1996 Argentine Grand Prix

The XIX Gran Premio Marlboro de la Republica Argentina, otherwise known as the 1996 Argentine Grand Prix, was the third round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Autódromo Juan y Oscar Gálvez in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the 7 April 1996.'Argentine GP, 1996', grandprix.com, (Inside F1 Inc., 2014), https://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr584.html, (Accessed 13/08/2019) The race would see Damon Hill secure his third straight victory of the campaign, surviving a mid-race safety car caused by two incidents involving Pedro Diniz.
The build-up to the weekend would be dominated by complaints about the track surface, which was found to be extremely bumpy. As a result the organisers opted to simply grind away the worst limps, only to create a washboard like surface that proved even more troublesome for the drivers during practice.
Regardless, it was Hill who swept to pole position during qualifying, threading his way around the bumps the quickest to beat Michael Schumacher by two tenths. Hill's teammate Jacques Villeneuve was next ahead of Jean Alesi, with two seconds covering the top half of the field.
Raceday dawned bright and warm, with Hill acing the start to claim an early lead, with Schumacher stalking him in second. Villeneuve gave chase in third ahead of the s, with the rest of the field getting away largely in grid order.
Hill and Schumacher would ease clear during the early stages, with the unable to seriously threaten the Williams. Indeed, once the pair were clear of the rest Hill began pushing on, and duly opened out a six second lead in the space of four laps.
The leaders all made their stops in the same four lap window, with Hill rejoining with a four second lead over Schumacher, with Gerhard Berger, having jumped Villeneuve and Alesi at the stops. However, before Schumacher could attack or Hill pull away the race would be interrupted by a rare appearance for the safety car.
The cause would be Diniz, who managed to collide with Luca Badoer and send the Italian spiralling into the air. Badoer's car was left upside down at the side of the track, the Italian having to pull himself out of the wreckage, while Diniz carried on, only for his car to catch fire after a safety valve in the fuel tank failed.
At the restart Hill would get the jump on Schumacher and re-establish a small lead, while Martin Brundle and Tarso Marques collided. Debris from that incident was then flicked up by Hill on the following lap, which duly smashed into the rear wing of Schumacher's car.
Although the German seemed to have got away with it the Ferrari's rear wing would slowly begin to fall apart, ultimately causing him to retire twelve laps after the impact. That promoted Berger into second ahead of Villeneuve, only for a suspension failure to end his hopes.
With that the race was over, barring a ferocious duel for fifth between Eddie Irvine and Jos Verstappen on the final lap. That duly ended with the #2 Ferrari ahead of the #17 , with those two trailing Rubens Barrichello in fourth by ten seconds.
Out front, meanwhile, Hill would cruise across the line with a twelve second lead over Villeneuve, scoring his third win of the season. Alesi, meanwhile, would claim third having run out of time to catch the Canadian late on, with ten drivers making it to the finish.
==Background==
Two races down and Damon Hill had continued his perfect start to the season, leaving Brazil with twenty points to his name and a handsome fourteen point lead. Jacques Villeneuve and Jean Alesi were his closest challengers, level on six points, while Mika Häkkinen was a point further back in fourth. Defending World Champion Michael Schumacher then completed the top five ahead of Eddie Irvine, with nine drivers on the board.
In the Constructors Championship already had a daunting lead, leaving Brazil with seventeen points in hand. Indeed, that meant that , the team in second, already had to claim a one-two finish without Williams scoring just to get back on terms, and hence affirmed Williams' position as favourites. , meanwhile, were sat in third ahead of , with and completing the score sheet.
