A terrifying start marked the first Grand ...

Published on 10 March 1996 by Verstappen Info Page

A terrifying start marked the first Grand Prix of this year. Martin Brundle hit the back of Johnny Herbert's car and tipped over with 200 km per hour. The restart went well but after 1 lap Martin Brundle still had to give up. Jean Alesi crashed the side of his car in Eddy Irvine's back wheel after a not too clever overtaking and gave up after 9 laps. All the while Jos Verstappen was on a twelfth and after overtaking Panis eleventh position, where he was being held up by Frentzen all the time. A strategic pit stop in lap 14 had to give him an advantage by getting back on the track on a less crowded part. Unfortunately in lap 15 Jos Verstappen had to give up because of a blown up Hart engine.

The rest of the race was a battle between teammates Villeneuve and Hill, after Schumacher had to give up in lap 35. Villeneuve, having had the lead in 51 of 53 laps until then, had to slow down because of an oil pressure problem so Hill took over the lead from then on and won the race, Villeneuve came in second and Irvine finished third in a well driven race.

See Grand Prix results 1996 for the RACE results.