The Forti FG01 , also designated Forti FG01-95 , was a Formula One car for the 1995 season and was the first car made by Forti . The number 21 seat was taken by rookie Pedro Diniz and the number 22 seat was taken by veteran Roberto Moreno . The team never employed a test driver. The engine was a Ford EDD 3.0 V8 . The team's main sponsor was Parmalat . The FG01 is also notably the last F1 car to sport a conventional manual gearbox + H-pattern shifter, and was the only car to use one on the grid.
39-501: The car was designed by Giacomo Caliri and Giorgio Stirano , with input from Sergio Rinland , and was built at the team's base in Alessandria , Italy . Building its own car for the first time was the hardest task for the team (as required by the F1 regulations). This turned out to be the main obstacle for Guido Forti , as he insisted on having a reliable car built instead of a fast one. That
78-498: A Benetton and Michael Schumacher third in a Ferrari. Despite suffering a bout of food poisoning, Damon Hill made it three wins out of three at the Argentine Grand Prix , with Jacques Villeneuve helping Williams to their second one-two of the season. Jos Verstappen scored his only point of the season, while Andrea Montermini registered his only finish of the season. Pedro Diniz was involved in two major incidents during
117-455: A McLaren. Drivers' Championship leader, Damon Hill, finished fifth. The Italian Grand Prix was won by Michael Schumacher, giving Ferrari their first victory at Monza since 1988. Jean Alesi finished second in a Benetton, with Mika Häkkinen third. Damon Hill took pole position and led until he made an error and spun off on lap 6, while his teammate and main championship rival, Jacques Villeneuve, could only manage seventh. The penultimate race of
156-720: A few weeks, after falling out with the team's management over the car's lack of competitiveness. For 1996 , the car was upgraded to B specification, with Luca Badoer and Andrea Montermini on board. It was eventually replaced by the Forti FG03 car for the Monaco Grand Prix . ( key ) Giacomo Caliri Giacomo Caliri (born 29 July 1940 in Catania ) is an Italian former Formula One engineer. His racing career began in 1966 when Caliri graduated from Turin Polytechnic with
195-555: A poor start to the race and later retired when a wheel fell off his car. The race was won by Damon Hill for his eighth victory of the season, securing the Drivers' Championship in the process. Michael Schumacher finished second in a Ferrari, enabling the Italian team to steal second place in the Constructors' Championship from Benetton, with Mika Häkkinen finishing third in a McLaren. Hill became
234-604: A prize-winning thesis on aerodynamics. He joined Ferrari in 1964 and became the head of aerodynamic studies in the racing department in 1969, replacing Mauro Forghieri who had moved to Ferrari's F1 department for the 1970 season . By 1974, he was the head of the design office at the Fiorano Circuit . He left Ferrari in 1976 and set up FLY Studio in Modena with his former Ferrari colleague Luigi Marmiroli, working in conjunction with Autodelta , Fittipaldi Automotive (he designed
273-449: A race. Olivier Panis took the only victory of his career at the Monaco Grand Prix . This was the last championship for a British driver until Lewis Hamilton in 2008 . The numbering system used since 1974 was dropped. Ferrari was given the numbers 1 and 2 after hiring the defending champion Michael Schumacher, despite finishing the previous year's Constructors' Championship in third, Benetton received numbers 3 and 4 for winning
312-424: A spin off the track in the closing stages of the race. Jos Verstappen, running fifth after the retirements of Barrichello and Berger, crashed into the tyre barrier with 12 laps left, guaranteeing Diniz his first Formula One point as by this time only six drivers were left in the race. Damon Hill had started the race from pole position, but dropped to 8th after spinning twice in the opening laps, before another spin into
351-484: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Formula One biographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 1996 Formula One season The 1996 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 50th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. The championship commenced on 10 March and ended on 13 October after sixteen races. Two World Championship titles were awarded, one for Drivers and one for Constructors. Damon Hill won
390-518: Is generally regarded as one of the German's finest races. In torrential rain, he produced a stunning drive, helping him to earn the nickname "the Rainmaster". Schumacher recovered from a poor start to take the lead from Villeneuve on lap 13, and from then on he dominated the race, frequently lapping over three seconds faster than the remainder of the field. Jean Alesi finished second, more than 45 seconds behind
429-582: The 1993 F1 car design by the Astauto Design Team after the collapse of the Fondmetal team. At that time, Rinland was living and working in California on a new ChampCar project. Forti sent his Chief Designer and former Astauto employee Chris Radage to California to gather all the technical information, data and drawings from Rinland, returning to Italy to design and develop the new Forti FG01. Rinland joined
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#1732854853535468-454: The 1995 Australian Grand Prix . Jordan 's Rubens Barrichello took fourth, equalling his best finish of the season. The final points went to David Coulthard in the second McLaren and Martin Brundle in the second Jordan. Hill took pole position for his home race, but made a slow start and retired shortly before half distance, after a wheel nut problem caused him to spin off at Copse Corner while he