===Entry list===
The full entry list for the is outlined below:
No. 	Driver 	Entrant 	Constructor 	Chassis 	Engine 	Model 	Tyre
1 	Michael Schumacher 	Scuderia Ferrari 	 	F310 	 	046 3.0 V10 	
2 	Eddie Irvine 	Scuderia Ferrari 	 	F310 	 	046 3.0 V10 	
3 	Jean Alesi 	Mild Seven Benetton Renault 	 	B196 	 	RS8 3.0 V10 	
4 	Gerhard Berger 	Mild Seven Benetton Renault 	 	B196 	 	RS8 3.0 V10 	
5 	Damon Hill 	Rothmans Williams Renault 	 	FW18 	 	RS8 3.0 V10 	
6 	Jacques Villeneuve 	Rothmans Williams Renault 	 	FW18 	 	RS8 3.0 V10 	
7 	Mika Häkkinen 	Marlboro McLaren Mercedes 	 	MP4/11 	 	FO 110D 3.0 V10 	
8 	David Coulthard 	Marlboro McLaren Mercedes 	 	MP4/11 	 	FO 110D 3.0 V10 	
9 	Olivier Panis 	Equipe Ligier Gauloises Blondes 	 	JS43 	 	MF301HA 3.0 V10 	
10 	Pedro Diniz 	Equipe Ligier Gauloises Blondes 	 	JS43 	 	MF301HA 3.0 V10 	
11 	Rubens Barrichello 	B&H Total Jordan Peugeot 	 	196 	 	A12 3.0 V10 	
12 	Martin Brundle 	B&H Total Jordan Peugeot 	 	196 	 	A12 3.0 V10 	
14 	Johnny Herbert 	Red Bull Sauber Ford 	 	C15 	 	JD Zetec-R 3.0 V8 	
15 	Heinz-Harald Frentzen 	Red Bull Sauber Ford 	 	C15 	 	JD Zetec-R 3.0 V8 	
16 	Ricardo Rosset 	Footwork Hart 	 	FA17 	 	830 3.0 V8 	
17 	Jos Verstappen 	Footwork Hart 	 	FA17 	 	830 3.0 V8 	
18 	Ukyo Katayama 	Tyrrell Yamaha 	 	024 	 	OX11A 3.0 V10 	
19 	Mika Salo 	Tyrrell Yamaha 	 	024 	 	OX11A 3.0 V10 	
20 	Pedro Lamy 	Minardi F1 Team 	 	M195B 	 	EDM 3.0 V8 	
21 	Tarso Marques 	Minardi F1 Team 	 	M195B 	 	EDM 3.0 V8 	
22 	Luca Badoer 	Forti Corse 	 	FG01B 	 	EDD 3.0 V8 	
23 	Andrea Montermini 	Forti Corse 	 	FG01B 	 	EDD 3.0 V8 	
Source:'Argentina 1996: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/engages.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/engages.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/engages.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/engages.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/engages.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/engages.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/engages.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/engages.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)
==Practice Overview==
==Qualifying==
===Report===
===Qualifying Results===
The full qualifying results for the are outlined below:
Pos. 	No. 	Driver 	Constructor 	Time 	Gap 	Ave. Speed
1 	5 	Damon Hill 	 	1:30.346 	— 	169.708 km/h
2 	1 	Michael Schumacher 	 	1:30.598 	+0.252s 	169.236 km/h
3 	6 	Jacques Villeneuve 	 	1:30.907 	+0.561s 	168.660 km/h
4 	3 	Jean Alesi 	 	1:31.038 	+0.692s 	168.418 km/h
5 	4 	Gerhard Berger 	 	1:31.262 	+0.916s 	168.004 km/h
6 	11 	Rubens Barrichello 	 	1:31.404 	+1.058s 	167.743 km/h
7 	17 	Jos Verstappen 	 	1:31.615 	+1.269s 	167.357 km/h
8 	7 	Mika Häkkinen 	 	1:31.801 	+1.455s 	167.018 km/h
9 	8 	David Coulthard 	 	1:32.001 	+1.655s 	166.655 km/h
10 	2 	Eddie Irvine 	 	1:32.058 	+1.712s 	166.552 km/h
11 	15 	Heinz-Harald Frentzen 	 	1:32.130 	+1.784s 	166.421 km/h
12 	9 	Olivier Panis 	 	1:32.177 	+1.831s 	166.336 km/h
13 	18 	Ukyo Katayama 	 	1:32.407 	+2.061s 	165.922 km/h
14 	21 	Tarso Marques 	 	1:32.502 	+2.156s 	165.752 km/h
15 	12 	Martin Brundle 	 	1:32.696 	+2.350s 	165.405 km/h
16 	19 	Mika Salo 	 	1:32.903 	+2.557s 	165.037 km/h
17 	14 	Johnny Herbert 	 	1:33.256 	+2.910s 	164.412 km/h
18 	10 	Pedro Diniz 	 	1:33.424 	+3.078s 	164.116 km/h
19 	20 	Pedro Lamy 	 	1:33.727 	+3.381s 	163.586 km/h
20 	16 	Ricardo Rosset 	 	1:33.752 	+3.406s 	163.542 km/h
21 	22 	Luca Badoer 	 	1:34.830 	+4.484s 	161.683 km/h
22 	23 	Andrea Montermini 	 	1:35.651 	+5.305s 	160.295 km/h
107% Time: 1:36.670 	107% Time: 1:36.670 	107% Time: 1:36.670 	107% Time: 1:36.670 	107% Time: 1:36.670 	107% Time: 1:36.670 	107% Time: 1:36.670
Source:'Gran Premio Marlboro de Argentina - QUALIFYING', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1996/races/640/argentina/qualifying-0.html, (Accessed 13/08/2019)'Argentina 1996: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Gran Premio Marlboro de Argentina - QUALIFYING', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1996/races/640/argentina/qualifying-0.html, (Accessed 13/08/2019)'Argentina 1996: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Gran Premio Marlboro de Argentina - QUALIFYING', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1996/races/640/argentina/qualifying-0.html, (Accessed 13/08/2019)'Argentina 1996: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Gran Premio Marlboro de Argentina - QUALIFYING', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1996/races/640/argentina/qualifying-0.html, (Accessed 13/08/2019)'Argentina 1996: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Gran Premio Marlboro de Argentina - QUALIFYING', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1996/races/640/argentina/qualifying-0.html, (Accessed 13/08/2019)'Argentina 1996: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Gran Premio Marlboro de Argentina - QUALIFYING', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1996/races/640/argentina/qualifying-0.html, (Accessed 13/08/2019)'Argentina 1996: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Gran Premio Marlboro de Argentina - QUALIFYING', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1996/races/640/argentina/qualifying-0.html, (Accessed 13/08/2019)'Argentina 1996: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)
*T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car to set their best time in that session.
*Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.
===Grid===
==Race==
===Report===
===Results===
The full results for the are outlined below:
Pos. 	No. 	Driver 	Constructor 	Laps 	Time/Retired 	Grid 	Points
1 	5 	Damon Hill 	 	72 	1:54:55.322 	1 	10
2 	6 	Jacques Villeneuve 	 	72 	+12.167s 	3 	6
3 	3 	Jean Alesi 	 	72 	+14.754s 	4 	4
4 	11 	Rubens Barrichello 	 	72 	+55.131s 	6 	3
5 	2 	Eddie Irvine 	 	72 	+1:04.991 	10 	2
6 	17 	Jos Verstappen 	 	72 	+1:08.913 	7 	1
7 	8 	David Coulthard 	 	72 	+1:13.400 	9 	
8 	9 	Olivier Panis 	 	72 	+1:14.295 	12 	
9 	14 	Johnny Herbert 	 	71 	+1 Lap 	17 	
10 	23 	Andrea Montermini 	 	69 	+3 Laps 	22 	
Ret 	4 	Gerhard Berger 	 	56 	Suspension 	5 	
Ret 	1 	Michael Schumacher 	 	46 	Broken wing 	2 	
Ret 	20 	Pedro Lamy 	 	39 	Transmission 	19 	
Ret 	19 	Mika Salo 	 	36 	Throttle 	16 	
Ret 	12 	Martin Brundle 	 	34 	Collision 	15 	
Ret 	21 	Tarso Marques 	 	33 	Collision 	14 	
Ret 	15 	Heinz-Harald Frentzen 	 	32 	Spin 	11 	
Ret 	10 	Pedro Diniz 	 	29 	Fire 	18 	
Ret 	18 	Ukyo Katayama 	 	28 	Transmission 	13 	
Ret 	16 	Ricardo Rosset 	 	24 	Oil pump 	20 	
Ret 	22 	Luca Badoer 	 	24 	Collision 	21 	
Ret 	7 	Mika Häkkinen 	 	19 	Throttle 	8 	
Source:'Argentina 1996: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/classement.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/classement.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/classement.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/classement.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/classement.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/classement.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/classement.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)	Source:'Argentina 1996: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine/classement.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)
*T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.
==Milestones==
* set a new record for most individual entries as a constructor - 1,334.'1996 Argentine GP', chicanef1.com, (Chicane F1, 2014), http://www.chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=1996&gp=Argentine%20GP&r=1, (Accessed 13/08/2019)
* 200th entry for a engined car.
* Pedro Diniz entered his twentieth race.
* Damon Hill claimed his sixteenth victory.'3. Argentina 1996', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1996/argentine.aspx, (Accessed 13/08/2019)
* secured their 86th win as a constructor.
** registered their 77th win as an engine supplier.
* Twentieth podium finish for Jean Alesi.
==Standings==
Victory for Damon Hill saw the British racer continue his dominant start to the season, leaving Argentina with a maximum score of 30 points. Jacques Villeneuve remained the closest thing to a challenger to the Brit, albeit already eighteen points behind after three races. Jean Alesi, meanwhile, would end the weekend in third ahead of Eddie Irvine, with Mika Häkkinen completing the top five.
In the Constructors Championship it was who had once again proved to be the class of the field, leaving Argentina with 42 points to their name. were now their closest challengers, 29 points behind, with three points further back in third. were next ahead of , with eight constructors on the board after three rounds.
World Championship for Drivers	World Championship for Drivers	World Championship for Drivers	World Championship for Drivers
Pos. 	Driver 	Pts. 	+/-
1 	Damon Hill 	30 	
2 	Jacques Villeneuve 	12 	
3 	Jean Alesi 	10 	
4 	Eddie Irvine 	6 	2
5 	Mika Häkkinen 	5 	1
6 	Michael Schumacher 	4 	1
7 	Gerhard Berger 	3 	
8 	Rubens Barrichello 	3 	10
9 	Mika Salo 	3 	1
10 	Olivier Panis 	1 	1
11 	Jos Verstappen 	1 	7
World Championship for Constructors	World Championship for Constructors	World Championship for Constructors	World Championship for Constructors
Pos. 	Team 	Pts. 	+/-
1 	 	42 	
2 	 	13 	
3 	 	10 	
4 	 	5 	
5 	 	3 	5
6 	 	3 	1
7 	 	1 	1
8 	 	1 	1
Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.
==References==
Images and Videos:
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References:
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:1996 Grands Prix
Category:Argentine Grand Prix