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The 1997 Japanese Grand Prix (officially known as the XXIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a
Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
motor race held on 12 October 1997 at the
Suzuka Circuit The , the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka, Mie, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda, Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000. It is most well known by i ...
, Suzuka. It was the 16th and penultimate race of the
1997 Formula One season The 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 51st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1997 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1997 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were conteste ...
. The 53-lap race was won by
Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to and from to . Schumacher won a record-setting seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, tied by Lewis Hamilton in ...
for the
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...
team after starting from second position.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen Heinz-Harald Frentzen (; born 18 May 1967) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Frentzen was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won three Grands Prix across 10 se ...
finished second in a Williams, and
Eddie Irvine Edmund "Eddie" Irvine Jr. (; born 10 November 1965) is a former racing driver from Northern Ireland, who competed Formula One drivers from the United Kingdom, under the British flag in Formula One from to . Irvine was runner-up in the Formula ...
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 Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve (; born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian former racing driver, who competed in IndyCar from 1994 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1994 to 1995 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1995, and Formula One from to . Villeneuve won t ...
. Villeneuve started on
pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
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, Williams withdrew their appeal, 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. This race was the last for
Gianni Morbidelli Gianni Morbidelli (born 13 January 1968) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 70 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 March 1990. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 8.5 championship points. He most recently competed in ...
.


Report


Practice and qualifying

For each race in the
1997 Formula One season The 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 51st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1997 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1997 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were conteste ...
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 Johannes Franciscus "Jos" Verstappen (; born 4 March 1972) is a Dutch racing and rally driver, who competes in the European Rally Championship as a privateer. Verstappen competed in Formula One between and . Born and raised in Dutch Limburg, ...
in a Tyrrell car pulled over to the side of the track with a fuel pick-up problem. The
track marshal Motorsport marshals are mainly volunteer workers responsible for the safety of motor racing competitors. They are stationed at various points of danger around race tracks to assist them in case of any collisions, accidents or track problems. Ma ...
s as a result waved yellow flags meaning that drivers must slow down at that part of the track. Despite the yellow flags, nine drivers, including
Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to and from to . Schumacher won a record-setting seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, tied by Lewis Hamilton in ...
and
Jacques Villeneuve Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve (; born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian former racing driver, who competed in IndyCar from 1994 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1994 to 1995 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1995, and Formula One from to . Villeneuve won t ...
, never slowed down. Villeneuve in the process, set his fastest time of the session on that lap. Villeneuve set
pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
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 Edmund "Eddie" Irvine Jr. (; born 10 November 1965) is a former racing driver from Northern Ireland, who competed Formula One drivers from the United Kingdom, under the British flag in Formula One from to . Irvine was runner-up in the Formula ...
, qualified third, four-tenths behind Villeneuve.
McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...
driver
Mika Häkkinen Mika Pauli Häkkinen (; born 28 September 1968) is a Finnish former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Flying Finn", Häkkinen won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with M ...
rounded out the top four, only three thousands of a second behind Irvine. The Benetton drivers were fifth and seventh;
Gerhard Berger Gerhard Berger (; born 27 August 1959) is an Austrian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Berger won 10 Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons. Berger competed in Formula One for 14 seasons, ...
ahead of
Jean Alesi Jean Robert Alesi (; born Giovanni Roberto Alesi, 11 June 1964) is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Alesi won the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix with Ferrari. Born and raised in Avignon, Alesi started karting a ...
.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen Heinz-Harald Frentzen (; born 18 May 1967) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Frentzen was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won three Grands Prix across 10 se ...
in a Williams split the two in sixth, six-tenths behind Villeneuve. On the Thursday before practice, the local driver
Ukyo Katayama is a Japanese former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Katayama participated in 97 Grands Prix, debuting at the 1992 South African Grand Prix, making him the sport's most experienced Japanese driv ...
announced his retirement from the category after the next race.


Classification


Qualifying


Race

At the start, Jacques Villeneuve dived to the right and blocked Michael Schumacher, keeping the lead. Behind the frontrunners, Mika Hakkinen passed Eddie Irvine for third. At the final of the first lap, the order was Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher, Hakkinen, Irvine, Frentzen and Berger. Running light on fuel, Irvine started an aggressive climbing of the grid, storming to the lead on lap 3. By lap 5, the Northern Irishman had built a gap of 8.9 seconds from Villeneuve, meanwhile the difference from the Canadian, in 2nd place, to Jean Alesi, in 6th, was less than two seconds. The first casualties were the Stewart duo, retiring with three laps of difference apart. Local heroes Ukyo Katayama and Shinji Nakano soon followed them. After 13 laps, the drivers started to pit, as did Hakkinen and Berger. At the end of lap 15 Irvine pitted for the lead, 12.7 seconds from Villeneuve in 2nd place. The top-6 were formed then by Michael Schumacher, Frentzen, Johnny Herbert and Giancarlo Fisichella. Schumacher pitted just after his teammate and Villeneuve did the same at the end of lap 19. The Canadian exited the pits just in front of Schumacher, however, with warmer tires, the German stormed to the main straight, dived inside and passed Villeneuve for good. On lap 23, after all the frontrunners had pitted, the order was Irvine, Schumacher, Villeneuve, Frentzen, Hakkinen and Alesi. The gap from the leader to the second was about 11 seconds on lap 22, but as part of Ferrari's strategy, Irvine soon started to lift his foot and in a couple of laps let Schumacher passed by him to the lead, immediately blocking and holding Villeneuve in third place. The strategy worked perfectly and Villeneuve anticipated his second pit to try to leave the traffic and undercut Irvine. This meant nothing to the Canadian, as he fell down to 6th place and never had the pace to challenge even a podium. After the second round of pits, the major change was in second place, as Frentzen, running heavier on fuel and spending more time on track, passed Irvine for 2nd place. By lap 38 the order was Schumacher, Frentzen (8.5 seconds behind), Irvine, Alesi, Hakkinen and Villeneuve (23 seconds from the leader). Frentzen eventually charged back and reduced the gap to 5 seconds by lap 45, meanwhile Villeneuve passed Alesi for 5th. The scenario was showing a comfortable leading and eventual winning for Schumacher with 8 laps to go; however, with two laps remaining, the German stuck behind Damon Hill, who was about to be lapped. This meant the gap from him to Frentzen to reduce to one second on final stages, but Schumacher cleaned his way and keep the lead until the chequered flag. As Villeneuve had ended in 5th place, the Canadian initially secured the Championship lead by one point. With his disqualification from the race, he lost two points and the Championship lead to Schumacher, also by one point and one round to go.


Championship standings after the race

Note, only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. ;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings


References

{{F1GP 90-99
Japanese Grand Prix The Japanese Grand Prix () is a motor racing event in the calendar of the Formula One World Championship. Historically, Japan has been one of the last races of the season, and as such the Japanese Grand Prix has been the venue for many title-de ...
Japanese Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...
Japanese Grand Prix The Japanese Grand Prix () is a motor racing event in the calendar of the Formula One World Championship. Historically, Japan has been one of the last races of the season, and as such the Japanese Grand Prix has been the venue for many title-de ...