Practice: The 30th anniversary of the existence of the McLaren team, celebrated with a special engine. In the Saturday qualifying Schumacher was at his top and got the pole. It first looked like it would be taken by Damon Hill with a lap of 1’20.866”, but it was shattered by Michaël with 1’20.372”.
There was an incident when Schumacher was doodling on the track after establishing his pole, that Berger still trying to get a fast lap nearly crashed into him and managed to avoid with a big spin. A furious Berger wanted Schumacher penalised, but the thing got hushed up by the stewards. In the end Schumi apologised. The difference between the two Ferraris or the drivers(?) was enormous with Eddie Irvine on 7th. On 14th position was an unhappy Olivier Panis, who only was able to do one qualifying lap before an engine problem. His chances of a good race result were shattered. As usual the procession was followed by the Minardis.
|
|
Starting Grid
1 Michael Schumacher - Ferrari |
5 Damon Hill - Williams- Renault FW18 |
3 Jean Alesi - Benetton-Renault |
4 Gerhard Berger - Benetton-Renault B196 |
8 David Coulthard - McLaren-Mercedes |
11 Rubens Barrichello - Jordan-Peugeot 196 |
2 Eddie Irvine - Ferrari |
7 Mika Hakkinen - McLaren-Mercedes MP4/11 |
15 Heinz-Harald Frentzen - Sauber-Cosworth |
6 Jacques Villeneuve - Williams-Renault FW18 |
19 Mika Salo - Tyrrell-Yamaha |
17 Jos Verstappen - Footwork-Hart FA17 |
14 Johnny Herbert - Sauber-Cosworth |
9 Olivier Panis - Ligier-Mugen-Honda JS43 |
18 Katayama - Tyrrell-Yamaha |
12 Martin Brundle - Jordan-Peugeot 196 |
10 Pedro Diniz - Ligier-Mugen-Honda |
21 Giancarlo Fisichella - Minardi-Cosworth |
20 Pedro Lamy - Minardi-Cosworth |
16 Riccardo Rosset - Footwork-Hart FA17 |
2 Luca Badoer - Forti-Cosworth FG01-95B |
Race
On Sunday morning for the warm up the skies were menacing. In the afternoon there was a wash down, which according to the rules gave a 15 minute practice session to adjust the cars for a wet track. Hakkinen used this session to wreck his car in the Tabac corner and thus had to start in the spare car. Alesi, since there was no sand pit, decided to whack the barrier in Mirabeau and Montermini destroyed his car before the chicane.
The rain stopped, the track dried and every team, except Arrows, decided to start on wet tires.
Schumacher missed the start and Damon was first through Ste-Devote. Verstappen tried to overtake Hakinnen in the Ste-Devote, it did not work and his race was over. The two Minardis all the way at the back managed to run into each other in the first curve and both were out, amazing. Damon had taken a good advance, while Schumacher drove his Ferrari in the curb after the Loews and wrecked the front wheels.
Next Barichello managed to reverse crash into the barrier at the Rascasse. By the end of lap one, five cars were gone, Damon Hill had more than 4 seconds advance and by lap 21 he was way ahead by 25 seconds. A pit stop in lap 28 and still ahead and then in lap 41 the Renault engine blew up. Alesi in the lead, but not for long, he had to abandon with a broken suspension. Then Irvine in the lead, driving slowly and in the middle of the road. Until Frenzen had enough and bumped into Eddy in Ste-Devote and had to get a new nose. Next in Line was Coulthard, but a weird strategy decision made him fall back to 5th and eventually end up in 2nd.
I was with a film crew on the track and it is always difficult to follow the race that way. I have always wondered why the sound system of the commentator is so bad. We were standing in the Noghes corner, the sun peeped through the clouds and passing us was a blue Ligier with a huge French flag sticking from the cockpit.
Olivier Panis had won this race, his first one, it was stunning, a French driver in a French car! The last time was in 1930 Rene Dreyfus in a Bugatti.
He had started in 14th place and by careful and precise driving passed every one and followed a strategy that paid off. Actually only three cars were running in the end, after Hakkinen and Salo piled up on Irvine.
I was filming on the circuit and saw suddenly Panis driving past holding a French flag. WTF race finished and he won!? |