1997 Japanese Grand Prix

  1997 Japanese Grand Prix

Race details
Race 16 of 17 in the 1997 Formula One season
Date	October 12, 1997
Official name	XXIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.860 km (3.641 mi)
Distance	53 laps, 310.596 km (192.995 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault
Time	1:36.071
Fastest lap
Driver	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Renault
Time	1:38.942 on lap 48
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Second	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Renault
Third	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari

The 1997 Japanese Grand Prix (officially known as the XXIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on October 12, 1997 at the Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka. It was the 16th and penultimate race of the 1997 Formula One season. The race, contested over 53 laps, was won by Michael Schumacher for the Ferrari team after starting from second position. Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished second in a Williams, and Eddie Irvine third in the other Ferrari. Irvine led much of the race before moving over to assist Schumacher's championship battle by blocking Drivers' Championship leader Jacques Villeneuve.

Villeneuve started on pole position in a Williams car. Before the race, it emerged that Villeneuve had been put to the back of the grid, for having ignored waved yellow flags on two consecutive laps during a practice session for the race. Williams appealed and Villeneuve started from the pole. He drove a conservative race to finish 5th, gaining two points. After the race, Villeneuve was disqualified, meaning he lost the two points he originally earned. Schumacher's win put him in front of Villeneuve in the championship on 78 points, with Villeneuve on 77 points. However, as a result of Frentzen finishing second, Williams clinched the Constructors' Championship as Ferrari could not pass their points total with only one race remaining.

Report

Practice and qualifying

For each race in the 1997 Formula One season there were four practice sessions; two sessions on Friday and two sessions on Saturday morning. The practice sessions on Friday lasted an hour and the practice sessions on Saturday lasted 45 minutes.

In the first practice session on Saturday morning, an incident occurred 30 minutes into the session. Jos Verstappen in a Tyrrell car pulled over to the side of the track with a fuel pick-up problem. The track marshals as a result waved yellow flags meaning that drivers should slow down at that part of the track. Despite the yellow flags, nine drivers, including Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve, never slowed down. Villeneuve in the process, set his fastest time of the session on that lap.

[

"I clearly saw the yellow flag. If they had been waved in a corner, I would have slowed down. But on a straight it was not necessary."

]

Villeneuve set pole position with a time of 1:36.071, half a tenth faster than Schumacher, who was second in the Ferrari setting a time of 1:36.133. Schumacher's team-mate, Eddie Irvine, qualified third half a second behind Villeneuve. McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen rounded out the top four, only three thousands of a second behind Irvine. The Benetton drivers were fifth and seventh; Gerhard Berger ahead of Jean Alesi. Heinz-Harald Frentzen in a Williams split the two in sixth, six tenths behind Villeneuve.

Classification

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	53	1:29:48.446	2	10
2	4	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Renault	53	+1.378	6	6
3	6	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	53	+26.384	3	4
4	9	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+27.129	4	3
5	7	Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	53	+40.403	7	2
6	16	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	53	+41.630	8	1
7	12	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Peugeot	53	+56.825	9
8	8	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-Renault	53	+1:00.429	5
9	11	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Peugeot	53	+1:22.036	13
10	10	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	52	Engine	11
11	1	Damon Hill	Arrows-Yamaha	52	+1 lap	17
12	2	Pedro Diniz	Arrows-Yamaha	52	+1 lap	16
13	18	Jos Verstappen	Tyrrell-Ford	52	+1 lap	21
DSQ	3	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	53	Disqualified	1
Ret	21	Tarso Marques	Minardi-Hart	46	Gearbox	20
Ret	19	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Ford	46	Engine	22
Ret	14	Olivier Panis	Prost-Mugen-Honda	36	Engine	10
Ret	15	Shinji Nakano	Prost-Mugen-Honda	22	Wheel bearing	15
Ret	20	Ukyo Katayama	Minardi-Hart	8	Engine	19
Ret	22	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	6	Spun off	12
Ret	23	Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford	3	Spun off	14
DNS	17	Gianni Morbidelli	Sauber-Petronas	0	Injury	18

Standings after the race

Note, only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 78 2 Jacques Villeneuve 77 3 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 41 4 Jean Alesi 36 5 David Coulthard 30

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 118 2 Ferrari 100 3 Benetton-Renault 64 4 McLaren-Mercedes 47 5 Jordan-Peugeot 33

References

Previous race: 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1997 season	Next race: 1997 European Grand Prix
Previous race: 1996 Japanese Grand Prix	Japanese Grand Prix	Next race: 1998 Japanese Grand Prix

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1997 Japanese Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.