The 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix (formally the Grosser Preis von Luxemburg 1997) was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany on 28 September 1997. It was the fifteenth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship. The 67-lap race was won by Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, driving a Williams-Renault. Frenchman Jean Alesi finished second in a Benetton-Renault, with Villeneuve's German teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen third.
Although Villeneuve went on to win the 1997 Drivers' Championship, this turned out to be his 11th and final Formula One victory; , it is also the last win for a Canadian driver. It was the last victory for the Williams team until the 2001 San Marino Grand Prix, the last victory for a Renault engine until Fernando Alonso won the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix, the last 1–2 finish between Renault-powered drivers until the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix, and the last race where all Renault-powered drivers stood on the podium together until the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix. It was also the last win for a non-European Formula One driver until Rubens Barrichello won the .
Qualifying report Qualifying saw Mika Häkkinen take pole position in the McLaren-Mercedes - the first-ever for the Finnish driver, the first for McLaren since the 1993 Australian Grand Prix, and the first for Mercedes (as an engine supplier or constructor) since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. Villeneuve was alongside on the front row, while his Williams teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen shared the second row with Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan. Michael Schumacher, leading Villeneuve in the Drivers' Championship by one point, was fifth in his Ferrari, sharing the third row with David Coulthard in the second McLaren. The top ten was completed by Gerhard Berger in the Benetton, Ralf Schumacher in the second Jordan, Rubens Barrichello in the Stewart, and Jean Alesi in the second Benetton.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 9 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.602 2 3 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:16.691 +0.089 3 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1:16.741 +0.139 4 12 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 1:17.289 +0.687 5 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:17.385 +0.783 6 10 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.387 +0.785 7 8 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:17.587 +0.985 8 11 Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 1:17.595 +0.993 9 22 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:17.614 +1.012 10 7 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:17.620 +1.018 11 14 Olivier Panis Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:17.650 +1.048 12 23 Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 1:17.722 +1.120 13 1 Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:17.795 +1.193 14 6 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:17.855 +1.253 15 2 Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 1:18.128 +1.526 16 16 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 1:18.303 +1.701 17 15 Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:18.699 +2.097 18 21 Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart 1:19.347 +2.745 19 17 Gianni Morbidelli Sauber-Petronas 1:19.490 +2.888 20 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 1:19.526 +2.924 21 18 Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 1:19.531 +2.929 22 20 Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 1:20.615 +4.013107% time: 1:21.964 Source:
Race report At the start, Häkkinen led away while teammate Coulthard jumped from sixth to second, ahead of Villeneuve. Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher moved alongside Fisichella, while Ralf Schumacher made a fast start to be alongside both cars going into the first corner. However, Ralf squeezed his Jordan teammate Fisichella for room, leaving the Italian driver with nowhere to go. The resultant collision saw Ralf's car launch into the air, and come down on top of Michael's Ferrari. Also involved was the Minardi of Ukyo Katayama, who was unsighted by the dust and ploughed into Fisichella's car. Ralf, Fisichella and Katayama all retired immediately, while Michael continued for two laps before pulling into the pits with suspension damage.
With Frentzen dropping back after banging wheels with Villeneuve and knocking off his ignition switch, and Berger cutting the first corner to avoid the aforementioned collision, Barrichello and Alesi moved into fourth and fifth respectively, followed by Jan Magnussen in the second Stewart. The top six remained unchanged until the first round of pit stops, during which Alesi was leapfrogged by Magnussen and Damon Hill in the Arrows.
At half-distance, Häkkinen led Coulthard by around 12 seconds, with Villeneuve four seconds behind the Scottish driver. Then, at the start of lap 43, Coulthard's engine blew. Häkkinen suffered the same failure moments later, putting Villeneuve in the lead. Both Stewarts also retired at around this time, Magnussen suffering a driveshaft failure and Barrichello's gearbox breaking, while Hill had stalled during his pit stop. This left all four Renault-powered cars in the top four, with Alesi second, Frentzen third and Berger fourth, while Pedro Diniz moved into fifth in the second Arrows, just ahead of the Prost of Olivier Panis, in his first race back after breaking his legs in Canada.
Villeneuve eventually took the chequered flag 11.7 seconds ahead of Alesi, with Frentzen a further 1.7 seconds back. Berger finished three seconds behind Frentzen, but 27 seconds ahead of Diniz. The Brazilian driver held off Panis, who in turn held off Johnny Herbert in the Sauber and Hill for the final point. The win gave Villeneuve a nine-point lead over Michael Schumacher in the Drivers' Championship with two races left to run, while Williams extended their lead over Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship to 26 points, needing just six more for their ninth title.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 67 1:31:27.843 2 10 2 7 Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 67 +11.770 10 6 3 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 67 +13.480 3 4 4 8 Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 67 +16.416 7 3 5 2 Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 67 +43.147 15 2 6 14 Olivier Panis Prost-Mugen-Honda 67 +43.750 11 1 7 16 Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 67 +44.354 16 8 1 Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 67 +44.777 13 9 17 Gianni Morbidelli Sauber-Petronas 66 +1 lap 19 10 19 Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 66 +1 lap 20 18 Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 50 Spun off 21 9 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 43 Engine 1 22 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 43 Gearbox 9 10 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 42 Engine 6 23 Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 40 Halfshaft 12 6 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 22 Engine 14 15 Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 16 Engine 17 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2 Suspension/collision damage 5 21 Tarso Marques Minardi-Hart 1 Engine 18 20 Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 1 Collision 22 12 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 0 Collision 4 11 Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 0 Collision 8
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jacques Villeneuve 77 2 Michael Schumacher 68 3 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 35 4 Jean Alesi 34 5 David Coulthard 30Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 112 2 Ferrari 86 3 Benetton-Renault 62 4 McLaren-Mercedes 44 5 Jordan-Peugeot 33Source:
References