1997 Brazilian Grand Prix

 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix

Racing data
2nd of 17 races in the 1997 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	LXII Qantas Australian Grand Prix
Date:	March 30, 1997
Place:	São Paulo
Course:	Autódromo José Carlos Pace
Length:	309.024 km in 72 laps of 4.292 km
Weather:	dry, very cloudy
Spectator:	~ 55,000
Pole position
Driver:	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Time:	1: 16.004 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Time:	1: 18.397 min (lap 28)
Podium
First:	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Second:	Gerhard Berger	Benetton Renault
Third:	Olivier Panis	Cheers to Mugen Honda

The 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix (officially XXVI Grande Prêmio do Brasil ) took place on March 30th at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo and was the second race of the 1997 Formula 1 World Championship . The winner is Jacques Villeneuve ahead of Gerhard Berger and Olivier Panis .

report

background

Although 12 teams were present at this race, the Lola team did not take part in the end. The reason was the departure of the main sponsor Mastercard , who no longer wanted to advertise on the cars after the embarrassing appearance at the previous race . Due to the fact that the main sponsor quit and the team had already built up debts before that, Lola had to travel home without participating in the race and withdraw from the current championship.

training

Friday training

In Friday training, Heinz-Harald Frentzen won with 1: 17.506. Behind him lay Jacques Villeneuve and Jean Alesi . All cars were on top of the leader within four seconds.

Saturday training

Villeneuve won this session with a time of 1: 16.030. Mika Häkkinen was only two tenths behind him . It is worth mentioning that all drivers were no more than two and a half seconds behind Villeneuve.

Qualifying

With half a second ahead of Michael Schumacher , Jacques Villeneuve secured his fifth pole position. In third place follows Gerhard Berger , who was only five hundredths behind the German. After qualifying, Frentzen, Coulthard, Hill, Panis and Diniz each had a lap time canceled because they had crossed the white boundary line at the pit exit on the flying lap, but nothing changed on the starting grid. Hill was also warned for ignoring a blue flag and almost causing an accident with Coulthard

Warm-up

In the warm-up, Villeneuve was again the fastest, behind him is Häkkinen and Olivier Panis .

run

The start of the race was immediately ended with a red flag. Eddie Irvine again caused an accident with Damon Hill , Giancarlo Fisichella and Jan Magnussen . Further ahead Villeneuve went off the track in the first corner, but was able to continue for the time being. The race was restarted, but Magnussen could not take the replacement car because Rubens Barrichello broke down at the start and was given the car. In retrospect, the aborted start was a blessing for Villeneuve, as he demolished his rear suspension when he took off and was able to have it repaired.

At the second start the field got away well, Schumacher was able to overtake Villeneuve before the first corner, but the Canadian was able to overtake him again at the exit of the Senna-S.

Before the series of pit stops began, Gerhard Berger was able to overtake Schumacher on the start-finish straight.

Damon Hill retired due to an engine fire caused by an oil leak in the pit. The winner of the first race, David Coulthard , could not build on the good performance and finished tenth. Irvine, painfully affected by the too tight seat belt, finished 16th and last.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Danka Arrows Yamaha	1	Damon Hill	Arrows A18	Yamaha 3.0 V10	B.
	2	Pedro Diniz
Rothmans Williams Renault	3	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams FW19	Renault 3.0 V10	G
	4th	Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	5	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari F310B	Ferrari 3.0 V10	G
	6th	Eddie Irvine
Mild Seven Benetton Renault	7th	Jean Alesi	Benetton B197	Renault 3.0 V10	G
	8th	Gerhard Berger
West McLaren Mercedes	9	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren MP4 / 12	Mercedes-Benz 3.0 V10	G
	10	David Coulthard
B&H Total Jordan Peugeot	11	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan 197	Peugeot 3.0 V10	G
	12	Giancarlo Fisichella
Cheers Gauloises Peugeot	14th	Olivier Panis	Cheers JS45	Mugen-Honda 3.0 V10	B.
	15th	Shinji Nakano
Red Bull Sauber Petronas	16	Johnny Herbert	Clean C16	Petronas 3.0 V10	G
	17th	Nicola Larini
Tyrrell	18th	Jos Verstappen	Tyrrell 025	Ford ED4 3.0 V8	G
	19th	Mika Salo
Minardi team	20th	Ukyō Katayama	Minardi M197	Hard 3.0 V8	B.
	21st	Jarno Trulli
Stewart Ford	22nd	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart SF01	Ford Zetec-R 3.0 V10	B.
	23	Jan Magnussen

