1997 European Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher , driving for Ferrari , had led the championship by a single point ahead of Villeneuve going into the race. During the race, Villeneuve and Schumacher collided while battling for the lead and the resulting damage to Schumacher's car forced him to retire. The blame for the incident was later attributed to Schumacher by the sport's governing body, the FIA , and he was stripped of his second-place finish in the championship. Schumacher's tactics were widely criticised by the medi...

Häkkinen and Coulthard's first and second-place finishes ensured the McLaren team scored their first one-two finish since the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix and made the Woking based team the only team to score a 1-2 finish during any of the 1997 Grands Prix. This was the last race for Gerhard Berger , who had won 10 times and had been competing in Formula One since 1984, and Ukyo Katayama . This was also the last Grand Prix until the 2009 Australian Grand Prix where slick tyres were used, as grooved...

The 1997 European Grand Prix was the final round of the 1997 Formula One World Championship and occurred at the 4.428 km (2.751 mi) Circuito de Jerez on 26 October 1997. [ 1 ] Originally scheduled as the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Estoril Circuit , the race was moved to the Jerez Circuit when Estoril's management had financial difficulties. [ 4 ] The race was added to the schedule after Japan because engine suppliers Renault did not want their last Formula One race to be in Japan. [ 5 ]

Following the Japanese Grand Prix on 12 October, the teams conducted testing sessions at various locations around the world. Williams, Benetton, Sauber , Jordan and McLaren conducted at a test session at the Silverstone Circuit . Williams, Sauber and Jordan tested using 1998-spec cars, in preparation for the 1998 season. Arrows conducted testing at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours circuit, performing wet weather tyre development with tyre suppliers Bridgestone with the circuit flooded to simula...

The qualifying session was held on Saturday afternoon and lasted one-hour between 13:00 to 14:00 CEST, each driver was allowed up to twelve timed laps, with their fastest lap used to determine their grid position. Cars were timed using a TAG Heuer timing system, which measured to an accuracy of one-thousandth of a second. [ 13 ] At the end of the session, the three fastest drivers had all set the same laptime, the first time this had happened in the history of the World Championship. [ 12 ] Jacq...

Villeneuve went into lap 48 less than a second behind Schumacher. Partway through the lap he attempted to overtake Schumacher at the sharp, right-hand Dry Sac corner. [ 21 ] Braking later than Schumacher, Villeneuve held the inside line and was ahead on the track when Schumacher turned in on him resulting in a collision with his front-right wheel and Villeneuve's left-hand sidepod. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] ITV's pit lane reporter James Allen stated that onboard footage shows Schumacher twitching his steeri...

In the end, Michael moved in on Jacques and tried to knock him off. It was a mistake by Michael, he shouldn't have done it. Interestingly, when he came back into the pits, he had a completely different mental view of what had happened. It wasn't until he saw the TV that he realised what had really happened. He came back to the pits and he was telling us, "we have to get Villeneuve disqualified," and I said "Michael, you really need to look at the TV because it really doesn't look that way I'm af...

Schumacher was subsequently summoned to a disciplinary hearing by the FIA. On 11 November 1997, it was announced that Schumacher would be disqualified from the 1997 World Championship in an unprecedented move. [ 31 ] This meant he lost his second place in the overall standings to Frentzen but he would retain his race victories and other results and would not be fined or face any further punishment in the following season, and Ferrari would remain second in the championship. Schumacher accepted t...

Ferrari escaped unpunished despite Article 123 of the FIA International Sporting Code stating that "the entrant shall be responsible for all acts or omissions on the part of the driver", meaning that under this rule, which has never been invoked for a driving incident, Ferrari could have been punished for failing to control its driver by being excluded from the championship standings. When questioned on the subject Mosley said that the World Council had decided not to invoke Article 123. Another...

At the time, as former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn recalled, Schumacher felt that it was Villeneuve's mistake and that he had been wronged but that, upon getting out of the car, having seen the footage as adrenaline had worn off, he realized he had made a mistake. [ 6 ] Another view of the collision is that Villeneuve went into the corner too fast. Without Schumacher turning into him, he would have overshot the turn and possibly ended up in the gravel. [ 23 ] [ 35 ] In later years, Vil...

The German newspapers were among the many from across Europe that criticised Schumacher. Bild blamed Schumacher, saying "he played for high stakes and lost everything – the World Championship and his reputation for fair play. There is no doubt that he wanted to take out Villeneuve." [ 39 ] The Frankfurter Allgemeine called him "a kamikaze without honour" and alluded to a "monument [that] is starting to crack because the foundations are faulty". [ 39 ] A German television channel polled 63,081 fa...

In Italy, Schumacher was widely condemned. The daily newspaper l'Unità felt that Schumacher deserved to be sacked for bringing shame to Italian sport, and said that "Schumacher ought to face charges in a Spanish court for the grave deed he committed". [ 39 ] La Repubblica said that "seeing a world title vanish after waiting 18 years is sad enough. But to see it go up in smoke with the move from Michael Schumacher is unfortunately much worse. It's shameful." [ 39 ] Gazzetta dello Sport said they ...

In England, Schumacher's manoeuvre against Damon Hill at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix was used as a comparison in many media reports. The Times wrote that Schumacher had "sacrificed his reputation by an act of such cynicism that it lost him the right to any sympathy". [ 39 ] The BBC pointed to Schumacher's "history of being involved in controversial collisions", saying the German driver had a "chequered record" and claiming the 1990 Macau Grand Prix and 1991 Nürburgring 430 kilometres as other...

On 12 December 1997, the World Motorsport Council ruled that Pedro Pacheco, the then mayor of Jerez , disrupted the podium ceremony. Originally, the verdict was that no further Formula One races would occur at the track. When Pacheco appeared before the World Motorsport Council, this ruling was rescinded. [ 45 ] As of 2023 [update] , this race was the last time that Jerez hosted a Formula One Grand Prix, although it has held many pre-season test days until 2015. The people chosen to present the ...

Murray Walker : A case of champagne from Ferrari to Sauber for Norberto Fontana. Because the Argentinian newcomer, up from Formula 3, really, really, helped Michael Schumacher on his way there. Martin Brundle : What engines have they got in that Sauber, Murray? Isn't it a Ferrari? Murray Walker : Well it is, yes. Martin, you are a cynical chap.

On 8 November, The Times published an article accusing Williams and McLaren of colluding to decide the finishing order at the end of the Grand Prix. [ 48 ] The article's claims were based on recordings of the radio transmissions made by the two teams. [ 49 ] The FIA World Council rejected the claims when the matter was brought before them. FIA president Max Mosley stated: "It is quite clear that the result of the race was not fixed. There was no arrangement between McLaren and Williams that Mika...

In 2006, Norberto Fontana claimed in an interview with the Argentine newspaper Olé that a few hours before the Grand Prix the Ferrari team director Jean Todt visited the Sauber motorhome and told the Swiss team, which used Ferrari engines at the time, that the Saubers must block Villeneuve if they were in a position to do so in order to help Michael Schumacher win the World Championship. [ 51 ] Peter Sauber , the Sauber team owner and manager at the time, denied these allegations and said: "Ferr...

In 2014, David Coulthard gave an interview to Charles Bradley in Autosport where he stated that an agreement between McLaren and Williams was in place. He said: "Ron [Dennis] had made that deal with Frank [Williams], which none of us knew anything about, that if we helped Williams in their quest to beat Ferrari they wouldn't get in the way of helping McLaren. Ron would probably still deny it today. That's what happened, then they asked me to move over." [ 52 ] In March 2021, during an episode of...