1996 Italian Grand Prix

The 1996 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on September 8, 1996 at Monza.

Pre-race

To stop cars kerb-hopping at chicanes due to ongoing track modifications at the time of the race, tyre barriers were erected at each chicane.

Race

Jean Alesi made an excellent start from sixth to lead polesitter Damon Hill into the first corner, but ran wide and struck a tyre stack between the two Lesmos on the opening lap and lost the lead to Hill. Alesi was fortunate to escape with his own car undamaged, but his error caused a tyre to fall on the track and break the front wing of Mika Häkkinen's McLaren. Häkkinen was forced to pit for a new nose-cone, dropping him to seventeenth on the track.

Jacques Villeneuve sent a tyre spinning into David Coulthard's car at the Ascari chicane on the opening lap in a similar incident while trying to pass Michael Schumacher. Villeneuve was able to continue, although the collision with the tyre stack bent his suspension, which slowed his car and forced him to pit for a new set of tyres, a new nose-cone and a new steering wheel, dropping him to sixteenth place and putting him a lap behind. Coulthard was less fortunate, and immediately spun off with a broken suspension pushrod. Villeneuve apologised to Coulthard after the race.

Hill was leading by four seconds on lap six when he hit the tyre barriers at the first chicane and retired with broken suspension. Eddie Irvine ran in third place for most of the first half of the race before having a similar accident. In all, eight cars made contact with the tyre barriers after running wide on the track, of which five (Hill, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Olivier Panis, Ricardo Rosset and Irvine) retired.

Michael Schumacher also hit a tyre stack in the closing stages but continued without damage to his car and won the race. This was his first ever Italian Grand Prix victory after years of misfortunes including the collision with Hill last year. Alesi, who re-took the lead following Hill's exit, finished second after losing out to Schumacher in the pit stops, and Häkkinen eventually recovered to third place thanks in part to Irvine's retirement. The Jordan-Peugeots of Martin Brundle and Rubens Barrichello finished in fourth and fifth positions respectively after a race-long battle for fourth place, Brundle overtaking at the Parabolica corner after Barrichello accidentally turned his engine off while trying to investigate a clutch problem. Pedro Diniz finished sixth ahead of Villeneuve, who only managed seventh place after Johnny Herbert's engine cut out on the final lap.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	53	1:17:43.632	3	10
2	3	Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	53	+ 18.265	6	6
3	7	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+ 1:06.635	4	4
4	12	Martin Brundle	Jordan-Peugeot	53	+ 1:25.217	9	3
5	11	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Peugeot	53	+ 1:25.475	10	2
6	10	Pedro Diniz	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	52	+ 1 Lap	14	1
7	6	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	52	+ 1 Lap	2
8	17	Jos Verstappen	Footwork-Hart	52	+ 1 Lap	15
9	14	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Ford	51	Engine	12
10	18	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	51	+ 2 Laps	16
Ret	16	Ricardo Rosset	Footwork-Hart	36	Spun off	19
Ret	2	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	23	Spun off	7
Ret	20	Pedro Lamy	Minardi-Ford	12	Engine	18
Ret	19	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Yamaha	9	Engine	17
Ret	15	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Ford	7	Spun off	13
Ret	5	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	5	Spun off	1
Ret	21	Giovanni Lavaggi	Minardi-Ford	5	Engine	20
Ret	4	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-Renault	4	Hydraulics	8
Ret	9	Olivier Panis	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	2	Spun off	11
Ret	8	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1	Spun Off	5

Notes

• Pole position: Damon Hill 1:24.204
• Fastest lap: Michael Schumacher 1:26.110
• Last points: Ligier

Standings after Grand Prix

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Damon Hill 81 2 Jacques Villeneuve 68 3 Michael Schumacher 49 4 Jean Alesi 44 5 Mika Häkkinen 27

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 149 2 Benetton-Renault 61 3 Ferrari 58 4 McLaren-Mercedes 45 5 Jordan-Peugeot 20

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.