1997 French Grand Prix

1997 French Grand Prix
1997 French Grand Prix
Race 8 of 17 in the 1997 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date	29 June 1997
Official name	LXXXIII French Grand Prix
Location	Circuit de Nevers ; Magny-Cours, France
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.250 km (2.641 miles)
Distance	72 laps, 305.814 km (190.024 miles)
Weather	Dry at first, rain in closing stages
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher ;
Time	1:14.548
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher
Time	1:17.910 on lap 37
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher ;
Second	Heinz-Harald Frentzen ;
Third	Eddie Irvine ;
	Lap leaders ;

Last updated February 03, 2024

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 Michael Schumacher driving a Ferrari alongside Eddie Irvine who finished third, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen achieving second in a Williams-Renault. This was Schumacher's third 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	+3.732
107% time: 1:19.766
Source:^[3]

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
Ret	19	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Ford	61	Electrical	19
Ret	8	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Renault	60	Spun off	7
Ret	2	Pedro Diniz	Arrows-Yamaha	58	Spun off	16
Ret	17	Norberto Fontana	Sauber-Petronas	40	Spun off	20
Ret	22	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	36	Engine	13
Ret	23	Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford	33	Brakes	15
Ret	9	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	18	Engine	10
Ret	18	Jos Verstappen	Tyrrell-Ford	15	Spun off	18
Ret	15	Shinji Nakano	Prost-Mugen-Honda	7	Spun off	12
Ret	21	Tarso Marques	Minardi-Hart	5	Engine	22
Source:^[4]

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	15
Source:^[5]

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	16
Source:^[5]

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

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References

↑ Derived based on the identical race distance and number of laps in 1998 French Grand Prix
↑ Calculated based on the race classification shown during TV broadcast
↑ F1, STATS. "France 1997 - Qualifications • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
↑ "1997 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
1 2 "France 1997 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.

Previous race: 1997 Canadian Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1997 season	Next race: 1997 British Grand Prix
Previous race: 1996 French Grand Prix	French Grand Prix	Next race: 1998 French Grand Prix

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[1] Derived based on the identical race distance and number of laps in 1998 French Grand Prix

[2] Calculated based on the race classification shown during TV broadcast

[3] F1, STATS. "France 1997 - Qualifications • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

[formula1.com-4] "1997 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.

[champ-5] 1 2 "France 1997 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.

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