Family get together
diminishes Schumacher’s chances of a third title
as Mclaren’s demise gives Villeneuve a third
lucky win.
"I was very surprised
to see David next to me before I was in second
gear!" Jacques Villeneuve on
Coulthard’s speedy start.
"It’s so
brick slow down the straights it’s unreal."
Eddie Irvine on his Ferrari
As a disappointed McLaren team manager Ron Dennis
said, "To finish first, first you’ve got
to finish," and as statistics go, Pole
sitter and birthday boy Mika Hakinnen
hadn’t got a chance. From the off, the Finn
flew, taking the race all the way to lap 43 before
parking at the pit lane exit with a blown engine. "To
be competitive you have got to pay a price."
Said a despondent Hakinnen. "It’s not
easy to take. You get nothing for free. But you still
have to keep going and smiling."
The signs were ominous
too, for Schumacher from the word go and a set of
circumstances manifesting themselves in a
synchronised course of events, effectively put him
out of the running for a third driver’s
championship title.
Leaving his pit garage
to join the grid for the start of the race, he
clipped a jack which rebounded into a Tyrrell mechanic, breaking his
shoulder bone. After ascertaining the health of said
person, his car was briefly checked for damage and he
proceeded to take his place on the grid. Immediately
in front, Giancarlo Fisichella’s Jordan Peugeot was having trouble with his
clutch. To his right sat David Coulthard in
the silver McLaren and behind, not too far, was
his young brother Ralf, Fisichella’s team mate,
in the second Jordan. It was Schumacher’s 100th
Grand Prix. It was also Mika Hakinnen’s
birthday.
As the red lights went
out the predestined events began to unfold like the
long black trails of rubber on the track. Hakinnen
shot away with alarming speed followed by Jacques
Villenueve in the Williams who, despite his much
publicised practice starts at Silverstone last
week, still couldn’t get it right.
Coulthard’s silver dart left an unsettled
Schumacher’s side and finding all the gaps, both
left and right of Fisichella and Frentzen, took off
after the Canadian rounding the first right hander
ahead, on the inside. He wasn’t stopping to see
if the way was clear and Frentzen, now gaining speed
towards the end of the straight and drawing alongside
Villeneuve, who was being pushed a little by
Coulthard, touched his team mate briefly, but
maintained station. In the confusion six cars trailed
past him leaving the dazed driver in 9th with a lot
of serious motoring ahead. "Jacques and I
banged wheels together at the start as it was pretty
tight. I think I made a better start, but I didn't
want to take any chances going into the first corner
and take anybody off - especially Jacques!"
Said Frentzen. "Unfortunately I knocked the
ignition off and although I quickly realised what had
happened, by then there were many cars in front of
me. I was pretty disappointed at that stage but step
by step we made it back up." Fate continued
to play it’s hand and the very thoughts that
went through Frentzen’s mind were far from the
mental capabilities of Ralf Schumacher who was
about to find himself embroiled in a similar set of
events.
Fisichella, sluggish
of the 2nd row with his faulty clutch, was caught at
the same spot by the quicker Jordan of his team mate starting 2 rows
further back and having already passed brother
Michael, was coming up fast on the outside. The Ferrari caught the Jordan again, on
the outside of the bend and the three cars met with
inevitable consequences. Fisichella had nowhere to go
on the inside, Schumacher junior had nowhere to go in
the middle and they touched but unlike Frentzen, he
rebounded off the Italian’s car and into his
brother, launching his rear wheel over the top of the
Germans head. He hit the gravel before his brother
who, keeping it together drove back onto the track.
With damaged steering and suspension, he was forced
later, over rumble strips at the Veedol Chicane
and effectively out of the race 2 laps later. Ralf
Schumacher id also to face a steward’s enquiry
over a ‘track crossing incident’ without
being under the marshalls’ direction, zero
points.
Never one to fully
take the blame as he has illustrated several times in
the past and reminiscent of his brother in times gone
by, he said, "It was a normal start incident.
