1996 Formula 1 World Championship
Jacques Villeneuve Challenged Damon Hill for F1 Title
Dec 27, 2008
The Williams team dominated the early races of the 1996 Formula 1 season, before their stranglehold was broken at the Monaco Grand Prix. Olivier Panis was a surprise winner for Ligier. In Spain Williams would again taste defeat, this time at the hands of Ferrari.
Schumacher Supreme in Spanish Grand Prix
Qualifying, as expected, was a Williams benefit. Damon Hill started from pole, with team-mate Jacques Villeneuve alongside. Michael Schumacher was third in his Ferrari and Jean Alesi fourth for Benetton. Alesi’s team-mate, Gerhard Berger was fifth and shared the third row with Eddie Irvine.
The race started in very wet conditions, and several drivers crashed out. Irvine went off the road on lap two and Hill was another victim of the conditions. Berger was in a solid fourth place when he spun out of the race. After a bad start Schumacher clawed his way back to the front and made the rest of the field look like amateurs, pulling serenely away at a pace no-one else could get near. He won the race by 45 seconds from Alesi, with Villeneuve third. It was a commendable performance from the French-Canadian who had very limited wet weather experience. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was fourth in his Sauber, Mika Hakkinen fifth and Pedro Diniz sixth.
Hill Wins Canadian and French Grands Prix
There was no shortage of support for Villeneuve at his home race in Montreal. He very nearly paid his fans back with a victory at the circuit named after his father, the great Gilles Villeneuve. In the end he had to settle for second behind his team-mate Hill after opting for a one-stop strategy. Hill went for two stops and it turned out to be the correct decision. Alesi was again on the podium, this time in third. David Coulthard finished fourth, ahead of his McLaren team-mate Hakkinen in fifth. The final World Championship point went to Martin Brundle, celebrating his 150th Grand Prix.
In France Schumacher once again upstaged Williams by qualifying his inferior Ferrari on pole. He didn’t even get a chance to race, as his engine expired on the warm-up lap. The Grand Prix turned into a demonstration drive for Hill, but his team-mate Villeneuve had a more exciting time. He had to wait until a pit stop to pass Hakkinen but then disposed of Alesi on the track, to finish in second place. Alesi, suffering brake problems, held on for third. Berger was fourth in the other Benetton, Hakkinen fifth and Coulthard sixth.
F1 season review continues here.
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