car. This was also the last F1 race for three drivers: Massimiliano Papis, Gabriele Tarquini and Jean-Denis Délétraz.
The 1996 Monaco Grand Prix 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.
The 1996 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal on 16 June 1996. It was the eighth race of the 1996 Formula One World Championship.
The 1996 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 14 July 1996 at Silverstone. It was the tenth race of the 1996 FIA Formula One World Championship.
The 1996 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 8 September 1996 at Monza. It was the fourteenth race of the 1996 Formula One World Championship.
The 1997 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on 9 March 1997. It was the first race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship, and the second Australian Grand Prix to be held in Melbourne.
The 1997 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 11 May 1997 at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo. It was the fifth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship. The 62-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari, after starting from second position. Rubens Barrichello finished second in a Stewart-Ford, with Eddie Irvine third in the other Ferrari.
The 1997 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on 15 June 1997. The race was stopped early on lap 54 after a big crash involving Olivier Panis, who broke his legs and would be unable to start the next seven Grands Prix. Michael Schumacher won ahead of Jean Alesi in the Benetton and Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan. David Coulthard had been leading, but was delayed for over a lap by a clutch problem during his second pit stop, shortly before Panis's crash. On lap 2, local driver Jacques Villeneuve crashed into the wall on the exit of the final corner. This wall would later be known as the 'Wall of Champions', after three former World Champions, including Villeneuve, crashed into it separately in the 1999 race.
The 1997 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the A1-Ring on 21 September 1997. It was the fourteenth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship, and the first Austrian Grand Prix since 1987.
The 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany on 28 September 1997. It was the fifteenth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship.
The 1999 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 7 March 1999 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia. The 57-lap race was the first round of the 1999 Formula One season, the 50th World Championship season in the history of Formula One.
The 1999 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 13 June 1999 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the sixth race of the 1999 Formula One season.
The 1999 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 26 September 1999 at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany. It was the fourteenth race of the 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 66-lap race was won by Johnny Herbert, driving a Stewart-Ford, with Jarno Trulli second in a Prost-Peugeot and Herbert's teammate Rubens Barrichello third.
The 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 51st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1997 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1997 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a seventeen-race series that commenced on 9 March and ended on 26 October.
The 1996 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 50th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. The championship commenced on 10 March and ended on 13 October after sixteen races. Two World Championship titles were awarded, one for Drivers and one for Constructors.
The 1995 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 49th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1995 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1995 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a seventeen-race series that commenced on 26 March and ended on 12 November.
The 1994 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 48th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1994 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1994 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 27 March and ended on 13 November.
The Williams FW19 was the car with which the Williams team competed in the 1997 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by Jacques Villeneuve, in his second year with the team, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who moved from Sauber to replace the dropped 1996 champion, Damon Hill. Williams also employed test drivers Jean-Christophe Boullion and Juan Pablo Montoya.