July 28 1996
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".....
Hill Wins Again
Qualifying
Friday Times
Hill / Frentzen
Alesi Tops Last Testing
Ferrari
Forti
Herbert Outshines Frentzen
BMW On The Way ?
Arrows Sponsorship Extended
German GP Preview
Durango Delayed
Driver Rumours (latest)
Hill Wins Again
Damon Hill won the German GP when race leader Gerhard Berger retired three laps from the end. Berger who had looked impressive all weekend suffered an engine failure which handed the race to Hill. Alesi moved into second place and Villeneuve up to third.
Ferrari improved on their recent form with both cars running until Irvine retired 11 laps from the end. Schumacher finished the race in fourth place just ahead of David Coulthard in the McLaren. Rubens Barrichello scored a point for Jordan, a happy ending to a poor weekend for the team.
| 1 | D. Hill | Williams Renault | 1.21.43.417 |
| 2 | J. Alesi | Benetton Renault | + 11.452 |
| 3 | J. Villeneuve | Williams Renault | + 33.926 |
| 4 | M. Schumacher | Ferrari | + 41.517 |
| 5 | D. Coulthard | McLaren Mercedes | + 42.196 |
| 6 | R. Barrichello | Jordan Peugeot | + 1.42.099 |
| 7 | O. Panis | Ligier Mugen Honda | + 1.43.912 |
| 8 | H. H. Frentzen | Sauber Ford | + 1 lap |
| 9 | M. Salo | Tyrrell Yamaha | + 1 lap |
| 10 | M. Brundle | Jordan Peugeot | +1 lap |
| 11 | R. Rosset | TWR Arrows Hart | + 1 lap |
| 12 | P. Lamy | Minardi Ford | + 2 laps |
| 13 | G. Berger | Benetton Renault | + 3 laps |
| Not Classified | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| E. Irvine | Ferrari | Gear box lap 35 | |
| J. Herbert | Sauber Ford | Handling lap 26 | |
| P. Diniz | Ligier Mugen Honda | Hydraulics lap 20 | |
| U. Katayama | Tyrrell Yanaha | Accident lap 20 | |
| M. Hakkinen | McLaren Mercedes | Gearbox lap 14 | |
| J. Verstappen | TWR Arrows Hart | Accident lap 1 |
Damon Hill set a blistering pole position time in the dying seconds of the qualifying session at Hockenheim. He displaced Schumacher's pole position by 0.565 seconds. Gerhard Berger who was just behind Hill on his flying lap, also set a brilliant time 0.178 inside the pole position held by Schumacher.
Michael had lead from early on in the session and will now start third.
Mercedes will be encouraged by the performance of Mika Hakkinen who will start alongside Schumacher. The next four places are filled by team mates of the front four Alesi, Villeneuve, Coulthard and Irvine.
Jordan will be dissapointed with their performance, given the straightline speed that their car has, Forti have withdrawn from the race and did not attend qualifying, thngs do not look promising.
Pedro Diniz outqualified Panis and continues to improve with every race.
| 1 | D. Hill | Williams Renault | 1.43.912 |
| 2 | G. Berger | Benetton Renault | 1.44.299 |
| 3 | M. Schumacher | Ferrari | 1.44.477 |
| 4 | M. Hakkinen | McLaren Mercedes | 1.44.644 |
| 5 | J. Alesi | Benetton Renault | 1.44.670 |
| 6 | J. Villeneuve | Williams Renault | 1.44.852 |
| 7 | D. Coulthard | McLaren Mercedes | 1.44.951 |
| 8 | E. Irvine | Ferrari | 1.45.389 |
| 9 | R. Barrichello | Jordan Peugeot | 1.45.452 |
| 10 | M. Brundle | Jordan Peugeot | 1.45.876 |
| 11 | P. Diniz | Ligier Mugen Honda | 1.46.575 |
| 12 | O. Panis | Ligier Mugen Honda | 1.46.746 |
| 13 | H. H. Frentzen | Sauber Ford | 1.46.899 |
| 14 | J. Herbert | Sauber Ford | 1.47.711 |
| 15 | M. Salo | Tyrrell Yamaha | 1.48.139 |
| 16 | U. Katayama | Tyrrell Yamaha | 1.48.381 |
| 17 | J. Verstappen | TWR Arrows Hart | 1.48.512 |
| 18 | P. Lamy | Minardi Ford | 1.49.461 |
| 19 | R. Rosset | TWR Arrows Hart | 1.49.551 |
| DNQ | G. Lavaggi | Minardi Ford | 1.51.357 |
Mika Hakkinen set the pace in the morning session, Gerhard Berger took over in the afternoon. The times set on Fridays often bear no relationship to qualifying but Benetton, Jordan, McLaren and Ferrari can all take some encoragement from outperforming the Williams duo. Hill was fourth fastest in the morning session but slipped back to eighth fastest by the end of the afternoon. Villeneuve struggled and remained eleventh fastest, neither Williams used new tyres though, so expect much quicker times tomorrow.
Forti were missing again, and it looks like they will not compete here either.
