F1: British GP report
- Stephen M Baines
- MNI - Motorsport News International
- Mon Jul 15 09:20:48 EDT 1996
Qualifying Report
Early on in the session it was already known that the Williams' would not
be out until much later into the session. So, early on it was Fisichella
and Rosset setting the times. Tyrrell also joined in the fun. One team that
looked unlikely to do much running was Forti, who up until qualifying
hadn't run all weekend, with the team reported as being refused engines
until they paid for them.... The engines duly arrived on Saturday morning,
and were being fitted to the cars.
Eventually Schumacher came out onto the track, and set about the times. He
was soon on ple with a 1m27.707 - some 4 seconds better than the previous
pole time. Brundle was also out and running well, up to 1m29.477 for
second, only for Hill and Villeneuve to come out and battle it out for
pole. Hill went second, then Villeneuve got pole, then Hill bettered that
and grabbed pole, only for Villeneuve to do the same seconds later with a
1m27.160.
Villeneuve Hill Schumacher Alesi Coulthard Brundle Irvine Salo Verstappen
1m27,160 0.398 0.547 1.539 2.075 2.280 2.428 2.739 2.963
Berger was now also joining in the fun, and soon up to 4th with a 1m28.769
for 6th. Barrichello then banged in a 1m28.531 and took 5th, whilst
Hakkinen was going places and up to 4th.
Villeneuve Hill Schumacher Hakkinen Barrichello Alesi Berger Coulhtard Brundle IrvineFrentzen Salo Verstappen Panis Herbert Katayama Diniz RossetLamy Fisich
1m27.160 0.398 0.547 1.175 1.371 1.539 1.609 2.075 2.280 2.428 2.539 2.739 2.963 3.007 3.156 3.732 3.916 4.274 4.829 5.
Schumacher was soon out and having another go at pole. His lap was soon
aborted, and he returned to the pits. With 24 minutes to go, Coulthard went
out and set a 1m28.966, but still 8th. It was soon reported that Schumacher
had damaged his plank as he hit a curb, and was having a new one fitted.
Villeneuve was back on the track, and Hill set a new pole time of 1m26.875.
Hill attempted to better it, but was off by a 1/10th of a second at the 2nd
split, only for him to be held up by Herbert. Schumacher was now busily
preparing himself for his next attempt. Luca Badoer was out on the track,
and setting the pace with a 4m32.712 - no need to get the calculator out to
work out if that was within 107% of pole! There was now only 11 minutes to
go, and Badoer managed to put in a 1m35.304 (107% was 1m32.956). Schumacher
was also out and setting better times than that - managing a 1m28.250.
Montermini was busily spinning off the track and back on again. Alesi was
also trying, but not getting very far. Both of the Forti's now found
themselves parked next to each other on the circuit after Montermini set a
1m35.206, some 8.331 seconds off the pole time. Villeneuve was next to have
a go, but only managed to consolodate 2nd. Hill had a final attempt to rub
salt in, and was inside his own time at the 2nd split, only to be 5/100th
of a second off at the line. Neither Forti qualified, and Rosset had his
times disallowed.
1. Hill
2. Villeneuve
3. Schumacher
4. Hakkinen
5. Alesi
6. Barrichello
7. Berger
8. Brundle
9. Coulthard
10. Irvine
11. Frentzen
12. Katayama
13. Herbert
14. Salo
15. Verstappen
16. Panis
17. Diniz
18. Fisichella
19. Lamy
20. Rosset
Race
Villeneuve made a cracking start and was into the lead. Hill didn't and
found himself back in 5th place, with Alesi, Hakkinen and Schumacher also
taking him. Alesi sensed blood and had a go at Villeneuve, but didn't quite
manage it at the first corner. He did, however continue his charge in 2nd
place. Irvine was making up places, and was already 7th - a good start.
Villeneuve Alesi Hakkinen Schumacher Hill Barrichello Irvine
Lap 1 1.605 2.663 3.603 4.262 5.023 -
Lap 2 2.792 3.993 4.948 5.649 7.181 -
Lap 4 5.217 6.689 Retired 11.290 12.464 12.464
Coming up on lap 3, Schumacher's Ferrari suddenly slowed. It was soon all
over with the Ferrari into the pits and retiring. The car, apparantly, was
jammed in 6th gear. Irvine was soon to follow suit in retiring on lap 6.
