As the red lights went
out, Villeneuve made another poor start allowing Michael
Schumacher to match his pace through the series
of bends called the Senna S’s. The Ferrari
having taken the inside line on the first part, was
being agitated by Villeneuve who, starting on the
right hand side of the track, was starting to push
through, to take the inside of the following right
hander. Being hard but fair, Schumacher held on,
forcing the Williams onto the dirt and dust just off
the racing line. The blue and white car lost
it’s back end and headed for a short cut accross
the dirt. Meanwhile Giancarlo Fisichella in
the leading Jordan decided to spin at the same point
a few seconds later, rolling into the Arrows A18
of Damon Hill and causing the World Champion
to take to the air briefly, damaging both his
suspension and wing. "I was lucky that the
race was restarted. I am not sure what happened on
the first start," Fisichella said
afterwards, "all I remember is seeing Hill
coming up on one side and then spinning."
In Formula 1 more than
most sports it is possible to see history repeat
itself with regularity and so it seems that Johnny
Herbert’s fears were yet again well founded,
as a coming together with Eddie Irvine seemed
inevitable judging by their proximity on the grid.
Again at the Senna S, and, possibly taking action to
avoid Fisichella’s spinning Jordan, the front
wheel of the Ferrari seemed to catch the rear wheel
of the Sauber Petronas lifting it slightly. As
Herbert continued through the curves Irvine having
lost momentum, was shunted by Jan Magnussen’s
Stewart Ford. "Irvine was going slow
in front of me," said Magnussen, "I
tried to go round the outside of him but he must have
been looking at the other mirror so he could not see
me. He started coming out, and I was on the curb. I
could not do much: he kept going and ended up driving
over my front wheel. That was it for me."
Meanwhile back at the
ranch, team mate Rubens Barichello had been
left standing at the grid when his ‘drive by
wire’ safety system shut the car down. "I
had a problem with the throttle: it wouldn’t go,
then it revved very high and the engine stalled. I
was trying to put it into neutral when the marshals
told me I had to get out of the car." He
said afterwards. The race was immediately red-flagged
and a mad scramble followed as mechanics and teams
struggled to get spare cars set up and damaged body
work replaced. Hill, already in the spare due to a
fuel leak in his race car, had a new nose section and
large parts of the suspension substituted whilst
Barichello benefited from his number one driver
status by bagging the Stewart T-car.
On the second start,
again Villeneuve made a poor getaway, enabling the
over- fueled Ferrari to blast into the lead. Ukyo
Katayama stalled at the line but was able to
start the race in his Minardi from the pit
lane two laps down. Status quo was soon restored at
the end of the second lap with Villeneuve taking the
lead at the end of the pit strait and already setting
an early fastest lap of 1.19.00. The McLaren
Mercedes of Mika Hakkinen and Gerhard
Berger’s Benneton Renault followed in
third and fourth places. This was short lived as
Berger, demonstrating new found set up modifications,
took Hakkinen on lap four and started his charge to
catch Schumacher. By lap 10 Villeneuve had a
commanding 10 second lead and looked set to control
the race from the front. Team mate Heinz Harald
Frentzen continuing his disappointing qualifying
performance, dropped from 8th to 13th position while
Hill grabbed two places at the start, to run 7th for
the early part of the race.
By lap 12, Berger
managed to pass Schumacher on his second attempt at
what became the only realistic passing point, at the
end of the pit strait leading to the Senna S’s.
Retirements came for Barichello on lap 16 with rear
suspension problems and Pedro Diniz, who spun
off a lap later suffering from severe oversteer.
Villeneuve was now 9
seconds ahead of Berger on lap 20, followed by
Schumacher, Hakkinen, Jean Alesi, and Olivier
Panis driving a magnificent race for the newly
formed Prost team in the highest of the
Bridgestone runners. David Coulthard, in the second
McLaren and the winner of the Australian Grand Prix,
pushing Hill for 7th place, was finding it hard to
pass and was the first to stop in an effort to use
the ‘pit lane passing manoeuvre’ and
use some clear air on his exit to make up some time.
Both Benettons pitted
by lap 23 and subsequently after Villeneuve and
Schumacher had also stopped on lap 26. Olivier Panis
was up to second and Hill to 4th, the Bridgstone
tyres performing brilliantly. This enabled strategies
for both drivers to run on only two sets of tyres for
the race thereby halving their visits to the pits.
These had happened by lap 36, Panis Pitting three
laps earlier and Hill, after being passed by both
Schumacher and Alesi on their charge to make up
ground, made a 12.4 second stop and rejoined in 11th
position.
