For the 1997 Formula One season, the increased reliability of the F310B enabled Ferrari to challenge for its first Drivers' Championship since Jody Scheckter had won Ferrari's last drivers' title 18 years earlier, in 1979. Michael Schumacher finished on the podium eight times during the course of the season, including five wins, and went into the final round leading Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve by one point. On Lap 48 of the final round of the 1997 season, the 1997 European Grand Prix at Jerez, Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve collided as the latter attempted to overtake for the race lead down the inside of the "Dry Sac" corner. Schumacher retired from the race, and Villeneuve clinched the 1997 Drivers' Championship with a third-place finish. The stewards of the event had initially deemed the collision a racing incident. However, Schumacher was then summoned and disqualified from the 1997 World Drivers' Championship for unsportsmanlike conduct in an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council on 11 November 1997. Ferrari's Constructors' Championship points, however, remained intact, and the team finished second overall. Eddie Irvine, having scored five podiums throughout the season, was classified seventh in the drivers' standings.