1997 Formula One season
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| 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship season | |
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The 1997 Formula One season was the 48th FIA Formula One World Championship season. It commenced on March 9, 1997, and ended on October 26 after seventeen races.
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[edit] Season summary
The season started in Australia, with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve taking his fourth pole position of his F1 career. Villeneuve was out at the first corner after colliding with Johnny Herbert. McLaren's David Coulthard went on to win the race, his second of his career. Michael Schumacher came second and Mika Häkkinen came third.
Coming to Brazil and Villeneuve once again took pole position and once again was off at the first corner, the Canadian recovered from his first corner mistake to take the lead on lap 49 after overtaking Gerhard Berger. The Austrian finished second and Olivier Panis continued his impressive form from 1996 after he came third.
For the third time in a row, Jacques Villeneuve was on pole position for Argentina. It was another off for a championship favourite, this time it was Michael Schumacher who collided with Rubens Barrichello. With Schumacher out, Eddie Irvine went on to challenge Villeneuve for the lead, he made several attempts to pass the Canadian's Williams but failed on all his attempts and had to take second instead. Ralf Schumacher, in his first full season, managed to get onto the podium after he finished third.
Villeneuve continued his run of consecutive pole positions in San Marino. Villeneuve's German team-mate, Frentzen, won his first and only, Grand Prix for Williams after he finished just over a second ahead of Michael Schumacher, with Eddie Irvine coming third.
Frentzen managed to end Villeneuve's run of pole positions in Monaco. For the second time in successive season, the Monaco Grand Prix was raced under very wet conditions. Michael Schumacher won his first race of the season with his future Ferrari team-mate, Rubens Barrichello finishing in second and earning Stewart's first podium finish; Irvine took the final step on the podium for the second time in a row.
Williams continued to dominate the qualifying session, as Villeneuve, for the fifth time this season, took pole and Frentzen made sure Williams occupied both slots on the front row. Villeneuve went onto to win the Grand Prix, with fellow French peaking drivers, Olivier Panis and Jean Alesi, coming second and third respectively.
Canada would be the scene where Williams had there run of consecutive pole positions broken, after Michael Schumacher took pole ahead of both the dominant Williams, Rubens Barichello's Stewart split the two Williams in third place. Schumacher went onto win the Grand Prix, with ex-Ferrari driver Jean Alesi finishing second and Giancarlo Fisichella coming in third. Schumacher earned his second pole of the season in France; he was accompanied by Frentzen on the front row. The two would stay in their respective positions at the end of the race, with Eddie Irvine in third.
Villeneuve earned his sixth pole of the season in Britain, with team-mate Frentzen partnering him on the front row. Villeneuve went onto win the race with Alesi and young Alexander Wurz coming third to make it an all Renault podium. Michael Schumacher failed to complete the race after he retired with a wheel bearing problem.
Gerhard Berger, who didn't compete at the previous Grand Prix because of the illness and the death of his father, managed to get pole position with Giancarlo Fisichella completing the front row. Berger went onto win the Grand Prix, which would ultimately be Benetton's final win. Michael Schumacher came second and Mika Häkkinen came third.
The next race in Hungary would be one of the most memorable races in the 1997 season. As Damon Hill, in an Arrows which hadn't qualified as high as ninth before the Hungarian Grand Prix, qualified up in third place. Michael Schumacher took pole with Villeneuve partnering him on the front row. The start of the race saw Hill overtake Villeneuve's Williams and on lap ten, the Brit overtook Schumacher to take the lead. Hill kept the lead for the final rounds of pit stops, but coming into the finale of the race, Hill reported that his Arrows was having problems, in the end, Jacques Villeneuve took the lead on the final lap of the race and going onto win the race. Williams also earned a 100 Grand Prix win milestone victory that day as well.
After two very exciting Grand Prix, fans were hoping that Belgium would prove to be an exciting one as well. Villeneuve took pole position with Alesi's Benetton completing the front row. Villeneuve dropped down to fifth place, while his championship rival, Michael Schumacher, won the race with Fisichella coming second and Frentzen coming third.
Alesi got his first, and only, pole position of the season in Italy with Frentzen coming second. David Coulthard won the race; his second of the season, pole sitter Alesi came second and Frentzen came third.
Villeneuve managed to get his seventh pole position of the 1997 season, the Canadian was partnered on the front row by Finnish driver, Mika Häkkinen, completing the front row. Villeneuve went onto win the Grand Prix with Coulthard and Frentzen joining him on the podium in second and third respectively.
The next race in Luxembourg would be the final time it would be called the "Luxembourg Grand Prix". Mika Häkkinen, who qualified second at the previous Grand Prix, managed to earn pole at the Nürburgring. Villeneuve; Alesi and Frentzen finished on the podium, making it, for the second time in the 1997 season, an all Renault-powered podium.
Japan saw Villeneuve, for the eighth time that season, take pole position. Villeneuve was disqualified from the race, after failing to slow down under yellow flags during qualifying. He raced under appeal, but finished only fifth. Michael Schumacher won the race, while Frentzen came second and Irvine came third. Villeneuve's Williams team dropped his appeal after the race, leaving Schumacher one point ahead of Villeneuve in the Drivers' championship, meaning that the title would be decided at the season finale in Jerez.