I made my best start of my career so far and had
moved up to fifth place. We all braked a bit late at
the first corner and there was just not enough
room." He went on, "I was hit by
Giancarlo, not on purpose and my car jumped up in the
air, I hit Michael and we were all off. It was
potentially quite dangerous, so I suppose we should
be quite happy no one was hurt. The consequences were
bad for our team and for my brother Michael."
Amazingly and despite
some door slamming anger as the German saw his
championship chances evaporate, Schumacher met the
press later, calmly, giving the benefit of the doubt
to his brother. "He was going for his own way
on this." He said. "There was
Fisichella trying to overtake Ralf as well, and he
just went too tight. I do not like to accuse anyone,
but I did everything to get out of the incident and
could not. It was an accident. These things can
happen and that is motor racing."
Hakinnen meanwhile,
must have been smiling, as he gradually pulled out a
lead over team mate Coulthard and 3rd placed
Villeneuve. Stewart driver Rubens Barichello
managing to avoid the first corner carnage, was being
shadowed by Jean Alesi another lucky escapee some ten
seconds behind. The not so lucky Gerhard Berger
starting 2 places behind, was forced to take to the
gravel to avoid the incident, dropping down the order
to 8th. "I think I was a little
unlucky." Said Berger. "I managed to
get around the first accident(Frentzen &
Villeneuve), but then the two Jordan cars collided
and with Michael's Ferrari in the middle, I had to go
left to avoid a big crash and ended in the grass. It
was very difficult to get back on the track and in
the mean time I lost a lot of positions. Slowly, I
started to gain more, but lap times were very close
and I could not do better than I did."
After Alesi, a long
queue formed behind the Stewart of Jan Magnussen,
driving the race of his short career and managing to
keep the pack at bay without braking any rules. "It
was hard to keep Hill behind me." Magnussen
said. "But it’s a lot more fun to run at
the sharp end and for two weeks in a row we have
shown we are capable of it." The Stewart
team have demonstrated a steady growth in stature
over recent races and despite airing their engine
development failures in public, they have produced
some superb moments. Sadly a broken drive shaft was
to cause the early retirement of the young Dane on
lap 39.
Hakinnen continued to
fly off into the misty distance setting 7
unchallenged fastest laps and by the time of the
first pit stops for the Benettons on laps 18 and 21, he had a
12 second advantage over Coulthard who was just
keeping abreast of 3rd placed Villeneuve by a shade
over a second.
Pit stops for both
Villeneuve and Hakinnen (who’s team cleverly
spotted that Williams were getting ready to pull
their driver in), on lap 28, gave The Scot a
temporary lead before he pitted 4 laps later. With
4th placed Barichello some 34 seconds down, the Finn
rejoined the race behind Coulthard and in front of
Villeneuve to eventually regain the lead.
World Champion Damon
Hill was in the points, when he pitted and
stalled his engine, almost certainly costing him as
it turned out, a podium finish. "I stalled
the car in the pits which was just pathetic."
Said the ever honest Mr Hill. "I’m
pretty upset about that as I would have scored some
points." Tom Walkinshaw was probably pretty upset too
especially as Pedro Diniz managed a fine drive
to take two championship points. Another three or
four from Hill would have made it a worthwhile
weekend. Despite a late charge up to the 7th placed Sauber-Petronas of Johnny Herbert, by the end
of the race, he finished a second away from a points
score.
Fighting a sluggish
Ferrari down in 11th place, Eddie Irvine’s
engine cut out on lap 22at the Dunlop Kurve.
Extremely angry and heedless of the repercussions it
might have, his emotions got the better of him as he
exploded with frustration. "With Williams
coming on strong, Bridgestone coming on strong and
the McLarens flying, it’s knocking us on the
head. It’s going to take a miracle now and on
recent form you have to say that we’re not even
in the same race!" His eyes were covered by
reflective sunglasses but one sensed the spark of
anger that they obscured. "The car was
atrocious, the worse I’ve ever had in a race. It
oversteered and understeered. It’s so brick slow
down the straights it’s unreal." The
bosses at Ferrari won’t be in any mood to
take comments like that especially after the
unfortunate incident at the start and now with their
championship chances hanging by such a fine thread,
but, like Alain Prost in 1990, who got fired
from the team for his negative comments, he felt they
had to be said.
