| 1996 Australian Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 1 of 16 in the1996 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details | |||||
| Date | 10 March 1996 | ||||
| Official name | 1996Transurban Australian Grand Prix | ||||
| Location | Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit Melbourne, Australia | ||||
| Course | Temporary street circuit | ||||
| Course length | 5.302 km (3.295 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 58 laps, 307.516 km (191.110 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Dry with temperatures reaching up to 23 °C (73 °F)[1] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||||
| Time | 1:32.371 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Renault | |||
| Time | 1:33.421 on lap 27 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||||
| Second | Williams-Renault | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The1996 Australian Grand Prix (officially the1996 Transurban Australian Grand Prix) was aFormula One motor race held atMelbourne on 10 March 1996. It was the first race of the1996 Formula One World Championship, and the first Australian Grand Prix to be held at Melbourne, taking over fromAdelaide.
The 58-lap race was won byDamon Hill, driving aWilliams-Renault. Hill's teammateJacques Villeneuve, making his Formula One debut, tookpole position and led for most of the race, before an oil leak enabled Hill to catch and pass him in the closing laps.Eddie Irvine finished third in aFerrari.
This was the second Grand Prix in a row held in Australia, the previous race being the conclusion to the1995 season.
Taki Inoue was scheduled to race for theMinardi team as a pay driver but when no money materialised prior to the race he was replaced byGiancarlo Fisichella.[2] Marlboro had expressed interest in Fisichella running early on.[3]
The race was the first to use the new race-start system, still used in Formula 1 today,[4] replacing the old red to green light system. Under the new system, five red lights would come on at one second intervals, starting after the last driver reached his grid box. There would then be a pre-determined pause, and then the five lights would go off simultaneously.[5] This was also the first race to have a single qualifying session on Saturday afternoon; the Friday session was dropped.
Jacques Villeneuve, making his début in Formula One, took pole position.
BothForti cars failed make the race due to the new107% rule for qualifying, which stated that any car that qualified 107% slower than the pole time (1:38.837 in this race) would be excluded. The measure was introduced as excessively slow entrants presented potential safety hazards due to a high speed difference.[6] Incidentally, the team had logged its best result of 7th one race earlier at the season-ending1995 Australian Grand Prix.[7]
It was an all-Williams front row withDamon Hill and debutantJacques Villeneuve in the blue and whiteRothmans cars. In the first corner. Hill was squeezed by Irvine, lost momentum and was overtaken by both Ferraris in the run down going into the third corner. Behind Hill, Alesi sliced across in front of Hakkinen and Barrichello to claim the corner and began a chain reaction of heavy braking as drivers tried to avoid colliding with one another.David Coulthard veered left under braking and his McLaren hit the side of Herbert's Sauber. Herbert tried to avoid the car and braked heavily. Martin Brundle was behind them and unable to slow sufficiently, hitting the rear of Herbert's and Coulthard's cars and was launched into a barrel roll, ending in a sand trap at turn 3 and breaking his car in two. Brundle was unhurt. The race was halted to allow the circuit to be cleared.[8][4]
The race was restarted. Brundle (in the spare car) spun off after light contact withPedro Diniz. The Williams dominated again, with Jacques Villeneuve leading Hill. Schumacher held on in third place, but dropped back half a minute with his second pit stop. He developed brake problems on lap 28 and retired five laps later. Irvine assumed third, despite contact with Jean Alesi's Benetton on lap 6, when Alesi had attempted to pass him. Towards the end of the race Villeneuve was slowed by an oil leak, which allowed Hill to catch and pass him. Hill took his 14th Grand Prix victory, equaling his fatherGraham's overall number of wins. Hill took back to back Australian victories, theprevious race being the last round of1995, in Adelaide. In the end, the podium was Hill–Villeneuve–Irvine.
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| Previous race: 1995 Australian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1996 season | Next race: 1996 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1995 Australian Grand Prix | Australian Grand Prix | Next race: 1997 Australian Grand Prix |
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by 1995 Australian Grand Prix | Formula One Promotional Trophy for Race Promoter 1996 | Succeeded by 1997 Australian Grand Prix |
