The 1996 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring in Germany on 28 April 1996. It was the fourth race of the 1996 Formula One World Championship.
The 67-lap race was won by Jacques Villeneuve, driving a Williams-Renault. Villeneuve beat teammate and pole-sitter Damon Hill off the line and led all 67 laps, taking his first F1 victory in only his fourth race. Local driver Michael Schumacher finished second in his Ferrari, with David Coulthard a distant third in a McLaren-Mercedes, just ahead of Hill.
Both Benetton cars made extremely slow starts, due to the brakes locking on. Berger was forced to pit for fresh tyres after a flat-spot was caused, while Alesi finished lap 1 in 13th place and spun while trying to recover.
The Tyrrells were disqualified for separate infringements - Salo finished 10th but his car was found post-race to be underweight, while Katayama finished 12th but was disqualified for having received an illegal push-start on the parade lap.
Classification
Qualifying
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 5 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:18.941 2 6 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:19.721 +0.780 3 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:20.149 +1.208 4 3 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:20.711 +1.770 5 11 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 1:20.818 +1.877 6 8 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.888 +1.947 7 2 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:20.931 +1.990 8 4 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:21.054 +2.113 9 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.078 +2.137 10 15 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 1:21.113 +2.172 11 12 Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 1:21.177 +2.236 12 14 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 1:21.210 +2.269 13 17 Jos Verstappen Footwork-Hart 1:21.367 +2.426 14 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:21.458 +2.517 15 9 Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:21.509 +2.568 16 18 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:21.812 +2.871 17 10 Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:22.733 +3.792 18 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Minardi-Ford 1:22.921 +3.980 19 20 Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 1:23.139 +4.198 20 16 Ricardo Rosset Footwork-Hart 1:23.620 +4.679107% time: 1:24.467 23 Andrea Montermini Forti-Ford 1:25.053 +6.112 22 Luca Badoer Forti-Ford 1:25.840 +6.899 Sources:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 67 1:33:26.473 2 10 2 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 67 + 0.762 3 6 3 8 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 67 + 32.834 6 4 4 5 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 67 + 33.511 1 3 5 11 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 67 + 33.713 5 2 6 12 Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 67 + 55.567 11 1 7 14 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 67 + 1:18.027 12 8 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 67 + 1:18.438 9 9 4 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 67 + 1:21.061 8 10 10 Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 66 + 1 Lap 17 11 16 Ricardo Rosset Footwork-Hart 65 + 2 Laps 20 12 20 Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 65 + 2 Laps 19 13 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Minardi-Ford 65 + 2 Laps 18 15 Heinz-Harald FrentzenSauber-Ford 59 Brakes 10 17 Jos VerstappenFootwork-Hart 38 Engine 13 9 Olivier PanisLigier-Mugen-Honda 6 Collision 15 2 Eddie IrvineFerrari 6 Collision 7 3 Jean AlesiBenetton-Renault 1 Collision 4 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 66 Underweight 14 18 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 65 Push Start 16 Source:
Notes
Both of Mika Häkkinen's pit lane speeding penalties in this race were caused by a problem with his pit speed limiter.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Damon Hill 33 2 Jacques Villeneuve 22 3 Jean Alesi 10 4 Michael Schumacher 10 5 Eddie Irvine 6Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 55 2 Ferrari 16 3 Benetton-Renault 13 4 McLaren-Mercedes 9 5 Jordan-Peugeot 6Source:
References