Schumacher blots
his copybook as king Jacques takes driver’s
crown and gifts first race win to Hakinnen .
"He
tried to take me out but he didn’t do it well
enough..." Jacques Villeneuve
"A mistake? By
Me?" Michael Schumacher
Jacques Villeneuve
became world champion today at the European Grand
Prix in Jerez after a deliberate attempt
by Michael Schumacher to sideline him in a
passing manoeuvre failed, leaving the German in the
gravel. Villeneuve went on to secure 3rd place, when
he allowed both Mika Hakinnen and then David
Coulthard to pass, as he struggled to take his
damaged car to the line.
The powers that be
shook their heads tonight in disbelief as a decision
that the stewards of the race felt they were unable
to make, could not be ignored. All the fine words of
warning from both Max Mosley and Bernie
Ecclestone have, in the heat of the moment, been
ignored. To sanction Schumacher by banning him as
Ecclestone threatened he may do, from the first few
races of ’98, would be the natural thing to do,
but it would only highlight the current lawlessness
of Formula 1 and fuel controversy over the closed
season. To ignore it would have the pitlane up in
arms. Suffice to say the stewards called it a
‘racing accident’ and left it at that. This
will please nobody and the sport will find itself
saddled with a ‘Jerezgate’ that,
like Adelaide in 1994 will refuse to go away.
Had Schumacher got away with it and put the Canadian
out or, if they had both gone out, he would have won
the Championship and the penalty would have been
severe. As it was he only hurt himself and it was the
ultimately his heaviest cross to bear.
Schumacher led the
race from the start after making an exceptionally
quick getaway with Heinz Harald Frentzen
taking up 2nd place in front of his Canadian team
mate. The two McLarens of Hakinnen and Coulthard
never let go and pushed Frentzen for third place
after the German let Villeneuve through to chase
after Schumacher on lap 8. The gap between the two
front runners remained at a steady 4 seconds as they
traded off fastest laps and when Pedro Diniz spun
into the gravel, Schumacher was level headed enough
to back off fractionally as the yellow flags came
out.
Frentzen led briefly
after both Schumacher and Villeneuve pitted, putting
a team strategy into play by slowing the race on
their return to the track, to enable his team mate to
close up on the Ferrari. As both McLarens cleared the
way by stopping for fresh rubber, the gap came down
from seven seconds to less than one for most of the
second leg and they both pitted for a second time on
lap 43 but Schumacher, despite having a slower stop,
was able to regain the track ahead of Villeneuve, who
was balked by the 2nd placed McLaren of Coulthard as
he exited the pit lane.
The Scotsman vacated
his place to Villeneuve when he made his second stop,
at the end of the following lap, leaving the Williams
driver clear to continue the chase. Badly balked by
rookie, Norberto Fontana’s Sauber, he lost over three
seconds trying to get by. "I didn’t know
Jacques was there until I saw the blue flag."
Said the worried Italian. "Then I let him by
as soon as I saw him there." You bet he did
and sharpish. To have the Championship contender
bearing down on you at full chat is not a comforting
experience for a novice.
The Ferrari then started to inexplicably
slow and fairly rapidly Villeneuve began to devour
the German’s lead. Possibly a bad set of tyres
was the cause but whatever the reason, Villeneuve saw
the Ferrari go wide, leaving an opportunity at the Curva
Dry Sack, for him to slip through on the inside
under braking. As the Williams drew level, Schumacher
realising that he had made a fatal error in giving
his rival the space in which to overtake, seemed to
deliberately and sharply alter course, making contact
with the side radiator of Villeneuve’s car and
launching himself into the gravel, his wheels
spinning ineffectually. It was a tragic piece of
driving seemingly proving that winning the race by
fighting to the flag, was never on his agenda and it
has marred irrevocably a season in which Schumacher
has shown a new found maturity dominated by masterful
driving and sportsmanship.
"I wasn’t
really surprised when Michael turned in on me."
Said Villeneuve. "It was a little bit
expected, so I knew I was taking a big risk. We
banged wheels and I jumped in the air and I thought
that I’d broken the car. My car felt strange. I
could push for a few laps but then I had to slow down
because the tyres were heating up in a strange way.
