RACE REPORT: Britain's Damon Hill drove a ...

Published on 13 October 1996 by Verstappen Info Page

RACE REPORT: Britain's Damon Hill drove a faultless race in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix to clinch the World Championship title in perfect style. The 36-year old Londoner led from lights-to-flag to take his second win at the demanding Suzuka circuit. It was his eigth win of the year, the 21st of his 67 Grands Prix.

Hill only had to finish sixth to clinch the title from Williams teammate Jacques Villeneuve, but the pole-winning French-Canadian virtually lost his chances at the first corner when he at first didn't have enough revs and then too many. Hill shot into the lead from Gerhard Berger's Benetton, then Mika Hakkinen's McLaren. Michael Schumacher slipped from third to fourth, teammate Eddie Irvine was next and then Villeneuve. Alesi crashed out of the first corner. Jos overtook Salo as well as Katayame and was on a thirteenth position.

Berger attempted to take the lead at the chicane at the end of lap three but rode over a kerb rather than hit Hill which damaged the Austrian's front wing which then needed replacing. Hill was then able to open up a gap of six seconds to Hakkinen who was shadowed by Schumacher. Villeneuve got past Irvine on lap 12. In lap 14 Diniz spun and had to retire. :-)

At the first pit stops, Hill lost most of his lead as he had to be held while Irvine came in at the same time. And Schumacher emerged ahead of Hakkinen, although neither could do anything about the flying Hill ahead, who once again opened up his lead.

Again it came down to 1,5sec at the second round of pit stops, with Schumacher and Hakkinen giving chase, but again, the lead opened up. Villeneuve came out of the pits in fifth place which became fourth when Berger pitted. But seconds later, he lost a rear wheel at the first corner, and the Williams toboganned off the circuit and into the barrier. Thankfully the rear wheel was arrested by the second layer of debris fencing.

Hill had won the championship, but he also wanted to win the race and duly did so after 52 laps, three seconds covering the first three. Schumacher's second place meant that Ferrari clinched second in the Constructor' title, just pipping Benetton for whom Berger finished an eventual fourth after a second incident at the chicane, this time ramming Eddie Irvine's Ferrari. Martin Brundle finished fifth, the final point went to Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Neither Jos Verstappen nor Ricardo Rosset had any racing experience of the technically challenging Suzuka Circuit, and changeable weather conditions meant that set-up time was limited in practice. In the race, both drivers went for a one-stop strategy which meant that the cars were heavy at the start. Jos Verstappen had a good start, but the car was sliding badly. However, with the lower tyre pressures on his second set of tyres, he found that he had better grip and was pleased to finish the race.