The 1997 German Grand Prix (formally the LIX Grosser Mobil 1 Preis von Deutschland) was a Formula One motor race held at Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany on 27 July 1997. It was the tenth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship.

The 45-lap race was won by Austrian Gerhard Berger, driving a Benetton-Renault. Having missed the previous three races due to a sinus problem, Berger took pole position and led the race from start to finish, except for the pit stops. It was Berger's tenth and final Grand Prix victory, the 27th and last for the Benetton team, and his final podium in Formula One. It was also the last victory for an Austrian driver, . Local driver Michael Schumacher finished second in a Ferrari, with Finn Mika Häkkinen third in a McLaren-Mercedes.

With Jacques Villeneuve failing to finish in his Williams-Renault, Schumacher extended his lead over the Canadian in the Drivers' Championship to 10 points.

Report

Background Going into the race, the Drivers' Championship had developed into a battle between Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher and Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve. Schumacher led Villeneuve by four points, 47 to 43, although Villeneuve had won four races to Schumacher's three. Jean Alesi, driving for Benetton, was a distant third on 21 points. Similarly, the Constructors' Championship had become a battle between Ferrari and Williams, with the Italian team leading by three points, 65 to 62, and both well clear of Benetton in third on 35 points.

Following the British Grand Prix on 13 July, the teams conducted testing sessions at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza from July 14–17. Shinji Nakano (Prost) set the fastest time on the first day, while Giancarlo Fisichella (Jordan) topped the second day's running. Johnny Herbert (Sauber) was fastest on the third day and Ralf Schumacher (Jordan) set the fastest time on the final day of running.

There was one driver change heading into the race. Having been in one of the two Benetton cars since the seventh race of the season at Canada, Alexander Wurz stood down from his role as race driver and was replaced by Gerhard Berger. Berger was forced to miss the previous three rounds due to a reoccurring sinus problem, requiring two operations.

On 22 July, four days before the event's first free practice sessions took place, Benetton confirmed the team would sign Fisichella for 1998, while the organisers of the German Grand Prix signed a deal with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), to continue hosting the race until 2001.

Practice and qualifying Four practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—two on Friday, and two on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions each lasted an hour. The third and final practice sessions were held on Saturday morning and lasted 45 minutes. The two practice sessions were affected by occasionally damp and wet conditions, which made the track moderately slippery. Ralf Schumacher set the session's fastest time, with a lap of 1:46.196, one-tenth of a second quicker than Michael Schumacher.

Saturday's afternoon qualifying session lasted for an hour. Each driver was limited to twelve laps, with the grid order decided by the drivers' fastest laps. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver set a time within 107% of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. Berger clinched the twelfth pole position of his career, and the first for the Benetton team since the 1995 Japanese Grand Prix with a time of 1:41.873. He said his lap time was "more or less" capable of what he could achieve and almost lost control of his Benetton on his final timed run before he spun at Sachs Kurve. Berger was joined on the front row of the grid by Fisichella who recorded a lap 0.023 seconds slower than Berger and felt he could have taken pole-position as he slid at Opel corner. Häkkinen qualified third and was satisfied with his performance; he was quicker than Berger in the first sector of the track but drove on at the Senna chicane and was delayed by Berger's spin. Michael Schumacher took fourth and experimented with a higher downforce set-up during the session. He was ahead of Frentzen in the faster of the two Williams and was afflicted with poor grip and balance. Alesi took sixth having spun his car in the final minute of the session. Ralf Schumacher braked late for the Ost chicane on his first timed run, and lost four-tenths of a second in the track's infield section during his next run and secured seventh overall. Coulthard managed eighth and spun off into the gravel trap at the turn 15 right-hand corner towards the end of the session. Villeneuve was afflicted with a straight-line speed deficit in his race car and switched to the spare Williams set up for Frentzen which was harder to handle and he was restricted to ninth. Irvine completed the top ten and reported his car ran badly over the kerbs lining the track but was confident he would have a more competitive Grand Prix.

Race The drivers took to the track at 09:30 CEST (UTC+1) for a 30-minute warm-up session.

Giancarlo Fisichella took his first ever front-row start, and was challenging Berger for the win until he punctured a tyre on the debris of Rubens Barrichello's blown engine. This same incident had helped him gain the lead, as the smoke from the engine delayed Berger prior to his pit stop. Fisichella only led for two laps before Berger repassed him. After Fisichella broke down due to damage from the flailing tyre (caused while he tried to drive back to the pits), Michael Schumacher gave him a lift back to the pits after the race.

Jacques Villeneuve had a disastrous race, spinning off while trying to overtake rookie Jarno Trulli, thus losing championship ground to Schumacher. The latter's team-mate Eddie Irvine and Villeneuve's team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen collided at the first corner, with David Coulthard also forced out by damage from the incident.

Berger's last win would also be the last for Benetton, just as Berger's first win had been the team's first. It was also Benetton's only win as an Italian-licensed team, making Benetton the only team to have won races under more than one nationality, and the first win for an Italian constructor other than Ferrari since Maserati´s win at the 1957 German Grand Prix.

This was the last Grand Prix win for the Enstone-based Formula One team until the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix, and, , the last for an Austrian driver.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 8 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:41.873 2 12 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 1:41.896 +0.023 3 9 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:42.034 +0.161 4 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:42.181 +0.308 5 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1:42.421 +0.548 6 7 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:42.493 +0.620 7 11 Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 1:42.498 +0.625 8 10 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:42.687 +0.814 9 3 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:42.967 +1.094 10 6 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:43.209 +1.336 11 14 Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:43.226 +1.353 12 22 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:43.272 +1.399 13 1 Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:43.361 +1.488 14 16 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 1:43.660 +1.787 15 23 Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 1:43.927 +2.054 16 2 Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 1:44.069 +2.196 17 15 Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:44.112 +2.239 18 17 Norberto Fontana Sauber-Petronas 1:44.552 +2.679 19 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 1:45.372 +3.499 20 18 Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 1:45.811 +3.938 21 21 Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart 1:45.942 +4.069 22 20 Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 1:46.499 +4.626107% time: 1:49.004Source:

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 8 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 45 1:20:59.046 1 10 2 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 45 +17.527 4 6 3 9 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 45 +24.770 3 4 4 14 Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda 45 +27.165 11 3 5 11 Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 45 +29.995 7 2 6 7 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 45 +34.717 6 1 7 15 Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 45 +1:19.722 17   8 1 Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 44 +1 lap 13   9 17 Norberto Fontana Sauber-Petronas 44 +1 lap 18   10 18 Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 44 +1 lap 20   11 12 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 40 Radiator 2   22 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 33 Engine 12   19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 33 Clutch 19   3 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 33 Spun off 9   23 Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 27 Engine 15   20 Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 23 Out of fuel 22   16 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 8 Collision 14   2 Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 8 Collision 16   10 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1 Transmission 8   4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1 Collision 5   6 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1 Collision 10   21 Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart 0 Gearbox 21  

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 53 2 Jacques Villeneuve 43 3 Jean Alesi 22 4 Gerhard Berger 20 5 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 19Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 71 2 Williams-Renault 62 3 Benetton-Renault 46 4 McLaren-Mercedes 28 5 Prost-Mugen-Honda 19Source:

References