1996 Japanese Grand Prix

  1996 Japanese Grand Prix

Race details
Race 16 of 16 in the 1996 Formula One season
Date	October 13, 1996
Official name	XXII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.864 km (3.608 mi)
Distance	52 laps, 304.928 km (189.473 mi)
Weather	Sunny, mild and Dry
Pole position
Driver	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Time	1:38.909
Fastest lap
Driver	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Time	1:44.043 on lap 34
Podium
First	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Second	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Third	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes

The 1996 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on October 13, 1996 at Suzuka. It was the 16th and final race of the 1996 Formula One season.

Williams' Damon Hill took his eighth win of the season, and with it the Drivers' Championship, after team-mate and pole-sitter Jacques Villeneuve made a poor start and then retired when a wheel fell off. Villeneuve had needed to win the race, without Hill scoring, in order to win the Championship himself. Michael Schumacher finished second, enabling Ferrari to steal second place in the Constructors' Championship from Benetton, while McLaren's Mika Häkkinen was third.

Race

This was the first time since 1977 that Japan hosted the final round of the World Championship, a distinction which had been held by the Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide for the previous 11 seasons.

In qualifying, Villeneuve beat Hill to pole position by nearly half a second, with a further 0.7 seconds back to Schumacher in third. On race day, the first start was aborted when David Coulthard stalled his McLaren.^[1] At the second start, Villeneuve made a poor getaway and fell to sixth behind Hill, Gerhard Berger, Häkkinen, Schumacher and Eddie Irvine. Meanwhile, Jean Alesi, attempting to make up several places after qualifying ninth, spun off at the second corner and destroyed his Benetton. On the third lap, Berger attempted to overtake Hill at the final chicane, only to damage his front wing. Thereafter, Hill gradually pulled away, with Schumacher overtaking Häkkinen for second during the first round of pit stops. Villeneuve passed Irvine, set the fastest lap of the race and ran fourth before his right rear wheel came off on lap 37, putting him out of the race and handing the Drivers' Championship to Hill, already dropped by Williams for the following season. Schumacher finished 1.8 seconds behind Hill with Häkkinen a further 1.4 seconds back, while Berger recovered to finished fourth, Martin Brundle came fifth in his final Grand Prix, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen picked up the final point for sixth.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Diff.
1	6	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	1:38.909
2	5	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	1:39.370	+0.461
3	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:40.071	+1.162
4	4	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-Renault	1:40.364	+1.455
5	7	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:40.458	+1.549
6	2	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:41.005	+2.096
7	15	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Ford	1:41.277	+2.368
8	8	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:41.384	+2.475
9	3	Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	1:41.562	+2.653
10	12	Martin Brundle	Jordan-Peugeot	1:41.600	+2.691
11	11	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Peugeot	1:41.919	+3.010
12	9	Olivier Panis	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	1:42.206	+3.297
13	14	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Ford	1:42.658	+3.749
14	18	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:42.711	+3.802
15	19	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:42.840	+3.931
16	10	Pedro Diniz	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	1:43.196	+4.287
17	17	Jos Verstappen	Footwork-Hart	1:43.383	+4.474
18	20	Pedro Lamy	Minardi-Ford	1:44.874	+5.965
19	16	Ricardo Rosset	Footwork-Hart	1:45.412	+6.503
DNQ	21	Giovanni Lavaggi	Minardi-Ford	1:46.795	+7.886

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	52	1:32:33.791	2	10
2	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	52	+ 1.883	3	6
3	7	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	52	+ 3.212	5	4
4	4	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-Renault	52	+ 26.526	4	3
5	12	Martin Brundle	Jordan-Peugeot	52	+ 1:07.120	10	2
6	15	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Ford	52	+ 1:21.186	7	1
7	9	Olivier Panis	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	52	+ 1:24.510	12
8	8	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	52	+ 1:25.233	8
9	11	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Peugeot	52	+ 1:41.065	11
10	14	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Ford	52	+ 1:41.799	13
11	17	Jos Verstappen	Footwork-Hart	51	+ 1 Lap	17
12	20	Pedro Lamy	Minardi-Ford	50	+ 2 Laps	18
13	16	Ricardo Rosset	Footwork-Hart	50	+ 2 Laps	19
Ret	2	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	39	Collision	6
Ret	18	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	37	Engine	14
Ret	6	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	36	Wheel	1
Ret	19	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Yamaha	20	Engine	15
Ret	10	Pedro Diniz	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	13	Spun off	16
Ret	3	Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	0	Spun off	9
DNQ	21	Giovanni Lavaggi	Minardi-Ford

Standings after Grand Prix

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Damon Hill 97 2 Jacques Villeneuve 78 3 Michael Schumacher 59 4 Jean Alesi 47 5 Mika Häkkinen 31

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 175 2 Ferrari 70 3 Benetton-Renault 68 4 McLaren-Mercedes 49 5 Jordan-Peugeot 22

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References