1997 Canadian Grand Prix
| Racing data | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7th of 17 races in the 1997 Formula 1 World Championship | ||
|
||
| Surname: | Grand Prix Players du Canada | |
| Date: | June 15, 1997 | |
| Place: | Montreal | |
| Course: | Circuit Gilles Villeneuve | |
| Length: | 238.734 km in 54 laps of 4.421 km
|
|
| Planned: | 305.049 km in 69 laps of 4.421 km | |
| Weather: | sunny warm | |
| Spectator: | ~ 120,000 | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver: |
 Michael sSchumacher
|
 Ferrari
|
| Time: | 1: 18.095 min | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver: |
 David Coulthard
|
McLaren-Mercedes
|
| Time: | 1: 19.635 min (lap 37) | |
| Podium | ||
| First: |
Michael sSchumacher
|
Ferrari
|
| Second: |
 Jean Alesi
|
Benetton Renault
|
| Third: |
Giancarlo Fisichella
|
 Jordan-Peugeot
|
|
Leadership laps
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The 1997 Canadian Grand Prix (officially Grand Prix Players du Canada ) took place on June 15 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal and was the seventh race of the 1997 Formula 1 World Championship . Michael Schumacher took first place ahead of Jean Alesi and Giancarlo Fisichella .
The race was scheduled for 69 laps, but stopped after 54 laps. The reason was a serious accident Olivier Panis , in the course of which he broke both legs. Fortunately, the Frenchman was able to participate in another race after just seven races he missed. At the Grand Prix of Luxembourg he immediately reached a position in the points, but he was never able to build on his best performances.
report
background
Gianni Morbidelli was still used as a substitute driver for the disgraced Nicola Larini .
This weekend, the Austrian Alexander Wurz replaced his compatriot Gerhard Berger at Benetton , as he had to pause for three races due to a painful maxillary sinus infection . It was later added that Berger's father was killed in a plane crash and he needed some time to himself.
Before the race weekend, new rules for the next season were discussed with the teams and drivers. Among other things, McLaren said that the cars had to be made narrower. Jacques Villeneuve was very angry about the plan to use grooved tires from 1998. To a journalist, he described Formula 1 as a dying racing series if they implement these - in his opinion - unnecessary rule changes. Because of his choice of words, the FIA summoned him to Paris on the Wednesday before the race weekend, where he received his first official warning.
The Benetton team arrived with a lot of modifications. A new differential, shock absorber, underbody and new aerodynamic parts were installed.
training
Friday training
On the first day of training, Heinz-Harald Frentzen set the fastest time with 1: 20.289, followed by Giancarlo Fisichella and Jacques Villeneuve .
The newcomer Alexander Wurz was able to surprise with eleventh place and a time of 1: 21.315, so he was able to leave both McLaren Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard behind. However, he wrecked his Benetton after his fastest lap.
During training, Villeneuve had problems with his shock absorbers, which later failed completely, but did not lead to an accident.
Giancarlo Fisichella was fined $ 5,000 for speeding in the pits.
Qualifying
Michael Schumacher was surprisingly able to secure pole position, Villeneuve had to admit defeat with 13 thousandths. It was followed by Rubens Barrichello , Heinz-Harald Frentzen and David Coulthard .
Warm-up
In addition to the problems on Friday, there was another flaw at Villeneuve: engine problems. Although the engine could be started, it could not be guaranteed that it will survive the race. Olivier Panis secured the fastest time.
run
At the start, Olivier Panis crashed into the rear of Mika Häkkinen 's McLaren , causing the Finn with the defective rear wing to give up. Furthermore, Shinji Nakano and Jan Magnussen collided , so the Dane had to give up, while Nakano can even look forward to a point placement in the end.
The race was marked by many defects, for example Rubens Barrichello , Alexander Wurz and Jos Verstappen retired from gearbox damage, Jarno Trulli and Mika Salo from engine damage.
