1997 British Grand Prix
Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Grand Prix race report The 1997 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 13 July 1997. It was the ninth round of the 1997 Formula One World Championship. Williams' Jacques Villeneuve won the race despite being stuck in the pit lane for half a minute during his first stop due to a wheel nut problem.
Two previous leaders retired from the race due to mechanical failures. Michael Schumacher led by over 40 seconds before a wheel bearing failure caused retirement. Mika Häkkinen seemed set for his first win but his engine blew while he was holding off Villeneuve, having made one stop to the Canadian's two. Further back, Alexander Wurz scored his first podium finish in his third Grand Prix, also briefly leading the race during the pitstops. David Coulthard ran 3rd early on, but faded with braking problems. Schumacher's teammate Eddie Irvine was close behind Villeneuve when both made their second stop, but his car failed as he exited the pits. Defending champion Damon Hill finally scored his first points for Arrows after a late retirement for Shinji Nakano.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen had a disastrous run: he stalled on the grid with the race about to begin, forcing the race start to be aborted and making him start from the back of the grid. Then, on the first lap, Jos Verstappen crashed into the back of his Williams car at Becketts, ending the German's race immediately.
This race marked the 100th Grand Prix victory for the Williams team, who garnered considerable media attention during the weekend with the "Ro?" branding on their cars.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Background
The struggles of Sauber to find a suitable team mate to Johnny Herbert in 1997 continued as Peter Sauber's attempts to replace the struggling Norberto Fontana for the Silverstone round ultimately failed as Martin Brundle rejected the chance of a one-off drive with the Swiss team opting to stick to commentating on the race with Murray Walker for ITV on UK television instead apparently citing the fact he had never done any testing in Saubers' C16 car as the main reason to reject offer.<ref>https://www.grandprix.com/news/wurz-for-sauber.html</ref>
Classification
Qualifying
- Notes
- Template:Note – Norberto Fontana was relegated to the back of the grid.<ref name=":0" />
Race
Championship standings after the race
Template:Col-start Template:Col-2
- Drivers' Championship standings
| Pos | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Michael Schumacher | 47 | |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon Jacques Villeneuve | 43 | |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon Jean Alesi | 21 | |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon Heinz-Harald Frentzen | 19 | |
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Eddie Irvine | 18 | |
| Source: <ref name="champ">Template:Cite web</ref> | |||
- Constructors' Championship standings
| Pos | Constructor | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Ferrari | 65 | |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon Williams-Renault | 62 | |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon Benetton-Renault | 35 | |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon McLaren-Mercedes | 24 | |
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Prost-Mugen-Honda | 16 | |
| Source: <ref name="champ"/> | |||
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
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