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1997 Monaco Grand Prix

Coordinates: 43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333
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1997 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 5 of 17 in the 1997 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 11 May 1997
Official name LV Grand Prix de Monaco
Location Circuit de Monaco
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 3.36 km (2.08 miles)
Distance 62 laps, 207.08 km (128.96 miles)
Scheduled distance 78 laps, 260.52 km (162.24 miles)
Weather Overcast, cold and rain, air temperature 11 °C (52 °F)
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:18.216
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time 1:53.315 on lap 26
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Stewart-Ford
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1997 Monaco Grand Prix (formally the LV Grand Prix de Monaco) was a Formula One race held on 11 May 1997 at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo. It was the fifth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship. The 62-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari, after starting from second position. Rubens Barrichello finished second in a Stewart-Ford, with Eddie Irvine third in the other Ferrari.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen, driving a Williams-Renault, started from pole position ahead of Schumacher. Frentzen and teammate Jacques Villeneuve made poor starts, and both retired from the race in separate accidents. Schumacher won by some 53 seconds from Barrichello, who scored the first podium for the Stewart team in only their fifth Grand Prix. The race had been scheduled for 78 laps, but rainy conditions meant that only 62 laps were run before the two-hour time limit was reached.

The win enabled Schumacher to take over the lead of the Drivers' Championship from Villeneuve,[1] and Ferrari to move ahead of Williams in the Constructors' Championship.

Background

[edit]

Heading into this race, the fifth of the 1997 season, Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve led the Drivers' Championship with 20 points, followed by Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher on 14. Behind them were five drivers on 10 points each: Villeneuve's teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen, McLaren driver David Coulthard, Schumacher's teammate Eddie Irvine, Benetton driver Gerhard Berger, and Coulthard's teammate Mika Häkkinen. In the Constructors' Championship, Williams led with 30 points, followed by Ferrari on 24 and McLaren on 20.

Qualifying report

[edit]

Qualifying saw Frentzen take pole position in his Williams by just 0.019 seconds from Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, with Villeneuve third in the other Williams, a further 0.3 seconds back. It was Frentzen's first pole position in Formula One. The Jordans of Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher were fourth and sixth respectively, with Coulthard's McLaren between them. Completing the top ten were Johnny Herbert in the Sauber, Häkkinen in the other McLaren, Jean Alesi in the Benetton and Rubens Barrichello in the Stewart. Further down the grid, Irvine could only manage 15th in the other Ferrari.

Qualifying classification

[edit]
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 4 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1:18.216
2 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:18.235 +0.019
3 3 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:18.583 +0.367
4 12 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot 1:18.665 +0.449
5 10 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.779 +0.563
6 11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot 1:18.943 +0.727
7 16 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 1:19.105 +0.889
8 9 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:19.119 +0.903
9 7 France Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:19.263 +1.047
10 22 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:19.295 +1.079
11 17 Italy Nicola Larini Sauber-Petronas 1:19.468 +1.252
12 14 France Olivier Panis Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:19.626 +1.410
13 1 United Kingdom Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:19.674 +1.458
14 19 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford 1:19.694 +1.478
15 6 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:19.723 +1.507
16 2 Brazil Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha 1:19.860 +1.644
17 8 Austria Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:20.199 +1.983
18 21 Italy Jarno Trulli Minardi-Hart 1:20.349 +2.133
19 23 Denmark Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 1:20.516 +2.300
20 20 Japan Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart 1:20.606 +2.390
21 15 Japan Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda 1:20.961 +2.745
22 18 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford 1:21.290 +3.074
107% time: 1:23.691
Source:[2]

Race report

[edit]

The warm-up session was dry, with Williams taking first and second places. About 30 minutes before the start, however, rain began to fall; Williams decided to run both cars with dry tyres, thinking the weather would improve, while Michael Schumacher set the car for intermediate weather conditions. During the warm up lap, the weather worsened, and at the start, Schumacher was quickest.[3] He led by 22 seconds on lap 5. Behind him the Jordans of Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher, which both had the car set for rain, took second and third spots, until they were both passed by Barrichello's Stewart, who benefited from the Bridgestone wet tyres, which were better than Goodyear's under those conditions.

