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
Background
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.
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
Standings after the race
Note, only the top five positions are included for both sets of
standings.
- Drivers' Championship standings
- Constructors' Championship standings
References
Wikis
Map
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