San Marino Grand Prix Preview
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Thursday May 2, 1996

Damon Hill wants to finish his Williams-Renault first at Imola, adding points to a lead that is not as insurmountable after the Grand Prix of Europe. Hill is hoping his engine problems during the last race are now completely solved.

Hill's teammate Jacques Villeneuve is not new to Imola. He had previously tested the Williams there last year: "It's going to be great to be finally on a track where I have been before and I will not have to spend practice finding out about it." Villeneuve was not to happy about the changes done to circuit since he drove: "There are a couple of silly chicanes. They have turned it into a typical modern circuit."

Mika Salo is also not happy with the changes: "I hate driving at Imola... there are so many chicanes." However, Tyrrell is hoping for a good race because they feel the 1996 car is build for tracks like Imola.

The McLaren team looks to be improving with Coulthard's third place finish at Nurburgring. David stated, "We will go to Imola with the same package but a bit more confidence. I am still trying to understand the car and how to get the best out of it. On our present performance, we are not good enough to win." "But," he added, "we will have to see how it develops." Coulthard also stated his support for Hill: "Damon still has the upper hand and you would have to be a very brave man not to put your money on him to win the world championship. We had a good working relationship at Williams and might be teammates again one day."

One other item to look for at Imola is the performance of the new 1996 Forti car which was presented at the last race, but not driven.

Details:

length: 4.895 km
top-speed: 285 km/h
max G-force: 3.0
distance: 63 laps 308.385 km

1995 Pole-Position:
1:27.274 (201.916 km/h) Schumacher (Benetton)

1995 Fastest Lap:
1:29.568 (196.744 km/h) Berger (Ferrari)

1995 Podium:
Hill (Williams)
Alesi (Ferrari)
Berger (Ferrari)


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