Apart from a brief
period when Berger led the race at Villeneuve’s
2nd pit stop, The Canadian was not to lose the lead
again. By the second round of stops, Panis had
managed to hold onto a solid third place having only
pitted once and Hill losing oil pressure, was passed
by Villeneuve on lap 63, yet another new experience
for the Arrows driver who had earlier been overtaken
by the lagging Frentzen. But Berger seemed to
struggle at times and through no fault of his own,
Hill slowed the Austrian down in his late charge to
catch Villeneuve.
Irvine in the spare
Ferrari had made an unscheduled pit stop to have his
seat belt loosened. The spare car, set up for Michael
Schumacher was not a good fit for the Irishman. "On
the grid we were unable to adjust my belts properly
as the straps were too short, " he said later,
"The pain was so bad that I had to come in to
have them adjusted by having one side undone and the
other done up. I had a cutting pain all through the
race, especially under braking when it felt as though
my leg was being cut off."
Coulthard could not
better 10th, having managed to squeeze passed Hill
and it must have been frustrating seeing his team
mate Hakkinen a country mile ahead in 4th place.
Having said before the race with more than a little
over confidence, that, if he stayed on the track he
should be in the points thereby remaining at the head
of the driver’s championship, after the race
conceded, "It was a hard race battling to get
passed Damon whilst keeping others behind me. I am
amazed that so many people finished! Normally if you
can stay on the track you can get in the points and
win some races, but today everybody had
reliability."
Three laps before the
end and with a not discreditable 11th place secure,
Hill’s oil cooler caught fire and he headed for
the pits. As the car was covered in white foam Hill
seemed in no hurry to get out of his car and
commenting afterwards he did not seem unhappy about
his afternoon’s work. "It is always
disappointing when you get so close to the end of the
race and don't make it to the finish, but I think
that things are a lot better than in Melbourne."
He said, "I saw I had low oil pressure
and as I was coming up the hill, I lost drive. It was
pretty terminal."
Villeneuve took the
flag a little over four second ahead of Berger,
opening up the account for Team Williams. Panis also
opened Bridgestones account with four championship
points. This could prove to be a significant victory
as it proved that the tyres are all that they were
cracked up to be and should leave Goodyear a little
worried. If both Hill and Panis could run with such
heavy fuel loads on soft compound tyres for over half
the race and still be relatively competitive then it
is only a matter of time before the top teams will
start to reconsider their contractual obligations
with the US tyre giant. Michael Schumacher talked for
most of the Goodyear drivers when he said after the
race, "Just as I expected our tyres did not
maintain their performance level over the whole race.
I had a job getting past Hill as his tyres were still
in top condition. This lost me time which probably
cost me one or two places." Ferrari sporting
Director added, "Our decision to use hard
tyres did not bring the advantage we expected."
Jarno Trulli
driving to a creditable 12th position in his Minardi
also gave Bridgestone the plug, "We went for
a one stop strategy and we were right: the
Bridgestone tyres are really impressive. After my pit
stop I started to push hard to get better position
since my car was working well. By the end of this day
I get the satisfaction to have left behind me a
Ferrari, a Prost and two Tyrrells cars... It's not a
bad result, is it?"
Speaking post race,
Berger could not help mention his tyres too, "I
started my fight with Schumacher and it was not
easy... it cost me a lot of time and tyres!" He
said, "After I passed Michael I started to
push behind Villeneuve. I wish I could have really
put him under pressure towards the end but I got
stuck behind some cars, like Hill's, losing time and
wearing tyres, so I just couldn't do it! But my
second place is good enough for now..."
Only five cars failed
to finish a race of sheer physical hardship. Most
drivers were wearing neck restrainers for the
anticlockwise course and there will probably be some
sore muscles this week. Hill put in a superb
performance extracting a creditable display from a
car that finally looks as though it might achieve
results towards the end of the season. It is also on
the cards that Panis will see a lot more podiums this
season and Prost has definitely established itself as
the most up and coming of the second string teams.
Frentzen yet again
failed to deliver and what Frank will do remains to
be seen. Talking after the race Chief Engineer
Patrick Head echoed the thoughts of a lot of
people in the pit lane, "Relative to Jacques,
his performance was not strong. We’ve got to
have a chat with him about this."
Villeneuve was serene
in his victory and it really didn’t seem to
stress him at all. "Once I'd passed Michael
Schumacher, I was in control of the race. All I had
to know was make sure none of my opponents came back
at me. I'm Satisfied." He said. The
road seems strait for Jacques to the Champions crown.
However, a few kinks here and there would make the
inevitable a little more interesting for us all.
Chris Richardson
