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1996 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 16 of 16 in the 1996 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
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 miles)
Distance	52 laps, 304.718 km (189.343 miles)
Scheduled distance	53 laps, 310.577 km (192.984 miles)
Weather	Sunny, mild and dry
Attendance	303,000
Pole position
Driver	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Time	1:38.909
Fastest lap
Driver	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Time	1:44.043 on lap 34
Podium
First	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Second	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Third	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 1996 Japanese Grand Prix (officially known as the XXII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Suzuka on 13 October 1996. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1996 Formula One World Championship.

The 52-lap race was won by Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault. Hill took his eighth win of the season, and with it the Drivers' Championship, after teammate and pole-sitter Jacques 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 a Ferrari, enabling the Italian team to steal second place in the Constructors' Championship from Benetton, with Mika Häkkinen third in a McLaren-Mercedes.

Hill was the first son of a World Champion to win the championship himself, his father Graham having been champion in 1962 and 1968. This was also the final race for Martin Brundle, who had been competing in F1 since 1984 and finished on the podium 9 times since 1992, as well as the last race for Pedro Lamy, Giovanni Lavaggi, Footwork and Ligier.

Report

Background and qualifying

This was the first time since 1977 that Japan hosted the final round of the World Championship. In qualifying, Villeneuve beat Hill to pole position by nearly half a second, with a further 0.7 seconds back to Schumacher in third.

Race

On race day, the first start was aborted when David Coulthard stalled his McLaren. At the second start, Villeneuve made a poor getaway and fell to sixth behind Hill, Gerhard Berger, Häkkinen, Schumacher and Eddie Irvine. Meanwhile, Jean Alesi, attempting to make up several places after qualifying ninth, spun off at the second corner and destroyed his Benetton; 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-mate Damon Hill during the British Grand Prix, according to BBC pit reporter Tony 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 of Eddie 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, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen picked up the final point for sixth.

In the UK, this was the last F1 race until 2009 to be broadcast live by the BBC. As Hill crossed the line to win the race and the championship, commentator Murray Walker said, "And I've got to stop, because I've got a lump in my throat."

Classification

Qualifying

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:

Race

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:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Damon Hill 97 2 Jacques Villeneuve 78 3 Michael Schumacher 59 4 Jean Alesi 47 5 Mika Häkkinen 31 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 175 2 Ferrari 70 3 Benetton-Renault 68 4 McLaren-Mercedes 49 5 Jordan-Peugeot 22 Source:

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

References

1. "1996 Japanese Grand Prix | Motorsport Database".
2. "2013 Japanese Grand Prix: Official Media Kit" (PDF). FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
3. Derived from race distance (304718) and lap length (5859)
4. "Formula 1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2022 – Media Kit" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
5. "F1 News - Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Races > Japanese GP, 1996". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
6. "Murray Walker's Greatest F1 Commentaries (11:51)". Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via YouTube.
7. "Japan 1996 – Qualifications". StatsF1. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
8. "1996 Japanese Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
9. "1996 Japanese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
10. ^ "Japan 1996 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.

• 1996 Formula One races
• Japanese Grand Prix
• 1996 in Japanese motorsport
• October 1996 sports events in Asia