Lol! I remember Ex Bennetton mechanic Steve Matchett said in F1 racing Mag: Initially the season was looking good, the B196 was developed from the all conquering B195 and they'd retained the majestic Renault V10. They had 2 race winning drivers with loads of experience. Steve then went on to say "I've never seen 2 drivers destroy a championship winning team in such a short amount of time!" Berger in particular was a nightmare to work with apparently.
Yes in testing he would say his dampers had gone off and needed changing. It turned out this so he could have a rest. I fitted pressure sensors to the dampers so we could see what was happening to them. They were fine.
"Gerhard Berger has a few interesting things to say about his benetton days in his autobiograpy Zielgerade . It's written in German (not my native tongue), so what I write here may not be completely accurate, especially the more technical parts. When he first drove the B195 during winter testing at Estoril, he immediately spun and wrote it off completely. Testing was then interrupted for three days as the car had to go back to England for investigation. On his second go, in the rain and again at Estoril, he spun on his third lap and wrote off another car. In the meantime Alesi had also spun off twice but fortunately he stranded in the gravel traps, so damage was minimal. After that they went to Barcelona to test again. Initially Berger felt comfortably with the car but he was a second off the pace so he went looking for that extra second, and spun off again. Things obviously started to get a bit painfull then and Berger felt the team missed Michael already. Berger accepted responsibility to some extent, but also pressed engineers to look into the situation as he felt sure there was a problem with the car. After investigation they discovered that at high speeds the floor/diffuser of the car would create an effect similar to stalling with airplaines which caused an abrupt lack of downforce. This then caused snap oversteer and that resulted in Berger and Alesi spinning off all the time. Berger explains that this characteristic of the car was already known within the team and tells how Herbert also suffered from it during the 1995 season. Berger also admits that at this point his respect for Michael Schumacher increased substantially as he couldn't understand how someone could drive this car on the limit all the time. The solution to this problem had something to do with the ride height but Berger doesn't explain this into detail."
Berger also wrote that the Benetton was a car that was extremely tailored to Michael Schumacher due to its oversteering behavior. However, Berger himself preferred cars that tended to understeer. This was another reason why he could not cope with the nervous B195 (and the B196). On the other hand, Schumacher was delighted with the Ferrari 412T2 driven by Berger and Alesi.
You go all that way through pre-season, testing, qualifying, all the way to Melbourne and then you drive into the side of Eddie Irvine, because you can't wait to get past. This is a great docu.
Bennetton always fascinated me during this time. I always wonder how different F1 may have been had Michael stayed there for 96 as it was fun to see Williams and Bennetton taking it to the larger McLaren and Ferrari Teams. It would have been hard to say no to the $40 Million Ferrari offered Michael though.
Too bad that this car never won. Jean and Gerhard were very quick, unfortunately were they were on first position like Monaco and Germany, the car didn’t last. Too bad😩
Like Brown said, they were late with the car and they did mistakes. The care stoped 11 times from 34 possible races with bouth cars. 2 times they were in the lead. On the other hand Williams made their best car ever.
was it the driver who is the star or is it the car? 1996 was a good way to find out when schumacher swapped cars with alesi and berger, and with the benefit of knowing what i know now then it is definitely the car that was the star because alonso beat schumacher in 2005 and 2006
Clarkson, Murray, the cars, the 90’s…. wow.. loved this
Lol! I remember Ex Bennetton mechanic Steve Matchett said in F1 racing Mag: Initially the season was looking good, the B196 was developed from the all conquering B195 and they'd retained the majestic Renault V10. They had 2 race winning drivers with loads of experience. Steve then went on to say "I've never seen 2 drivers destroy a championship winning team in such a short amount of time!" Berger in particular was a nightmare to work with apparently.
Yes in testing he would say his dampers had gone off and needed changing. It turned out this so he could have a rest. I fitted pressure sensors to the dampers so we could see what was happening to them. They were fine.
