1996 Portuguese Grand Prix

1996 Portuguese Grand Prix
Race 15 of 16 in the 1996 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details
Date	22 September 1996
Official name	XXV Grande Prémio de Portugal
Location	Autódromo do Estoril in Estoril, Portugal
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.360 km (2.725 miles)
Distance	71 laps, 309.560 km (193.475 miles)
Weather	Mostly sunny with ambient temperatures reaching 25 °C during the day.
Pole position
Driver	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Time	1:20.330
Fastest lap
Driver	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Time	1:22.873 on lap 37
Podium
First	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Second	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Third	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1996 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 22 September 1996 at Autódromo do Estoril in Estoril, Portugal. It was the 15th and penultimate race of the 1996 Formula One season.

Williams' Jacques Villeneuve won the race from team-mate Damon Hill and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, having overtaken the latter on the outside of the final corner while the two were lapping the slow-moving back-marking Minardi of Giovanni Lavaggi (who at the time was described by BBC TV commentator Jonathan Palmer as "desperately slow" and "there because of his money"). This victory, Villeneuve's fourth of the season, ensured that the Drivers' Championship battle between him and Hill went to the final round in Japan three weeks later.

Benetton's Jean Alesi finished fourth, just behind Schumacher, while Eddie Irvine in the second Ferrari and Gerhard Berger in the second Benetton survived a last-lap collision to take fifth and sixth respectively.^[1]

The Portuguese Grand Prix would not be held again until 2020 but this race was held at a new venue at the Algarve International Circuit as opposed to Estoril.^[2]