Summary
There was an extra 15 minute session because it started to rain all of a sudden after the warm up. Hakkinen was fastest but totally wrecked his McLaren Mercedes at the end of the session. Alesi was second and Barrichello third.
Notes
- Spins were there by: Diniz, Panis, Fisichella.
- Montermini and Hakkinen crash.
- Alesi hits the wall causing a flat tyre.
Top six
- Hakkinen
- Alesi
- Barrichello
- Herbert
- Berger
- Panis
Panis wins in Monaco
Summary
Olivier Panis has won the Grand Prix of Monaco in front of Coulthard in the McLaren-Mercedes. Johnny Herbert was third.
For a complete race report see the next issue of Atlas Team F1, out next Tuesday!
Notes
- Michael Schumacher used the 1995 back-end of the Ferrari, Irvine drove with the complete 1996 car.
- Montermini doesn't start because he had wrecked his Forti in the Acclimatisation session.
- David Coulthard is wearing an old helmet of Michael Schumacher.
- Jos Verstappen and Ricardo Rosset start on slicks, everybody else is using wet weather tyres.
- Jos Verstappen hit the wall in the first corner after the start when he is hit by Hakkinen.
- Fisichella and Lamy are both out of the race on lap 0.
- Schumacher makes a mistake and hits the wall on lap 0.
- Barrichello spins on lap.
- Katayma goes off on lap 1.
- Rosset goes off on lap 2.
- Diniz spins and is out of the race on lap.
- Gerhard Berger retires with a gearbox problem in the pits on lap.
- Frentzen drives into the back of Irvine and loses his nose, but Frentzen makes a fast pitstop and rejoins the race.
- Brudle spins and retires because of a flat tyre on lap.
- Panis hits Irvine when he was overtaking him. Irvine stalls his engine but gets it started again because of the downward circuit. Panis can continue.
- Hill blows up his engine on lap. He had a warning light a lap earlier so he new something was wrong.
- Alesi makes an unscheduled pitstop and retires after the second pitstop on lap , being in the lead.
- Villeneuve tries to overtake Badoer but Badoer closes the door and both drivers retire on lap.
- Irvine spins and blocks the circuit. Salo and Hakkinen crash with Irvine on lap .
- The race was cut short because the 2 hour limit.
Top six
- Panis
- Coulthard
- Herbert
- Frentzen
- Salo
- Hakkinen
Quotes
Lamy on his crash:"Well I was trying to overtake in the first corner and I crashed."
Hill:"I thought I had it. I had a good grip on the race, enough fuel to finish and a good gap on Jean Alesi. I just needed to keep my concentration and hope for reliability, but I didn't get that last feature. I never got to the end and that's a shame. There are lots of races still to come and I could have done with a few more points."
Schumacher:"It was a stupidity. It was a driving mistake, I am also capable of making mistakes."
Panis:"I'm delighted to win for Ligier. That's what I am here for and that's what they wanted. We did a bold strategy at the start, running with a full tank. That means when I went in we didn't put in fuel, just for tires. There was a lot of pressure at the end from David. Over the last few laps I kept saying, 'careful, careful' and tried to stay concentrated."
A Quick Look at the Standings:
Drivers Championship
- Hill 43
- Villeneuve 22
- Schumacher 16
- Alesi 11
- Panis 11
- Coulthard 10
- Irvine 9
- Berger 7
- Barrichello 7
- Hakkinen 6
- Salo 5
- Herbert 4
- Frentzen 3
- Verstappen 1
- Brundle 1
Constructors Championship
- Williams-Renault 65
- Ferrari 25
- Benetton-Renault 18
- McLaren-Mercedes 16
- Ligier-Mugen 11
- Jordan-Peugeot 8
- Sauber-Ford 5
- Tyrrell-Yamaha 5
- TWR Arrows-Hart 1
