Every Formula 1 fan knows the famous 1997 championship and its outcome at the European Grand Prix held at the Jerez Circuit. After the Japanese GP, where Jacques Villeneuve had failed to score points due to a disqualification for ignoring yellow flags and Michael Schumacher had taken the grand prize of ten points by winning the race, the Drivers’ Championship was in full swing.
The German, seeking to become a three-time victor after his 1994 and 1995 World Championships and to furthermore give Ferrari its first drivers’ title since 1979, arrived with a one-point lead over the Canadian. The Williams driver was dreaming of the title win in just his second season in Formula 1. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, his teammate in the already mathematically-proclaimed 1997 constructors’ champions, arrived at the Andalusian event with no chance of being champion (or, in theory, runner-up).
The European GP weekend, which replaced the Portuguese GP at Estoril for financial reasons, began on Friday, October 24th, with two free practice sessions, both led by Frenchman Olivier Panis, who at the time was driving for Prost GP, also from France. On the morning of Saturday the 25th, the British partnership of David Coulthard and McLaren took the lead in both practice sessions.
In the afternoon, however, the real action began. With three times of 1:21.072, identical down to the thousandth, both Schumacher’s Ferrari and the Williams of Villeneuve and Frentzen achieved the fastest lap of the qualifying session. Since the grid was decided according to what lap was set first, the Canadian took pole position ahead of his championship rival, second, and the driver of Spanish heritage, third.
The race on Sunday the 26th began with Villeneuve losing the lead after the first corner due to a poor start and the “Kaiser” taking the lead of the race (ahead of Frentzen, second, and the Canadian, third) and, therefore, the championship. After a swap between the two Williams and pit stops that temporarily promoted the McLarens to 3rd and 4th, the positions of Schumacher (first) and Villeneuve (second) made the title decider all the more interesting.
With only 22 laps remaining in a thrilling race, the two top dogs were fighting for first place, and, therefore, the championship. The Williams driver took advantage of a small braking error by Schumacher to gain the lead. However, before the German was completely overtaken, he deliberately collided with his rival, hoping to force the Canadian to retire from the race and lose the title. However, it was only Schumacher himself who didn’t finish the race after the crash, ultimately losing the lead to Villeneuve. After the Ferrari driver retired, the Williams driver didn’t push the envelope and ultimately lost the race to Finland’s Mika Hakkinen, who would go on to take his first GP victory. His McLaren teammate David Coulthard finished second, whilst a third spot on the podium was enough for Villeneuve to win the Drivers’ Championship.
The controversial collision was reminiscent of the 1994 Australian finale, where Schumacher was seeking his first championship in a battle with Damon Hill. Many people (including Hill himself in 2007) eventually accused the then-Benetton driver of deliberately causing the collision that would deprive the Brit of the title. However, the controversy in 1997 was not as dismissed by the rule-makers, as runner-up Schumacher was eventually disqualified from the World Championship for unsportsmanlike conduct, with some calling for a permanent ban from Formula 1. This, however, did not happen, and the German continued in the top class, ending his career with seven world titles and retiring for the second and final time in 2012 as the most successful driver in history. However, the 1997 vice-championship will always belong to his compatriot Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
That year’s European Grand Prix will go down in history as one of the defining races of the world of Formula 1, both because of Jacques Villeneuve’s only Drivers’ World Championship title (as well as Williams’ last to date) and because of Michael Schumacher’s disqualification, which quickly became one of the most controversial moments in the series’ history. And although it hosted several preseason sessions and continues to be used as a venue for private testing by teams such as McLaren and Haas, the controversial 1997 finale was also the final Formula 1 race at the venue now known as the Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto. And what a way to close out that era!
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