1997 French Grand Prix

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1997 French Grand Prix
Race 8 of 17 in the 1997 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 29 June 1997
Official name LXXXIII French Grand Prix
Location Circuit de Nevers
Magny-Cours, France
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.250[1] km (2.641 miles)
Distance 72 laps, 305.814[2] km (190.024 miles)
Weather Dry at first, rain in closing stages
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:14.548
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time 1:17.910 on lap 37
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Williams-Renault
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1997 French Grand Prix (formally the LXXXIII French Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit de Nevers, Magny-Cours, France on 29 June 1997. It was the eighth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship.

The 72-lap race was won from pole position by Michael Schumacher driving a Ferrari alongside Eddie Irvine who finished third, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen achieving second in a Williams-Renault. This was Schumacher's third of the season and second in succession. As a result, Schumacher had a 14-point lead in the Drivers' Championship over Jacques Villeneuve, who finished fourth in the other Williams-Renault.

Qualifying

Qualifying report

Michael Schumacher achieved his second pole position in a row, meanwhile Jacques Villeneuve managed to take his worst qualifying position in the season so far. Jarno Trulli took his best qualifying position ever on his first race for Prost, Alexander Wurz outqualified teammate Jean Alesi on his only second start for Benetton and Pedro Diniz outqualified teammate 1996 World Champion Damon Hill for the first time in the season. Norberto Fontana made his first appearance for Sauber, becoming the first Argentine driver to star a Formula One race since Oscar Larrauri in 1988 Australian Grand Prix. On last spot Tarso Marques came back to the grid for Minardi.

Qualifying classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:14.548
2 4 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1:14.749 +0.201
3 11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 1:14.755 +0.207
4 3 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:14.800 +0.252
5 6 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:14.860 +0.312
6 14 Italy Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:14.957 +0.409
7 8 Austria Alexander Wurz Benetton-Renault 1:14.986 +0.438
8 7 France Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:15.228 +0.680
9 10 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.270 +0.722
10 9 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.339 +0.791
11 12 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 1:15.453 +0.905
12 15 Japan Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:15.857 +1.309
13 22 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:15.876 +1.328
14 16 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 1:16.018 +1.470
15 23 Denmark Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 1:16.149 +1.601
16 2 Brazil Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 1:16.536 +1.988
17 1 United Kingdom Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:16.729 +2.181
18 18 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 1:16.941 +2.393
19 19 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 1:17.256 +2.708
20 17 Argentina Norberto Fontana Sauber-Petronas 1:17.538 +2.990
21 20 Japan Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 1:17.563 +3.015
22 21 Brazil Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart 1:18.280 +3.732
107% time: 1:19.766
Source:[3]

Race

Race report

At the beginning of the race, Michael Schumacher started from the pole position, followed closely by Frentzen in a Williams car. Damon Hill experienced difficulty from the outset, as he lost his wing at the first corner due to going off the track. Both McLaren drivers jumped from the fifth row to 6th (David Coulthard) and 7th (Mika Häkkinen), passing the Benetton drivers and Jarno Trulli. On lap 5 Tarso Marques ended his comeback race at Minardi with an engine failure on the finishing line. A tough weekend continued at Arrows, as Diniz tangled with Jos Verstappen at the Adelaide Hairpin and lost his front wing, spending more than twenty seconds in the pits and dropping to the back of the field.

The race proceeded without significant incident until the latter stages when a nearby thunderstorm brought rain to the circuit. Some drivers opted to pit for wet tyres, while others remained on their dry tyres. Under these challenging conditions, multiple drivers, including Michael Schumacher, experienced spins. Despite his spin, Schumacher was able to maintain his lead.

Ultimately, Michael Schumacher finished ahead of Frentzen by a considerable margin. During the race's conclusion, an intense battle took place among Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard, and Jean Alesi. Concurrently, Jacques Villeneuve was striving to overtake Eddie Irvine for the final spot on the podium.

Ralf Schumacher encountered a spin, which cost him sixth place. However, as noted in the race records, Michael Schumacher (having lapped his brother) permitted Ralf to pass him at the final corner. Commentator Murray Walker deemed this move unwise at the time. On the last lap, Alesi forced Coulthard off the track, resulting in Coulthard losing fifth place. Consequently, Ralf Schumacher secured the final point, as he had managed to unlap himself.

In the race's closing moments, Villeneuve caught up to Irvine. Attempting an ambitious maneuver at the final corner, Villeneuve spun off the track but managed to rejoin the race and fend off Alesi at the finish line.

Race classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 72 1:38:50.492 1 10
2 4 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 72 +23.537 2 6
3 6 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 72 +1:14.801 5 4
4 3 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 72 +1:21.784 4 3
5 7 France Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 72 +1:22.735 8 2
6 11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 72 +1:29.871 3 1
7 10 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 71 Collision 9  
8 16 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 71 +1 lap 14  
9 12 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 71 +1 lap 11  
10 14 Italy Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda 70 +2 laps 6  
11 20 Japan Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 70 +2 laps 21  
12 1 United Kingdom Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 69 +3 laps 17  
Ret 19 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 61 Electrical 19  
Ret 8 Austria Alexander Wurz Benetton-Renault 60 Spun off 7  
Ret 2 Brazil Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 58 Spun off 16  
Ret 17 Argentina Norberto Fontana Sauber-Petronas 40 Spun off 20  
Ret 22 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 36 Engine 13  
Ret 23 Denmark Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 33 Brakes 15  
Ret 9 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 18 Engine 10  
Ret 18 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 15 Spun off 18  
Ret 15 Japan Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 7 Spun off 12  
Ret 21 Brazil Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart 5 Engine 22  
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

  1. ^ Derived based on the identical race distance and number of laps in 1998 French Grand Prix
  2. ^ Calculated based on the race classification shown during TV broadcast
  3. ^ F1, STATS. "France 1997 - Qualifications • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ "1997 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  5. ^ a b "France 1997 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.


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