May 8 1996

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All of the information in this section was obtained from a bloke down the pub, which means that while we believe all the following information to be true, we couldn't swear that it is.

What we will say however, is that usually, "there's no smoke without fire".....

Previous Issues

Imola Organisers Face FIA Grilling
Hill Wins Again
Schumacher Sets Blistering Pole
Schumacher Quickest On Friday
Schumacher Sets Morning Pace
Coulthard Backs Hill For Title
Hill Confident For San Marino
San Marino Preview
Renault Problems
Superlicence Scrapped
Qualifying To Be Reviewed
New Forti To Debut At Imola
Tyres Getting Interesting
Three Car Teams
Tyrrell Cars Disqualified
Nurburgring Results





Imola Organisers Face FIA Grilling

The organisers of the San Marino race are to be questioned by FIA officials about the track invasion that took place after the chequered flag was shown to Damon Hill.
They will appear in front of the FIA in Paris on June 11 this year.
The race ended with thousands of fans causing chaos as they swarmed onto the track. Gerhard Berger said that when crossed the finish line in third place it was "too dangerous to continue" and he had to stop his Benetton.

Headlines

Hill Wins Again

Despite great performances from David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill won his fourth race of the season at Imola. It must be said that Hill and Williams won the race with their tactics, something that Schumacher and Benetton were very good at last year. At the start it looked as though Schumacher was on his way to a victory, despite the efforts of Coulthard, not many people belived he could keep the World champion at bay for the whole race. When Schumacher passed Damon early on, it looked as though Hill was in for a tough afternoon. However, his Williams was running a very heavy fuel load which meant he had to protect his tyres and brakes during the early part of the race. It was a very mature demonstration from a driver that seems worlds away from the one that sat in the number 5 car last year. A well earned result.

Headlines

Schumacher Sets Blistering Pole

Michael Schumacher set probably the most impressive pole of his racing career when he ousted the two Williams drivers to claim pole at San Marino. Schumacher was right on the limit and became the only driver below 1.27.00. The new version of the V10 served him well. The other outstanding performances came from David Coulthard who managed to get fourth and Mika Salo who qualified his Tyrrell in eigth place.

Headlines

Schumacher Quickest On Friday

Michael Schumacher has pulled out all the stops at Imola and finished at the top of the table for Friday. Ferrari are rumoured to be using an improved version of their new V10 engine for this race. Hill, slipped back into sixth place and said "Friday times aren't always a reliable guide". Diniz will agree with him I'm sure.

Friday Times

Headlines

Schumacher Sets Morning Pace

Michael Schumacher has set the early pace at Imola, finishing nearly a second ahead of Damon Hill and three seconds ahead of his team mate Eddie Irvine. Hill was quicker in the earlier wet conditions, but as the track began to dry the Ferrari just got quicker and quicker.

Headlines

Coulthard Backs Hill For Title

David Coulthard has backed Damon Hill for this years title. "Damon still has the upper hand and you would have to be a very brave man not to put your money on him to win the World Championship".
He then went on to say "We had a good working relationship at Williams and might be team mates again one day".
Probably an innocent enough remark, but none the less an odd thing to say. Does David know something we don't ? ;-)

Headlines

Hill Confident For San Marino

Damon Hill is confident he can win in San Marino, adding that he counted the German race as a minor setback, but something that should be expected in a season.

Headlines

San Marino Preview

The F1 season moves on to San Marino this weekend and Hill will be hoping to recapture his early season form and repeat last years result when he won. Jacques Villeneuve has raced on this circuit before and so he has some prior knowledge which should aid his qualifying.
Ferrari will have the Tifosi out in force and it is hoped that Schumacher can put in another brilliant performance. Benetton will be wanting to put the Nurburgring behind them and get back to scoring points and McLaren will be buoyed by last weeks performance. Hakkinen finishing an impressive 8th after two stop go penalties and Coulthard on the podium.
Sadly the San Marino track will always be remembered for the events of 1994, the circuit has undergone modifications since then and the Tamburello is now much safer. Berger and Piquet were also victims of the old corner. The track itself is a succession of fast demanding corners set in the Castellaccio Park just outside Imola.

Headlines

Renault Problems

The performance problems that have dogged Gerhard Berger's Benetton affected Damon Hill's Williams at the Nurburgring. Benetton have investigated their air box design and found no way to improve the performance of Gerhards car. At the Nurburgring Hill and Berger both suffered performance losses, Berger 8 kph down on his team mate. In the afternoon session Berger was only 1 kph down on the start / finish straight despite no changes being made to his car.
Renault boss Bernard Dudot said "There is a problem which affects the engine's performance, it doesn't affect it all the time and it comes without warning. If we knew exactly what it was, we wouldn't be having it!. It is a worry"

Headlines

Superlicence Scrapped

Next year, we may not face the annual possibility of drivers striking. The FIA are said to be scrapping the Superlicence which always causes an argument between the drivers and the FIA. An alternative system will be introduced which may include a written safety exam element.

Headlines

Qualifying To Be Reviewed

The single qualifying session will be reviewed probably sometime after the Canadian GP. This is a scheduled review and we do not expect any major changes. The single session seems to work well enough and it is definitely much more exciting to watch.

Headlines

New Forti To Debut At Imola

The Forti FG03 will debut at Imola. The car is a high nose design and is very light. It is rumoured to be right on the weight limit which should help it qualify. We'll see.

Headlines

Tyres Getting Interesting

The prospect of other tyre manufacturers returning to Formula1 are looking more likely. TWR Arrows are though to be talking to Bridgestone and McLaren have also been linked. It is also generally accepted that DOME will use Bridgestone tyres and that Honda would use them on their return to F1.
Meanwhile at the FIA........ it is thought that the FIA favour the single tyre manufacturer option and require £100 million from the company that wishes to supply tyres to all the F1 teams. The top teams would rather see multiple tyres, as this will allow them to negotiate separate contracts.

Headlines

Three Car Teams

The prospect of three cars teams has resurfaced, this time with a slight twist. The new proposals are that if the grid falls below 18 cars teams may enter a third car. To help the smaller teams it is suggested that the teams at the bottom of the constructors championship would get first option to enter a third car, moving up the table until the grid was restored to a healthy number.

Headlines

Tyrrell Cars Disqualified

Tyrrell had a terrible Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Both cars were disqualified. Ukyo Katayama was disqualified for receiving a push start at the beginning of the race, though he was not told until after the race had been run!!.
Mika Salo was disqualified as his car failed to meet the weight during scrutineering. This is due to his car loosing six litres of oil during the race, a result (say Tyrrell) of the accident with Alesi on the opening lap.

Headlines

Nurburgring Results

What a corker!!

The European GP provided us with the best racing that we have seen since.... well, since the European GP at the Nurburgring last October.
Jacques Villeneuve scored his first well deserved and hard won victory, despite World Champion Michael Schumacher climbing all over the gearbox of his Williams.

Headlines