507-540: The British team before the season ended. Rinland set up Astauto Ltd. in Tolworth, England, hiring several of his former collaborators from Brabham when the team closed its doors. Brabham sold the building and wind tunnel at Chessington to Yamaha , facilities that Astauto rented to develop the new Fondmetal GR02 , which was designed and built by June 1992, just six months after it was commissioned by Gabriele Rumi. The Fondmetal GR02
546-417: The Constructors' Championship, Williams got numbers 5 and 6 for finishing second, McLaren got 7 and 8 for finishing fourth, Ligier got 9 and 10 for finishing fifth, and so on, with the number 13 being skipped. The following teams and drivers competed in the 1996 FIA Formula One World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Goodyear . The 1996 FIA Formula One World Championship comprised
585-410: The Drivers' Championship two years after being beaten by a point by Michael Schumacher , making him the first son of a World Champion (his father Graham having won the title in 1962 and 1968 ) to have won the title himself as well as the only until Nico Rosberg , son of 1982 champion Keke Rosberg , won the title 34 years later in 2016 . Hill, who had finished runner-up for the past two seasons,
624-617: The F5A's aerodynamics in 1978) and ATS (he designed ATS D2 in 1979) on the design of competition cars. He joined the Minardi Formula Two team in 1980 and became a stockholder of the Italian team. He became the technical director of the team in Formula One in 1985 and also designed the first Minardi Formula One car, the Minardi M185 . He left Minardi in 1989 and also sold his stock in
663-534: The FG01 was little more than a re-working of the GR02. Thus the FG01 did not promise much in terms of performance. It was angular and bulky, with poor aerodynamic performance negatively affecting grip and handling; it had a plump nose, initially no airbox, and was overweight and under-powered, using a small Ford- Cosworth ED V8 customer engine largely financed by Ford Brasil , which developed an estimated 100 bhp less than
702-463: The Ligier team, and the first ever for engine manufacturer Mugen Motorsports, after he made the switch onto slick tyres in a well-timed pitstop. David Coulthard was second, nearly five seconds behind Panis. Johnny Herbert scored his only points of the season, finishing third in a Sauber , more than half a minute behind Coulthard. The Spanish Grand Prix saw Michael Schumacher's first Ferrari victory, and
741-533: The Nürburgring in Germany was won by Jacques Villeneuve for his first F1 victory in only his fourth race. Michael Schumacher finished second, with David Coulthard third in a McLaren , just ahead of Hill. The San Marino Grand Prix was won by Damon Hill after starting from second position. Michael Schumacher again finished second, despite his front-right brake seizing halfway around the final lap, while Gerhard Berger
780-462: The conclusion of the season, with engine manufacturer Renault also leaving after 1997. Two-time defending world champion Michael Schumacher had moved to Ferrari and despite numerous reliability problems, they had gradually developed into a front-running team by the end of the season. Defending Constructors' Champion Benetton began their decline towards the middle of the grid, having lost key personnel due to Schumacher's departure, and failed to win
819-540: The first son of a World Champion to win the championship himself, his father Graham having twice been champion, in 1962 and 1968. Points are awarded to the top six classified finishers in each race for the drivers and constructors championships. Notes: Notes: The 1996 season also included a single event which did not count towards the World Championship, the Formula One Indoor Trophy at
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#1732854853535858-505: The following races: Damon Hill won the season opener in Australia from his Williams teammate Jacques Villeneuve , with Ferrari's Eddie Irvine finishing third. Villeneuve was leading but late on in the race the team found out that Villeneuve had an oil leak and ordered him to swap places with teammate Hill. The Brazilian Grand Prix took place in heavy rain, and was won from pole position by Damon Hill, with Jean Alesi second in
897-512: The most powerful engine in the field, the Renault V10 supplied to the Benetton and Williams teams. It was also the only car to have a manual gearbox in the 1995 F1 season. The only attractive thing about the car was its blue and yellow colour scheme accompanied by fluorescent green wheel-rims, illustrating the team's Brazilian influence in its first year. Rinland subsequently left the team after
936-688: The other Williams, and Jean Alesi again third for the Benetton team. This was the last Grand Prix where a Forti car started the race (two weeks later the team would fail to qualify for the British Grand Prix, the final Formula One event they would enter), however both cars were forced to retire. Jacques Villeneuve took his second win of the season at the British Grand Prix , with Benetton's Gerhard Berger second and McLaren's Mika Häkkinen coming home third for his first podium since his near-fatal crash at
975-509: The pit wall on lap 12 ended his race. The Canadian Grand Prix was won from pole position by Damon Hill, with home driver Jacques Villeneuve second, and Frenchman Jean Alesi third. The second half of the season began with the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. Michael Schumacher qualified in pole position but his engine blew on the warm-up lap and he did not start. The race was won by Damon Hill, with Jacques Villeneuve finishing second in
