The 1996 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 14 July 1996. It was the tenth race of the 1996 Formula One World Championship.
Williams' Jacques Villeneuve took his second win of the season from Benetton's Gerhard Berger, with McLaren's Mika Häkkinen coming home third for his first podium since his near-fatal crash at 1995 Australian Grand Prix. Jordan's Rubens Barrichello took fourth, equalling his best finish of the season, and it came after he had been involved in late collisions while racing for fourth place at the circuit in the previous two years. The final points went to David Coulthard in the second McLaren and Martin Brundle in the second Jordan.
Damon Hill took pole position for his home race, but made a slow start and retired shortly before half distance, after a wheel nut problem caused him to spin off at Copse Corner while he was trying to pass Häkkinen. For the third consecutive race, Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine were both forced to retire with technical issues in the first six laps – Schumacher with hydraulic problems and Irvine with a differential failure. Jean Alesi would become another notable retirement on lap 45 from 3rd place, just ahead of teammate Gerhard Berger when his rear brakes overheated.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Diff. Grid 1 5 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:26.875 1 2 6 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:27.070 +0.195 2 3 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:27.707 +0.832 3 4 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.856 +0.981 4 5 3 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:28.307 +1.432 5 6 11 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 1:28.409 +1.534 6 7 4 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:28.653 +1.778 7 8 12 Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 1:28.946 +2.071 8 9 8 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.966 +2.091 9 10 2 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:29.186 +2.311 10 11 15 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 1:29.591 +2.716 11 12 18 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:29.913 +3.038 12 13 14 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 1:29.947 +3.072 13 14 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:29.949 +3.074 14 15 17 Jos Verstappen Footwork-Hart 1:30.102 +3.227 15 16 9 Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:30.167 +3.292 16 17 10 Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1:31.076 +4.201 17 18 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Minardi-Ford 1:31.365 +4.490 18 19 20 Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 1:31.454 +4.579 19107% time: 1:32.956— 23 Andrea Montermini Forti-Ford 1:35.206 +8.331— 22 Luca Badoer Forti-Ford 1:35.304 +8.429 16 Ricardo Rosset Footwork-HartNo time 20 Sources: Rosset was excluded after missing an FIA weight check. He was allowed to start at the back of the grid.
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 61 1:33:00.874 2 10 2 4 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 61 + 19.026 7 6 3 7 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 61 + 50.830 4 4 4 11 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 61 + 1:06.716 6 3 5 8 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 61 + 1:22.507 9 2 6 12 Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 60 + 1 lap 8 1 7 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha 60 + 1 lap 14 8 15 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Ford 60 + 1 lap 11 9 14 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Ford 60 + 1 lap 13 10 17 Jos Verstappen Footwork-Hart 60 + 1 lap 15 11 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Minardi-Ford 59 + 2 laps 18 3 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 44 Wheel bearing 5 9 Olivier Panis Ligier-Mugen-Honda 40 Handling 16 10 Pedro Diniz Ligier-Mugen-Honda 38 Engine 17 5 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 26 Wheel nut 1 20 Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 21 Gearbox 19 16 Ricardo Rosset Footwork-Hart 13 Electrical 20 18 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 12 Timing belt 12 2 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 5 Differential 10 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 3 Hydraulics 3
Notes Last race: Forti Last race: Andrea Montermini Ricardo Rosset's qualifying times (best 1:30.529) were scratched after he missed the FIA weight check, dropping him from 17th to 20th on the grid.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Damon Hill 63 2 Jacques Villeneuve 48 3 Michael Schumacher 26 4 Jean Alesi 25 5 Gerhard Berger 16Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 111 2 Benetton-Renault 41 3 Ferrari 35 4 McLaren-Mercedes 32 5 Jordan-Peugeot 13Source:
References