Minardi protest Hill; Hakkinen sets Warmup pace; Hill wins German GP
(c) 1996 ATLAS TEAM F1

Sunday July 28, 1996

Minardi lodged a protest with the Stewards of the meeting against The number 5 Williams-Renault, claiming that Damon Hill had failed to stop for a routine weight check during the qualifying session. The stewards have declined to uphold the protest and Hill's time will stand. If Minardi had been successful, Giovanni Lavaggi would have fallen within the 107% rule, and Lavaggi would have been able to start.

Hakkinen sets Warmup pace

Mercedes impressed in front of their home crowd, when the McLaren cars they power, set the top two session times. Hakkinen was quickest, with his team mate David Coulthard second. Michael Schumacher and both Ligier drivers, Oliver Panis and Pedro Diniz, all had difficult at the first chicane, runnning on to the gravel. Jos Verstapphen retired with problems, and only managed to set 17th fastest time.

Top Ten of Warmup


  1. M.Hakkinen 1m 45.904s
  2. D.Coulthard 1m 46.031s
  3. D.Hill 1m 46.720s
  4. J.Alesi 1m 46.919s
  5. G.Berger 1m 47.246s
  6. M.Schumacher 1m 47.412s
  7. M.Brundle 1m 47.431s
  8. E.Irvine 1m 47.499s
  9. J.Villeneuve 1m 47.514s
  10. R.Barrichello 1m 47.728s
Hill wins German GP

Summary


After a bad start, in which both Benettons managed to overtake Damon Hill, Hill managed to come through to claim his 7th win of the season. In a stunning display in the closing laps, Gerhard Berger was finally displaced from first place when he suffered engine failure. Jean Alesi brought his Benetton-Renault home in second place, with Jacques Villeneuve third.

Notes


Top Six

  1. Hill 1hr 21m 43.417s (45 Laps)
  2. Alesi + 11.542s
  3. Villeneuve + 33.926s
  4. Schumacher + 41.517s
  5. Coulthard + 42.196s
  6. Barrichello + 1m 42.099s
Quotes

Hill:" I have had my share of bad luck here, I was leading the race by 30 seconds in 1993 and had a puncture on the last lap. These things happen, I'm afraid, in motor racing."

" It would have been an exciting last few laps if Gerhard had kept going, it is a shame for him."

Berger: ""I had no warning that anything was wrong until suddenly the engine blew, I am very sad about this as I wanted the victory so much, for myself, for the team, for everyone. I looked in good shape, and couldn't believe what happened."

A quick look at the standings


Drivers championship
  1. Hill 73
  2. Villeneuve 52
  3. Alesi 31
  4. Schumacher 29
  5. Coulthard 18
  6. Hakkinen 16
  7. Berger 16
  8. Panis 11
  9. Barrichello 11
  10. Irvine 9
  11. Frentzen 6
  12. Salo 5
  13. Herbert 4
  14. Brundle 3
  15. Diniz 1
  16. Verstappen 1

Constructors championship

  1. Williams-Renault 125
  2. Benetton-Renault 47
  3. Ferrari 38
  4. McLaren-Mercedes 34
  5. Jordan-Peugeot 14
  6. Ligier-Mugen-Honda 12
  7. Sauber-Ford 10
  8. Tyrrell-Yamaha 5
  9. TWR 1


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