| 1996 Japanese Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 16 of 16 in the1996 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details | |||||
| Date | 13 October 1996 | ||||
| Official name | XXII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix | ||||
| Location | Suzuka Circuit Suzuka,Mie Prefecture,Japan | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.859 km (3.641[1] miles) | ||||
| Distance | 52 laps, 304.718[2] km (189.343 miles) | ||||
| Scheduled distance | 53 laps, 310.577[3] km (192.984 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny, mild and dry | ||||
| Attendance | 303,000[4] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||||
| Time | 1:38.909 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Renault | |||
| Time | 1:44.043 on lap 34 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The1996 Japanese Grand Prix (officially known as theXXII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was aFormula One motor race held atSuzuka on 13 October 1996. It was the sixteenth and final race of the1996 Formula One World Championship.
The 52-lap race was won byDamon Hill, driving aWilliams-Renault. Hill took his eighth win of the season, and with it the Drivers' Championship, after teammate and pole-sitterJacques Villeneuve made a poor start and then retired when a wheel fell off. Villeneuve had needed to win the race, without Hill scoring, in order to win the Championship himself.Michael Schumacher finished second in aFerrari, enabling the Italian team to steal second place in the Constructors' Championship fromBenetton, withMika Häkkinen third in aMcLaren-Mercedes.
Hill was the first son of a World Champion to win the championship himself, his fatherGraham having been champion in1962 and1968. This was also the final race forMartin Brundle, who had been competing in F1 since1984 and finished on the podium 9 times since1992, as well as the last race forPedro Lamy,Giovanni Lavaggi,Footwork andLigier.
This was the first time since1977 that Japan hosted the final round of the World Championship. This was the final race broadcast on television in theUnited Kingdom by theBritish Broadcasting Corporation until the2009 F1 season. Starting from 1997 until 2008,ITV would broadcast on British television. As a result, this would beJonathan Palmer’s final race as commentator. This was alsoSteve Rider’s final race as anchor until 2006. In qualifying, Villeneuve beat Hill to pole position by nearly half a second, with a further 0.7 seconds back to Schumacher in third.
On race day, the first start was aborted whenDavid Coulthard stalled hisMcLaren.[5] At the second start, Villeneuve made a poor getaway and fell to sixth behind Hill,Gerhard Berger, Häkkinen, Schumacher andEddie Irvine. Meanwhile,Jean Alesi, attempting to make up several places after qualifying ninth, spun off at the second corner and destroyed hisBenetton; Alesi was unhurt from the impact. On the third lap, Berger attempted to overtake Hill at the final chicane, only to damage his front wing; after having to pit for a new nosecone, Berger dropped to eighteenth, and last, place, effectively ending his challenge for the lead.
Thereafter, Hill gradually pulled away, with Schumacher overtaking Häkkinen for second during the first round of pit stops.Pedro Diniz had lost control of his Ligier at the final chicane and spun off into the gravel trap by lap 14. Hill pitted for his second stop with a 25-second gap to Schumacher, emerging narrowly ahead of the Ferrari, before pulling away gradually once again to lead by 13 seconds with ten laps remaining.
Villeneuve, meanwhile, passed Irvine, set the fastest lap of the race and ran fourth before his right rear wheel came off on lap 37 due to a wheel bearing failure (this was the same incident that happened to team-mateDamon Hill during theBritish Grand Prix, according to BBC pit reporterTony Jardine), putting him out of the race and handing the Drivers' Championship to Hill, already dropped by Williams for the following season. Whilst fighting for fourth place,Gerhard Berger (having fought back to fifth place following his earlier collision with Hill) had another collision with the Ferrari ofEddie Irvine at the final chicane causing the Northern Irishman to spin out and retire, but Berger was able to carry on unscathed. A late fightback saw Schumacher close the gap to Hill, but Hill held on to win the race by 1.8 seconds, with Häkkinen a further 1.4 seconds back, while Berger recovered to finish fourth,Martin Brundle came fifth in his final Grand Prix, andHeinz-Harald Frentzen picked up the final point for sixth.
