Hill banishes those Hockenheim Blues
Track Temp: 28C. Air Temp: 24C.
Hockenheim has never been kind to Hill, even in his F3000 days. In '93 he was
heading for his first win when he punctured two laps from the end. In '94 he
collided with the Tyrrell of Katayama on the first lap, and in '95 a
mechanical failure pitched him off while leading. He was hoping for better
this time.
Hill did his best to hinder himself though, letting his revs die as he engaged
gear when the lights went out. Berger swept by and into the lead. Behind,
Schumacher moved right, almost squeezing Hakkinen into the pit wall, forcing
him to back off. Alesi, on a flyer, dived left of this pair, and barrelled
past Hill as well. Coulthard tried to go around the outside as well, and in to
the first corner it was Berger, Alesi, Hill, Schumacher, Villeneuve and
Coulthard.
On the long drag down the first straight, Hill tried slip-streaming past
Alesi, but couldn't quite manage it. At the second chicane, David Coulthard
re-introduced the rare site of overtaking to F1, diving down the inside of
Villeneuve. By this time we had lost Verstappen, who had driven into the rear
of Herbert's Sauber, and was now pulled off trackside.
At the end of the first lap, Berger was leading from Alesi (@1.184s), Hill
(@2.361), Schumacher (@3.031), Coulthard and Villeneuve. While Villeneuve was
dropping back into the clutches of Irvine's Ferrari, Coulthard was right under
the rear wing of Schumacher. Coulthard's performance with respect to Hakkinen
was all the more impressive when you considered that Coulthard was racing the
standard race engine, while Hakkinen was using the more powerful qualifying
engine.
Actual passing was proving to be a problem as both Schumacher and Villeneuve
took increasingly defensive lines. This was allowing the first three to draw
rapidly away, and Berger was now 1.4s ahead of Alesi, with Hill about a
further second back. It was obvious that the Williams could go faster, but he
just couldn't pass. Hakkinen was having similar problems with Irvine (7th and
8th), actually having to pull out under braking to avoid a collision, but
without enough momentum to get by. Coulthard was also trying hard, locking up
slightly into the Senna chicane. Hakkinen tried to break the impasse on lap 13
by pitting (stationary for 8.3s), but he had problems moving off, having to be
push started. Once corner later and he was out, victim of a gearbox gremlin.
Lap 15 and Irvine also came in (9.9s), followed by Coulthard a lap later
(7.6s). These drivers were all on two stop strategies, and it was assumed that
the rest were on one stops. Not so. Lap 20 and Hill pitted to try and get a
clear piece of track on his return. He was stationary for 8.1s, and once on
track he put the hammer down, setting fastest laps on lap 22 and 25.
Meanwhile we had our third retirement of the day on lap 21, Katayama riding up
on the kerb on the entrance to the Jim Clark chicane. The car snapped sideways
and spun into the barriers. Diniz also went out this lap, due to some
mechanical malady.
Lap 22, and Schumacher and Villeneuve, already nose to tail, pitted
together. Both cars had short stops, and the Ferrari emerged fractionally
ahead of the Williams. The two cars almost collided at the pit exit, and on
the drag down to the first chicane, Villeneuve got past under braking. He was
soon gone. Alesi also pitted, but under more relaxed circumstances. Brundle
meanwhile picked up a right rear puncture, shredding the tyre, and he had a
long limp back to the pits. He rejoined in 13th and last position.
Lap 23 and Berger pitted, allowing Hill into the lead for the first time. We
awaited the gap with interest. Starting lap 25, Hill led Berger by 3.209s,
from Alesi (@5.078), Coulthard (@22), Villeneuve, Schumacher and Irvine,
Irvine right under Schumacher's rear wing, but seemingly under team orders not
to make a race of it. Hill's gap though rapidly extended, becoming 4.7, 6.2
and 7.4s in successive laps. By the time Hill came in for his second stop on
lap 34, he was 16.3s ahead.
Villeneuve was desperate to get away from Schumacher, and on lap 30 this
almost proved to be his undoing as he outbraked himself while overtaking
Rosset at the first chicane. Villeneuve got two wheels up on to the grass, and
past went Rosset again, Schumacher latching on to the tail of the
Williams. Villeneuve blasted past the Arrows on the straight, and under
braking Schumacher went to follow as Rosset slotted in behind Villeneuve for
the corner. Schumacher wisely backed off, and waited until the next straight.
Hill was stationary in the pits for 8.2s, and he re-emerged in second place,
directly ahead of Alesi. Irvine meanwhile was parked trackside, smoke issuing
from its rear end. Now we had a race on though.
