1997 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Autódromo José Carlos Pace near Interlagos, Brazil on 30 March 1997. It was the second race of the 1997 Formula One season. The 72-lap race was won by Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve after he started from pole position. Gerhard Berger finished second for the Benetton team and Prost driver Olivier Panis was third.

1997 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 2 of 17 in the 1997 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 30 March 1997
Official name XXVI Grande Prêmio do Brasil
Location Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil
Course Permanent Racing Facility
Course length 4.292 km (2.667 mi)
Distance 72 laps, 309.024 km (192.019 mi)
Weather Overcast and dry with temperatures reaching up to 23 °C (73 °F)[1]
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:16.004
Fastest lap
Driver Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault
Time 1:18.397 on lap 28
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second Benetton-Renault
Third Prost-Mugen-Honda

Summary

Pre-race

The Lola team arrived in Brazil still not having received any money from major sponsor MasterCard. Already several million dollars in debt, the team returned to base without completing a lap of the circuit. A few days later, the team officially withdrew from the championship.

Qualifying

Jacques Villeneuve took his third consecutive, and his career fifth, pole position after a 1:16.004, over half a second faster than Michael Schumacher in second. Gerhard Berger and Mika Häkkinen completed the second row.

Race

The race was red-flagged after several incidents at the original start. Jacques Villeneuve went off the track at the first corner. Behind him, an incident involved several drivers including Damon Hill, Eddie Irvine, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jan Magnussen. Irvine took some blame for the incident. Additionally, Rubens Barrichello's car failed on the line, and the track blockage was what ultimately caused the red flag. Barrichello took the restart in the spare Stewart, causing Magnussen to miss the race.

The race was restarted with all 72 laps still remaining. Villeneuve had a clean start, as did the rest of the field. At the end of the first lap Villeneuve passed Michael Schumacher to retake the lead. Later before the first pit stops Berger would also pass Schumacher down the pit straight into the first corner. Irvine came into the pits mid-race, having been suffering from enormous pain due to his belts tightening up in the cockpit.

Damon Hill was once again affected by reliability issues, his engine failing with four laps remaining. He was running in fourth place at one point, but had slipped down the field before retiring in the pits with an engine bay fire caused by an oil leak.[2] The winner of the previous race, David Coulthard, was off the pace and finished in 10th place.

Classification

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap
1 3 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:16.004
2 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:16.594 +0.590
3 8 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:16.644 +0.640
4 9 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.692 +0.688
5 14 Olivier Panis Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:16.756 +0.752
6 7 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:16.757 +0.753
7 12 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 1:16.912 +0.908
8 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1:16.971 +0.967
9 1 Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:17.090 +1.086
10 11 Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 1:17.175 +1.171
11 22 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:17.259 +1.255
12 10 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.262 +1.258
13 16 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 1:17.409 +1.405
14 6 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:17.527 +1.523
15 15 Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:17.999 +1.995
16 2 Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 1:18.095 +2.091
17 21 Jarno Trulli Minardi-Hart 1:18.336 +2.332
18 20 Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 1:18.557 +2.553
19 17 Nicola Larini Sauber-Petronas 1:18.644 +2.640
20 23 Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 1:18.773 +2.769
21 18 Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 1:18.885 +2.881
22 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 1:19.274 +3.270
107% time: 1:21.324
Source:[3]

Race

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 3 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 72 1:36:06.990 1 10
2 8 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 72 +4.190 3 6
3 14 Olivier Panis Prost-Mugen-Honda 72 +15.870 5 4
4 9 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 72 +33.033 4 3
5 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 72 +33.731 2 2
6 7 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 72 +34.020 6 1
7 16 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 72 +50.912 13  
8 12 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 72 +1:00.639 7  
9 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 72 +1:15.402 8  
10 10 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 71 +1 Lap 12  
11 17 Nicola Larini Sauber-Petronas 71 +1 Lap 19  
12 21 Jarno Trulli Minardi-Hart 71 +1 Lap 17  
13 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 71 +1 Lap 22  
14 15 Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 71 +1 Lap 15  
15 18 Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 70 +2 Laps 21  
16 6 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 70 +2 Laps 14  
17 1 Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 68 Engine 9  
18 20 Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 67 +5 Laps 18  
Ret 11 Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 52 Electrical 10  
Ret 22 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 16 Suspension 11  
Ret 2 Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 15 Suspension 16  
DNS 23 Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 0 Collision 20  
Source:[4]

Notes

Race Note

  • Race stopped after first lap accident and restarted for total original distance.
  • Jan Magnussen did not take the race restart.
  • First podium: Bridgestone
  • Both Lola cars withdrew for financial reasons and took no further part in the season

Milestones: Eddie Irvine 50th Race entry; Damon Hill 75th Race entry; Rothmans Williams-Renault 100th Race entry and 25th Win.

Championship standings after the race

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

References

  1. Weather info for the 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix at Weather Underground
  2. Henry, Alan, ed. (1997). Autocourse 1997–98. Richmond, Surrey: Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 1-874557-47-0.
  3. "1997 Brazilian GP Qualifying". Chicane F1. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  4. "1997 Brazilian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  5. "Brazil 1997 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.

Race Details: "1997 Brazilian GP". Chicane F1. Retrieved 2007-08-03.

Previous race:
1997 Australian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1997 season
Next race:
1997 Argentine Grand Prix
Previous race:
1996 Brazilian Grand Prix
Brazilian Grand Prix Next race:
1998 Brazilian Grand Prix
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