1997 Australian Grand Prix

Infobox Grand Prix race report
Type = F1
Country = Australia
Grand Prix = Australian
Race_No = 1
Season_No = 17
Year = 1997

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Official name = LXII Qantas Australian Grand Prix
Date = March 9
Location = Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Albert Park, Melbourne
Course = Temporary Street Circuit
Course_mi = 3.295
Course_km = 5.303
Distance_laps = 58
Distance_mi = 191.110
Distance_km = 308.792
Scheduled_laps=
Scheduled_mi =
Scheduled_km =
Weather = Partly Cloudy, Dry
Pole_Country = Canada
Pole_Driver = Jacques Villeneuve
Pole_Team = Williams-Renault
Pole_Time = 1:29.396
Fast_Country = Germany
Fast_Driver = Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Fast_Team = Williams-Renault
Fast_Time = 1:30.585
Fast_L

First_Country = United Kingdom
First_Driver = David Coulthard
First_Team = McLaren-Mercedes
Second_Country= Germany
Second_Driver = Michael Schumacher
Second_Team = Ferrari
Third_Country = Finland
Third_Driver = Mika Häkkinen
Third_Team = McLaren-Mercedes

The 1997 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on March 9, 1997 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne. It was the first race of the 1997 Formula One season. It was the second Grand Prix to be hosted in Melbourne.

Summary

Pre-Race

Two new teams came into Formula One in 1997: Stewart and Lola. Footwork reverted to their old name of Arrows and acquired Yamaha engines, while Ligier were bought by Alain Prost and changed their name to Prost Grand Prix. Tyrrell acquired Ford engines. Damon Hill moved to Arrows after being replaced at Williams by Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Pedro Diniz also joined Arrows, while Sauber signed Italian Nicola Larini. Three teams changed both of their drivers. Prost signed Shinji Nakano and Olivier Panis, Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella joined Jordan, while Jarno Trulli and Ukyo Katayama joined Minardi.

The British television coverage switched to ITV for the 1997 season and beyond, after 18 years of regular coverage for the BBC. Former driver Martin Brundle joined Murray Walker in the commentary box.

Qualifying

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve took his fourth career pole position after a stunning lap of 1:29.369, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen could only manage a 1:31.121 to fill the remaining spot on the front row. Only 6 drivers managed to qualify within 3 seconds of the pole position time. The session was red flagged with just over two minutes remaining after a collision between Gerhard Berger and Nicola Larini on the straight between turns 10 and 11. This resulted in many of the cars effectively having to complete a one-lap sprint to post a lap time before the end of the session. Damon Hill struggled during the session, only just qualifying inside of the 107% limit due to an oil leak which hampered the lap times. Both of the Lola cars failed to make the qualifying limit and were over ten seconds slower than Villeneuve.

Race

Before the race even began there were problems for the reigning world champion, Damon Hill. On the parade lap his throttle jammed leaving him stranded on the track and causing him to retire from the race. The drama continued into the first corner as Eddie Irvine dived into the first corner and misjudged his braking, hitting both Villeneuve and Herbert - all three were out of the race. Both of the Jordan cars soon retired from the race, with Ralf Schumacher suffering a gearbox problem and Fisichella spun off the track while passing Barrichello. Jos Verstappen span off on lap two while attempting to overtake Ukyo Katayama. Jean Alesi embarrassingly retired from the race after running out of fuel, despite the Benetton team calling him into the pits 5 laps earlier. At the front David Coulthard continued to keep away from the incidents to lead the race, followed by Frentzen and Michael Schumacher. However, in the final few laps, black dust was visible coming from Frentzen's brakes and three laps before the end the brakes failed and he was sent into the gravel trap and the end of the start/finish straight. Coulthard went on to take his second career win and the first win for McLaren in 4 years.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

Notes

*Qualifying NoteBoth of the Mastercard Lola entries failed to qualify for the grand prix. Neither Sospiri or Rosset managed to keep inside the 107% benchmark needed to race. It proved to be the first and only grand prix the team entered.

* First Starts: Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, Shinji Nakano and Vincenzo Sospiri.
* New Entries: Stewart, Lola and Prost.
*Milestones: Heinz-Harald Frentzen 50th race entry; Olivier Panis 50th race entry; Johnny Herbert 100th race entry

References

Race Details
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Classification
"Qualifying"
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"Race"
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F1 race report
Name_of_race = Australian Grand Prix
Year_of_race = 1997
Previous_race_in_season = 1996 Japanese Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season = 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race = 1996 Australian Grand Prix
Next_year's_race = 1998 Australian Grand Prix
Previous_promotional_trophy_winner = 1996 Australian Grand Prix
Next_promotional_trophy_winner = 1998 San Marino Grand Prix