But the race was overshadowed by the serious accident of the young Olivier Panis : At Turn 7, after the Pont de la Concorde , Panis lost control of his car and almost crashed into the tire wall at full throttle. The angle of impact was so unfortunate that the car tilted into the tire wall and caused Panis to suffer a serious injury. It was later revealed that he broke both legs in this accident, the right leg even twice, and was out of action for half of the season. One reason for the severe injury was the unfortunate angle of impact, which even broke the survival cell. This withstood crash tests at 400 km / h, but the car tilted unhappily due to the acute angle. Alain Prost, the team boss, said the cause of the accident was either at the start, where someone drove Panis into the rear, or on lap 46 where Panis hit the guardrails but was able to continue.
The race ended on lap 54. It is curious, however, that David Coulthard was in the lead for a long time, but had to pit on lap 53 due to clutch problems. Due to the fact that he had stood in the pits for a full lap, he fell back to seventh place and ultimately even out of the points. Michael Schumacher was able to win ahead of Jean Alesi and Giancarlo Fisichella .
Registration list
classification
Qualifying
run
| Item | driver | constructor | Round | Stops | time | begin | Fastest lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Michael sSchumacher
|
Ferrari
|
54 | 3 | 1: 17: 40.646 | 1 | 1: 20.171 |
| 2 |
Jean Alesi
|
Benetton Renault
|
54 | 2 | + 2.565 | 8th | 1: 20.679 |
| 3 |
Giancarlo Fisichella
|
Jordan-Peugeot
|
54 | 2 | + 3.219 | 6th | 1: 21.013 |
| 4th |
Heinz-Harald Frentzen
|
Williams-Renault
|
54 | 3 | + 3.768 | 4th | 1: 19.997 |
| 5 |
Johnny Herbert
|
 Clean Petronas
|
54 | 2 | + 4.716 | 13 | 1: 20.709 |
| 6th |
 Shinji Nakano
|
Cheers to Mugen Honda
|
54 | 1 | + 36,701 | 19th | 1: 22.077 |
| 7th |
David Coulthard
|
McLaren-Mercedes
|
54 | 2 | + 37.753 | 5 | 1: 19.635 |
| 8th |
 Pedro Diniz
|
Arrows-Yamaha
|
53 | 1 | + 1 lap | 16 | 1: 22.434 |
| 9 |
Damon Hill
|
Arrows-Yamaha
|
53 | 3 | + 1 lap | 15th | 1: 22.435 |
| 10 |
Gianni Morbidelli
|
Clean Petronas
|
53 | 2 | + 1 lap | 18th | 1: 22.659 |
| 11 |
Olivier Panis
|
Cheers to Mugen Honda
|
51 | 3 | DNF | 10 | 1: 20.945 |
| - |
 Mika Salo
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
46 | 3 | DNF | 17th | 1: 21.622 |
| - |
 Jos Verstappen
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
42 | 1 | DNF | 14th | 1: 21.902 |
| - |
 Alexander Wurz
|
Benetton Renault
|
35 | 1 | DNF | 11 | 1: 21.048 |
| - |
Rubens Barrichello
|
Stewart-Ford
|
33 | 2 | DNF | 3 | 1: 22.366 |
| - |
Jarno Trulli
|
Minardi-Hart
|
32 | - | DNF | 20th | 1: 22.712 |
| - |
Ralf Schumacher
|
Jordan-Peugeot
|
14th | - | DNF | 7th | 1: 22.372 |
| - |
Ukyō Katayama
|
Minardi-Hart
|
5 | - | DNF | 22nd | 1: 24.294 |
| - |
 Jacques Villeneuve
|
Williams-Renault
|
1 | - | DNF | 2 | 1: 28.356 |
| - |
Mika Hakkinen
|
McLaren-Mercedes
|
0 | - | DNF | 9 | - |
| - |
Eddie Irvine
|
Ferrari
|
0 | - | DNF | 12 | - |
| - |
 Jan Magnussen
|
Stewart-Ford
|
0 | - | DNF | 21st | - |
World Cup stands after the race
Driver ranking
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Constructors' championship
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Individual evidence
- ↑ motorsportarchiv.de Overview Canada 1997 ( Memento from August 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c d Heinz Prüller: Grand Prix Story 1997 , Orac, p. 96ff.
- ^ Motorsportarchiv.de Friday training Canada 1997 ( Memento from March 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Motorsportarchiv.de Race Canada 1997 ( Memento from March 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
