1997 Formula One Season

The **1997 Formula One season** was the 48th season of Formula One motor racing. The championship was contested concurrently over a ten race series that commenced on 23rd March and ended on 12th October.

Otto Makkinen entered the season as the defending champion, with Ferrari as the defending Constructors' champion.

Jack Wilson won his fourth title, with McLaren winning the Constructors' Championship.

## Pre-Season

Louis Kempton lost his seat at Minardi with just weeks until the start of the season after he failed a random FIA drug test. The test showed that he had taken several banned substances including Methylphenidate, Lisdexamfetamine and Buprenorphine. Kempton was replaced by Mistral Vernati, a young Italian driver. Vernati completed a private test with the team at Imola before flying to Australia for the first event.

## Season Summary

### **Round 1: Australia**

Minardi's new driver Mistral Vernati surprised everyone by taking the first pole position of the new season, with Rodrigo Morais in second and Jack Wilson in third.

The first lap saw a huge pileup on the exit of turn one after Rico Filippi and Ezequiel Zarco lost control and span. Ezequiel slammed into Filippi, with the smoke and debris of their crash obscuring the track. Jasper Saetern, who had made up several positions off the line, drove unsighted into the smoke and crashed head-on into Filippi at high speed. The crash threw Saetern's Ford into the air and he was extricated from the car by medics before being taken to hospital.

Vernati had held onto the lead on the opening lap before being passed by Wilson at the end of lap two and the two drivers remained closely matched until Vernati passed Wilson around the outside into turn nine. Vernati would stay in the lead of the race until the end. The event became a race of attrition as a further four drivers would retire in the next laps. Jean-Luc De Witt, making his first start for Jordan, crashed heavily at the end of lap four after he was caught out by the aggressive defence of Ligier's Conor Byrne. De Witt hit a concrete wall and broke his arm in the accident which would force him to miss the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Rodrigo Morais and Alexander Parker opted to choose the aggressive strategy of using the soft tyres using the race. Both were in high positions as the race entered the final laps. Jack Wilson crashed out from second place on lap 25, allowing Parker to move up to second. However, he slowed drastically on the penulimate lap and was seen to be lifting and coasting to conserve fuel. Florian Delacroix, Williams' new driver, also had fuel problems at the same time due to a miscalculation at his pitstop. Both drivers attempted to reach the finish but ran out of fuel. However, they were classified due to finishing more than 90% of the race. Mistral Vernati won the race, becoming the first driver since Rolph Mills to win in their debut event, with Rodrigo Morais in second and reigning champion Otto Makkinen in third. Tyrrell's Gerard Schwartz had a strong finish in fourth place.

Jasper Saetern, who had been involved in a serious crash on lap one, had been knocked unconscious in the accident and was rushed to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. Doctors discovered that he had suffered a basilar skull fracture after hitting his head off the steering wheel and his life support was switched off at 7:29pm as the sun set. He was the first Formula One driver to lose their life in an accident since Soren Vinter at the 1994 British Grand Prix. The FIA immediately announced an investigation into the accident amid safety concerns in the sport.

### **Round 2: Brazil**

Jack Wilson narrowly snatched pole position from Timo Pakkinen and Alexander Parker, with the top three separated by just over a tenth, but it was Parker who took the race victory, beating Wilson to the flag. The race saw the debut of Stine Olander, Bartholomew Smythe and Andy Horne due to the fallout of accidents in Australia, which had caused a ripple of driver movement throughout the grid.

### **Round 3: San Marino**

Reigning champion Otto Makkinen crashed heavily at *Acque Minerale* during practice after experiencing a suspension failure on the exit of the corner. He was rushed to hospital with a suspected fractured leg, forcing him to miss the rest of the weekend. Parker took his second win in a row, ahead of Delacroix, with Wilson in 3rd.

### **Round 4: Portugal**

Makkinen returned sooner than expected after his heavy crash in Imola. He qualified well, putting his McLaren into sixth on the grid, less than half a second off polesitter Alexander Parker. Jack Wilson returned to the top spot, after Parker was involved in an incident early on and retired. Makkinen took home 2nd place on his return, completing a McLaren 1-2. Olander would score her first points and the first points for a woman in F1 since Émilie Levesque in the 1989 Japanese GP.

### **Round 5: Britain**

Alexander Parker bounced back in the British Grand Prix to take the victory, with Jack Wilson 2nd. Makkinen rounded out the podium.

### **Round 6: Germany**

The German Grand Prix saw Otto Makkinen take win number 1 of the year, despite Jordan's Jean-Luc de Witt taking pole position. De Witt would retire, leaving the door open for Makkinen to take the win ahead of Delacroix and Wilson. Delacroix had originally crossed the line first, but later lost the victory due to a time penalty for an incident with Collin McDougall.

### **Round 7: Belgium**

Alexander Parker took pole in Belgium, but it was Jack Wilson who was triumphant, just beating championship rival Parker to the chequered flag. McDougall took his first podium of the season after passing Tatsuno Takamori late in the race.