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 Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher, with teammate Eddie Irvine finishing third, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen achieving second in a Williams-Renault. This was Schumacher's third win 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 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:14.548 2 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1:14.749 +0.201 3 11 Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 1:14.755 +0.207 4 3 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:14.800 +0.252 5 6 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:14.860 +0.312 6 14 Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:14.957 +0.409 7 8 Alexander Wurz Benetton-Renault 1:14.986 +0.438 8 7 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:15.228 +0.680 9 10 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.270 +0.722 10 9 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.339 +0.791 11 12 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 1:15.453 +0.905 12 15 Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:15.857 +1.309 13 22 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:15.876 +1.328 14 16 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 1:16.018 +1.470 15 23 Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 1:16.149 +1.601 16 2 Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 1:16.536 +1.988 17 1 Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:16.729 +2.181 18 18 Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 1:16.941 +2.393 19 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 1:17.256 +2.708 20 17 Norberto Fontana Sauber-Petronas 1:17.538 +2.990 21 20 Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 1:17.563 +3.015 22 21 Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart 1:18.280 +3.732107% time: 1:19.766Source:
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 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 72 1:38:50.492 1 10 2 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 72 +23.537 2 6 3 6 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 72 +1:14.801 5 4 4 3 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 72 +1:21.784 4 3 5 7 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 72 +1:22.735 8 2 6 11 Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 72 +1:29.871 3 1 7 10 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 71 Collision 9 8 16 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 71 +1 lap 14 9 12 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 71 +1 lap 11 10 14 Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda 70 +2 laps 6 11 20 Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 70 +2 laps 21 12 1 Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 69 +3 laps 17 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 61 Electrical 19 8 Alexander Wurz Benetton-Renault 60 Spun off 7 2 Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 58 Spun off 16 17 Norberto Fontana Sauber-Petronas 40 Spun off 20 22 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 36 Engine 13 23 Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 33 Brakes 15 9 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 18 Engine 10 18 Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 15 Spun off 18 15 Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 7 Spun off 12 21 Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart 5 Engine 22
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 47 2 Jacques Villeneuve 33 3 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 19 4 Eddie Irvine 18 5 Olivier Panis 15Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 65 2 Williams-Renault 52 3 Benetton-Renault 25 4 McLaren-Mercedes 21 5 Prost-Mugen-Honda 16Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References