Damon Hill arrived at Monaco for round six of the 1996 Formula One World Championship in a better position than he had ever been to win the event and emulate his late father Graham, who had won the race five times, earning the moniker “The King of Monaco”. Hill was also in the best position he had ever been in terms of his World Championship prospects, leading his rookie team-mate Jacques Villeneuve by 21 points.
1996 Monaco Grand Prix
In qualifying, it looked as though Hill would take his second consecutive pole position at the principality after setting a time narrowly faster than that of Benetton’s Jean Alesi, but Michael Schumacher, now of Ferrari, stunned everybody by claiming the coveted Monaco pole position at the very end of the session by half a second. Schumacher then caused a controversy whilst acknowledging the crowd on his slowing-down lap by blocking Alesi’s team-mate Gerhard Berger on his last flying lap, causing the Austrian to spin the car to avoid an accident.
On race day, the heavens opened and rain began to fall after the morning warm-up had ended, causing a fifteen minute delay to the start of the race. As the lights went out, Hill got a better start from second and lead Schumacher going into turn one, and things got even better for Hill before the first lap had even ended. Schumacher, known for his superior wet weather ability, made an uncharacteristic mistake just before Portier and slid into the barrier, ending his race there and then.
As the track began to dry, Hill changed to dry tyres and handed the lead to Alesi, only for Hill to soon retake the lead on the track with Alesi still yet to change his own tyres. Soon afterwards, Alesi did indeed change to dry tyres, leaving Hill with a commanding 30 second lead, but on lap 40, Hill’s Renault engine gave up in the tunnel, retiring him from the race. Alesi then lead the race for 20 laps before a suspension failure, handing the lead to the Ligier of Olivier Panis, who had qualified a lowly 14th but made steady progress throughout race, including a daring move on Eddie Irvine at the Lowes hairpin, causing the Ulsterman’s sister Ferrari to stall whilst pointed nose-first in the barrier.
By now, the McLaren of David Coulthard – who was now wearing Schumacher’s spare helmet due to steaming issues with his own – with the Saubers of Johnny Herbert and Heinz-Harald Frentzen running third and fourth respectively. Irvine, who had now got going again, capped an eventful personal race by hitting the barrier just where his team-mate had on the first lap. As he attempted to rejoin the race, he was hit by the Tyrrell of Mika Salo, who in turn was then hit by the second McLaren of Mika Hakkinen.
With the two hour time limit now in effect, Panis held off the late challenge by Coulthard by taking his first (and only) Formula 1 win, and Ligier’s first in fifteen seasons. Frentzen consolidated his fourth place by pitting before the finish, leaving team-mate Herbert to collect the final podium finish, with Salo and Hakkinen classified fifth and sixth, with Irvine narrowly missing out on the final points place, in what was truly one of the most memorable Monaco Grands Prix in the event’s long and prestigious history.
The top of the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships remained as they were before the start of the race, with Hill leading Villeneuve by 21 points, and Williams still commanding a 40 point lead over Ferrari.
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