# 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Autódromo José Carlos Pace near Interlagos, Brazil on 30 March 1997. It was the second race of the 1997 Formula One season. The 72-lap race was won by Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve after he started from pole position. Gerhard Berger finished second for the Benetton team and Prost driver Olivier Panis was third.

## Summary
### Lola withdrawal

Having failed to qualify for the previous race in Australia, things went from bad to worse for Lola as the Huntingdon-based team arrived in Brazil still not having received any money from title sponsor MasterCard. Already several million dollars in debt, the team returned to base without completing a lap of the circuit. As a result of this Lola's driver Ricardo Rosset was unable to compete at his home Grand Prix. A few days later, the team officially withdrew from the championship.

### Qualifying

Jacques Villeneuve took his third consecutive, and his career fifth, pole position after a 1:16.004, over half a second faster than Michael Schumacher in second. Gerhard Berger and Mika Häkkinen completed the second row.

### Race

The race was red-flagged after several incidents at the original start. Jacques Villeneuve went off the track at the first corner. Behind him, an incident involved several drivers including Damon Hill, Eddie Irvine, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jan Magnussen. Irvine took some blame for the incident. Additionally, Rubens Barrichello's car failed on the line, and the track blockage was what ultimately caused the red flag. Barrichello took the restart in the spare Stewart, causing Magnussen to miss the race.
The race was restarted with all 72 laps still remaining. Villeneuve had a clean start, as did the rest of the field. At the end of the first lap Villeneuve passed Michael Schumacher to retake the lead. Later before the first pit stops Berger would also pass Schumacher down the pit straight into the first corner. Irvine came into the pits mid-race, having been suffering from enormous pain due to his belts tightening up in the cockpit.
Damon Hill was once again affected by reliability issues, his engine failing with four laps remaining. He was running in fourth place at one point, but had slipped down the field before retiring in the pits with an engine bay fire caused by an oil leak. The winner of the previous race, David Coulthard, was off the pace and finished in 10th place.

## Classification
### Qualifying

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 3 | Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Renault | 1:16.004 | |
| 2 | 5 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:16.594 | +0.590 |
| 3 | 8 | Gerhard Berger | Benetton-Renault | 1:16.644 | +0.640 |
| 4 | 9 | Mika Häkkinen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:16.692 | +0.688 |
| 5 | 14 | Olivier Panis | Prost-Mugen-Honda | 1:16.756 | +0.752 |
| 6 | 7 | Jean Alesi | Benetton-Renault | 1:16.757 | +0.753 |
| 7 | 12 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Jordan-Peugeot | 1:16.912 | +0.908 |
| 8 | 4 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Williams-Renault | 1:16.971 | +0.967 |
| 9 | 1 | Damon Hill | Arrows-Yamaha | 1:17.090 | +1.086 |
| 10 | 11 | Ralf Schumacher | Jordan-Peugeot | 1:17.175 | +1.171 |
| 11 | 22 | Rubens Barrichello | Stewart-Ford | 1:17.259 | +1.255 |
| 12 | 10 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:17.262 | +1.258 |
| 13 | 16 | Johnny Herbert | Sauber-Petronas | 1:17.409 | +1.405 |
| 14 | 6 | Eddie Irvine | Ferrari | 1:17.527 | +1.523 |
| 15 | 15 | Shinji Nakano | Prost-Mugen-Honda | 1:17.999 | +1.995 |
| 16 | 2 | Pedro Diniz | Arrows-Yamaha | 1:18.095 | +2.091 |
| 17 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Minardi-Hart | 1:18.336 | +2.332 |
| 18 | 20 | Ukyo Katayama | Minardi-Hart | 1:18.557 | +2.553 |
| 19 | 17 | Nicola Larini | Sauber-Petronas | 1:18.644 | +2.640 |
| 20 | 23 | Jan Magnussen | Stewart-Ford | 1:18.773 | +2.769 |
| 21 | 18 | Jos Verstappen | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:18.885 | +2.881 |
| 22 | 19 | Mika Salo | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:19.274 | +3.270 |
| 107% time: 1:21.324 ||||||
| Source: ||||||

### Race

| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 3 | Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Renault | 72 | 1:36:06.990 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 8 | Gerhard Berger | Benetton-Renault | 72 | +4.190 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 14 | Olivier Panis | Prost-Mugen-Honda | 72 | +15.870 | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | 9 | Mika Häkkinen | McLaren-Mercedes | 72 | +33.033 | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 5 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 72 | +33.731 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | 7 | Jean Alesi | Benetton-Renault | 72 | +34.020 | 6 | 1 |
| 7 | 16 | Johnny Herbert | Sauber-Petronas | 72 | +50.912 | 13 | |
| 8 | 12 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Jordan-Peugeot | 72 | +1:00.639 | 7 | |
| 9 | 4 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Williams-Renault | 72 | +1:15.402 | 8 | |
| 10 | 10 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 71 | +1 Lap | 12 | |
| 11 | 17 | Nicola Larini | Sauber-Petronas | 71 | +1 Lap | 19 | |
| 12 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Minardi-Hart | 71 | +1 Lap | 17 | |
| 13 | 19 | Mika Salo | Tyrrell-Ford | 71 | +1 Lap | 22 | |
| 14 | 15 | Shinji Nakano | Prost-Mugen-Honda | 71 | +1 Lap | 15 | |
| 15 | 18 | Jos Verstappen | Tyrrell-Ford | 70 | +2 Laps | 21 | |
| 16 | 6 | Eddie Irvine | Ferrari | 70 | +2 Laps | 14 | |
| 17 | 1 | Damon Hill | Arrows-Yamaha | 68 | Engine | 9 | |
| 18 | 20 | Ukyo Katayama | Minardi-Hart | 67 | +5 Laps | 18 | |
| Ret | 11 | Ralf Schumacher | Jordan-Peugeot | 52 | Electrical | 10 | |
| Ret | 22 | Rubens Barrichello | Stewart-Ford | 16 | Suspension | 11 | |
| Ret | 2 | Pedro Diniz | Arrows-Yamaha | 15 | Suspension | 16 | |
| DNS | 23 | Jan Magnussen | Stewart-Ford | 0 | Collision | 20 | |
| Source: ||||||||

## Championship standings after the race

| Pos | Driver | Points |
| 1 | David Coulthard | 10 |
| 2 | Jacques Villeneuve | 10 |
| 3 | Gerhard Berger | 9 |
| 4 | Michael Schumacher | 8 |
| 5 | Mika Häkkinen | 7 |
| Source: |||
| Pos | Constructor | Points |
| 1 | McLaren-Mercedes | 17 |
| 2 | Benetton-Renault | 10 |
| 3 | Williams-Renault | 10 |
| 4 | Ferrari | 8 |
| 5 | Prost-Mugen-Honda | 6 |
| Source: |||
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.