The way he hit me was really hard. I couldn’t go
more on the inside as I was actually on the grass.
I’m surprised that I could actually finish the
race."
Schumacher of course
made no admission of blame "A mistake -by
me?" He quizzed. "No. I braked on
the maximum and he braked even later. He must have
miscalculated his braking point." Indeed he
even hinted that the Canadian had been chancing his
hand a little too far. "He tried a rather
optimistic attack. It worked fine for him but not for
me." Said Schumacher for all the world
sounding like the martyr that he certainly
wasn’t. By using Villeneuve as his scapegoat, he
unwittingly revealed an insight into his own actions.
"Jacques had nothing to lose and he obviously
thought he would go for it. To be honest, I would
have probably done the same."
With Villeneuve
slowing visibly and the lapped Jordan of Giancarlo Fisichella
providing the cushion between the Williams and the
pursuing McLarens, it looked as though the Canadian
would just make it home to take his eighth win of the
season, and give Renault a final victory on which to
end their participation in Formula 1, but back in the
pits, conversations were taking place between
Williams technical director Patrick Head and McLaren team boss Ron Dennis and
it was therefore, no surprise to see Hakinnen pass
the slowing Williams on the final lap. Having been
let through by second placed Coulthard, the Finn was
confused, but none the less pleased to have won the
first race of his career.
"I wanted to
go quicker, but it would be far too risky to overtake
Jacques who was fighting for the Championship."
Said Hakinnen. "I decided to stay behind him.
Coming into the last couple of laps Jacques was there
and David was in front. I don’t know exactly
what happened and it was a strange place to overtake
David but for my benefit it was fantastic."
So it should have
been, for the Scotsman was none too pleased that he
was forced to drop to third when he might have been
able to take a third win of the season, but was
clearly under team orders to let Hakinnen take his
first win. Having his share of good fortune this
season, cut little ice with him and if Mika
wasn’t going to have the good grace to tell it
like it was at the post race press conference, then
Coulthard in the most diplomatic way possible, was.
"We both had a
little bit of help from Jacques." He said,
his face showing all the signs of being very unfairly
treated. "I let Mika through to give him a
chance to push, because I couldn’t make any
headway into the Jordan and he was able to make use
of that when Jacques let him through at the
chicane."
Revealing an obvious
pre-race pact between the Williams and McLaren teams in which non involvement
from the McLarens was bartered for a possible race
win, Villeneuve said, "Mika got close to me
but he didn’t want to be part of the fight at
the beginning of the race when he was quicker and he
stayed out of the battle later on in the race, so
when he was in my mirrors, it was a question of
either pushing like a maniac and risking going off
with the way the car was handling or seeing if he
made a move and let him through. He made a move and
David was close also, so I didn’t fight
it."
A Steward’s
enquiry over the incident amounted to nothing more
than ‘a racing accident’, but Jock Clear
Villeneuve’s mechanic put it succinctly when
he said, "How many times have we heard
Michael praised? I hope that there’s enough
praise for the way Jacques drove today because he
outdrove Michael and Michael cracked exactly the same
way as he did in Adelaide in 1994."
If the stewards are
unable to carry out their responsibilities it should
then be up to the FIA to mete out a just punishment.
Schumacher was already racing under a one race
suspended ban and should have been disqualified just
as Villeneuve was, for a far less grievous incident
in Suzuka. The Possible lack of gate money if
Schumacher does not drive in the first two races of
the season could be a reason for such unwarranted
leniency, but the magnitude of the situation had both
cars been ejected from the race does not bear
consideration and cannot be ignored. If the sport is
not to be dragged yet again through the mire of
indolence and corruption, the public if not the
Formula 1 fraternity has to be appeased.
The contention that
Schumacher purposely drove into Championship
contender Damon Hill when he hit a wall in the
Australian Grand Prix, will now be renewed. Frank
Williams never one to make a fuss, for the past
three seasons has kept silent about the incident in Adelaide.
