Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Last weekend in Brazil he went through water, this weekend fire, but another faultless drive put Damon Hill in Victory Lane for the third successive time in 1996, and the fourth race in a row.
On this occasion, motor sport resembled football as a game of two halves, after an accident involving Luca Badoer and Pedro Diniz necessitated deployment of the safety car on the 27th lap.
No sooner had that mess been cleared up than Diniz's Ligier burst into flame on the 30th lap, when it is suspected the refuelling valve stuck open. The Brazilian was aboard for at least 20 seconds, but jumped clear after the car had come to a flaming rest in a gravel bed. Neither he nor Badoer earlier was injured.
From the first standing start, and then the subsequent rolling start behind the safety car, Hill made no mistakes despite massive initial pressure from Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. Each time he kept his head, made full use of the most efficient car in the game, and drew away for a strong 16th win.
Where Hill made a perfect first getaway, his Williams team-mate, Jacques Villeneuve, was dreadfully slow away, dropping from third on the grid to ninth. He was then trapped in a wheel-to-wheel dogfight with Jos Verstappen, Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine, all of whom had lost places to a fast- starting David Coulthard. It was a costly mistake by the Canadian, but by lap five he had climbed back up to sixth.
As in Melbourne, Schumacher clung to Hill in the opening laps before dropping back fractionally to fend off the Benetton duo of Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger as each took his turn to set fastest lap. By lap 11 Hill was 2.2sec ahead, a reasonable margin on this tight little track, and looking in complete command.
Alesi was balked by Badoer on lap 16 and lost valuable ground, then Schumacher lost time behind the second Forti driver, Andrea Montermini, two laps later. The German's challenge began to crumble at this stage, as he lost ground in chunks to Hill. By lap 20, the Briton had a lead of 6.4sec.
It was just after the first round of pit stops that Badoer's accident occurred, when the Italian driver inverted his Forti after a collision with Diniz's Ligier, which was lapping him. At first the marshals watched uncertainly and the safety car - which seemed far too slow to pace F1 cars properly - was swiftly sent out. Badoer managed to extricate himself, but another incident was but a few laps away.
The field bunched behind the safety car, costing Hill his hard-won advantage and creating the sort of situation that F1's powerbrokers like to decry when it occurs in IndyCars. Now there was a whole new race to begin, but for Villeneuve it was a godsend.
It was on the 30th lap that Diniz's Ligier burst into flames. The car was instantly consumed by fire, and the Brazilian was amazingly fortunate to vault from the cockpit, especially as marshals running to the scene stumbled in the gravel. The intense blaze was extinguished in moments.
The race resumed on lap 32, and once again Hill worked diligently to rebuild his lost cushion. Schumacher, however, was soon in trouble, dropping away after his second stop on lap 40 and then pulling straight in to retire six laps later. "Early on my car was hit by some debris thrown up by Hill's car, and later I could see in my mirrors that the rear wing was damaged," he revealed.
Alesi should have benefited most from this, having chased Schumacher all afternoon, but he stalled on his second fuel stop and was fortunate later that his team-mate, Berger, had retired shortly after his own third quick stop, when running second. However, that stall had let Villeneuve snatch third place, which became second Berger's departure. The Austrian thought he had a slow puncture, but discovered this to be a broken rear suspension when he rejoined and slid straight off the road.
While Hill was sitting pretty, a one-stop fuel policy delivered fourth place to Rubens Barrichello as recompense for his Brazilian gaffe, but the other principal interest was the giant-killing of Jos Verstappen and his underfinanced Arrows Footwork-Hart. After a disastrous second stop, the Dutchman dropped Coulthard's McLaren and chased Irvine for fifth. They were under four seconds apart at the finish.
Yet another superb performance kept Hill's championship aspirations on track. "I can't imagine how it can get better, with three straight wins," Hill said. "It was a great race and a great result for the team, which represents the force we have at the moment.
"Michael was as tenacious as ever, always looking for an opportunity. I had the measure but then the safety car came out. It's great to equal Stirling Moss's record of 16 wins. Statistics are meaningful and are the best guide to what you have achieved."
In a nicely understated ceremony before the race, Argentina paid tribute to the legend of Juan Manuel Fangio by naming the main straight in his honour. His nephew, Juan Manuel Fangio II, himself an IndyCar racer, made the official dedication as the Silver Arrow Mercedes W196 from Fangio's museum in his native Balcarce was wheeled to the memorial plaque, its engine silent so that the great man would be the last ever to have driven it. It was a poignant moment of nostalgia and emotion in the million-dollar rollercoaster milieu of modern-day Formula One.
Argentinian Grand Prix
1 D Hill (Williams-Renault) 10pts
2 J Villeneuve (Williams-Renault) 6pts
3 J Alesi (Benetton-Renault) 4pts
4 R Barrichello (Jordan-Peugeot) 3pts
5 E Irvine (Ferrari) 2pts
6 J Verstappen (Arrows Footwork-Hart) 1pt
Drivers' championship
1 D Hill 30pts
2 J Villeneuve 12
3 J Alesi 10
4 E Irvine 6
5 M Hakkinen 5
6 M Schumacher 4
7=G Berger 3
M Salo 3
R Barrichello 3
10= O Panis 1
J Verstappen 1
Constructors' championship
1 Williams-Renault 42
2 Benetton-Renault 13
3 Ferrari 10
4 McLaren-Mercedes 5
5= Tyrrell-Yamaha 3
Jordan-Peugeot 3
7= Ligier-Mugen-Honda 1
Arrows-Footwork-Hart 1
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments