Silver Arrows hit
the Bull’s eye
The majority
of the grid seemed to be suffering in this race of
attrition and over-excitement on the part of some
drivers. Chris Richardson reports.
I wonder if Damon Hill,
World Champion of 1996 had ever envisaged sitting
behind not one, but two Minardi Fords at the
start of a Grand Prix. Has he ever practiced a start
from such a lowly position and will his reactions to
the red lights prove to be a bit too quick for the Tyrell
of Mika Salo in front? The ignominy of his
position, proclaimed by the colourful gaggle of cars
stretching before him, does not seem to have dulled
his enthusiasm for wanting to put, what has been
likened in the nicest possible way, as a
‘dog’ , through its paces. It was testament
to his driving skills and the mark of a true Champion
that he managed to qualify his car at all. Now, safe
with the knowledge that ‘Number 1’ cannot
be taken away from him, his often repeated assurances
of loyalty to the team in the face of such appalling
technical weakness, have not diminished in sincerity.
His constant desire to prove himself as ‘a great
driver in a car other than a Williams’ will
provide him with the motivation for attempting to
skip this particular millstone across what will
become a lake of increasing turbulence as the season
progresses.
It was therefore,
perhaps significant, then that the Arrows
never made it past the starting lights. A throttle
failure during the warm up lap saved Hill from an
inevitably embarrassing finishing position in what
could only be described as a fitting and final
scenario to the end of a miserable weekend for Tom
Walkinshaw’s Arrows team. Hill’s final
understatement of the weekend and there have been
many, was: "We’ll have to go away and do a
lot more testing". He did not sound unhappy,
just resigned.
As the lights went out
Jacques Villeneuve’s getaway was
uncharacteristically poor leaving the way for Heinz
Harald Frentzen to hit the clear air first. The
Canadian need not have worried unduly, for a fast
moving Irvine edged his Ferrari up the
inside to the right hand Turn one as Herbert,
lively off the mark, started to pass the Williams
on the left. This gave Villeneuve nowhere to go but
into Herbert’s Sauber forcing both into
the gravel and out of the race. Irvine never made it
to the end of the first lap, retiring with damaged
suspension. In quick succession, as the German led David
Coulthard and Michael Schumacher through
the first couple of laps, younger brother Ralf
Schumacher threw his Jordan away whilst Dutchman Jos
Verstappen sent his Tyrell airborne over a
kerb and hit the gravel. Nakano in the Prost
Mugen Honda was next off, sliding on a grass
verge and putting his nose firmly in the dirt. Six
cars out by lap three and Frentzen with a light fuel
load for a two stop strategy, was walking away with
the race, the remaining Ferrari failing to make any
inroads on Coulthard’s flying McLaren.
Lap 7 saw the first
record broken at 1.32.56 by Frentzen who had taken
out a commanding 14.4 second lead. The other McLaren
of Mika Hakkinen having dropped off the pace
slightly was being worried by the two Benettons who
in turn were being pursued hotly by Olivier Panis
in the highest of the Bridgestone runners. The new
boys weren’t having a very good time of it today
and Fisichella in the other Jordan Peugeot
took his car off trying to late brake Rubens
Barichello’s Stewart to gain 9th
position. The deal with Peugeot for next season now
just got a little further away.
By Lap 18 Frentzen was
in amongst the back markers and was called in for
fresh rubber handing the lead to Coulthard and
rejoining in third behind Schumacher. It was
surprising at this point that the expected gain the
Williams should have made on the Ferrari was not
apparent, the gap stabilising at around 8 seconds.
With Coulthard making a new lap record of 1.31.41 on
lap 29, things didn’t look so rosy in the
Williams camp.
Lap 30 saw Schumacher
into the pits for what was to be a misjudged stop
giving Frentzen second spot, but with Coulthard ahead
with a very useful 12.5 second advantage. The boards
were out for Jean Alesi as Coulthard pitted on
lap 32 and, on the Benetton’s third pass, it was
plain that the team were getting angry and the
Sicilian’s ornery streak was coming to the fore.
By ignoring his instructions to pit, it was obvious
that he was in a world of his own. Frentzen now the
leader once again, but still to make a second stop,
was again unable to capitalise on the clear track and
pull out a few more seconds.
The inevitable
happened of course and the luckless Alesi cruised to
a halt with no fuel left on board. This unforgivable
act of disobedience surely must seal his fate with
team boss Flavio Briatore and it is now
debatable whether he will see out the season with the
team.
The final drama was to
unfold has Frentzen took his second stop. The
overheated brake discs caused a rear wheel nut to
lock taking him 16 seconds to clear the pit,
conceding first place to Coulthard and coming out
third behind Schumacher. Yet again the gap between
The Ferrari and the Williams failed to close
significantly and as Schumacher made a second
unscheduled stop for a ‘splash and dash’
and new tyres it looked like the Williams would at
least make the second step of the podium. This was
not to be. On lap 55 with three to go, braking at the
end of the pit straight for Turn One, Frentzen's left
front disk let go in a cloud of black dust causing a
rapid spin into the dirt and disbelief for the
Williams team. The explanation for his lack of pace
was now obvious.
A jubilant McLaren
crew leapt upon Coulthard as he parked his car in the
victor’s parc ferme alongside 3rd man home and
team mate, Mika Hakkinen. This was the 50th
anniversary for a winless McLaren. The last victory
being taken by Ayrton Senna at Adelaide in
1993. An emotional Ron Dennis spattered with
Champagne said in a faltering voice, "When
you’re in the position we’ve been in for
the past two years and you can’t get anything
right and you get plenty of criticism and sometimes
motivation is a little harder to find, it’s
satisfying to get the job done."
So, a rather
inauspicious start to the season for Williams and one
that none of the experts would have predicted. Both
Coulthard and Schumacher had Irvine to thank for
throwing the race into chaos and providing a points
table that initially at least, will not show a
runaway and uncontested lead to a Williams
championship. They will be back, that is without
doubt and, as Hill may reflect on the plane home
tonight, Boss Frank Williams may not get it
all his own way this season. Unfortunately for Hill
though, it will not be him showing him the way. The
Arrows that won were silver not blue and white.
Chris Richardson