This time
Coulthard’s luck ran out when his engine
exploded in a big way on lap 42 in front of the
Grandstand and no doubt all Mercedes’ invited finery. Philosophical
as ever he said, "If you are going faster
than the rest and we have shown that we were the
quickest package this weekend, you must be closer to
the edge and unfortunately we were too close
today." He didn’t realise how close he
was, for a lap later and in an uncannily similar
fashion to the two Prosts of Nakano and
Trulli in Austria, Hakinnen’s
engine too let go, a few hundred yards further along
the straight at the exit to the pit lane. Magnificent
in yet another devastating defeat, Hakinnen echoed
the words of his team mate. "I was all the
time following the pit boards and saving the tyres
and the engine. McLaren Mercedes want to be the best
so you always expect some failures, just as I want to
be the best and I make some mistakes too."
Rubens Barichello
retired also on lap 43 from a fine 3rd position with
a loss of hydraulic pressure, allowing the bewildered
Alesi to bounce into 2nd position after his team mate
Gerhard Berger, made his 2nd pit
stop. "I saw on my pit board ‘P2’
and I didn’t believe it, because before the stop
I was 8th! I had all the Bridgestone cars in front
and it was impossible to pass." In like
manner Heinz Harald Frentzen popped up into
3rd having languished in the lower points region
until the latter half of the race, when he started to
push and scored a fastest race lap of 1:18.805s.
At a stroke Williams
had both cars on the podium and with only 6 points
needed, have all but clinched the Constructors
Championship. A smiling team boss Frank Williams however, doesn’t
agree. "I’m sorry for Ron Dennis and
McLaren Mercedes." He Said. "Personally
I’m here for the constructor’s championship
and we haven’t won that by a long way." With
20 points on offer, Schumacher has to finish 2nd or
higher in front of Villeneuve to have any reasonable
chance at the drivers title and as it looks as though
Ferrari’s form has definitely taken a dive over
the passed two races, the two times champion has an
almost impossible task on his hands. It must have
been a bitter pill for the German to take seeing an
opportunity wasted. The misfortunes of the McLarens
could so easily have worked to his advantage as well.
The fact that Ferrari’s development programme was so
successful leading up to the Belgium Grand Prix, more
or less forced Schumacher into thinking that he had
more than a chance at the crown. It was always
Schumacher’s belief that 1998 would be the year
to challenge for the championship. If he were to win
it this year and it now looks doubtful it would be
Schumacher alone and not Ferrari that would deserve
the accolade.
With a win in Japan in
a fortnight’s time Villeneuve would take the
crown. He has massive experience from his F3000 days
there and it should be an easier race than most for
him to win. Last year he was forced out with a loose
wheel nut, enabling Hill to go on to win the race and
the Championship. Mindful of this, Williams will not
be so careless this time around and whilst mistakes
have abounded this year, it is still Williams
championship to lose rather than Ferrari’s to
win.
Chris Richardson
zoom@yeahright-no-sorry.com
Final results
Luxembourg Grand Prix
Nurburgring Sept
28th 1997
1. Jacques
Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:31.27.843s
2. Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault
+ 11.770s
3. Heinz-Harald
Frentzen Williams-Renault + 13.480s
4. Gerhard Berger
Benetton-Renault + 16.416s
5. Pedro Paulo
Diniz Arrows-Yamaha + 43.147s
6. Olivier Panis
Prost-Mugen-Honda + 43.750s
7. Johnny Herbert
Sauber + 44.354s
8. Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha
+ 44.777s
9. Gianni
Morbidelli Sauber-Petronas + one lap
10. Mika Salo Tyrrell-Ford
+ one lap
Others not
classified
