1997 Belgian Grand Prix

1997 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 12 of 17 in the 1997 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details
Date	24 August 1997
Official name	LV Belgian Grand Prix
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium
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)
Pole position
Driver	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Time	1:49.450
Fastest lap
Driver	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Time	1:52.692 on lap 43
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Second	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Peugeot
Third	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Renault
Lap leaders

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	3	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	1:49.450
2	7	Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	1:49.759	+0.309
3	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:50.293	+0.843
4	12	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Peugeot	1:50.470	+1.020
5	9	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:50.503	+1.053
6*	11	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Peugeot	1:50.520	+1.070
7	4	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Renault	1:50.656	+1.206
8	2	Pedro Diniz	Arrows-Yamaha	1:50.853	+1.403
9	1	Damon Hill	Arrows-Yamaha	1:50.970	+1.520
10	10	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:51.410	+1.960
11	16	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	1:51.725	+2.275
12	22	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	1:51.916	+2.466
13	17	Gianni Morbidelli	Sauber-Petronas	1:52.094	+2.644
14*	14	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Mugen-Honda	1:52.274	+2.824
15	8	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-Renault	1:52.391	+2.941
16	15	Shinji Nakano	Prost-Mugen-Honda	1:52.749	+3.299
17	6	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:52.793	+3.343
18	23	Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford	1:52.886	+3.436
19	19	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Ford	1:52.897	+3.447
20	20	Ukyo Katayama	Minardi-Hart	1:53.544	+4.094
21	18	Jos Verstappen	Tyrrell-Ford	1:53.725	+4.275
22	21	Tarso Marques	Minardi-Hart	1:54.505	+5.055
107% time: 1:57.112
Source:

• * Ralf Schumacher and Trulli would start from the pitlane.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	G	44	1:33:46.717	3	10
2	12	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Peugeot	G	44	+26.753	4	6
3	4	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Renault	G	44	+32.147	7	4
4	16	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	G	44	+39.025	11	3
5	3	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	G	44	+42.103	1	2
6	8	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-Renault	G	44	+1:03.741	15	1
7	2	Pedro Diniz	Arrows-Yamaha	B	44	+1:25.931	8
8	7	Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	G	44	+1:42.008	2
9	17	Gianni Morbidelli	Sauber-Petronas	G	44	+1:42.582	13
10	6	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	G	43	Collision	17
11	19	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Ford	G	43	+1 lap	19
12	23	Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford	B	43	+1 lap	18
13	1	Damon Hill	Arrows-Yamaha	B	42	Wheel nut	9
14	20	Ukyo Katayama	Minardi-Hart	B	42	Engine	20
15	14	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Mugen-Honda	B	42	+2 laps	14
Ret	18	Jos Verstappen	Tyrrell-Ford	G	25	Spun off	21
Ret	11	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Peugeot	G	21	Spun off	6
Ret	10	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	G	19	Spun off	10
Ret	21	Tarso Marques	Minardi-Hart	B	18	Spun off	22
Ret	22	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	B	8	Steering	12
Ret	15	Shinji Nakano	Prost-Mugen-Honda	B	5	Electrical	16
DSQ	9	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	G	44	Fuel irregularity (+30.856)	5
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Michael Schumacher	66
2	Jacques Villeneuve	55
3	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	23
4	Jean Alesi	22
5	Gerhard Berger	21
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	84
2	Williams-Renault	78
3	Benetton-Renault	47
4	McLaren-Mercedes	28
5	Jordan-Peugeot	25
Source:

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