But obviously moved that his protégée had triumphed
through adversity by being, as he put it, "..in
the right place at the right time," he said,
"It was Adelaide revisited. Then it was Damon,
this time it was Jacques."
As the outgoing
World Champion Damon Hill packed his bags and
emptied the TWR locker room, questions have to
be asked about the conduct of a race that was
blatantly interfered with in a two team conspiracy to
make the going easier. It was also a rebuff to Renault who has provided Williams with
the ripest fruit from the tree of superiority for the
last 9 years, giving them 63 race wins. As Renault
Sport President Patrick Faure said, "I
think Renault will be remembered for its
loyalty." Which is more than can be said of
boss Frank Williams. "Formula 1 is no
world of angels," Faure continued. "...it
is possible to respect such values as loyalty and
fair play even in such a demanding environment."
From the trackside observer, it seemed that
Villeneuve was quite capable of holding off
Hakinnen’s advances for the final lap to secure
the race for Renault, but then who knows how the
McLarens would have changed the shape of the race had
they actually raced the Williams as is the bounden
duty of any racing driver?
The Napoleonic Ferrari
team Boss Jean Todt, his face, a perpetual
portrait of anxiety, had tears in his eyes as he
hugged his driver on his early return to the pits. A
great and loyal man, he has been singularly
responsible for putting the Scuderia back on
it’s feet since the death of Enzo Ferrari
and he genuinely believed that the accident that
occurred was just that. "It was a great shame
about the incident that occurred when Villeneuve
tried to pass him." He said. "We
have to accept this as a race incident in a hard
fought situation. We are not demoralised and we are
determined to prepare ourselves well for next
year."
Schumacher added his
congratulations to the winner of a race that the
majority of the motor racing fraternity thought was
his for the taking, so ending Ferrari’s 18 year
championship drought. "I want to congratulate
him (Villeneuve) because he has had a very good
season. At the end of the day he has got the result
and we have to face that." Who now at Ferrari will shake his hand and say "Well
tried Michael.." knowing that he has
besmirched to holy name of the Scuderia in
front of every living Tifosi?
Villeneuve drove with
finely tuned aggression until lap 48 when
determination and courage took over and a little good
fortune was on hand to enable him to have the last
word. "To win the Championship after
disqualification at Suzuka feels great." The
new World Champion said. He could not resist however,
a playful dig at Schumacher’s universally
predicted manoeuvre, when he said finally, "Either
Michael had his eyes closed or somehow his hands
slipped on the steering wheel!"
As Damon Hill stated, "Schumacher
has shown his true colours today." What is
certain is that the scarlet cars that graced the
track up until today will bear a distinctly darker
hue in the coming season.
Chris Richardson
European Grand
Prix, Jerez Oct 26th 1997
Final
Classification (unofficial)
1. Mika Hakkinen
McLaren (average speed 185.240 kph)
2. David Coulthard McLaren
+ 1.654
3. Jacques
Villeneuve Williams + 1.803
4. Gerhard Berger
Benetton + 1.919
5. Eddie Irvine
Ferrari + 3.789
6. Heinz-Harald
Frentzen Williams + 4.537
7. Olivier Panis
Prost +1:7.145
8. Johnny Herbert
Sauber +1:12.961
9. Jan Magnussen Stewart
+1:17.487
10. Shinji Nakano Prost
+1:18.215
11. Giancarlo
Fisichella Jordan +one lap
12. Mika Salo Tyrrell
+one lap
13. Jean Alesi Benetton
+one lap
14. Norberto
Fontana Sauber +one lap
15. Tarso Marques
Minardi +one lap
16. Jos Verstappen
Tyrrell +one lap
17. Ukyo Katayama
Minardi +one lap
Did not finish:
18. Michael
Schumacher Ferrari 47 laps
19. Damon Hill Arrows
47
20. Ralf Schumacher
Jordan 44
21. Rubens
Barrichello Stewart 30
22. Pedro Diniz
Arrows 11
Fastest lap: H H
Frentzen 1:23.135 (average speed 191.745 kph) on lap
30.
