1996 Portuguese Grand Prix

The podium ceremony.

The 1996 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 22 September 1996 at Autódromo do Estoril in Estoril, Portugal. It was the 15th and penultimate race of the 1996 Formula One season.

Williams' Jacques Villeneuve won the race from team-mate Damon Hill and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, having overtaken the latter on the outside of the final corner while the two were lapping the slow-moving back-marking Minardi of Giovanni Lavaggi (who at the time was described by BBC TV commentator Jonathan Palmer as "desperately slow" and "there because of his money"). This victory, Villeneuve's fourth of the season, ensured that the Drivers' Championship battle between him and Hill went to the final round in Japan three weeks later.

Benetton's Jean Alesi finished fourth, just behind Schumacher, while Eddie Irvine in the second Ferrari and Gerhard Berger in the second Benetton survived a last-lap collision to take fifth and sixth respectively.<ref name="grandprix">Template:Cite web</ref>

The Portuguese Grand Prix would not be held again until 2020 but this race was held at a new venue at the Algarve International Circuit as opposed to Estoril.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Diff.
1	5	Template:Flagicon Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	1:20.330
2	6	Template:Flagicon Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	1:20.339	+0.009
3	3	Template:Flagicon Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	1:21.088	+0.758
4	1	Template:Flagicon Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:21.236	+0.906
5	4	Template:Flagicon Gerhard Berger	Benetton-Renault	1:21.293	+0.963
6	2	Template:Flagicon Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:21.362	+1.032
7	7	Template:Flagicon Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:21.640	+1.310
8	8	Template:Flagicon David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:22.066	+1.736
9	11	Template:Flagicon Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Peugeot	1:22.205	+1.875
10	12	Template:Flagicon Martin Brundle	Jordan-Peugeot	1:22.324	+1.994
11	15	Template:Flagicon Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Ford	1:22.325	+1.995
12	14	Template:Flagicon Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Ford	1:22.655	+2.325
13	19	Template:Flagicon Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:22.765	+2.435
14	18	Template:Flagicon Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:23.013	+2.683
15	9	Template:Flagicon Olivier Panis	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	1:23.055	+2.725
16	17	Template:Flagicon Jos Verstappen	Footwork-Hart	1:23.531	+3.201
17	16	Template:Flagicon Ricardo Rosset	Footwork-Hart	1:24.230	+3.900
18	10	Template:Flagicon Pedro Diniz	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	1:24.293	+3.963
19	20	Template:Flagicon Pedro Lamy	Minardi-Ford	1:24.510	+4.180
20	21	Template:Flagicon Giovanni Lavaggi	Minardi-Ford	1:25.612	+5.282
107% time: 1:25.953
Sources:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Template:Flagicon Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	70	1:40:22.915	2	10
2	5	Template:Flagicon Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	70	+ 19.966	1	6
3	1	Template:Flagicon Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	70	+ 53.765	4	4
4	3	Template:Flagicon Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	70	+ 55.109	3	3
5	2	Template:Flagicon Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	70	+ 1:27.389	6	2
6	4	Template:Flagicon Gerhard Berger	Benetton-Renault	70	+ 1:33.141	5	1
7	15	Template:Flagicon Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Ford	69	+ 1 Lap	11
8	14	Template:Flagicon Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Ford	69	+ 1 Lap	12
9	12	Template:Flagicon Martin Brundle	Jordan-Peugeot	69	+ 1 Lap	10
10	9	Template:Flagicon Olivier Panis	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	69	+ 1 Lap	15
11	19	Template:Flagicon Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Yamaha	69	+ 1 Lap	13
12	18	Template:Flagicon Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	68	+ 2 Laps	14
13	8	Template:Flagicon David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	68	+ 2 Laps	8
14	16	Template:Flagicon Ricardo Rosset	Footwork-Hart	67	+ 3 Laps	17
15	21	Template:Flagicon Giovanni Lavaggi	Minardi-Ford	65	+ 5 Laps	20
16	20	Template:Flagicon Pedro Lamy	Minardi-Ford	65	+ 5 Laps	19
Ret	7	Template:Flagicon Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	52	Collision damage	7
Ret	17	Template:Flagicon Jos Verstappen	Footwork-Hart	47	Engine	16
Ret	10	Template:Flagicon Pedro Diniz	Ligier-Mugen-Honda	46	Collision	18
Ret	11	Template:Flagicon Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Peugeot	41	Spun Off	9
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Championship standings after the race

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Damon Hill	87
2	Template:Flagicon Jacques Villeneuve	78
3	Template:Flagicon Michael Schumacher	53
4	Template:Flagicon Jean Alesi	47
5	Template:Flagicon Mika Häkkinen	27
Source: <ref name="Championship">Template:Cite web</ref>

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Williams-Renault	165
2	Template:Flagicon Benetton-Renault	65
3	Template:Flagicon Ferrari	64
4	Template:Flagicon McLaren-Mercedes	45
5	Template:Flagicon Jordan-Peugeot	20
Source: <ref name="Championship"/>

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

References

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