The Ferrari was belching flames and smoke for quite some time, as he made
his way back to the pits. Yet another dreadful day for the Italian team. At
the front, Villeneuve was busily extending his lead, and was now some 7
seconds ahead of Alesi. By lap 7, this was up to 8.3 seconds.
Villeneuve Alesi Hakkinen Hill Barrichello Berger
Lap 10 10.773 12.276 13.586 19.843 21.154
It was later reported that Irvine's engine lost power (though it didn't
seem to affect his speed going around to the pits that much). "I don't know
what it was to be honest... It's just one of those things ..... It's
unbelievable" said Irvine. Diniz was busy converting his Mugen-Honda into a
Mazda by spinning off and onto the track. On lap 15, Rosset retired from
the race. The first of the pit stops were about to happen, and Panis was
the first with a 13.3 second stop. Brundle was next to stop in 12 seconds.
Villeneuve Alesi Hakkinen Hill Berger Barrichello
19 laps 16.401 19.137 20.325 30.542 (PIT)
Williams were now getting ready in the pits for Villeneuve. Hill,
meanwhile, was starting to tackle Hakkinen, and having a go at several
places around the circuit. A Ligier had another dusty moment, whilst Lamy
was next to retire.
Hill was now swarming all over the McLaren of Hakkinen, as Villeneuve went
into the pits. He rejoined behind Hill, putting Alesi into the lead.
Hakkinen and Hill soon came upon the Minardi of Fisichella, and had a good
clean passing moment. Villeneuve was soon to follow them.
Alesi Hakkinen Hill Villeneuve Berger Barrichello
Lap 24 1.663 2.498 3.310 12.038 38.208
Lap 25 1.879 2.529 3.472 12.249
Lap 26 1.478 2.040 3.106
Hill was the next retirement, going off into the gravel trap. At first it
looked like a driver error, but it was later reported that it was a locked
wheel bearing that pitched him off onto the gravel. "Someting was wrong
with the front of the car for 3 or 4 laps..... It just pitched me off the
road" Hill later said. Hakkinen was the next to pit, allowing Villeneuve to
move up to second behind Alesi.
Alesi Villeneuve Berger Hakkinen
Lap 28 4.380 11.680 28.018
Alesi was soon to pit in 10.4 seconds, and rejoined the race behind
Hakkinen. This gave Villeneuve the lead again. Panis was next to stop
(9.6s), followed by Berger (10.4s).
Villeneuve -> Hakkinen -> Alesi -> Berger -> Barrichello -> Coulthard
Lap 30 29.248 3.048 7.615 4.278 9.031
By lap 40, things looked to have settled down. Diniz then gave us a little
prod awake, by letting his Ligier give us some smoke and flames to worry
about. He was out of the race. Brundle was to pit again (8.9s). Coulthard
was next (9.5) from 5th, with Villeneuve still to pit with a 36 second lead
over Hakkinen. Alesi and Berger were now embroiled over 3rd place. It was
soon to become academic, and Alesi let(!) Berger through when it became
clear that his car was not capable of the challenge. He was soon to retire
with a problem with the right rear wheel bearing. It certainly didn't look
good with the smoke pouring off it in the pits. Alesi was beside himself.
Villeneuve now found himself with 19.880 seconds over Berger, who in turn
had 19 seconds over Hakkinen. The race then settled down for the last few
laps, and soon the Williams coasted to victory over a well beaten
opposition.
1. Villeneuve
2. Berger
3. Hakkinen
4. Barrichello
5. Coulthard
6. Brundle
7. Salo
8. Frentzen
9. Herbert
10. Verstappen
11. Fisichella
--
Stephen M Baines
"[The Autosport sticker] started to peel off in the middle of Eau Rouge
and it distracted me. In fact it was the first thing to hit the barrier"
Tiff Needell - Jaguar XJR-15 Challenge - Interview with Autosport
F1/TouringCars http://metro.turnpike.net/vollans/index.html
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/Members/stephen.baines/index.html
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