The start of the race was catastrophic for the Arrows team, as Pedro Diniz, who had opted to start the race on slick tyres, spun out after the hairpin on the opening lap, while his teammate Damon Hill was involved in a collision with Irvine's Ferrari on the second lap, breaking his suspension. Both McLarens also retired on lap two as Coulthard hit the wall exiting the tunnel, and Häkkinen ran into the back of Alesi's Benetton as they passed Coulthard's car.

Both Willams drivers went out of the race after they had to pit to change their tyres. Frentzen hit a barrier at the chicane on lap 39, while Villeneuve hit a wall and had to retire on lap 17. Schumacher continued to build his lead until he had about 30 seconds advantage over Barrichello; then he backed off and began to maintain the gap. He made an error on lap 53 at the Sainte Devote corner, going down the escape road and losing 10 seconds, but did not lose his lead. Only 62 of the scheduled 78 laps were run as the two-hour time limit was reached, and Schumacher won with a 53-second margin over Barrichello.[4] Irvine finished third after overtaking Olivier Panis, exacting some measure of revenge for Panis' overtaking manoeuvre that had seen him get past Irvine a year earlier. After losing third place to Irvine, Panis backed off in the closing stages and settled for fourth place. Mika Salo finished fifth despite denting his front wing on debris left from Häkkinen's accident early on, and also despite not making a single pit stop during the race. He also took Tyrrel's last points. Fisichella, who at one point was running as high as second place, finished in sixth. The race was the first win for a Ferrari driver since the 1981 running of the Monaco Grand Prix.[5]

On the podium, the flag displayed for Eddie Irvine was that of the Republic of Ireland, instead of the Union Jack of the United Kingdom (Irvine being from Northern Ireland, a country within the UK). This was due to a complication regarding the Superlicence that a driver is required to have in order to race in Formula One (Irvine's licence having been issued by an office in Dublin, thus resulting in the Irish tricolour being flown).[6]

This was the final F1 race for Sauber driver Nicola Larini.

Race classification

[edit]
Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari G 62 2:00:05.654 2 10
2 22 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford B 62 + 53.306 10 6
3 6 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari G 62 + 1:22.108 15 4
4 14 France Olivier Panis Prost-Mugen-Honda B 62 + 1:44.402 12 3
5 19 Finland Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford G 61 + 1 lap 14 2
6 12 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot G 61 + 1 lap 4 1
7 23 Denmark Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford B 61 + 1 lap 19  
8 18 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford G 60 + 2 laps 22  
9 8 Austria Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault G 60 + 2 laps 17  
10 20 Japan Ukyo Katayama Minardi-Hart B 60 + 2 laps 20  
Ret 4 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault G 39 Accident 1  
Ret 15 Japan Shinji Nakano Prost-Mugen-Honda B 36 Accident 21  
Ret 17 Italy Nicola Larini Sauber-Petronas G 24 Accident 11  
Ret 7 France Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault G 16 Spun off 9  
Ret 3 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault G 16 Accident damage 3  
Ret 11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Peugeot G 10 Accident 6  
Ret 16 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas G 9 Accident 7  
Ret 21 Italy Jarno Trulli Minardi-Hart B 7 Accident 18  
Ret 10 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes G 1 Accident 5  
Ret 9 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes G 1 Collision 8  
Ret 1 United Kingdom Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha B 1 Collision 13  
Ret 2 Brazil Pedro Diniz Arrows-Yamaha B 0 Spun off 16  
Source:[7]

Championship standings after the race

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

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Schumacher is simply stunning". New Straits Times. 12 May 1997. p. 39.
  2. ^ "Monaco 1997 - Qualifications • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  3. ^ "Grand Prix Results: Monaco GP, 1997". grandprix.com. 11 May 1997. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  4. ^ Richardson, Chris (11 May 1997). "Monaco Grand Prix 1997 - Race Report". Speed Motorsport. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Schumacher wins Monaco Grand Prix". Boca Raton News. 12 May 1997. p. 2C.
  6. ^ McCarthy, Martin (13 May 1997). "Irvine refuses to make issue of flag choice". The Irish Times. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  7. ^ "1997 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Monaco 1997 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.


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FIA Formula One World Championship
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1997 Spanish Grand Prix
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1996 Monaco Grand Prix
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1998 Monaco Grand Prix

43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333