1997 Belgian Grand Prix

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1997 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 12 of 17 in the 1997 Formula One World Championship
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Spa 1995-2003.png
Race details
Date24 August 1997
Official name LV Belgian Grand Prix
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium [1]
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 6.968 km (4.330 miles)
Distance 44 laps, 306.592 km (190.507 miles)
Weather Wet, then drying out with temperatures reaching up to 28 °C (82 °F) [2]
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:49.450
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault
Time 1:52.692 on lap 43
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Jordan-Peugeot
Third Williams-Renault
Lap leaders
  • 1997 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1997 Belgian Grand Prix (formally the LV Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 24 August 1997. It was the twelfth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship.

Contents

The 44-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari. Giancarlo Fisichella finished second in a Jordan-Peugeot, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen third in a Williams-Renault after Mika Häkkinen's McLaren-Mercedes was disqualified due to a fuel irregularity. Schumacher's Drivers' Championship rival, Jacques Villeneuve, finished fifth in the other Williams-Renault, having started from pole position. This was the first Formula One World Championship race to start behind a Safety Car.

With the win, Schumacher extended his lead over Villeneuve in the Drivers' Championship to 11 points with five races remaining.

Report

The race is regarded by many as one of Schumacher's greatest drives. He started from third on the grid after qualifying had been dominated by his World Championship rival, Jacques Villeneuve. In the morning warm-up, which took place in hot, dry weather, Schumacher was only 15th. However, to everyone's surprise, heavy rain started to fall around half an hour before the scheduled race start and continued for around twenty minutes, completely changing the conditions and resulting in the field starting behind the safety car, the first time this happened in Formula One history. [3]

In the excitement, Schumacher's brother Ralf - who had qualified sixth - spun and crashed his Jordan at Stavelot while going to take his place on the grid. He was forced to start from the pit lane in his spare car. Explaining the incident to ITV later, he said: "I had nothing to lose, and I lost it.". Also during the period of cars assembling on the grid Michael Schumacher made exploratory laps (by returning to the pits rather than the grid) in both his race car and the spare Ferrari, enabling him to assess the track situation and choose the spare that had been set-up for intermediate weather conditions. [3]

Of the front runners, both Williams drivers and Jean Alesi in the Benetton - alongside Villeneuve on the front row - started on full wet tyres while the others started on intermediates. The safety car circulated for the first three laps, and at the end of lap 4 - the first proper racing lap - Villeneuve continued to lead from Alesi and Schumacher. However, this was where the German driver started to take control of the race. He made a brave pass inside Alesi at the La Source hairpin at the start of lap 5, then overtook Villeneuve at the Rivage loop on the same lap. By the end of the lap he was already 5.8 seconds ahead, and on the next lap he stretched this lead to 16.9 seconds, with Giancarlo Fisichella - whose Jordan had also started on intermediates - moving into second after Villeneuve unexpectedly pitted. [4]

On midfield the Arrows Yamaha showed strong pace on Bridgestone intermediate tyres. Pedro Diniz, who had already beaten teammate Damon Hill on qualifying, passed Frentzen, Herbert and Coulthard on track to reach third place. The Brazilian driver pitted alongside Mika Häkkinen for dry tyres, however a sixteen-second pit made him drop to 12th place. He eventually made his way back to 7th place, but lost a potential podium finish.

Schumacher continued to pull further away, and by lap 12 his lead had reached a full minute, while Villeneuve had dropped to 16th following a second pit stop. [4] By now, the track was drying and the drivers were pitting for slick tyres. Schumacher pitted in this manner on lap 14 and thereafter cruised, eventually winning by 26 seconds. Fisichella held off the McLaren of Mika Häkkinen for second, thus achieving his best finish in F1 at the time; the top six was completed by the second Williams of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, the Sauber of Johnny Herbert and Villeneuve, who had charged back in the later stages of the race and set the fastest lap. On the last lap, Pedro Diniz outbraked Irvine at Les Combes for 8th place (that would become 7th later), meanwhile the Ferrari driver lost control of his car and collided.

After the race, Häkkinen was disqualified due to a fuel irregularity, thus promoting Frentzen to third, Herbert to fourth, Villeneuve to fifth and the second Benetton of Gerhard Berger to sixth. Nonetheless, Schumacher extended his lead over Villeneuve in the Drivers' Championship to 11 points, while Ferrari led Williams by six points in the Constructors' Championship.

Classification

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap
13 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:49.450
27 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:49.759+0.309
35 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:50.293+0.843
412 Flag of Italy.svg Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 1:50.470+1.020
59 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:50.503+1.053
6*11 Flag of Germany.svg Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 1:50.520+1.070
74 Flag of Germany.svg Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1:50.656+1.206
82 Flag of Brazil.svg Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 1:50.853+1.403
91 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:50.970+1.520
1010 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:51.410+1.960
1116 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 1:51.725+2.275
1222 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:51.916+2.466
1317 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Sauber-Petronas 1:52.094+2.644
14*14 Flag of Italy.svg Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:52.274+2.824
158 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:52.391+2.941
1615 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:52.749+3.299
176 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:52.793+3.343
1823 Flag of Denmark.svg Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 1:52.886+3.436
1919 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 1:52.897+3.447
2020 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 1:53.544+4.094
2118 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 1:53.725+4.275
2221 Flag of Brazil.svg Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart 1:54.505+5.055
107% time: 1:57.112
Source: [5]

Race

PosNoDriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
15 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Ferrari G 441:33:46.717310
212 Flag of Italy.svg Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot G 44+26.75346
34 Flag of Germany.svg Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault G 44+32.14774
416 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas G 44+39.025113
53 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault G 44+42.10312
68 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault G 44+1:03.741151
72 Flag of Brazil.svg Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha B 44+1:25.9318 
87 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault G 44+1:42.0082 
917 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Sauber-Petronas G 44+1:42.58213 
106 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Eddie Irvine Ferrari G 43Collision17 
1119 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford G 43+1 lap19 
1223 Flag of Denmark.svg Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford B 43+1 lap18 
131 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha B 42Wheel nut9 
1420 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart B 42Engine20 
1514 Flag of Italy.svg Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda B 42+2 lapsPL 
Ret18 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford G 25Spun off21 
Ret11 Flag of Germany.svg Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot G 21Spun offPL 
Ret10 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes G 19Spun off10 
Ret21 Flag of Brazil.svg Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart B 18Spun off22 
Ret22 Flag of Brazil.svg Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford B 8Steering12 
Ret15 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda B 5Electrical16 
DSQ9 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes G 44Fuel irregularity (+30.856)5 
Source: [6] [7]

Championship standings after the race

References

  1. "1997 Belgian GP". Motor Sport . Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  2. Weather info for the 1997 Belgian Grand Prix at Weather Underground
  3. 1 2 Collantine, Keith (24 August 2017). "Schumacher capitalises as Williams get it wrong in the rain again". F1 Fanatic. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Grand Prix Results: Belgian GP, 1997". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  5. "Belgium 1997 - Qualifications". StatsF1. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  6. "1997 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  7. "1997 Belgian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 24 August 1997. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Belgium 1997 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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1997 Hungarian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1997 season
Next race:
1997 Italian Grand Prix
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1996 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1998 Belgian Grand Prix