June 30 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

Hill Wins, Ferrari Nightmare
Schumacher Takes Pole
Hakkinen Quickest
Senna Enquiry Latest
Gil de Ferran Linked To Stewart
New Tyrrell For Katayama
Driver Rumours (latest)
Sauber After Hart or Honda Engines
Bridgestone Testing Gets Serious
France Preview





Hill Wins, Ferrari Nightmare

The Prancing Horse turned into the Maranello Mare for the second race running when Michael Schumacher's Ferrari engine gave out on the parade lap.
This left Damon Hill with a clear run into the first corner and barring pit stops he led from start to finish to record his sixth win of the season.
Jacques Villeneuve put in a great performance to finish second. The two Benettons of Alesi and Berger finished third and fourth followed by Hakkinen and Coulthard in the two McLaren cars.
Pedro Diniz put in a fantastic performance and showed the benefits of running at his home race circuit. He was in sixth place until he retired his Ligier.

Race Results.

Headlines

Schumacher Takes Pole

Qualifying was stopped for 30 minutes after Jacques Villeneuve hit the tyre wall on the exit of the Estoril right hander. He travelled along the grass and gravel for a few hundred yards trying in vain to coax his Williams back onto the circuit. He hit the tyre wall and bounced back across the track without any left wheels and was narrowly missed by one of the McLaren cars which also had to go onto the grass to avoid the spinning Williams
Michael Schumacher secured Pole with a brilliant time early on in the session, Damon Hill was second fastest, though he had a late fast run upset by Johnny Herbert (but that's racing). Jean Alesi is third fastest with team mate Berger fourth.
McLaren continue to improve and Mika Hakkinen is fifth fastest with David Coulthard in seventh. The two McLarens sandwiching the Williams of Villeneuve.
The two Ligier cars also did well on their home track with Panis an excellent ninth.
Eddie Irvine was relegated to the back of the grid for infringing technical rules. After a mid session spot check and weigh in, his Ferrari was found to have illegal deflector plates, which were 15mm too high.

Headlines

Hakkinen Quickest

MIka Hakkinen tops the time sheets for Friday, he managed to outpace Olivier Panis in the final minutes of the session to claim the fastest time of the day. Panis, bouyed by a home crowd has looked good today, let's hope he can keep it up tomorrow.

Headlines

Senna Enquiry Latest

The latest news that I have on this subject is that the Italian public prosecutor Maurizio Passarini is seeking for Frank Williams and Patrick Head to be tried for manslaughter. Six further Williams team officials and two senior officials from the Imola track are also being included.No charges have been brought yet and the matter is unlikely to be considered before the end of July. Maurizio Passarini has completed his investigations and has submitted his report to the magistrate who will decide if any charges are to be brought against the accused.The main element of the report surrounds the steering column in Senna's car which had been altered before the race. An independent report concludes that the steering column snapped as Senna entered the Tamburello, while Williams maintain that the column was intact until the moment of impact.The case against two other Williams staff is to be dropped.

Headlines

Gil de Ferran Linked To Stewart

The rumours surrounding Gil de Ferran and Stewart GP continue to grow. Paul Stewart spoke to de Ferran but added "He's one of a number of drivers that we might be interested in, but we are nowhere near to signing any of them".

Headlines

New Tyrrell For Katayama

Ukyo Katayama will get to play in the new Tyrrell for the French GP. Mika Salo has had the revised car since Monaco.

Headlines

Driver Rumours (latest)

This week it is the turn of Mika Hakkinen, he has been linked with Benetton for 1997. This has led to rumours of Frentzen rejoining Mercedes at McLaren and Gerhard Berger retiring. Berger said "I couldn't retire even if I wanted to - I have a two year contract"

Headlines

Sauber After Hart or Honda Engines

With Ford giving exclusive use of the hi spec V10s to Stewart GP next year, Sauber are looking at other engine suppliers to propel their cars next season. Team boss Peter Sauber is reported to have had talks with Mugen Honda and Brian Hart.

Headlines

Bridgestone Testing Gets Serious

Bridgestone stepped up their testing program this week when Jos Verstappen had the tyres fitted to his TWR Arrows Hart and openly tested them at Silverstone. The car even had Bridgestone logos on it.

Headlines

France Preview

Into the second half of the season, last year this signalled a run of four Pole positions for Hill though he wasted them with the collision at Silverstone and the first lap spin at Hockenheim. Michael Schumacher won in France last year with better pit stop tactics, giving him his second French win in a row. The race itself usually sees a good number of finishers (16 in 1993 and 1995) so the points have to be earned. The track is not one of the fastest circuits and drivers usually lap at an average of 115 mph. This should suit the Ferrari, Benetton and Williams cars, while Jordan may find themselves struggling a little.The weather is usually very humid which is a tremendous drain on the drivers, this gives Schumacher an advantage as he is probably the fittest driver in F1. The best place for action is at the Adelaide hairpin, and there are places to overtake so lets hope for some racing.

Headlines