1997 Formula One World Championships

For the first and only time in history, Formula One held two coincident World Championships in the same season. Some Grand Prix were ran twice, with "A" GPs counting for the "A" championship and "B" GPs counting for the "B" championship..

## The World Championship "A"

This championship started with shocking news: the defending world Champion, Damon Hill, was unable to find a seat elsewhere, as Arrows filled its second seat with the rookie Arrows Boiz.

### Australian GP "A"/"A1"

Jacques Villeneuve started the year with a statement, scoring the first pole position of the season in a Strong Williams car. Despite this, he finished the race third, behind his teammate Frentzen and the race winner Michael Schumacher. Arrows Boiz was the name of the race, scoring a fourth place in addition to the fastest lap of the race, despite colliding with his teammate Pedro Diniz while lapping him. Irvine and Alesi finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
For some (still unknown) reason, while the teams were already in Brazil, the FIA decided the race had to be re-run and scrap the results from the previous Australian GP "A". Michael Schumacher started from pole this time, but would end in the sixth place, as Boiz improved his result by being not only the second driver to win on his debut (or not?), but also tie a record by winning after starting 22nd in the grid. Second place went to Eddie Irvine, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished third. Jacques Villeneuve finished fourth and Gerhard Berger finished fifth.

### Brazilian GP "A"/"A1"

While the Brazilian GP "A" was controversially aborted in the Saturday, right after the start of the qualifying session, the "A1" Grand Prix started with Villeneuve scoring his first counting pole position in the season. Both Arrows cars struggled, with Boiz starting last once again. Once again the pole sitter didn't won the race, this time the honours went to Michael Schumacher, while Villeneuve finished second. Alesi and Berger got third and fourth place for Benetton, Irvine finished fifth and Coulthard finished sixth for McLaren's first championship points.

### Argentinian GP "A"

Michael Schumacher won pole position in another weekend of struggles for Boiz, and dominated in the heavy rain, conquering a grand slam in one of his most memorable career victories. Frentzen came second, fifteen seconds behind. Villeneuve came third. Irvine, Hakkinen and Berger finished one second apart to complete the point scorers.

### San Marino GP "A"

Jacques Villeneuve started from pole in another difficult saturday for Boiz, who, despite qualifying nearly ten seconds slower, was allowed to race due to threatening the stewards. Boiz ended retiring after a spin caused by gearbox problems. Villeneuve won, followed by Michael Schumacher, Alesi, Berger, Coulthard and Frentzen.

### Monaco GP "A"

Heavy rain in the qualifying session meant the starting grid were full of surprises: Arrows Boiz scored his career's first pole position by six seconds, basically meaning everyone else would be outside the 107% threshold, forcing the FIA stewards to disconsider it. Olivier Panis started fourth, hoping to repeat the victory he achieved last year. The third row was formed by Rubens Barrichello and Shinji Nakano. Despite predictions of even more rain, Sunday presented a very hot climate. Boiz started the race pushing his car towards the second place Alesi, pullign away in the first lap, but was pressed by Michael Schumacher during the entire second lap. Schumacher would actually pass Boiz in the Grand Hotel hairpin on the third lap, but ended being punted by Boiz by Portier. Note that Alesi also nearly passed Boiz, but the Frenchman hit the British driver's Arrows while Boiz was turning into the hairpin. Alesi would have another opportunity to take the lead late in that lap when Boiz made a mistake in the Rascasse, but ended colliding with the Arrows again. On the fifth lap, Barrichello had an opportunity to pass Boiz after he made an error on the Mirabeau Haute, but both ended colliding, with the Brazilian's car ending pointing in the wrong way, basically giving the unscathed Boiz his second victory of the season. Barrichello ended second, also scoring the fastest lap of the race. Gerhard Berger would complete the podium, with his Benetton teammate Alesi finishing fourth. Prost achieved its first double points finish with Panis fifth and Nakano sixth. It was the second consecuive year where neither Ferrari or Williams managed to score points at Monaco, and the first Grand Prix in a long time without them and McLaren scoring any points.

## The World Championship "B"

The main changes in comparison to the 1996 season were the current Champion Damon Hill racing for Arrows, while Ferrari hired the British Bamble Wanglebork to pair Michael Schumacher, with Eddie Irvine being relegated to a testing role.

### Australian GP "B"

Wanglebork shut down the critics from nearly every media outlet by sensationally winning pole position on his very first race in the season's opening in Australia, and setting the fastest lap and fighting for the victory until the very end of the race, when leader Jacques Villeneuve got caught struggling to lap a Minardi, easily giving the lead to Wanglebork. The British driver's luck, however, ended very shortly, as just after entering the pit straight for the very last time to receive the checkered flag, his engine suffered a fuel line failure, preventing him from even reaching the checkered flag. Villeneuve won a close duel with Michael Schumacher, with Jean Alesi completing the podium. Frentzen, Hakkinen and Berger rounding the point scorers.

### Brazilian GP "B"

The second Grand Prix "B" of the season started with a dominant qualifying performance by Villeneuve, while Wanglebork struggled with his Ferrari, starting last on the grid. The Brit managed to finish tenth, while Gerhard Berger scored his first win in three seasons. Ralf Schumacher completed a wonderful weekend by finishing only 0.048 ahead of Villeneuve for the second place, while Coulthard, Hakkinen and Frentzen also scored.