1014-429: The race, until his engine failed with three laps remaining. Berger's teammate Jean Alesi was second and Jacques Villeneuve was third. The win meant Hill extended his lead over Villeneuve in the Drivers' Championship to 21 points with five races remaining. The Hungarian Grand Prix was won by Jacques Villeneuve after starting from third position. Villeneuve's teammate Damon Hill finished second, with Jean Alesi third. This
1053-424: The race. First he collided with Luca Badoer , whose Forti was flipped and landed upside down in the gravel, forcing the marshals to bring out the safety car. Diniz managed to continue and made a pit stop as the safety car was preparing to pull in, only to retire when he came back onto the circuit and his Ligier burst into flames because a safety-valve in the fuel tank had jammed open. The European Grand Prix at
1092-489: The season was the Portuguese Grand Prix . Williams's Jacques Villeneuve won from teammate Damon Hill in second and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher in third. This victory, Villeneuve's fourth of the season, ensured that the Drivers' Championship battle between him and Hill would go to the final round. Benetton's Jean Alesi finished fourth, just behind Schumacher, while Eddie Irvine in the second Ferrari and Gerhard Berger in
1131-415: The second Benetton survived a last-lap collision to take fifth and sixth respectively. The 1996 season concluded with the title-deciding Japanese Grand Prix on 13 October. Before the event, Hill was leading the Drivers' Championship standings, with teammate Villeneuve needing to win the race without Hill scoring in order to win the championship himself. In qualifying, Villeneuve took pole position, but made
1170-518: The team in early 1995 for a short period as Technical Director, once he had returned to Europe. Rinland assisted experienced Italian engineers Giorgio Stirano and Giacomo Caliri in designing the car. The car's aerodynamics were completed by former Brabham employee Hans Fouche using wind-tunnels in South Africa , and composite work was done by the Belco Avia company. However, it was rumoured that
1209-642: The team. He joined the new Forti team and was one of the designers of the team's FG01 chassis for the 1995 season . He joined Maserati as Technical Director. In 1997 he returned in Ferrari as the head of the Innovation Department. He left Ferrari in 2002 and started as a consultant for the ATR group. Since 2004, he is the President of Expotecnica. This biographical article related to Italian auto racing
Forti FG01 - Misplaced Pages Continue
1248-399: The winner, with Jacques Villeneuve third. Rubens Barrichello , who was running in second place after Jacques Villeneuve and Alesi made their pit stops, put in a strong performance in this race, but was forced to retire due to a clutch problem with 20 laps remaining. After an uneventful race on his part, Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished in fourth, while Mika Häkkinen took fifth after surviving
1287-413: The year we also had to re-homologate the nose and side pods, develop the semi-automatic gearbox, which was worth about half a second a lap, and redesign the monocoque, not in terms of shape but in terms of the lay-up of the skins." – Giorgio Stirano on the problems experienced with the FG01. The FG01 had many influences. Its roots dated back to 1991 when former Brabham designer Rinland left
1326-491: Was Williams's fifth 1–2 finish of the season, and it secured their fourth Constructors' Championship in five years. The Belgian Grand Prix saw Michael Schumacher take victory, driving a Ferrari. Schumacher had crashed heavily in Friday practice, but recovered to qualify third before taking his second win of the season. Jacques Villeneuve, who had started from pole position, finished second in his Williams, with Mika Häkkinen third in
1365-530: Was a natural successor of the Brabham BT60 , in concept, as it was conceived by the same design team. Due to Fondmetal's own severe financial troubles, the GR02 was run only in a few races before the team was closed. When in late 1994 , Forti bought the remains of the Fondmetal Team, acquiring all the spares of the GR02 in the process, the team then turned to Rinland to purchase the design of what would have been
1404-471: Was precisely what he received: his first F1 car, the Forti FG01, was an outdated, overweight and very slow machine, and has been described as nothing more than "a revised F3000 car" and, more harshly, "a fearful pile of junk". "It simply wasn't efficient and we had to restart it. We took off more than 60 kg from the first version to the last and by Silverstone we were on the minimum weight limit. During
1443-441: Was seriously threatened only by his teammate, newcomer Jacques Villeneuve , the 1995 IndyCar and Indianapolis 500 champion. Williams - Renault easily won the Constructors' title, as there was no other competitor strong enough to post a consistent challenge throughout the championship. This was also the beginning of the end of Williams's 1990s dominance, as it was announced that Hill and designer Adrian Newey would depart at
1482-408: Was third, driving for the Benetton team. Jacques Villeneuve retired near the end of the race after being hit by Jean Alesi. Round six at Monaco was run in wet weather, causing significant attrition and setting a record for the fewest cars (three) to be running at the end of a Grand Prix. Olivier Panis scored what would be his sole career Formula One victory, earning the last Formula One victory for
1521-410: Was trying to pass Häkkinen. For the third consecutive race, Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine were both forced to retire with technical issues. The German Grand Prix at Hockenheim was won by Damon Hill, taking his seventh victory of the season after he started from pole position. Austrian driver Gerhard Berger started alongside Hill on the front row in his Benetton and led for much of
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