The 1996 Italian GP was won by Michael Schumacher, making it the first time in seven years that a Ferrari driver won the team's home race.
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1996 was not a good year for Ferrari. Even though they had signed defending world champion Michael Schumacher, their car that year was anything but a consistent race winner. Still, the two-time champ managed to squeeze out three wins for the team. The final of those wins came in the 1996 Italian GP, a race that was memorable mostly for the carnage that ensued due to temporary tyre barriers.
The race is, by no means, a classic for the ages in terms of daring overtaking or skilled driving. Yet it is a notable one for Ferrari fans, because this was the first time in 7 years that a driver from the side won their home race.
With 25 years having passed since the day, we look back at a memorable race for the tifosi.
Coming into the race, Michael Schumacher and Ferrari were not the main story. That would be Williams and Damon Hill, who could seal the title at the race.
Hill finally getting the beating of his rival at Ferrari’s home race would have been quite the sight. Indeed, many – including the Ferrari faithful who turned up in droves – expected that to happen.
As if to reconfirm their worst fears, Hill took pole ahead of teammate Jacques Villeneuve. Schumacher managed to get his Ferrari into third place.
Schumacher had taken two wins in the season thus far, but both had major asterisks attached to them. His win at Spain was due to his mastery of rainy conditions, and he won the race even as others failed to navigate the weather.
At Belgium, the Grand Prix race that was held just before the Italian GP, his win came about due to a Safety Car and confusion over pit-stop strategy by Williams and Villeneuve.
With that in mind, Schumacher taking a win at Monza – where cars with the best pure speed usually won out – seemed far-fetched at best.
Yet there was one factor that most didn’t count on. To prevent cars kerb-hopping the chichanes due to track modifications made, each chichane had tyre barriers.
As it turns out, the makeshift barriers played a more starring role than almost anyone expected.
The opening lap itself saw the tyre barries come into play. Jean Alesi, starting in sixth in his Benetton, managed to catch up to and briefly pass Hill.
However, he ran wide at the first corner which, incidentally, is a chicane and struck a tyre stack. He lost the lead to Hill but escaped with no damage. However, a tyre ran onto the track and damaged the wing on Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren, forcing him to pit.
Villeneuve caused a similar incident with David Coulthard’s McLaren on the opening lap, but at the Ascari chicane. Coulthard was not as fortunate as his teammate and spun off into retirement. The tone of the race was now set.
However, Hill himself remained unaffected by this and, by lap six, led the race by four seconds. But disaster struck on the first corner of that chicane, as he crashed into the tyres and his suspension broke. As such, he was forced to retire from the race.
That wasn’t the end of the tyre stack drama though. All in all, eight cars managed to run into the barriers through the course of the race. Five of them were forced to retire.
After Hill’s collision, Alesi took the lead and kept Schumacher at bay for the most part. However, the German took th lead in the pits and would not give it up.
His teammate Eddie Irvine ran in third, raising hopes of two Ferraris being on the podium. But Irvine’s was one of the five cars forced to retire after a crash into the tyre barriers.
Schumacher himself was among the eight who collided with the tyres. However, his collision came towards the end of the race and he didn’t suffer any damage. As such, he carried on and won the race with ease.
The 1996 Italian GP would prove to be the final win for Schumacher and Ferrari in the season. Hill’s coronation as world champion had to wait until the last race of the season.
He could have sealed it in the next race at Portugal – the penultimate of the season – but Villeneuve won and took the battle to Japan.
Hill was not to be denied at Japan, winning the race and becoming the first second generation world champion – his father Graham Hill had won the title in 1962 and 1968.
Villeneuve would win the title a year later in thrilling circumstances. Schumacher would have to wait until 2000 to become a world champion again.
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