The 1997 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 13 July 1997. It was the ninth round of the 1997 Formula One World Championship. Williams' Jacques Villeneuve won the race despite being stuck in the pit lane for half a minute during his first stop due to a wheel nut problem.

Two previous leaders retired from the race due to mechanical failures. Michael Schumacher led by over 40 seconds before a wheel bearing failure caused retirement. Mika Häkkinen seemed set for his first win but his engine blew while he was holding off Villeneuve, having made one stop to the Canadian's two. Further back, Alexander Wurz scored his first podium finish in his third Grand Prix, also briefly leading the race during the pitstops. David Coulthard ran 3rd early on, but faded with braking problems. Schumacher's teammate Eddie Irvine was close behind Villeneuve when both made their second stop, but his car failed as he exited the pits. Defending champion Damon Hill finally scored his first points for Arrows after a late retirement for Shinji Nakano.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen had a disastrous run: he stalled on the grid with the race about to begin, forcing the race start to be aborted and making him start from the back of the grid. Then, on the first lap, Jos Verstappen crashed into the back of his Williams car at Becketts, ending the German's race immediately.

This race marked the 100th Grand Prix victory for the Williams team, who garnered considerable media attention throughout the weekend with the "Ro?" branding on their cars.

Pre-race

The struggles of Sauber to find a suitable teammate for Johnny Herbert in 1997 continued as Peter Sauber's attempts to replace Norberto Fontana for the Silverstone round ultimately failed as Martin Brundle declined a one-off drive, opting to commentate on the race instead.https://www.grandprix.com/news/wurz-for-sauber.html Fontana kept his seat and finished 9th.

Classification Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Time GapGrid 1 3 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:21.5981 2 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1:21.732 +0.1342 3 9 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.797 +0.1993 4 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:21.977 +0.3794 5 11 Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 1:22.277 +0.6795 6 10 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.279 +0.6816 7 6 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:22.342 +0.7447 8 8 Alexander Wurz Benetton-Renault 1:22.344 +0.7468 9 16 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 1:22.368 +0.7709 10 12 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 1:22.371 +0.77310 11 7 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:22.392 +0.79411 12 1 Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:23.271 +1.67312 13 14 Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:23.366 +1.76813 14 17 Norberto FontanaSauber-Petronas 1:23.790+2.19222 15 15 Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:23.887 +2.28914 16 23 Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 1:24.067 +2.46915 17 2 Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 1:24.239 +2.64116 18 19 Mika SaloTyrrell-Ford 1:24.478 +2.88017 19 20 Ukyo KatayamaMinardi-Hart 1:24.553 +2.95518 20 18 Jos VerstappenTyrrell-Ford 1:25.010 +3.41219 21 21 Tarso MarquesMinardi-Hart 1:25.154 +3.55620 22 22 Rubens BarrichelloStewart-Ford 1:25.525 +3.92721107% time: 1:27.310Source: Notes  – Norberto Fontana was relegated to the back of the grid.

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 59 1:28:01.665 1 10 2 7 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 59 +10.205 11 6 3 8 Alexander Wurz Benetton-Renault 59 +11.296 8 4 4 10 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 59 +31.229 6 3 5 11 Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 59 +31.880 5 2 6 1 Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 59 +1:13.552 12 1 7 12 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 58 +1 lap 10   8 14 Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda 58 +1 lap 13   9 17 Norberto Fontana Sauber-Petronas 58 +1 lap 22   10 21 Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart 58 +1 lap 20   11 15 Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 57 Engine 14   9 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 52 Engine 3   23 Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 50 Engine 15   18 Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 45 Engine 19   6 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 44 Halfshaft 7   19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 44 Engine 17   16 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 42 Electrical 9   5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 38 Wheel bearing 4   22 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 37 Engine 21   2 Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 29 Engine 16   4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 0 Collision 2   20 Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 0 Accident/spun off 18  

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 47 2 Jacques Villeneuve 43 3 Jean Alesi 21 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 19 5 Eddie Irvine 18Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 65 2 Williams-Renault 62 3 Benetton-Renault 35 4 McLaren-Mercedes 24 5 Prost-Mugen-Honda 16Source:

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

References