"Gerhard Berger has a few interesting things to say about his benetton days in his autobiograpy Zielgerade . It's written in German (not my native tongue), so what I write here may not be completely accurate, especially the more technical parts. When he first drove the B195 during winter testing at Estoril, he immediately spun and wrote it off completely. Testing was then interrupted for three days as the car had to go back to England for investigation. On his second go, in the rain and again at Estoril, he spun on his third lap and wrote off another car. In the meantime Alesi had also spun off twice but fortunately he stranded in the gravel traps, so damage was minimal.
After that they went to Barcelona to test again. Initially Berger felt comfortably with the car but he was a second off the pace so he went looking for that extra second, and spun off again. Things obviously started to get a bit painfull then and Berger felt the team missed Michael already.
Berger accepted responsibility to some extent, but also pressed engineers to look into the situation as he felt sure there was a problem with the car. After investigation they discovered that at high speeds the floor/diffuser of the car would create an effect similar to stalling with airplaines which caused an abrupt lack of downforce. This then caused snap oversteer and that resulted in Berger and Alesi spinning off all the time. Berger explains that this characteristic of the car was already known within the team and tells how Herbert also suffered from it during the 1995 season. Berger also admits that at this point his respect for Michael Schumacher increased substantially as he couldn't understand how someone could drive this car on the limit all the time. The solution to this problem had something to do with the ride height but Berger doesn't explain this into detail."
Berger also wrote that the Benetton was a car that was extremely tailored to Michael Schumacher due to its oversteering behavior. However, Berger himself preferred cars that tended to understeer. This was another reason why he could not cope with the nervous B195 (and the B196).
On the other hand, Schumacher was delighted with the Ferrari 412T2 driven by Berger and Alesi.
You go all that way through pre-season, testing, qualifying, all the way to Melbourne and then you drive into the side of Eddie Irvine, because you can't wait to get past. This is a great docu.
that crash was a microcosm of Alesi's career
Bennetton always fascinated me during this time. I always wonder how different F1 may have been had Michael stayed there for 96 as it was fun to see Williams and Bennetton taking it to the larger McLaren and Ferrari Teams. It would have been hard to say no to the $40 Million Ferrari offered Michael though.
Cool, there is James Allison 12:09
Could this be the best F1 documentary.... in the world
Too bad that this car never won. Jean and Gerhard were very quick, unfortunately were they were on first position like Monaco and Germany, the car didn’t last. Too bad😩
Benetton without Michael was a totally different team
What a great doco! Never seen that one before. Thank you for posting!
Greg Felix 👍
I wish they would do something like this in the current F1. Maybe like a series from the backstage of every team. Would be sick
Drive to survive?
@@alf007bob please lets be serious here
Marketing bods would say it’s too dry
Great docu! Never seen that one! Thank you
Your welcome 👍
B196 - a great car, but unfortunately in the hands of not so great drivers...
Bit harsh, Williams definitely took another step from '95.
The best of 94 and 95 than the half of the team went to Ferrari.
Why he laughed "even mansell" lmao
Thanks for uploading this!
Thanks 👍
CLARKSONNNNNNNN!!!!
Fantastic
Both drivers destroyed Benetton that season
Like Brown said, they were late with the car and they did mistakes. The care stoped 11 times from 34 possible races with bouth cars. 2 times they were in the lead. On the other hand Williams made their best car ever.
was it the driver who is the star or is it the car?
1996 was a good way to find out when schumacher swapped cars with alesi and berger, and with the benefit of knowing what i know now then it is definitely the car that was the star because alonso beat schumacher in 2005 and 2006
Once you get to that level, all the drivers are good. At that point it's all car.
Wrong, while most drivers are good, there are legends that stood head and shoulders above them.
Is this narrated by Jeremy Clarkson?
28:38
Yes
Yes
Yes, it was narrated by the Orangutan.
Alan Permane there too 7:02 ini
I thought brawn had already gone to Ferrari by 96 with shumacher?
He joined Ferrari late in '96
@@theempires5 thanks!