Another victory for Damon Hill! The Grand ...
Published on 05 May 1996 by Verstappen Info Page
Another victory for Damon Hill! The Grand Prix of San Marino had some exciting racing action and tragic pitstop action. Coulthard had a fantastic start, Villeneuve a bad one, hitting the car of Jean Alesi and causing a flat tyre. After the first lap Coulthard was first, Schumacher second and Hill third. Verstappen who started 14th soon was on a 10th position! Rosset didn't do too bad either, soon climbing to a 17th position. Villeneuve falls back to the last position due to his flat tyre.
The first series of pitstops turned out bad for Jos as there was a problem with the fuel installation causing him to drop back to position 17. After some laps he climbed up to position 10 again. Also due to pitstops Schumacher overtook Coulthard and Hill had the lead of the race. Salo, who until then had a fantastic race on positions ranging from 6 to 3, alas blew up his engine and Johnny Herbert quitted after 4 pitstops and a lot of engine problems. Due to a spin of Hakkinen Jos now occupied position 10. After 31 laps positions were Hill, Schumacher, Coulthard, Berger, Barrichello, Irvine, Frentzen, Diniz, Katayama, VERSTAPPEN, Panis, Hakkinen, Brundle, Alesi, Villeneuve, Rosset, Lamy, Badoer. In lap 33 Frentzen had to give up causing Jos to shift to position 9 and in lap 37 Brundle spun.
In lap 40 Jos had his second planned pitstop. While the car was still being fueled up Jos drove away overrunning a mechanic and wrecking the fuel installation. What happened was that the Go-signal (the lolly pop) was given too early, so that Jos started before everyone was finished. This tragic incident caused Verstappen as well as Rosset to drop out of the race. The mechanic was brought to a hospital and appeared to have a state of shock and a broken arm.
After that Coulthard dropped out of the race lying 4th, shortly after Katayama also drops out. Diniz again shows his 'fantastic' talent by unnecessarily blocking faster drivers behind him causing Alesi to spin and Schumacher being held up. Luckily he gets a blocking penalty for this. The last bit of the race was marked by dropping out of the race of Panis, Villeneuve and Hakkinen. Damon Hill wins, Schumacher, with a blocked front wheel in his last lap, is second and Berger is third. If Jos would have finished the race he most certainly would have got another point.
See San Marino Grand Prix results for the race times. Please send your wedding wishes for Jos and Sophie to us and we will publish them on our Jos and Sophie Wedding wishes Page.