classification

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	time	begin
01	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	1: 16.004	01
02	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari	1: 16.594	02
03	Gerhard Berger	Benetton Renault	1: 16.644	03
04th	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 16.692	04th
05	Olivier Panis	Cheers to Mugen Honda	1: 16.756	05
06th	Jean Alesi	Benetton Renault	1: 16.757	06th
07th	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Peugeot	1: 16.912	07th
08th	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Renault	1: 16.971	08th
09	Damon Hill	Arrows-Yamaha	1: 17.090	09
10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Peugeot	1: 17.175	10
11	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	1: 17.259	11
12	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 17.262	12
13	Johnny Herbert	Clean Petronas	1: 17.409	13
14th	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1: 17.527	14th
15th	Shinji Nakano	Cheers to Mugen Honda	1: 17.999	15th
16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows-Yamaha	1: 18.095	16
17th	Jarno Trulli	Minardi-Hart	1: 18.336	17th
18th	Ukyō Katayama	Minardi-Hart	1: 18.557	18th
19th	Nicola Larini	Clean Petronas	1: 18.644	19th
20th	Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford	1: 18.773	20th
21st	Jos Verstappen	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 18.885	21st
22nd	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 19.274	22nd
107 percent time : 1: 21.324 min (based on the best time of 1: 16.004 min)

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	72	2	1: 36: 06.990	01	1: 18.397
02	Gerhard Berger	Benetton Renault	72	2	+ 4.190	03	1: 18.509
03	Olivier Panis	Cheers to Mugen Honda	72	1	+ 15.870	05	1: 19.094
04th	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	72	2	+ 33.033	04th	1: 18.649
05	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari	72	2	+ 33.731	02	1: 18.773
06th	Jean Alesi	Benetton Renault	72	2	+ 34.020	06th	1: 18.754
07th	Johnny Herbert	Clean Petronas	72	2	+ 50.912	13	1: 19.008
08th	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Peugeot	72	2	+1: 00.639	07th	1: 18.611
09	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Renault	72	2	+1: 15.402	08th	1: 18.707
10	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	71	2	+ 1 lap	12	1: 18.925
11	Nicola Larini	Clean Petronas	71	2	+ 1 lap	19th	1: 18.730
12	Jarno Trulli	Minardi-Hart	71	1	+ 1 lap	17th	1: 20.105
13	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Ford	71	2	+ 1 lap	22nd	1: 20.376
14th	Shinji Nakano	Cheers to Mugen Honda	71	1	+ 1 lap	15th	1: 19.657
15th	Jos Verstappen	Tyrrell-Ford	70	2	+ 2 rounds	21st	1: 20.274
16	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	70	3	+ 2 rounds	14th	1: 19.275
17th	Damon Hill	Arrows-Yamaha	68	1	+ 4 rounds	09	1: 19.910
18th	Ukyō Katayama	Minardi-Hart	67	3	+ 5 rounds	18 1	1: 19.960
-	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Peugeot	52	2	DNF	10	1: 18.441
-	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	16	-	DNF	11	1: 20.788
-	Pedro Diniz	Arrows-Yamaha	15th	-	DNF	16	1: 20.406
-	Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford	0-	-	DNS	20th	-

¹ Ukyo Katayama had to race out of the box

World Cup stands after the race

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 10 01  Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 10 03  Gerhard Berger Benetton Renault 9 04th  Michael sSchumacher Ferrari 8th 05  Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes 7th 06th  Olivier Panis Cheers to Mugen Honda 6th 07th  Nicola Larini Clean Petronas 1 07th  Jean Alesi Benetton Renault 1 -  Shinji Nakano Cheers to Mugen Honda 0 -  Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 0 -  Jarno Trulli Minardi-Hart 0 -  Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 0

Item driver constructor Points -  Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 0 -  Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 0 -  Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 0 -  Ukyō Katayama Minardi-Hart 0 -  Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 0 -  Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 0 -  Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 0 -  Eddie Irvine Ferrari 0 -  Johnny Herbert Clean Petronas 0 -  Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 0 -  Vincenzo Sospiri Lola Ford 0 -  Ricardo Rosset Lola Ford 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  McLaren-Mercedes 17th 02  Williams-Renault 10 03  Benetton Renault 10 04th  Ferrari 8th 05  Cheers to Mugen Honda 6th 06th  Clean Petronas 1

Item constructor Points -  Minardi-Hart 0 -  Arrows-Yamaha 0 -  Stewart-Ford 0 -  Tyrrell-Ford 0 -  Jordan-Peugeot 0 -  Lola Ford 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ motorsportarchiv.de Overview Brazil 1997 ( Memento from June 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ motorsportarchiv.de Friday training Brazil 1997 ( Memento from March 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ motorsportarchiv.de Saturday training Brazil 1997 ( Memento from July 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ motorsportarchiv.de Qualifying Brazil 1997 ( Memento from July 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ ^{a b} Heinz Prüller: Grand Prix Story 1997 , Orac, p. 41ff.
6. ^ Motorsportarchiv.de Warm-Up Brazil 1997 ( Memento from July 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
7. ↑ motorsportarchiv.de Race Brazil 1997 ( Memento from June 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )