Hakkinen fastest in first practice; Roundup

Hakkinen fastest in first practice; Roundup
©

Thursday May 16, 1996

Summary

Damon Hill dominated the first day of practice at Monaco in his Williams-Renault (1:23.801), but he was outpaced by Mika Hakkinen in the McLaren-Mercedes in the last minutes of the practice (1:23.762).

Hakkinen commented afterwards: "Being fastest means a lot, even though it is free practice."

Notes

Both McLaren and Jordan are using the midwing construction. An add-on rearwing is used by Minardi.
Schumacher missed the chicane with what seemed to be a braking problem.
Panis missed the first corner and was pushed in the right direction.
Verstappen, Diniz and Fisichella spin and hit the barriers.
Alesi spins but could continue.

Top six

Hakkinen
Hill
Coulthard
Barrichello
Alesi
Panis

Roundup

Prost against Mansell
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Gerhard Berger in Court
Gerhard Berger is expected to appear in court in Australia. Berger and former World Champion motor racing Barry Sheen are under suspicion of assaulting Melanie Hilzinger in a bar on the Gold Coast of Australia. The police say they have enough evidence against the two.
Schumacher to move
Schumacher will move from Monaco to Switzerland in July, this was announced by his spokesman. Schumacher has already rented a house near the Genfer Lake.

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