| 1996 Monaco Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 6 of 16 in the1996 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details | |||||
| Date | 19 May 1996 | ||||
| Official name | LIV Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco | ||||
| Location | Circuit de Monaco,Monte Carlo | ||||
| Course | Street circuit | ||||
| Course length | 3.328 km (2.068 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 75 laps, 249.600 km (155.094 miles) | ||||
| Scheduled distance | 78 laps, 259.584 km (161.298 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Overcast, mild, wet at first, drying later, light rain at finish | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 1:20.356 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Jean Alesi | Benetton-Renault | |||
| Time | 1:25.205 on lap 59 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ligier-Mugen-Honda | ||||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Sauber-Ford | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The1996 Monaco Grand Prix (formally theLIV Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco) was aFormula One motor race held atMonaco on 19 May 1996. It was the sixth race of the1996 Formula One season. The race was run in very wet weather, and seta record for the fewest cars to be running at the end of a Grand Prix race, with the three podium finishers being the only cars left.
Olivier Panis scored his first and only win of his Formula One career, earning the last Formula One victory for theLigier team, and the first ever win for engine manufacturerMugen-Honda, after switching to slick tyres in a well-timed pitstop. Second place went toDavid Coulthard in aMcLaren-Mercedes.Johnny Herbert was the last finisher in aSauber, scoring his only points of the season.
This was the last win by aFrench Formula One driver untilPierre Gasly won the2020 Italian Grand Prix and also the last Grand Prix win by a French-licensed Formula One constructor untilRenault won the2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Michael Schumacher had taken pole position but had caused controversy on his slowing down lap when he impededGerhard Berger right at the end of the session. Coming out of the tunnel Schumacher was cruising slowly, acknowledging the crowd, while Berger was on a fast lap. Schumacher tried to get out of Berger's way but the Austrian had to spin at high speed to avoid the Ferrari, entering the chicane backwards.
The Ligiers were 14th and 17th in qualifying, both below their expectations after the team had mis-firing issues, preventing a top six position.[1]
Olivier Panis was fastest in the warm-up.[2]Jacques Villeneuve was 18th after running a wet-setup in preparation for the expected rain.[3] Between the warm-up session and the race, heavy rain fell at the circuit, and an additional 15-minute session was added to allow the drivers to get used to the changed conditions as it was the first time rain had fallen over the race weekend.[4][5][6] The session took place at 13:15 CEST (GMT +2).[7] Several drivers went off during the session, includingPedro Lamy,Pedro Diniz andGiancarlo Fisichella, but all continued.[8][9][10] The only two drivers to escape with damage wereMika Häkkinen andAndrea Montermini.[11][12]Jean Alesi suffered a puncture at the end of the session, but was able to return to the pitlane.[13] Several drivers opted to skip the session. TheFootwork team chose not to participate as they did not have any spare parts, and any crash would have marked the end of their weekend.[14] Häkkinen was fastest, setting his time before his crash, with Alesi,Rubens Barrichello andJohnny Herbert behind. The twoWilliams cars were 7th and 8th, Villeneuve ahead ofDamon Hill with Schumacher behind them in 9th.[15]
The race started at 14:30 CEST.[16] During the warm-up session, Montermini crashed his Forti coming out of the tunnel, and the team's lack of a spare car meant the Italian was unable to start, leaving 21 cars on the grid. Hill overtook Schumacher into Sainte-Dévote, while further back,Jos Verstappen, who had opted to start the race on slicks, slid straight into the wall. The two Minardis were then eliminated when they tangled coming out of the first corner. Hill began to pull away while polesitter Schumacher lost control coming out of Lower Mirabeau and hit the wall. Coming into the Rascasse, Barrichello spun and retired. After five laps, there were only 13 cars remaining asUkyo Katayama (accident),Ricardo Rosset (accident) and Diniz (transmission) retired. A significant gap began to open between the leaders andEddie Irvine in fourth. A queue of eight cars formed behind the slow Ferrari. Berger retired from third place on the 10th lap with gearbox trouble leaving 12 cars, whileHeinz-Harald Frentzen damaged his front wing trying to pass Irvine, dropping to second last, ahead of Luca Badoer.
On lap 31,Martin Brundle spun off, which left only 11 cars in the race. Three laps later, Irvine was passed when Panis forced his way through at the Loews hairpin. Irvine lost control, became stuck and had undone his seatbelts before he restarted his car with the assistance of the marshals. Hill, meanwhile, had briefly lost the lead to Alesi when he made a pit stop on lap 30 to change to slicks as the track began to dry, but regained it a lap later when he overtook the Frenchman (who was still on wet tyres) on the track. Alesi made his pit stop shortly afterwards, allowing Hill to extend his lead to nearly 30 seconds and continue untroubled at the front until the 40th lap, when a failed oil pump caused his engine to blow coming out of the tunnel, his first retirement of the season. Alesi then led for 20 laps before his suspension failed, handing the lead to Panis.Luca Badoer was running six laps down in the Forti when he collided with Villeneuve at Mirabeau on lap 66, retiring both drivers.
The race did not run its full distance as the two-hour time limit came into effect. Panis was leadingDavid Coulthard by a small margin with only five other cars behind them. Irvine spun at the same point that his teammate Schumacher had crashed, and as he tried to rejoin, he was hit byMika Salo, who was in turn hit by Häkkinen. All three of them retired, leaving only four cars circulating, with Frentzen running last. The German decided to pull into the pits on the final lap as he was already last anyway, far behind everyone else who had taken the chequered flag. Panis thus won his one and only Grand Prix, taking Ligier's first win in 15 years. Frentzen, Salo and Häkkinen were classified in the final points positions while Irvine was credited with seventh place.
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| Previous race: 1996 San Marino Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1996 season | Next race: 1996 Spanish Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1995 Monaco Grand Prix | Monaco Grand Prix | Next race: 1997 Monaco Grand Prix |
43°44′4.74″N7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E /43.7346500; 7.421333
