1996 British Grand Prix

1996 British Grand Prix
Race 10 of 16 in the 1996 Formula One World Championship
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Silverstone Circuit (as modified in 1996)
Silverstone Circuit (as modified in 1996)
Race details
Date 14 July 1996
Official name XLIX British Grand Prix
Location Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.072 km (3.152 miles)
Distance 61 laps, 309.392 km (192.247 miles)
Weather Warm and sunny with temperatures reaching up to 25 °C (77 °F)[1]
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:26.875
Fastest lap
Driver Canada Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault
Time 1:29.288 on lap 21
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second Benetton-Renault
Third McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

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.[2] 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.

  1. ^ Weather info for the 1996 British Grand Prix at Weather Underground
  2. ^ "F1 News – Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Races > British GP, 1996". Grandprix.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2011.