Background
Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger joined the reigning champions from Ferrari with Schumacher going the other way. The car would be the last to be designed by Rory Byrne with the influence of Ross Brawn before they too would head to Ferrari. The drivers found the car difficult to drive, as many of Schumacher's previous team-mates have in the teams cars, but the team did compete for victories at Monaco and Germany before reliability problems halted their progress. The drivers took 10 podiums between them earning the team third place in the Constructors' Championship.It was interesting that Brawn admitted recently that Berger blocked Alesi's progress with the team due to his behind the scene antics. There's also stories of how neither driver could get their head around a simple change in the starting procedure as the grid sped past them at the European GP. The car was clearly no match for the Williams FW18, but you still wonder what Schumacher may have done in this car had he stayed with the team.
Minichamps
Off the back of the success of the Michael Schumacher collection and the various versions of the B195, Minichamps continued to sponsor Benetton and produce several versions of the B196, albeit the interest has waned with the departure of Schumacher to Ferrari. However, there is no change in shape in any of these versions which is a little disappointing, so I'll give on score at the end.
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Minichamps 430960004 |
Qantas
Minichamps 430960003 |
Monaco GP (Lemaco)
Minichamps 430960063 |
French GP (T2M)
Minichamps 430960033 |
British GP (Amerang)
Minichamps 430960054 |
Belgian GP (Homble)
Minichamps 430960023 |
Minichamps 430960043 |
I'm missing the Italian GP version (RIPA) from my collection, but I have found a picture of one with Nordica running on the sidepods.
To the score, and because of the nose, I am going to give this a slightly below average score. The rear wing is a bit low too, there is not enough gap between the upper and lower rear wings.
Score: 6/10
Tameo
Tameo TMK216 |
Tameo's version is from the Argentine Grand Prix. The shape on this is really nice, as is the livery. There's just something about how it all fits together, something doesn't quite fit for me, I can't put my finger on it, but it's a very minor complaint.
Score: 9/10
Score: 9/10
BBR
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I can't find any pictures of a built version of this, but it's here purely because it exists.
Ixo
This is not a terrible offering from IXO, the front of the car is really not bad at all. I like the cockpit area, and the engine cover and roll-hoop looks very similar to the Minichamps offering. The sidepod opening is OK, but where the blue decal stops, it remains white which doesn't help. Ther ear of the sidepod doesn't look great, and the Benetton splashes look rushed, like I asked my toddler to draw it. The skinny rear wing gives a nice alternative, but the rims are laughably bad. So overall, some nice bits sadly ruined by some glaringly bad bits.
Score: 4/10
To read more reviews from the 1996 season, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/1996-model-review.html
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