Jean Alesi finished second in a Ferrari, with David Coulthard, who started the Grand Prix from pole position, third in a Williams car.

Hill remained behind Schumacher for the majority of the race, before losing his front wing in a collision with Alesi and dropping back due to the resultant pit stop.

[2] Its return to the World Championship schedule was facilitated by a surge of interest in the sport throughout Germany as a result of Michael Schumacher's drivers' title in 1994.

[6] Katayama had sustained a strained neck and bruising in the crash, in which his car had rolled several times following a start line collision with Luca Badoer's Minardi.

[9] Meanwhile, Coulthard's prospective replacement, Jacques Villeneuve, had tested a Williams for the first time since being confirmed as Hill's teammate for 1996, running for two days at the Monza circuit.

[1] In this session, Schumacher set a benchmark time of 1:20.418, ahead of Hill in second, Coulthard, Häkkinen, Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Sauber), Gerhard Berger (Ferrari) and the rest of the field.

[15] The drivers, were uninspired by the circuit: Schumacher described it as "dull" and "easy to learn, with no real challenges" and Coulthard predicted a processional race without much overtaking.

Olivier Panis in the Ligier and Mika Salo in the Tyrrell rounded out the top ten, both three and a half seconds off the fastest lap time.

[1] Amongst the slower runners, Andrea Montermini suffered a worrying moment when his Pacific car shed its left-rear wheel, but he was able to return to his pit garage.

[23][24] Panis' crash was caused by a stuck throttle; the resultant damage to the car forced him to switch to the team's spare monocoque.

In response, Coulthard said that he was "rather tired of questions about team orders", adding that "everyone wants to see is a motor race" and it wasn't fair of Williams to ask him to slow down if he was faster than Hill.

[25] Following the session, Barrichello and Footwork driver Massimiliano Papis revealed that they expected to fail routine drugs tests they had just taken, as both had been taking decongestants, for nasal problems and a cold respectively, which contained the banned substance ephedrine.

[14] On Saturday, the team principals also met to discuss future changes to the sport: it was agreed that qualifying would be reduced to a single hour-long session for the 1996 season, and a reduction from seventeen to sixteen Grands Prix was confirmed.

[30] Coulthard was forced to use the Williams spare car, which had been set up for Hill for the race itself after he spun off the track during his reconnaissance lap, stalling the engine in the process.

[32] The Ferrari mechanics also raised the ride height and increased the downforce levels on Alesi and Berger's cars on the grid, making them more competitive in the wet conditions.

[32][36] The McLaren chassis handled badly in the wet conditions, while the throttle response of the Mercedes engine was also too abrupt to be driven effectively in the rain.

[32] By the end of lap 17, most of the drivers had pitted for slick tyres and the running order had stabilised as Alesi led ahead of Coulthard, Schumacher, Hill, Berger and Irvine.

[32] Coulthard, in the other Williams, began to suffer from excessive oversteer with his car's handling,[8] dropping to fourth behind Schumacher and Hill, who passed him on laps 21 and 23 respectively.

[1] Alesi's attempts to keep the lead were not helped by lapped traffic getting in his way, as well as losing five seconds at the Veedol chicane by running wide onto the gravel.

Schumacher attempted to stop his car to give Hill a lift back to the pitlane, but was unable due to a slipping clutch.

[8] Outside the points, Brundle finished seventh for Ligier, ahead of the recovering Häkkinen, whose eighth position, two laps down on Schumacher, was a major disappointment for Mercedes in its home country.

[8] Minardi drivers Pedro Lamy and Luca Badoer finished ninth and eleventh, with Salo in tenth position, the latter making an unscheduled pit stop to change a punctured tyre after colliding with Jean-Christophe Boullion during the race.

"Today, I decided not to risk starting on slicks because the car felt so critical in these conditions and I wanted to play safe for the championship.

Journalist Alan Henry described the race as the best of the season to date,[8] and even of recent memory, and suggested that Schumacher's performance could mark a watershed in which the German "crossed that indistinct dividing line separating the good from the great".

[9] Hill later said that the car's steering had felt stiff since his collision with Alesi, making it difficult to drive, but accepted the blame for his retirement from the race.

[8][30] In the weeks after the race, heavy criticism was directed towards Hill, in which BBC pundit Murray Walker felt that he had not been "forceful" enough in his battle with Schumacher.

"[30] At a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Motor Sport Council meeting on 19 October to discuss driver etiquette, they opted against introducing new rules on the issue.

[45] Alesi, despite his performance in the early stages of the race, was also criticised for losing his lead after letting Schumacher gain time on him in the final laps.

Ferrari designer John Barnard later blamed Alesi's hesitance in lapped traffic for the loss of time,[46] the rate of which Henry described as "inexplicable".

[48] However, FIA Formula One Safety and Medical Delegate, Professor Sid Watkins, subsequently argued that as ephedrine had no effect on a driver's ability, the sport should not use exactly the same list as the International Olympic Committee in the future.