1997 Formula One World Championship (Alt)

This is a fictional account of an alternative version of the 1997 F1 season. For the real 1997 season, see the 1997 Formula One World Championship

The **1997 FIA Formula One World Championship** was the 51st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It commenced on 9 March and ended on 26 October after seventeen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Jacques Villeneuve and the Constructors' Championship was awarded to Williams-Renault.

The 1997 Formula One calendar featured two new events in the Luxembourg Grand Prix, as well as the Austrian Grand Prix, the latter of which returned to the calendar after a ten-year absence. The only race exiting the calendar was the Portuguese Grand Prix after 13 years raced at the Autódromo do Estoril.

Future race winners, Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli made their debut in this season.

## Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship.

**B** = Bridgestone, **G** = Goodyear

### Team changes

**Stewart debuts.** A new team came into Formula One in 1997: Stewart, who arrived with the backing of the Ford Motor Company.

**Ligier -> Prost, Footwork -> Arrows. Arrows: Hart -> Yamaha, Tyrrell: Yamaha -> Ford.** The former Ligier was sold from Flavio Briatore to Alain Prost and became Prost; while Footwork reverted to the "Arrows" name and switched from the Hart engines used in 1996 to Yamaha engines. Tyrrell changed their engines as well, swapping the Yamaha engines in preference to the Ford engines. Jordan-Peugeot signed up highly rated British engineer Dr John Davis. He helped the team with its new windtunnel facility at Brackley, the tunnel itself was funded by Ferrari in exchange for Eddie Irvine who moved to Ferrari the previous year. Sauber, in partnership with new sponsor Petronas, formed Sauber Petronas Engineering and through the newly established engineering company secured the licensing rights to engine and gearbox components from Ferrari, allowing them to build and run nearly identical units to those used in the Ferraris. The engines were branded as *Petronas*, in deference to the role the company played in their development.

Bridgestone entered into F1 and supplied tyres to Arrows, Prost, Minardi, Stewart and Lola.

### Pre-season changes

* **Arrows**: The biggest news at the beginning of the 1997 season was Damon Hill, 1996 champion, being dropped by Williams in favour of Jacques Villeneuve. Hill was partnered with Brazilian Pedro Diniz, who lost his seat to Villeneuve the previous year. Ricardo Rosset left F1, while Jos Verstappen found a home at Tyrrell Racing.
* **Williams**: The champion team dismissed the 1996 World Champion Damon Hill and employed Jacques Villeneuve, the Canadian whom the team had wanted to sign for several years, to partner Ayrton Senna.
* **Prost** (ex-Ligier): Reliant on their Japanese engine partners Mugen-Honda, Shinji Nakano, a Japanese driver, joined Prost to partner Olivier Panis for the season; Nakano replaced Villeneuve who went to Williams.
* **Jordan**: The Irish team changed their driver line-up for 1997. Ralf Schumacher, Michael's younger brother, was given the team leader's seat; he was rumoured to be partnered with Nigel Mansell, but the 1992 champion rejected the offer. Instead, Jordan went for Giancarlo Fisichella, who had raced for the Alfa Romeo factory team in the International Touring Car Championship the previous year, as well as making some appearances for Minardi. Rubens Barrichello went to a new team, Stewart Grand Prix, while Martin Brundle was unable to find a seat and reluctantly retired, taking up a position as a television broadcaster.
* **Tyrrell**: Ukyo Katayama left Tyrrell for Minardi and was replaced by Jos Verstappen, previously of Footwork. Mika Salo was retained.
* **Minardi**: Minardi ran Italian rising star Jarno Trulli alongside Ukyo Katayama, who had moved from Tyrrell, for the 1997 season. The announcement of the Italian filled the final seat in the 1997 Formula 1 World Championship. The decision was made after Minardi released his promising countryman Giancarlo Fisichella from his contract so that he could join Jordan. Having signed Ukyo Katayama, and his Mild Seven sponsorship, for one seat, owner Giancarlo Minardi felt that his team needed a young Italian and Trulli was the obvious choice for Minardi. Katayama replaced Pedro Lamy, who moved into the FIA GT Championship.
* **Stewart:** The first of the two new teams, Stewart, hired Rubens Barrichello from Jordan, and partnered him with Jan Magnussen. Magnussen had raced in CART in 1996, but had appeared in one F1 race in 1995 for McLaren, substituting for an unwell Mika Häkkinen.
* **Forti:** The Italian team ceased to exist midway through 1996, and neither of their drivers, Luca Badoer and Andrea Montermini, were able to find a seat for 1997. Badoer moved into the FIA GT Championship, while Montermini became a test driver for Lola. Badoer would eventually return to F1 in 1999 with Minardi.
* Ferrari (Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine), Benetton (Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger) and McLaren (Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard) retained their 1996 line-ups.

Mid-season changes
* The Lola team folded after the Australian Grand Prix, leaving Ricardo Rosset and Vincenzo Sospiri out of a drive. Rosset returned to F1 in 1998 with Tyrrell, while Sospiri saw out the 1997 season in IndyCar with Team Scandia.
* Gerhard Berger fell ill before the Canadian Grand Prix and was unable to race for Benetton. He was replaced by countryman Alexander Wurz. Berger ultimately missed three races as he recovered from the illness and the death of his father, before returning at the German Grand Prix. Wurz would get a full-time drive with the team in 1998, as Berger retired at the end of this season.

* During the Canadian Grand Prix, Prost's Olivier Panis crashed heavily and broke his leg. He was replaced by Minardi driver Jarno Trulli, who in turn was replaced by Tarso Marques, who had also made some appearances for the Minardi team the previous year. Panis missed seven races before returning at the Luxembourg Grand Prix, while Trulli would join him as a full-time Prost driver in 1998.
* Between the Canadian and French Grands Prix, Gianni Morbidelli had an accident in testing and broke his arm, meaning Sauber had to make their second substitution of the year. They brought in test driver Norberto Fontana, who completed the next three races before Morbidelli's return at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix. Morbidelli suffered another testing accident following the Japanese Grand Prix, so Fontana competed again at the season-ending European Grand Prix.

## Calendar

The following seventeen Grands Prix took place in 1997.

The following rounds were included on the provisional calendars published by the FIA but were cancelled:

### Calendar changes

* The Austrian Grand Prix returned to the calendar after a nine-year absence.
* The Luxembourg Grand Prix was added to the world championship for the first time, after being held as a non-championship race from 1949 until 1952.
* The Portuguese Grand Prix was originally scheduled as the final round of the season, to be held at the Estoril circuit. It was cancelled and replaced by the European Grand Prix after the owners of the Estoril circuit failed to make requested changes to it.

## Results and standings

### Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race as follows: