1996 Japanese Grand Prix

This was the first time since 1977 that Japan hosted the final round of the World Championship.

In qualifying, Villeneuve beat Hill to pole position by nearly half a second, with a further 0.7 seconds back to Schumacher in third. On race day, the first start was aborted when David Coulthard stalled his McLaren.[1] At the second start, Villeneuve made a poor getaway and fell to sixth behind Hill, Gerhard Berger, Häkkinen, Schumacher and Eddie Irvine. Meanwhile, Jean Alesi, attempting to make up several places after qualifying ninth, spun off at the second corner and destroyed his Benetton, Alesi was unhurt from the impact. On the third lap, Berger attempted to overtake Hill at the final chicane, only to damage his front wing. Thereafter, Hill gradually pulled away, with Schumacher overtaking Häkkinen for second during the first round of pit stops. Pedro Diniz had lost control of his Ligier at the final chicane and spun off into the gravel trap by lap 14. Hill pitted for his second stop with a 25-second gap to Schumacher, emerging narrowly ahead of the Ferrari, before pulling away gradually once again to lead by 13 seconds with ten laps remaining. Villeneuve, meanwhile, passed Irvine, set the fastest lap of the race and ran fourth before his right rear wheel came off on lap 37 due to a wheel bearing failure (This was the same incident that happened to teammate Damon Hill during the British Grand Prix, according to BBC pit reporter Tony Jardine), putting him out of the race and handing the Drivers' Championship to Hill, already dropped by Williams for the following season. As Gerhard Berger had another collision with the Ferrari of Eddie Irvine at the final chicane causing the Northern Irishman to spin out and retire whilst fighting for 4th place, Berger was able to carry on unscathed. A late fightback saw Schumacher close the gap to Hill, but Hill held on to win the race by 1.8 seconds, with Häkkinen a further 1.4 seconds back, while Berger recovered to finish fourth, Martin Brundle came fifth in his final Grand Prix, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen picked up the final point for sixth.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Damon Hill 97 2 Jacques Villeneuve 78 3 Michael Schumacher 59 4 Jean Alesi 47 5 Mika Häkkinen 31 Source: [3]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 175 2 Ferrari 70 3 Benetton-Renault 68 4 McLaren-Mercedes 49 5 Jordan-Peugeot 22 Source: [3]

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