The two Ferrari's were both on the pace with Irvine quicker of the two by almost 8/10s of a second. Surely this time..............
| 1 | G. Berger | Benneton Renault | 1.46.145 |
| 2 | D. Coulthard | McLaren Mercedes | 1.46.184 |
| 3 | E. Irvine | Ferrari | 1.46.198 |
| 4 | J. Alesi | Benetton Renault | 1.46.294 |
| 5 | M. Hakkinen | McLaren Mercedes | 1.46.384 |
| 6 | M. Brundle | Jordan Peugeot | 1.46.487 |
| 7 | M. Schumacher | Ferrari | 1.46.959 |
| 8 | D. Hill | Williams Renault | 1.46.998 |
| 9 | R. Barrichello | Jordan Peugeot | 1.47.110 |
| 10 | P. Diniz | Ligier Mugen Honda | 1.47.534 |
| 11 | J. Villeneuve | Williams Renault | 1.47.586 |
| 12 | O. Panis | Ligier Mugen Honda | 1.47.668 |
| 13 | H. H. Frentzen | Sauber Ford | 1.48.157 |
| 14 | J. Herbert | Sauber Ford | 1.49.220 |
| 15 | M. Salo | Tyrrell Yamaha | 1.49.243 |
| 16 | J. Verstappen | TWR Arrows Hart | 1.49.629 |
| 17 | U. Katayama | Tyrrell Yamaha | 1.49.843 |
| 18 | P. Lamy | Minardi Ford | 1.50.815 |
| 19 | R. Rosset | TWR Arrows Hart | 1.50.872 |
| 20 | G. Lavaggi | Minardi Ford | 1.54.685 |
The drivers rumours continue to come thick and fast, and like all good rumours they completely contradict what was said yesterday.
At the moment the focus for attention is the Hill / Frentzen / Williams deal
Frentzen has long been under "semi contract" with Williams and was expected to join them next year. Hill's contract finishes at the end of this year so everthing looks in place.
Except Hill is outdriving Villeneuve while Frentzen is not really outshining Herbert.
Hill and Williams both say he will be at Williams next year, while Stewart GP say he will be with them.
Everyone else says Frentzen will be at Williams next year, except Jordan who say he will be with them.
Confused ?
No doubt somewhere in one of those rumours there is a grain of truth, more by luck than knowledge I expect. :-) enjoy.
Jean Alesi topped the test times as the teams all prepared for this weekend's German GP. Alesi managed a fastest lap of 1.08.62, Damon Hill was second fastest with 1.08.99. Berger and Barrichello were third and fourth fastest.McLaren will be encouraged by Alain Prost's performance, finishing fifth fastest ahead of Villeneuve who struggled in sixth with a best time of 1.11.66.
Ferrari are hoping that the latest revisions to the F310.1.1.1etc. will bring them a race finish this weekend. The car will have a new under tray and rear suspension at Hockenheim, but the seven speed gearbox will not be used yet. Schumacher and Irvine have both been testing heavily and have run race distances during testing. Schumacher is confident that the modifications make the car much better to drive. "I think we can be very competitive this weekend.....the car has been improved a lot, so I think we are in a position to go for it"
Meanwhile, at Forti.....The engine payment situation still seems unclear. We have not hear that Forti have settled their debts yet and if that remains the same up to the weekend we can expect Forti to just turn out for one or two qualifying laps. If they do not appear during a race weekend they are liable to a fine of around 400,000 USD from the FIA.
Sauber's last test session before the German race saw Johnny Herbert emerge fastest of the two Sauber drivers. The team were testing at Nogaro (Circuit Paul Armagnac, France)
This week BMW are coming back to Formula1, next week may be different but here goes.The BMW proposal to return to F1 was rejected by the advisory board. The board is now said to be finalising BMW's next five year motorsport decision. Renault's announcement that they are leaving F1 has supposedly added to the BMW desire to return. BMW have been linked with Williams for some time now.
Arrows have had their sponsorship deal with Power House extended to cover the 1999 season. Arrows may get to run the new Hart engine this weekend.
The German GP at Hockenheim is one of the fastest circuits on the calendar. Last year Schumacher won with an average speed of 138.12 mph, the year before it was won by Berger with an average speed of 139.36 mph. The circuit has four main sections, the two long straights which both have chicanes half way down, the famous Ostkurve at one end and the grandstand complex at the other. The circuit is not too technical and is fast.Villeneuve should have little difficulty learning the track, and the long straights should benefit the Jordan and McLaren cars who both have good straight line speed.Ferrari have been testing to destruction following the British GP and surely they must have things sorted out now.It is likely to be a close finish, last year 10 seconds separated the first three. Williams, Benetton, McLaren, Jordan and Ferrari all have realistic chances of getting two cars in the points. It all comes down to reliability, the long straights kill cars, last year six cars retired with blown engines and four with gearbox problems. Of the fifteen retirements only Hill's spin was not a mechanical failure.Startline collisions are not uncommon at Hockenheim so it is important to be near the front.
The Durango car will not be unveiled just yet as the team are still trying to negotiate an engine deal. IT is expected that the car will now debut after the Italian GP. Durango are one of many teams hoping to enter F1 next year.
It's official, Hill will be staying at Williams next year.
It's expected, Hill will be joining Stewart GP next year.
It's also official, Frentzen will be replacing Hill at Williams next year.
It's official, Frentzen has signed for Jordan.
