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1997 Austrian Grand Prix

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1997 Austrian Grand Prix
Race 14 of 17 in the 1997 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 21 September 1997
Official name Grosser Preis von Österreich 1997
Location A1-Ring
Spielberg, Styria, Austria
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.323 km (2.697 miles)
Distance 71 laps, 306.933 km (191.474 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:10.304
Fastest lap
Driver Canada Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault
Time 1:11.814 on lap 36
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second McLaren-Mercedes
Third Williams-Renault
Lap leaders

The 1997 Austrian Grand Prix (formally the Grosser Preis von Österreich 1997)[1] was a Formula One motor race held at the A1-Ring on 21 September 1997. It was the fourteenth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship, and the first Austrian Grand Prix since 1987.

The 71-lap race was won by Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve, driving a Williams-Renault, after he started from pole position. Italian Jarno Trulli led the first half of the race in his Prost-Mugen-Honda, but later retired with an engine failure. Briton David Coulthard finished second in a McLaren-Mercedes, with Villeneuve's German teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen third.

Villeneuve's rival for the Drivers' Championship, German Michael Schumacher, could only manage sixth in his Ferrari, allowing Villeneuve to close to within one point of him with three races remaining.

Report

[edit]

Qualifying threw up a few surprises, as the Bridgestone tyres used by several smaller teams proved strong, but it was ultimately Jacques Villeneuve who won. Mika Häkkinen had been leading Villeneuve after the start but his engine failed yet again, before he even managed to complete the first lap. So, for the first time in his Formula One career, Jarno Trulli led the race, followed by Rubens Barrichello, Jacques Villeneuve, Jan Magnussen, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Michael Schumacher in the top six.

By lap 13, Trulli had built a gap of 4.5 seconds from Barrichello, who was being chasing closely by Villeneuve. Behind them both, seven seconds apart, Magnussen was holding a train formed by himself, Frentzen, Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Damon Hill. On lap 24, the first change to the top six: Villeneuve outbraked Barrichello in turn 4 and climbed to second place. The gap of leader Trulli from the Canadian was 10 seconds, with Barrichello losing traction on third, 5 seconds behind the Williams driver; on lap 26, Magnussen pitted for the first time, dropping outside the points.

A spectacular collision occurred between Eddie Irvine and Jean Alesi. As they battled for 4th place on lap 37, Alesi tried to outbrake Irvine into the chicane from approximately eight car-lengths behind,[2] and as Irvine took evasive action,[2] the Frenchman drove into the Northern Irishman's car at such speed that Alesi's car went over the top of Irvine's while the latter was pitched into a spin. Alesi was placed under investigation by the stewards for dangerous driving after the race,[2] although no charges were formally brought against either driver.

On the same lap, Trulli pitted and gave the lead to Villeneuve. The Canadian took advantage of the clean track and set a pace enough to keep him in the lead even after his only pit stop. On lap 45, after all the leaders had pitted, the top six were Villeneuve, Trulli, Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, Magnussen and Coulthard.

Michael Schumacher ran as high as 3rd, but received a stop-go penalty for overtaking Heinz-Harald Frentzen under yellow flags. Schumacher claimed he had not seen them, and that they were not visible on the inside of the corner.[2][3] To get it worst, Schumacher exitted the box behind Barrichello, who had just pitted for his second and last time.

On lap 57, the top six were Villeneuve, Trulli, Coulthard, Frentzen, Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher. Yellow lights turned on at Prost as Shinji Nakano retired with engine failure. One lap later, the fairytale ended for Trulli, with his Mugen Honda engine giving up. Running on a two-stop strategy, the Stewarts had dropped outside the points. And after a strong pace, Jan Magnussen retired also with engine failure.

By lap 64, the top six were Villeneuve, Coulthard, Frentzen, Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill, with Barrichello and Schumacher behind the 1996 World Champion. Approaching turn 9, Schumacher dived inside Barrichello, the Brazilian closed the door, braked later but ran on the oil left on track by Trulli's engine and spun off. With two laps remaining, Schumacher chased Damon Hill and outbraked the Arrows driver on turn 3, taking the last points-paying position. This single point kept Schumacher in the championship lead by one point clear from Villeneuve.

Austrian Formula One veteran Gerhard Berger announced he was to retire at the end of the season, shortly after he qualified 18th on the grid.

Classification

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Qualifying

[edit]
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 3 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:10.304
2 9 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:10.398 +0.094
3 14 Italy Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:10.511 +0.207
4 4 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1:10.670 +0.366
5 22 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:10.700 +0.396
6 23 Denmark Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 1:10.893 +0.589
7 1 United Kingdom Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:11.025 +0.721
8 6 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:11.051 +0.747
9 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:11.056 +0.752
10 10 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:11.076 +0.772
11 11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 1:11.186 +0.882
12 16 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 1:11.210 +0.906
13 17 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Sauber-Petronas 1:11.261 +0.957
14 12 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 1:11.299 +0.995
15 7 France Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:11.382 +1.078
16 15 Japan Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:11.596 +1.292
17 2 Brazil Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 1:11.615 +1.311
18 8 Austria Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:11.620 +1.316
19 20 Japan Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 1:12.036 +1.732
20 18 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 1:12.230 +1.926
EX 21 Brazil Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart 1:12.304 +2.000
21 19 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 1:14.246 +3.942
107% time: 1:15.225
Source:[4]
Notes
  • Tarso Marques was excluded from taking part in the race after his car was found to be underweight after qualifying.

Race

[edit]
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 3 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 71 1:27:35.999 1 10
2 10 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 71 +2.909 10 6
3 4 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 71 +3.962 4 4
4 12 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 71 +12.127 14 3
5 11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 71 +31.859 11 2
6 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 71 +33.410 9 1
7 1 United Kingdom Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 71 +37.207 7  
8 16 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 71 +49.057 12  
9 17 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Sauber-Petronas 71 +1:06.455 13  
10 8 Austria Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 70 +1 lap 18  
11 20 Japan Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 69 +2 laps 19  
12 18 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 69 +2 laps 20  
13 2 Brazil Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 67 Suspension 17  
14 22 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 64 Spun off 5  
Ret 14 Italy Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda 58 Engine 3  
Ret 23 Denmark Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 58 Engine 6  
Ret 15 Japan Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 57 Engine 16  
Ret 19 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 48 Gearbox 21  
Ret 6 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 38 Collision damage 8  
Ret 7 France Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 37 Collision 15  
Ret 9 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1 Engine 2  
EX 21 Brazil Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart Excluded  
Source:[5]

Championship standings after the race

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

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Austria". Formula1.com. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "From Österreichring to A1-Ring, a brief overview on Austria's fastest little circuit". spinsmag.com. Archived from the original on 2014-07-04. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Grand Prix Results: Austrian GP, 1997". grandprix.com. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  4. ^ "Austria 1997 - Qualifications". StatsF1. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  5. ^ "1997 Austrian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Austria 1997 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 7 March 2019.


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