Starting lap 36, the gap from Berger to Hill was 2.215s, from Alesi (@5.246),
Villeneuve (@32.028), Schumacher (@35.544), and Coulthard (@39.403). Next time
around Hill was 1.2s back, and by lap 39 in was an academic 0.388s. Hill was
obviously much faster, but could he pass? Berger was taking the middle line
down the straights, but Hill couldn't get by. Into the Opel Kurve and Hill was
only one car length back. Across the start line they went together, and Berger
had to resort to blatant blocking at the chicanes.
The aerodynamic turbulence from the Benetton was causing the Williams to
twitch under braking, but Hill had it all under control. It looked as though
he would have to wait for traffic and gain some advantage there. Lap 41 and
they had caught Lamy, but he pulled over and let them through cleanly. Lap 43
though and the problem sorted itself out. Exiting the first chicane, Berger's
Renault engine let go spectacularly as he floored the accelerator, sending
plumes of white smoke to billow out into the air. Hill got a face full, but
sailed gracefully past and on to the flag. A disconsolate Berger sat trackside
watching car flash by, not even bothering to remove his helmet, but he was
saved the walk back when Alesi stopped on the slowing down lap and gave him a
lift back. But for Coulthard the race wasn't over. Throughout the last two
laps he was all over Schumacher's Ferrari, but he just couldn't get past. It
was a very relieved Schumacher who finished in fourth position.
With five races to go, Hill now has a 21 point lead over team-mate
Villeneuve. Three more wins and the championship would be sewn up beyond
doubt. It would also give Hill ten wins this season, breaking Mansell's 1992
record of nine. After today's performance, I wouldn't bet against it either.
Result 1 D.Hill Williams 1:21:43.417, 225.410kph 2 J.Alesi Benetton + 11.452 3 J.Villeneuve Williams + 33.926 4 M.Schumacher Ferrari + 41.517 5 D.Coulthard McLaren + 42.196 6 R.Barrichello Jordan + 1:42.099 7 O.Panis Ligier + 1:43.912 8 H.Frentzen Sauber - 1 lap 9 M.Salo Tyrrell - 1 lap 10 M.Brundle Jordan - 1 lap 11 R.Rosset Arrows - 1 lap 12 P.Lamy Minardi - 2 laps 13 G.Berger Benetton - 3 laps Not Classified E.Irvine Ferrari - 11 laps J.Herbert Sauber - 20 laps P.Diniz Ligier - 26 laps U.Katayama Tyrrell - 26 laps M.Hakkinen McLaren - 32 laps J.Verstappen Arrows - 45 laps Drivers Championship 1 D.Hill 73 pts 2 J.Villeneuve 52 3 J.Alesi 31 4 M.Schumacher 29 5 D.Coulthard 18 6 G.Berger 16 7 M.Hakkinen 16 8 O.Panis 11 9 R.Barrichello 11 10 E.Irvine 9 11 H.Frentzen 6 12 M.Salo 5 13 J.Herbert 4 14 M.Brundle 3 15 J.Verstappen 1 16 P.Diniz 1 Constructors Championship 1 Williams 125 2 Benetton 47 3 Ferrari 38 4 McLaren 34 5 Jordan 14 6 Ligier 12 7 Sauber 10 8 Tyrrell 5 9 Arrows 1 Top 6 Lap Chart Lap/Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 5 4 1 7 3 6 1 4 3 5 1 8 6 2 4 3 5 1 8 6 3 4 3 5 1 8 6 4 4 3 5 1 8 6 5 4 3 5 1 8 6 6 4 3 5 1 8 6 7 4 3 5 1 8 6 8 4 3 5 1 8 6 9 4 3 5 1 8 6 10 4 3 5 1 8 6 11 4 3 5 1 8 6 12 4 3 5 1 8 6 13 4 3 5 1 8 6 14 4 3 5 1 8 6 15 4 3 5 1 8 6 16 4 3 5 1 8 6 17 4 3 5 1 8 6 18 4 3 5 1 8 6 19 4 3 5 1 8 6 20 4 3 1 6 5 11 21 4 3 1 6 5 11 22 4 5 4 8 6 11 23 5 4 3 8 6 1 24 5 4 3 8 6 1 25 5 4 3 8 6 1 26 5 4 3 8 6 1 27 5 4 3 8 6 1 28 5 4 3 8 6 1 29 5 4 3 8 6 1 30 5 4 3 8 6 1 31 5 4 3 8 6 1 32 5 4 3 6 1 8 33 5 4 3 6 1 8 34 4 5 3 6 1 8 35 4 5 3 6 1 8 36 4 5 3 6 1 8 37 4 5 3 6 1 8 38 4 5 3 6 1 8 39 4 5 3 6 1 8 40 4 5 3 6 1 8 41 4 5 3 6 1 8 42 4 5 3 6 1 8 43 5 3 6 1 8 11 44 5 3 6 1 8 11 45 5 3 6 1 8 11 Fastest Laps 2 Berger 1:47.743 3 Alesi 1:47.643 4 Hill 1:47.554 22 Hill 1:47.092 25 Hill 1:46.584