### Argentinian GP "B"

Gerhard Berger won his second race in a row, this time starting from pole, followed by Villeneuve, Michael and Ralf Schumacher, Frentzen and Alesi. Wanglebork struggled with the car all weekend, retiring in the first lap after losing his front wang.

### San Marino GP "B"

Villeneuve returned to pole position at Imola, frustrating the Italian fans by scoring a win without difficulties. Michael Schumacher finished second, with Frentzen completing the podium. Alesi, Berger and Ralf Schumacher completed the points finishers, while Wanglebork scored the race's fastest lap.

### Monaco GP "B"

Ferrari got the second pole position of the season with Michael Schumacher. The race was red flagged in the fourth lap after Bamble Wanglebork's Ferrari crashed on Rascasse. Jean Alesi scored his second career win, followed by Michael Schumacher and Berger. For the first time this season, Frentzen finished ahead of Villeneuve, with Fisichella finishing sixth.

### Spanish GP "B"

Benetton and Williams entered the sixth GP of the season tied at 45 points for the Constructors' Championship, while Villeneuve held a five point lead over Berger on the Drivers' Championship standings. Meanwhile, media rumours about Williams and Ferrari's apparent insatisfaction with Frentzen and Wanglebork, respectively, agitated the paddock during the weekend. The Williams driver quickly answered those rumors with a pole position, while the Ferrari driver once again qualified last, nearly eight seconds shy of Frentzen's time. The German won his first race with Williams after holding off Jean Alesi by less than one tenth of a second, even with the Frenchman making the fastest lap of the race. Villeneuve finished third and Berger finished fourth, with Michael and Ralf Schumacher completing the points finishers.

### Canadian GP "B"

With the pressure building on, Wanglebork received an ultimatum from the Ferrari board: score points at Montreal or be replaced immediately by Eddie Irvine. He answered by starting fourth on the grid, his best qualifying position since the season's opener, although still nearly one second off Villeneuve, who was the only driver to put a lap under 1:15. Despite this, Ferrari dominated the race, getting its first 1-2 finish of the season. Michael Schumacher won by one second, with Wanglebork scoring his first points of the season, in addition to another fastest lap. Villeneuve and Frentzen had no answer to the dominant Ferrari, finishing, respectively, 11 and 17 seconds behind. Berger and Ralf Schumacher were the final points scorers.

### French GP "B"

Villeneuve scored another pole position in a dominant fashion, eight tenths of a second ahead of his teammate Frentzen. Their dominance continued in the race, with a 1-2 finish with Villeneuve winning once again. Michael Schumacher finished third, with Alesi, Hakkinen and Berger scoring points. Once again Wanglebork suffered problems with his car all weekend long, retiring after starting dead last.

### British GP "B"

Jacques Villeneuve has opened a 12-point lead over the second place on the Drivers' Championship, who was now Michael Schumacher. This rise has coincided with a fall of Benetton's drivers, and another evidence to strengthen this point was made when Schumacher qualified second, only 0.018 shy of Villeneuve's pole. Berger also had hopes of returning to the winners' circle after qualifying third. But the Austrian's luck ended in the very last lap, when he was punted by Wanglebork while fighting for the third place. The final order of the race was: Villeneuve, Alesi, Wanglebork (who also made the fastest lap of the race), Frentzen, Berger, Hakkinen. For the first race since Brazil "B", Michael Schumacher didn't scored a point, putting him 22 points behind Villeneuve in the Drivers' Championship. Williams now had a 27-point lead over Benetton in the Constructors' Championship.

### German GP "B"

In one of the most surprising and dominant qualifying performances ever, Wanglebork won pole position by four seconds over his teammate Michael Schumacher. He conquered his career's first victory with a grand slam by finishing nearly 17 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher, while Fisichella scored his career's first podium with a third place. Villeneuve finished fourth in a lackluster weekend for Williams, while Hakkinen and Ralf Schumacher were the final point scorers. After a bad start, Ferrari were already third in the Construtors' Championship, although behind Williams by 34 points.

### Hungarian GP "B"

Williams got back to form with a pole position by Villeneuve, while Wanglebork returned to his struggling ways by qualifying last again. In the race, Bamble Wanglebork became the first driver in the se to be disqualified from a race. Alesi won his second race of the season. Villeneuve and Frentzen completed the podium, while Berger, Fisichella and Michael Schumacher completed the points scorers.

### Belgian GP "B"

Once again Villeneuve started from pole position, what definitely helped him to hold off Alesi and Michael Schumacher in a very close finish. Berger, Wanglebork (who also has scored the fastest lap) and Ralf Schumacher also scored points. For reasons connected to a protest due to Zolder not being part of the calendar, this was the last race of the "B" season.

### "B" season Final Standings

Jacques Villeneuve won his only Drivers' Championship with 79 points, 30 ahead of his closest competitors Michael Schumacher and Jean Alesi. Gerhard Berger finished fourth with 41 points, while Frentzen scored two less. Bamble Wanglebork finished his only season in the sport sixth, with 22 points.

Williams was the only team to finish with over 100 points, scoring 118 points on the way to another Constructors' Championship. Benetton finished second with 90, while Ferrari finished third with 71. Jordan finished fourth with astonishing fifty points less than Ferrari, meanwhile McLaren kept struggling with only twelve points all season long.