Hill wins at Imola
©
Sunday May 5, 1996
Summary
Damon Hill won the Grand Prix of San Marino today. Schumacher came in second with Berger third.
** For the complete race report and comments see Toby Waller's Atlas Team F1 article.
Notes
- Jean Alesi hit the rear-left-tyre of Jacques Villeneuve causing a blow-out on the opening lap.
- Villeneuve rejoined the race after a pitstop in 21st place.
- Stop and go penalties were there for: Badoer (2x), Alesi and Lamy for pit lane speeding;
Hakkinen and Diniz for blocking Schumacher.
- Alesi changed his steering wheel when he made his first pitstop because the
gears were not changing correctly.
- The Yamaha motor of Mika Salo blows on lap 23.
- Herbert made 4 pitstops before retiring with an engine problem (lap 25).
- Fisichella blows up his engine on lap 30.
- Frentzen quits in the pits because his brakes failed (lap 32).
- Brundle spins of on lap 36.
- Verstappen makes a pit stop but hits a mechanic because he drives away too soon.
The mechanic, Dave Lowe, has a broken arm and is in shock (lap 38). This incident
causes Rosset to retire on lap 40.
- Coulthard is out of the race with an electrical problem on lap 44.
- Katayama retires on lap 45.
- Panis blows his engine on lap 54.
- Villeneuve retires in the pits with a broken suspension (lap 57). However, Jacques is still classified as finishing the race
(11th) as he completed the required 90% race distance.
- Hakkinen retires on lap 61 (8th) with an engine problem.
Quotes
Coulthard: "It was great to be leading a Grand Prix again. It was a great start and I'm delighted for the team."
Hill: "The pit stops were brilliant. We calculated it very well. I was very happy
with the start as well. I'm delighted because it is such a fantastic race to do well in.
It's great. I would dearly love to win in Monaco."
Schumacher: "I only had three wheels going over the finish line.
I was lucky the race was over."
Berger on the result: "I'm happy about it. I have been struggling this year.
It's going not so well as I would want. There isn't much luck on my side this year."
Villeneuve on him and Alesi colliding: "We banged wheels at the first corner and then
at the next his front wheel must have banged into my rear wheel and there was a blow-out.
We changed the tyres, the car was running strong again, but then the rear-right
suspension broke."
A Quick Look at the Standings:
Drivers Championship
1. Hill 43
2. Villeneuve 22
3. Schumacher 16
4. Alesi 11
5. Irvine 9
6. Berger 7
7. Barrichello 7
8. Hakkinen 5
9. Coulthard 4
10. Salo 3
11. Panis 1
12. Verstappen 1
Constructors Championship
1. Williams-Renault 65
2. Ferrari 25
3. Benetton-Renault 18
4. McLaren-Mercedes 9
5. Jordan-Peugeot 8
6. Tyrrell-Yamaha 3
7. Ligier-Mugen 1
8. TWR Arrows-Hart 1
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