In the UK, this was the last F1 race until2009 to be broadcast live by theBBC.[citation needed] As Hill crossed the line to win the race and the championship, commentatorMurray Walker said, "And I've got to stop, because I've got a lump in my throat."[6]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Renault | 1:38.909 | |
| 2 | 5 |  Damon Hill | Williams-Renault | 1:39.370 | +0.461 |
| 3 | 1 |  Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:40.071 | +1.162 |
| 4 | 4 |  Gerhard Berger | Benetton-Renault | 1:40.364 | +1.455 |
| 5 | 7 |  Mika Häkkinen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:40.458 | +1.549 |
| 6 | 2 | Eddie Irvine | Ferrari | 1:41.005 | +2.096 |
| 7 | 15 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Sauber-Ford | 1:41.277 | +2.368 |
| 8 | 8 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:41.384 | +2.475 |
| 9 | 3 |  Jean Alesi | Benetton-Renault | 1:41.562 | +2.653 |
| 10 | 12 | Martin Brundle | Jordan-Peugeot | 1:41.600 | +2.691 |
| 11 | 11 |  Rubens Barrichello | Jordan-Peugeot | 1:41.919 | +3.010 |
| 12 | 9 | Olivier Panis | Ligier-Mugen-Honda | 1:42.206 | +3.297 |
| 13 | 14 | Johnny Herbert | Sauber-Ford | 1:42.658 | +3.749 |
| 14 | 18 |  Ukyo Katayama | Tyrrell-Yamaha | 1:42.711 | +3.802 |
| 15 | 19 | Mika Salo | Tyrrell-Yamaha | 1:42.840 | +3.931 |
| 16 | 10 | Pedro Diniz | Ligier-Mugen-Honda | 1:43.196 | +4.287 |
| 17 | 17 |  Jos Verstappen | Footwork-Hart | 1:43.383 | +4.474 |
| 18 | 20 |  Pedro Lamy | Minardi-Ford | 1:44.874 | +5.965 |
| 19 | 16 | Ricardo Rosset | Footwork-Hart | 1:45.412 | +6.503 |
| 107% time: 1:45.833 | |||||
| DNQ | 21 |  Giovanni Lavaggi | Minardi-Ford | 1:46.795 | +7.886 |
| Sources:[7][8] | |||||
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Damon Hill | Williams-Renault | 52 | 1:32:33.791 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 52 | +1.883 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 7 | Mika Häkkinen | McLaren-Mercedes | 52 | +3.212 | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | 4 | Gerhard Berger | Benetton-Renault | 52 | +26.526 | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 12 | Martin Brundle | Jordan-Peugeot | 52 | +1:07.120 | 10 | 2 |
| 6 | 15 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Sauber-Ford | 52 | +1:21.186 | 7 | 1 |
| 7 | 9 | Olivier Panis | Ligier-Mugen-Honda | 52 | +1:24.510 | 12 | |
| 8 | 8 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 52 | +1:25.233 | 8 | |
| 9 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Jordan-Peugeot | 52 | +1:41.065 | 11 | |
| 10 | 14 | Johnny Herbert | Sauber-Ford | 52 | +1:41.799 | 13 | |
| 11 | 17 | Jos Verstappen | Footwork-Hart | 51 | +1 lap | 17 | |
| 12 | 20 | Pedro Lamy | Minardi-Ford | 50 | +2 laps | 18 | |
| 13 | 16 | Ricardo Rosset | Footwork-Hart | 50 | +2 laps | 19 | |
| Ret | 2 | Eddie Irvine | Ferrari | 39 | Collision/spun off | 6 | |
| Ret | 18 | Ukyo Katayama | Tyrrell-Yamaha | 37 | Engine | 14 | |
| Ret | 6 | Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Renault | 36 | Wheel | 1 | |
| Ret | 19 | Mika Salo | Tyrrell-Yamaha | 20 | Engine | 15 | |
| Ret | 10 | Pedro Diniz | Ligier-Mugen-Honda | 13 | Spun off | 16 | |
| Ret | 3 | Jean Alesi | Benetton-Renault | 0 | Spun off | 9 | |
| DNQ | 21 | Giovanni Lavaggi | Minardi-Ford | 107% rule | |||
Source:[9] | |||||||
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| Previous race: 1996 Portuguese Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1996 season | Next race: 1997 Australian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1995 Japanese Grand Prix | Japanese Grand Prix | Next race: 1997 Japanese Grand Prix |
