The 1996 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Hockenheim on 28 July 1996. It was the eleventh race of the 1996 Formula One World Championship.
The 45-lap race was won by British driver Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault, after he started from pole position. Austrian driver Gerhard Berger started alongside Hill on the front row in his Benetton-Renault and led for much of the race, until his engine failed with three laps remaining. Hill duly took his seventh victory of the season, with Berger's French teammate Jean Alesi second and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve third in the other Williams-Renault.
With the win, Hill extended his lead over Villeneuve in the Drivers' Championship to 21 points with five races remaining.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Diff. 1 5 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:43.912 2 4 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:44.299 +0.387 3 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:44.477 +0.565 4 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:44.644 +0.732 5 3 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:44.670 +0.758 6 6 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:44.842 +0.930 7 8 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:44.951 +1.039 8 2 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:45.389 +1.477 9 11 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 1:45.452 +1.540 10 12 Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 1:45.876 +1.964 11 10 Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:46.575 +2.663 12 9 Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:46.746 +2.834 13 15 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 1:46.899 +2.987 14 14 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 1:47.711 +3.799 15 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:48.139 +4.227 16 18 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:48.381 +4.469 17 17 Jos Verstappen Footwork-Hart 1:48.512 +4.600 18 20 Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 1:49.461 +5.549 19 16 Ricardo Rosset Footwork-Hart 1:49.551 +5.639107% time: 1:51.186 21 Giovanni Lavaggi Minardi-Ford 1:51.357 +7.445 Sources:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 45 1:21:43.417 1 10 2 3 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 45 + 11.452 5 6 3 6 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 45 + 33.926 6 4 4 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 45 + 41.517 3 3 5 8 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 45 + 42.196 7 2 6 11 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 45 + 1:42.099 9 1 7 9 Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 45 + 1:43.912 12 8 15 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 44 + 1 lap 13 9 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 44 + 1 lap 15 10 12 Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 44 + 1 lap 10 11 16 Ricardo Rosset Footwork-Hart 44 + 1 lap 19 12 20 Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 43 + 2 laps 18 13 4 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 42 Engine 2 2 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 34 Gearbox 8 14 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 25 Vibrations 14 10 Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 19 Engine 11 18 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 19 Spun off 16 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 13 Gearbox 4 17 Jos Verstappen Footwork-Hart 0 Collision 17
Notes Giovanni Lavaggi replaced Giancarlo Fisichella at Minardi for the remainder of the season. Though the Forti team arrived, neither of its cars were assembled as the team had run out of money and therefore could not obtain any engines. It closed down shortly afterwards.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Damon Hill 73 2 Jacques Villeneuve 52 3 Jean Alesi 31 4 Michael Schumacher 29 5 David Coulthard 18Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 125 2 Benetton-Renault 47 3 Ferrari 38 4 McLaren-Mercedes 34 5 Jordan-Peugeot 14Source:
References