The 1996 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal on 16 June 1996. It was the eighth race of the 1996 Formula One World Championship.
The 69-lap race was won from pole position by Briton Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault. Local driver Jacques Villeneuve, Hill's teammate and the son of Gilles, finished second, with Frenchman Jean Alesi third in a Benetton-Renault.
Report
Michael Schumacher started from the back of the grid, as his car suffered a fuel pressure problem as the field set off on the warm-up lap. This started a run of mechanical problems for the reigning double World Champion.
Eddie Irvine became the first retirement from 4th position in the leading Ferrari on lap 2 when his suspension failed, he was then followed out by Ukyo Katayama in the second Tyrrell and Ricardo Rosset in the second Footwork when they collided at the final chicane on lap 7 due to Katayama missing his braking point. Before Rosset's teammate Jos Verstappen in the leading Footwork retired in the pits on lap 11 when his engine failed. Rubens Barrichello in the second Jordan after passing Mika Hakkinen for 6th position would also be forced the retire on lap 23 in the pits after his first pit stop when his clutch failed. Michael Schumacher after starting at the back of the grid due to a clutch problem, was able to fight his way up to 13th position, but would soon retire due to driveshaft failure on lap 42 which started the first of three consecutive races which both Ferrari's would fail to finish a race due to mechanical failures. For the second successive race, Gerhard Berger spun off and hit the wall while trying to pass teammate Jean Alesi on lap 43 at turn 4. Alesi continued to third place, while further behind Martin Brundle, running fourth following Berger's exit, had to pit for a new nose-cone following a collision with Pedro Lamy's Minardi when Lamy inadvertently hit Brundle's front wing as he attempted to rejoin the track after a spin on lap 45, dropping Brundle to seventh and handing fourth place to David Coulthard's McLaren. Brundle eventually recovered to sixth place behind Mika Häkkinen in the sister McLaren after getting past Johnny Herbert courtesy of a faster final pit stop.
Classification
Qualifying
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 5 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:21.059 2 6 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:21.079 +0.020 3 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:21.198 +0.139 4 3 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:21.529 +0.470 5 2 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:21.657 +0.598 6 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.807 +0.748 7 4 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:21.926 +0.867 8 11 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 1:21.982 +0.923 9 12 Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 1:22.321 +1.262 10 8 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.332 +1.273 11 9 Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:22.481 +1.422 12 15 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 1:22.875 +1.816 13 17 Jos Verstappen Footwork-Hart 1:23.067 +2.008 14 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:23.118 +2.059 15 14 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 1:23.201 +2.142 16 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Minardi-Ford 1:23.519 +2.460 17 18 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:23.599 +2.540 18 10 Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:23.959 +2.900 19 20 Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 1:24.262 +3.203 20 22 Luca Badoer Forti-Ford 1:25.012 +3.953 21 16 Ricardo Rosset Footwork-Hart 1:25.193 +4.134 22 23 Andrea Montermini Forti-Ford 1:26.109 +5.050107% time: 1:26.733 Sources:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 69 1:36:03.465 1 10 2 6 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 69 + 4.183 2 6 3 3 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 69 + 54.656 4 4 4 8 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 69 + 1:03.673 10 3 5 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 68 + 1 Lap 6 2 6 12 Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 68 + 1 Lap 9 1 7 14 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 68 + 1 Lap 15 8 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Minardi-Ford 67 + 2 Laps 16 20 Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 44 Collision 19 22 Luca Badoer Forti-Ford 44 Gearbox 20 4 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 42 Spun Off 7 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 41 Halfshaft 3 9 Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 39 Engine 11 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 39 Engine 14 10 Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 38 Engine 18 11 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 22 Clutch 8 23 Andrea Montermini Forti-Ford 22 Electrical 22 15 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 19 Gearbox 12 17 Jos Verstappen Footwork-Hart 10 Engine 13 16 Ricardo Rosset Footwork-Hart 6 Collision Damage 21 18 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 6 Collision 17 2 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1 Suspension 5
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Damon Hill 53 2 Jacques Villeneuve 32 3 Michael Schumacher 26 4 Jean Alesi 21 5 David Coulthard 13Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 85 2 Ferrari 35 3 Benetton-Renault 28 4 McLaren-Mercedes 23 5 Ligier-Mugen-Honda 12Source:
References