How Monaco 1996 typified a hard-charger’s F1 career

The 1996 Monaco Grand Prix is one of the mostly fondly remembered races in Formula 1 history. In a chaotic, rain-struck affair that ended with just three cars classified as finishing the race, Olivier Panis claimed the underdog victory of all underdog victories for Ligier.

The race's enduring popularity is such that F1 picked it as the fourth race it would live stream in full via its social media channels today, as part of its bid to fill the void fans are currently dealing with.

The event may be remembered for Panis and Ligier's surprise win, keeping their heads while all about them lost theirs - but it was also a race that typified the career of one of F1's hardest chargers.

Jean Alesi gained cult status through the early stages of his F1 career, impressing enough for Tyrrell to secure a switch to Ferrari for 1990.

In the wake of Alain Prost's departure at the end of the following year, Alesi - now donning the famous #27 on the scarlet Ferrari - was seen as the man who could at last bring glory back to Maranello and end a drought extending back to Jody Scheckter's 1979 triumph.

But what followed were seasons of frustration and unfulfilled potential. Alesi famously scored just a single grand prix victory - Canada 1995 - and departed from Ferrari at the end of that year along with team-mate Gerhard Berger. Both joined reigning champion team Benetton for 1996 as Michael Schumacher - who had dramatically beaten Alesi to victory at the Nurburgring in '95 - went the other way.

Alesi's start to life with Benetton was solid. While Williams dominated the opening five rounds with Jacques Villeneuve and eventual champion Damon Hill leading the pack, Alesi picked up two podium finishes - second in Brazil and third in Argentina - to sit fourth in the championship heading to Monaco.

Qualifying around the streets of the principality resulted in Schumacher clinching his second straight pole for Ferrari, finishing half a second clear of Hill. Alesi and Berger locked out the second row of the grid for Benetton, while eventual race winner Panis was all the way down in 14th.

For Alesi, it was his best qualifying display of the year to date, and gave him a real shot at adding to his trio of Monaco podiums scored in 1990, '91 and '93.

Regardless of the cause of his retirement, Alesi's empty stare picked up by the TV cameras summed up just how hard the defeat was for him to take

A late rain shower before the start left the track wet but drying, forcing the drivers to dance through the spray around the tight confines of the Monaco street course. Hill made a perfect getaway from pole to sweep past Schumacher, who struggled with wheelspin, while Alesi settled into third for the run up the hill to Casino Square.

Moments later, Schumacher made an uncharacteristic error. The two-time champion rode up on the kerb at Mirabeau, spitting his Ferrari into the wall on the left-hand side. It promoted Alesi into second out of the 16 cars still running by the end of the opening lap after incidents further back had wiped out another four cars - Jos Verstappen's Footwork, Rubens Barrichello's Jordan and the two Minardis of Pedro Lamy and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Alesi was unable to match Hill's searing pace at the front of the pack, slipping back at a rate of more than one second per lap through the opening stint. He narrowly took the lead when Hill pitted at the end of lap 28, but gave it up two tours later when he made his own switch to slicks. Hill had timed it better, causing his sizeable lead to swell to almost 30 seconds.

Hill's fifth victory in six races seemed assured, but the Renault engine in the back of his Williams had other ideas. After a warning light showed up on the dashboard, Hill raised concern to the pitwall, only for his engine to let go soon after on lap 40 as he came through the tunnel, ending his hopes of emulating his father, Graham, by winning in Monaco.

Hill's demise handed the lead to Alesi, whose advantage over the thinning field stood at over half a minute. Benetton team-mate Berger had retired early on due to a gearbox issue, allowing Alesi's advantage over the chasing pack to grow dramatically. Just 10 cars remained in the race, and while Panis had picked his way up the order with some overtakes that would later look inspired in his victory charge, the gulf to Alesi was showing few signs of reducing.

It seemed that Alesi would record his second grand prix victory, become the latest in a line of French drivers to win the Monaco GP, and give Benetton its third straight victory in the principality. He pitted with 21 laps remaining to take a fresh set of slicks and a top up of fuel that would see him to the end, and duly snaked back onto the track still leading Panis by over 10 seconds, well on course for what would surely be the high point of his career to date.

But in a turn of events entirely befitting of Alesi's F1 career, the reality turned out to be very different. He had been able to peel away from Panis - occupied with David Coulthard filling his mirrors - with his fresh tyres, but knew there was little need to push too hard and risk meeting the same fate that had already befallen over half the field.

It was out of Alesi's hands though. Just 15 laps from home, he entered the pits for a third time, much to the surprise of the Benetton mechanics who scrambled around the car to see what the issue could be. Alesi raised his right hand and thumbed towards the rear-right of his car before flaying his hands in frustration. The crew fitted another new set of tyres before sending the car back out in seventh.

A check of the tyres that had come off the car showed there had been no puncture, meaning the fresh Goodyears could not remedy Alesi's issue. He returned to the pits on the very next lap before immediately pulling out his steering wheel, clambering out of the cockpit and trudging to the rear of the garage.

Further inquests followed on the car, with a suspension failure ultimately being diagnosed. Regardless of the cause of his retirement, Alesi's empty stare picked up by the TV cameras summed up just how hard the defeat was for him to take.

"A real disappointment after being so close to winning, especially here in Monaco," Alesi said afterwards. "The car was great and I had no complaints until I felt something in the back of the car. I came into the pits, the car was checked and tyres were changed.

"After a lap, I was forced to come in again, for a suspension failure. This weekend had looked very promising for the whole team. We just have to look ahead and hope to come closer in the next race."

Thus it was Panis, not Alesi, who became the fifth - and still most recent - Frenchman to win the Monaco GP, doing so in a French car. Panis' only F1 win was Ligier's first since Canada 1981, and would ultimately be the team's final hurrah before being sold to Alain Prost for 1997.

A victory for Alesi and Benetton that day would not have been as memorable, and may not have been the kind of race F1 would want to look back on quite so fondly some 24 years later

As for Alesi? Technically speaking, he did come closer to winning in the next race - in that he finished second to a dominant Michael Schumacher, who claimed his famous first win for Ferrari in a sodden Spanish GP.

Alesi would have a handful more near-misses for victory, including the 1997 Italian GP where he qualified on pole may have won but for a slower pit stop than David Coulthard's McLaren. He would never add to his tally of Monaco podiums, nor his single grand prix winner's trophy from Canada in 1995.

Panis may be remembered as the hero of Monaco in 1996 - but history could have read very, very differently.

A victory for Alesi and Benetton that day would not have been as shocking or memorable. It may not have been the kind of race F1 would want to look back on quite so fondly some 24 years later.

Nevertheless, such was the rollercoaster nature of Alesi's career that it would still have been a plucky success to honour and remember fondly. But in a metaphor for Alesi's F1 career, it just wasn't to be.