1996 Portuguese Grand Prix

The 1996 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 22 September 1996 at Autódromo do Estoril in Estoril, Portugal. It was the 15th and penultimate race of the 1996 Formula One season.

1996 Portuguese Grand Prix
Race 15 of 16 in the 1996 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details
Date	22 September 1996
Official name	XXV Grande Prémio de Portugal
Location	Autódromo do Estoril in Estoril, Portugal
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.360 km (2.725 miles)
Distance	71 laps, 309.560 km (193.475 miles)
Weather	Mostly sunny with ambient temperatures reaching 25 °C during the day.
Pole position
Driver	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Time	1:20.330
Fastest lap
Driver	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Time	1:22.873 on lap 37
Podium
First	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Second	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Third	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The podium ceremony.

Williams' Jacques Villeneuve won the race from team-mate Damon Hill and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, having overtaken the latter on the outside of the final corner while the two were lapping the slow-moving back-marking Minardi of Giovanni Lavaggi (who at the time was described by BBC TV commentator Jonathan Palmer as "desperately slow" and "there because of his money"). This victory, Villeneuve's fourth of the season, ensured that the Drivers' Championship battle between him and Hill went to the final round in Japan three weeks later.

Benetton's Jean Alesi finished fourth, just behind Schumacher, while Eddie Irvine in the second Ferrari and Gerhard Berger in the second Benetton survived a last-lap collision to take fifth and sixth respectively.^[1]

The Portuguese Grand Prix would not be held again until 2020 but this race was held at a new venue at the Algarve International Circuit as opposed to Estoril.^[2]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Diff.
1	5	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	1:20.330
2	6	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	1:20.339	+0.009
3	3	Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	1:21.088	+0.758
4	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:21.236	+0.906
5	4	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-Renault	1:21.293	+0.963
6	2	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:21.362	+1.032
7	7	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:21.640	+1.310
8	8	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:22.066	+1.736
9	11	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Peugeot	1:22.205	+1.875
10	12	Martin Brundle	Jordan-Peugeot	1:22.324	+1.994
11	15	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Ford	1:22.325	+1.995
12	14	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Ford	1:22.655	+2.325
13	19	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:22.765	+2.435
14	18	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:23.013	+2.683
15	9	Olivier Panis	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	1:23.055	+2.725
16	17	Jos Verstappen	Footwork-Hart	1:23.531	+3.201
17	16	Ricardo Rosset	Footwork-Hart	1:24.230	+3.900
18	10	Pedro Diniz	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	1:24.293	+3.963
19	20	Pedro Lamy	Minardi-Ford	1:24.510	+4.180
20	21	Giovanni Lavaggi	Minardi-Ford	1:25.612	+5.282
107% time: 1:25.953
Sources:[3][4]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	70	1:40:22.915	2	10
2	5	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	70	+ 19.966	1	6
3	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	70	+ 53.765	4	4
4	3	Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	70	+ 55.109	3	3
5	2	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	70	+ 1:27.389	6	2
6	4	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-Renault	70	+ 1:33.141	5	1
7	15	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Ford	69	+ 1 Lap	11
8	14	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Ford	69	+ 1 Lap	12
9	12	Martin Brundle	Jordan-Peugeot	69	+ 1 Lap	10
10	9	Olivier Panis	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	69	+ 1 Lap	15
11	19	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Yamaha	69	+ 1 Lap	13
12	18	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	68	+ 2 Laps	14
13	8	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	68	+ 2 Laps	8
14	16	Ricardo Rosset	Footwork-Hart	67	+ 3 Laps	17
15	21	Giovanni Lavaggi	Minardi-Ford	65	+ 5 Laps	20
16	20	Pedro Lamy	Minardi-Ford	65	+ 5 Laps	19
Ret	7	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	52	Collision damage	7
Ret	17	Jos Verstappen	Footwork-Hart	47	Engine	16
Ret	10	Pedro Diniz	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	46	Collision	18
Ret	11	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Peugeot	41	Spun Off	9
Source:[5]

Championship standings after the race

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Damon Hill 87 2 Jacques Villeneuve 78 3 Michael Schumacher 53 4 Jean Alesi 47 5 Mika Häkkinen 27 Source: [6]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 165 2 Benetton-Renault 65 3 Ferrari 64 4 McLaren-Mercedes 45 5 Jordan-Peugeot 20 Source: [6]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "F1 News – Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Races > Portuguese GP, 1996". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
2. "Formula 1 adds Portimao, Nurburgring and 2-day event in Imola to 2020 race calendar". formula1.com. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
3. "Portugal 1996 – Qualifications". StatsF1. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
4. "1996 Portuguese Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
5. "1996 Portuguese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
6. "Portugal 1996 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.

Previous race: 1996 Italian Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1996 season	Next race: 1996 Japanese Grand Prix
Previous race: 1995 Portuguese Grand Prix	Portuguese Grand Prix	Next race: 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix