Traditions Upheld

All cars formed up correctly on the formation lap, and waited for 
the lights. Unlike at Spain, the lights did work correctly, and all 
cars got away from the grid. Hill lead Schumacher, and Coulthard was 
within a touch of the two ahead. The cars entered St Devot, and 
Coulthard was seen to be spinning, as was Alesi and Berger. Alesi 
had dived inside the Williams of Coulthard, and Coulthard tried to 
close the door. The two touched, and the Williams was launched, 
Berger then touched Alesi and was also lauched. Only Alesi didn't 
go airborne. The race was red flagged.

The Ferrari team had two spare cars, but doubts were still in 
Nikki Lauda's mind as to whether the cars would be good enough 
for the race. Williams had an additional problem. They only had 
the one spare car, and it was set up for Hill. The mechanics had 
a frantic battle to ready the car for Coulthard.

At the second start, Sciattarella and Verstappen failed to get there. With 
all of their current woes, and the admission that they may not make Canada, 
it was a bad day for Simtek. Hill took the lead over Schumacher, with 
Coulthard close behind, with the two Ferraris following the crocodile. At 
the end of the first lap 3.7 seconds covered the top 6:

Hill
Schumacher
Coulthard
Alesi
Berger
Herbert

Schumacher was all over the Williams of Hill, diving this way and that, 
trying to find a way past. It was a tremendous scrap. By the end of lap 3 
the top 6 were covered by 6.344 seconds. Damon set a fastest lap on lap 3, 
1m27.047, on the following lap Schumacher responded with a 1m26.570, and 
again on the following lap Damon banged in another fastest lap of 1m25.905s. 
Tremendous stuff. By this stage the top 6 were covered by 8.192 seconds. 
Positions on lap 6:
    Hill
    Schumacher
    Coulthard
    Alesi
    Berger
    Herbert
    Hakkinen
    Irvine
    Brundle
    Barrichello
    Blundell
    Panis

On lap 7, Hill banged in another fastest lap, 1m25.248s. Morbidelli came 
into the pits at the end of the 8th lap, presumably not for a routine stop. 
By the end of lap 10, the leaders came upon Diniz to lap him - not 
surprising as he (or rather the car) was 8 seconds a lap off the pace. 
On lap 11 Panis was called in for a stop-go penalty for jumping the start. 
Fine. Then Brundle for the same, then Barrichello, then Morbidelli and 
Montermini! There wouldn't be room in the pit if all came in at once. Hill 
at this stage of the race was coping much better with the traffic. Suddenly, 
Alesi gets past the Williams of Coulthard. Coulthard comes into the pit to 
retire. Apparantly he lost all gears bar second.  Positions on lap 18:
    Hill
    Schumacher
    Alesi
    Berger
    Herbert
    Irvine

On lap 21, Schumacher suddenly finds a few tenths to cut into Hill's 
lead. It drops from 2.4 to 1.8 seconds. On lap 24 Schumacher closes 
right up on the exhaust pipe of the Williams as Hill tries to get past 
Frentzen. Meanwhile Brundle comes in for a fuel and tyres stop (7.8 
seconds). On the same lap, Montermini is black flagged for failing to 
pit, he later rejoins the race. Hill came in for an 8.5 second stop on 
lap 25, and Schumacher took the lead, and Hill dropped back to 4th 
place, behind Alesi and Berger. At this stage the Benetton of 
Schumacher looked incredibly nervous, slipping and sliding all over 
the shop. Surely he must come in for a stop now? Incredibly not, he 
just continued to motor on for lap after lap. Berger came in for fuel 
and tyres on lap 26 (6.7 seconds).
    Schumacher
    Alesi
    Hill
    Berger
    Herbert (+33.749 seconds from P1)
    Katayama
    Blundell
    Martini
    Frentzen
    Brundle

On lap 28, Schumachers car starts really lurching into the corners. 
Meanwhile, Katayama retires after spinning at Casino Square. On lap 29, 
Inoue retires also. Schumacher now tries to get past the Forti of Diniz. 
The Forti resolutely refused to let the much faster Benetton by. A 
disgusting show of manners from Diniz. During this, Alesi closed the 
13 second gap to 7.4 seconds. Similarly, further back, the Ferrari of 
Berger and the Benetton of Herbert were tussling. Lap 33, and Schumacher 
bangs in a fastest lap on worn tyres (1m24.773), and finally on lap 37, 
Schumacher comes in for his one and only pit stop of the race. Alesi now 
takes the lead, and sets a 1m24.621 lap, then pits for fuel and tyres. 
He only just misses leaving the pits in the lead.
    Schumacher
    Alesi (+10.77s)
    Hill (+13.0s)
    Herbert (+36.8s)
    Berger (+37.583s)

Hill was now making inroads into Alesi. Herbert then came in for fuel 
and tyres (also his only stop) on lap 29. All the top 5 had stopped 
by now. Positions on 
lap 40:
    Schumacher
    Alesi
    Hill
    Berger
    Herbert
    Blundell
    Brundle
    Badoer
    Frentzen
    Martini
    Barrichello
    Salo
    Panis
    Bouillion
    Gachot
    Morbidelli
    Diniz

On lap 43, Brundle and Alesi tangle at the swimming pool. Brundle was 
later extremely open, taking the full blame. He said he was trying 
too hard at Tabac, hit a bump, spun and collected Alesi. This was a 
rare moment - a driver taking the blame. On lap 53, Hill came in for 
his second fuel and tyre stop. By lap 56, Hill was 32 seconds behind 
the German, and so it would remain (bar the odd moment) for the rest 
of the race. On lap 65, Barrichello pulls into the pits and retires. 
On lap 67, Salo also retires. Panis joins in sympathy for his fellow 
drivers, hitting the wall at the exit of Casino. Bouillion decides to 
join the party on the last lap, and retires.

    Schumacher
    Hill
    Berger
    Herbert
    Blundell
    Frentzen
    Martini
    Bouillion
    Morbidelli
    Diniz (+6 laps)

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