On this day [March 10] in 1996, the first Australian Grand Prix to be staged in Melbourne took place, and set the tone for a further 30 years of Formula 1 action in the city.
With Adelaide having previously hosted the event for the previous 10 years, the decision was made to move to the Albert Park Circuit, and instead of being the customary final round, it became the first.
Big changes had taken place over the winter, the most notable being reigning World Champion Michael Schumacher leaving Benetton and making the ambitious switch to Ferrari.
Therefore, with Schumacher lowering expectations for his prospects, arch-rival Damon Hill and his Williams team were the pre-season favourites. Hill, having agonisingly lost out to Schumacher the previous two years, it seemed that this was perhaps his final big chance to become the first son of a World Champion to become one himself.
On paper, his chances were heightened with the departure of David Coulthard to McLaren, with Williams opting to sign 1995’s IndyCar champion – and Indy 500 winner – Jacques Villeneuve. Like Hill, Villeneuve of course came from the stock of F1 royalty in the form of his father Gilles, but his inexperience would have naturally underlined Hill as a stand-out favourite.
But once qualifying came and went, this theory went swiftly out of the window. Villeneuve stuck the #6 Williams-Renault on pole position, just over a tenth ahead of Hill, with Schumacher seven tenths further back in fourth, having been out-qualified by fellow Ferrari new boy, Ulsterman Eddie Irvine.
At lights out, Villeneuve showed adaptability from his nous of standing starts in America by flooring it and leading comfortably into Turn 1. Hill got a poor start, and a tank-slapper into Turn 2 exacerbated his problems, relegating him to fourth behind both Ferraris, but further back, more drama was to follow.
Coulthard was pushing wide going into Turn 3, and nudged into the Sauber of fellow Brit Johnny Herbert, who was then, like a domino, knocked into the path of another countryman – Martin Brundle.
The veteran, making his first start for the Jordan team, was sent skywards, and the new golden Benson & Hedges liveried car blended into the deeply yellow gravel and upkicked dust as it cascaded into it.
Once the dust had settled, the car was now scarcely recognisable, and the assembled crowd collectively held its breath. But remarkably, Brundle clambered free unharmed. The race was red flagged.
Brundle was given the third degree by the FIA’s medical delegate, Professor Sid Watkins, and once being given the all-clear from the ever-conscientious Prof, Brundle drew a huge cheer from the crowd as he put his thumb up to them and ran towards the spare car.
Martin Brundle's EPIC shunt in the 1996 Australian Grand Prix!
— Extreme Cars (@extremecars__) March 21, 2024
He had a huge crash and then a few minutes later he was back in the car again and continued the race for a few laps because then he crashed again.#F1 #Formula1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/tuJTtEAGo7
Take 2: Hill got a better start but still not as well as Villeneuve, and duly slotted in behind his new teammate into Turn 1. Brundle, ironically, was pitched into a comparatively pithy spin at the same corner a lap later, and was out of the race once again.
The race developed into an unentertaining rhythm for some time, only altered by Irvine’s collision with a chasing Jean Alesi on Lap 6. The French-Sicillian, now having affectively swapped places with Schumacher at Benetton, made an ambitious dive down the inside at Turn 3, and came off worse, his car’s left sidepod ripped open, exposing its innards. He limped back to the pits and was duly out. Irvine survived.
Schumacher pitted and was left nearly half-a-minute behind the Williams pair, and on Lap 28, skidded into the gravel at Turn 3. The Ferrari developed brake problems, and he too was now out.
VIlleneuve and Hill exchanged pit stops, and the latter emerged just in front of the former upon exiting the pit lane. Hill now appeared to be in his rightful place, but if anyone had written a script for the race, Villeneuve had clearly not read it. Getting better traction out of Turn 3 with warmer tyres, Villeneuve swept right around the outside of Hill into Turn 4, and was back in front.
Hill did not relinquish without a fight though, and put his new partner under maximum pressure. So much so, that Villeneuve went wide into Turn 1 shortly after, rally-crossing his way back onto the circuit right in Hill’s path, but he remained in the lead.
That was, until, an oil leak, caused by his excursion, began to develop. With Hill still firmly behind him, Villeneuve’s car began to spit out oil like an impatient camel, and the liquid began to tinge Hill’s helmet and rear wing brown. With knowledge that the problem would go on to cause further issues at racing speed, Villeneuve was ordered to let Hill through, and backed off to preserve his car.
Hill duly opened his ’96 account the same way he ended his ’95 one – with a win in Australia, becoming only the fourth – and currently the most recent – man to win back-to-back Grands Prix held in the same country. It was also his 14th win, equalling father Graham’s tally.
Villeneuve finished a still mightily-impressive second, with Irvine beginning his Ferrari career with third place. Gerhard Berger, returning to Benetton after 10 years away, was fourth, with an honourable mention for Mika Hakkinen in fifth, the Finn completing an emotional comeback from his near-fatal accident in Adelaide at the end of ’95. Mika Salo’s Tyrrell rounding out the top six.
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