Some commentators recalled the 1994 finale, which saw a title deciding collision between Schumacher and Damon Hill. At Jerez, the qualifying session was noteworthy, as three drivers, Villeneuve, Schumacher, and Frentzen, all registered the same fastest qualifying time, since Villeneuve set the time first he had the liberty of pole position; this would be his final pole of his F1 career. At the start of the race, Schumacher had a good start, overtaking Villeneuve to take the lead. By lap 48 Villeneuve was catching up to Schumacher and attempted to overtake. Braking later than the German at the Dry Sac corner, Villeneuve had the inside line and was slightly ahead when Schumacher turned into him, his front right wheel connecting with the sidepod of the Williams car. Schumacher retired on the spot and Villeneuve went to take third place and earn four points, enough to take the 1997 title. Schumacher was later punished by the FIA for causing an avoidable accident and was disqualified from the Championship, although his race results (grid position, finishing position, points) still counted towards his official statistics.
[edit] Drivers and constructors
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship.
[edit] Team Changes
Three new teams came into Formula One in 1997: Prost, who replaced Ligier; Stewart and Lola, the latter of which only entered the 1997 Australian Grand Prix after the team's dismal performance in the Grand Prix which saw a lack of sponsorship for the next Grand Prix in Brazil. Footwork changed their name to "Arrows" and switched from the Hart engines used the previous year to Yamaha engines. Tyrrell changed their engines as well, swapping the Yamaha engines in preference to the Ford engines. Jordan-Peugeot signed up highly-rated British engineer, Dr. John Davis. He helped the team with its new windtunnel facility at Brackley, the tunnel itself was funded by Ferrari inexchange for Eddie Irvine who moved to Ferrari the previous year.
[edit] Driver Changes
The biggest news of the 1997 season was Damon Hill, 1996 champion, being dropped by Williams in preference to Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Hill was partnered with Brazilian Pedro Diniz, who's sponsorship money helped pay the World Champion's wages. Japan's Shinji Nakano joined Prost to partner Olivier Panis for the season, Nakano replaced Diniz who went to Arrows. Sauber beat Ferrari to the signing of Nicola Larini, the Italian was linked with the vacant test driver's seat at Ferrari. Benetton and McLaren kept the drivers that raced for them the previous year, Berger and Alesi for Benetton and with Häkkinen and Coulthard for McLaren. Jordan changed their driver line-up for 1997, Ralf Schumacher, Michael's younger brother, was given the team leaders seat, he was rumoured to be partnered with Nigel Mansell, but the 1992 champion rejected the offer. Instead, Jordan went for Giancarlo Fisichella, who had raced for the Alfa Romeo factory team in the International Touring Car Championship the previous year. With Austria signing a new five-year deal to host a Grand Prix, the country needed a new driver to cheer, as Karl Wendlinger was no longer fit to drive a Formula One car and Gerhard Berger planning to retire at the end of the season, Benetton came up with an answer, Alexander Wurz, the young Austrian would become Benetton's test driver. Minardi ran Italian rising star Jarno Trulli alongside Ukyo Katayama for the 1997 season. The announcement filled the final seat in the 1997 Formula 1 World Championship. The decision was made after Minardi released promising Italian Giancarlo Fisichella from his contract so that he could join Jordan. Having signed Ukyo Katayama, and his Mild Seven sponsorship, for one seat, owner Giancarlo Minardi felt that his team needed a young Italian and Trulli was the obvious choice for Minardi. Martin Brundle, who was out of work in F1 since being dropped by Jordan, had been appointed a director of Tom Walkinshaw's Arrows Grand Prix International and was the lead driver of the team's Nissan GT sports car project, as well as become the official ITV commentator alongside Murray Walker.
[edit] Season review
[edit] Grands Prix
[edit] 1997 Constructors Championship final standings
| Pos | Constructor | Chassis | Engine | Tyre | Points | Wins | Podiums | Poles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Williams-Renault | FW19 | Renault | G | 123 | 8 | 15 | 11 |
| 2 | Ferrari | F310B | Ferrari | G | 102 | 5 | 13 | 3 |
| 3 | Benetton-Renault | B197 | Renault | G | 67 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
| 4 | McLaren-Mercedes | MP4-12 | Mercedes | G | 63 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| 5 | Jordan-Peugeot | 197 | Peugeot | G | 33 | 3 | ||
| 6 | Prost-Mugen-Honda | JS45 | Mugen-Honda | B | 21 | 2 | ||
| 7 | Sauber-Petronas | C16 | Petronas | G | 16 | 1 | ||
| 8 | Arrows-Yamaha | A18 | Yamaha | B | 9 | 1 | ||
| 9 | Stewart-Ford | SF01 | Ford Zetec-R | B | 6 | 1 | ||
| 10 | Tyrrell-Ford | 025 | Ford | G | 2 | |||
| 11 | Minardi-Hart | M197 | Hart/Ford | B | ||||
| 12 | MasterCard Lola-Ford | T97/30 | Ford EC4 | B |
All engines are V10 apart from Minardi's and Tyrrell's engines.
[edit] 1997 Drivers Championship final standings
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- Michael Schumacher was disqualified due to dangerous driving in the European GP, where he caused an avoidable collision with Villeneuve. Thus, he was excluded from the championship standings
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