1996 Monaco Grand Prix

Last updated

1996 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 6 of 16 in the 1996 Formula One World Championship
  Previous race Next race  
Circuit de Monaco 1986.png
Race details
Date19 May 1996
Official name LIV Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco
Location Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo
Course Street circuit
Course length 3.328 km (2.068 miles)
Distance 75 laps, 249.600 km (155.094 miles)
Scheduled distance 78 laps, 259.584 km (161.298 miles)
Weather Overcast, mild, wet at first, drying later, light rain at finish
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:20.356
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault
Time 1:25.205 on lap 59
Podium
First Ligier-Mugen-Honda
Second McLaren-Mercedes
Third Sauber-Ford
Lap leaders
  • 1996 Monaco Grand Prix
JS43 of the type driven by Olivier Panis at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, on display. Ligier JS43.jpg
JS43 of the type driven by Olivier Panis at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, on display.
Formation lap Grand Prix Monaco96 131954710.jpg
Formation lap

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.

Contents

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 win 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

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeDiff.
11 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:20.356
25 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:20.866+0.510
33 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:20.918+0.562
44 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:21.067+0.711
58 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.460+1.104
611 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 1:21.504+1.148
72 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:21.542+1.186
87 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.688+1.332
915 Flag of Germany.svg Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 1:21.929+1.573
106 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:21.963+1.607
1119 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:22.235+1.879
1217 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Jos Verstappen Footwork-Hart 1:22.327+1.971
1314 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 1:22.346+1.990
149 Flag of France.svg Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:22.358+2.002
1518 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:22.460+2.104
1612 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 1:22.519+2.163
1710 Flag of Brazil.svg Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:22.682+2.326
1821 Flag of Italy.svg Giancarlo Fisichella Minardi-Ford 1:22.684+2.328
1920 Flag of Portugal (official).svg Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 1:23.350+2.994
2016 Flag of Brazil.svg Ricardo Rosset Footwork-Hart 1:24.976+4.620
2122 Flag of Italy.svg Luca Badoer Forti-Ford 1:25.059+4.703
2223 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea Montermini Forti-Ford 1:25.393+5.037
107% time: 1:25.981
Source: [17]

Race

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
19 Flag of France.svg Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 752:00:45.6291410
28 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 75+4.82856
314 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 75+37.503134
415 Flag of Germany.svg Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 74Withdrawn93
519 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 70Collision112
67 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 70Collision81
72 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Eddie Irvine Ferrari 68Collision7 
Ret6 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 66Collision10 
Ret22 Flag of Italy.svg Luca Badoer Forti-Ford 60Collision + Electrical21 
Ret3 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 60Suspension3 
Ret5 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Damon Hill Williams-Renault 40Engine2 
Ret12 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 30Accident16 
Ret4 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 9Gearbox4 
Ret10 Flag of Brazil.svg Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 5Transmission17 
Ret16 Flag of Brazil.svg Ricardo Rosset Footwork-Hart 3Accident20 
Ret18 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 2Accident15 
Ret1 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Ferrari 0Accident1 
Ret11 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 0Spun off6 
Ret20 Flag of Portugal (official).svg Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 0Collision19 
Ret21 Flag of Italy.svg Giancarlo Fisichella Minardi-Ford 0Collision18 
Ret17 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Jos Verstappen Footwork-Hart 0Accident12 
DNS23 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea Montermini Forti-Ford  Warm-up crash22 
Source: [18] [19]

Championship standings after the race

References

  1. Edwards, Ben (commentator) (19 May 1996). Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. Event occurs at 08:25 (excluding commercials).
  2. Edwards, Ben (commentator) (19 May 1996). Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. Event occurs at 08:05 (excluding commercials).
  3. Edwards, Ben; Watson, John (commentators) (19 May 1996). Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. Event occurs at 01:00–01:20 (excluding commercials).
  4. Edwards, Ben (commentator) (19 May 1996). Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. Event occurs at 00:00–00:05.
  5. Edwards, Ben (commentator) (19 May 1996). Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. Event occurs at 00:57.
  6. Edwards, Ben (commentator) (19 May 1996). Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. Event occurs at 02:10–02:15.
  7. Edwards, Ben (commentator) (19 May 1996). Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. Event occurs at 15:37.
  8. Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. 19 May 1996. Event occurs at 05:00.
  9. Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. 19 May 1996. Event occurs at 07:30.
  10. Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. 19 May 1996. Event occurs at 12:45.
  11. Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. 19 May 1996. Event occurs at 13:45.
  12. Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. 19 May 1996. Event occurs at 15:56.
  13. Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. 19 May 1996. Event occurs at 16:56–19:00.
  14. Watson, John (commentator) (19 May 1996). Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. Event occurs at 18:45.
  15. Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. 19 May 1996. Event occurs at 19:47.
  16. Edwards, Ben (commentator) (19 May 1996). Monaco Grand Prix: Acclimatisation Session Live (Television production). London, England: Eurosport. Event occurs at 00:40.
  17. "Monaco 1996 – Qualifications". statsf1.com. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  18. "1996 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  19. "Monaco 1996 - Result". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  20. 1 2 "Monaco 1996 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
Previous race:
1996 San Marino Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1996 season
Next race:
1996 Spanish Grand Prix
Previous race:
1995 Monaco Grand Prix
Monaco Grand Prix Next race:
1997 Monaco Grand Prix

43°44′4.74″N7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333