Villeneuve disqualification sets up championship showdown with Schumacher

1997 Japanese Grand Prix flashback

Posted on

| Written by

Victory for Michael Schumacher in the 1997 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka set up a thrilling championship showdown. But the race was anything but straightforward.

Jacques Villeneuve arrived in Japan needing to take just one point off his rival to clinch the championship.

The points situation had changed dramatically in the previous two races. Villeneuve had scored a maximum 20 to Schumacher’s one. The Ferrari driver was already talking in terms of the title being over. “We have already succeeded in our expectations this year,” said Schumacher before the weekend began. “Even if we don’t win the championship we will have fulfilled our expectations, or even more.”

Villeneuve’s chances of wrapping the title up with a race to spare looked good when he beat Schumacher took pole position in a close qualifying session.

Then came the news which stunned the paddock: Villeneuve was being thrown out of the event.

Villeneuve races under appeal

Accelerating out of Spoon curve during the Saturday morning practice session, Villeneuve passed Jos Verstappen’s stranded Tyrrell which was being recovered under waved yellow flags. Villeneuve, along with five other drivers, failed to back off for the warning.

The FIA’s stunningly decided to disqualify the points leader
The FIA had introduced a series of escalating warnings to force drivers to slow down for yellow flags. Johnny Herbert, Rubens Barrichello, Ukyo Katayama and Schumacher were among those who failed to back off and all received one-race bans which were suspended until the end of the season.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen had been caught before so he was given a ban suspended for five races. And Villeneuve, who had already committed the same offence on three previous occasions, was hit with an immediate ban from the next race.

This had huge implications for the championship. Villeneuve being thrown out menat Schumacher had the chance to turn his nine-point championship deficit into a single-point lead ahead of the final race at Jerez.

Later, Villeneuve admitted he’d realised the risk he was taking as he approached the yellow flag. “Then I thought ‘oh, it’s a straight’,” he said. “And I ended up doing it, and I shot myself in the foot.”

“I did spend about a second thinking about it. Even after I passed the car I thought about hitting the brakes so it wouldn’t appear on the timing screens, which is what they look out for. But then I thought ‘no, I don’t want to play silly games like that’. So I didn’t. But I will in the future.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Inevitably Williams lodged an appeal again Villeneuve’s ban. With no time to convene a hearing, the pole sitter was allowed to take part in the race but did so knowing he was very likely to lose any points he gained. Many questioned the wisdom of daring to appeal: Three years earlier Jordan had lodged a similar protest for Eddie Irvine, only to see the FIA increase his ban from one race to three.

The setback piled the pressure on Villeneuve who before the weekend began had admitted winning the championship in 1997 was “very important” for him, partly because of the plan to drastically change the cars for the next season.

“First of all the rules change for ’98 – this could be the last real season of Formula 1,” he said. “So it is an important season.”

“And then last year I was a rookie, I was behind all of the season and got close towards the end. So for a first season that felt good. It wasn’t a question of losing it, it was more a question of not winning it, which was acceptable, there was always this year.”

“But this year if we don’t win it it’s more that we lost it in a way because we had the most competitive car at the start of the season.”

1997 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying

A rejuvenated Ferrari added to the pressure on Villeneuve. The F310B’s new front wing, which flexed visibly under peak loadings around the super-fast Suzuka course, helped the team record its best combined qualifying result of the year. Schumacher lined up alongside his title rival, just six-hundredths of a second slower, and Irvine backed him up in third.

McLaren’s fast-starting cars had been a threat in recent races and Mika Hakkinen threatened to get involved in the title fight from fourth on the grid. David Coulthard was well down in the team’s other car, however.

While Schumacher could count on help from Irvine, Villeneuve’s team mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen was down in sixth, edged out by an on-form Gerhard Berger. Next came Jean Alesi in the second Benetton.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Bridgestone weren’t able to recreate their giant-killing form from Spain and Hungary at their home race. Olivier Panis was the highest Bridgestone-show qualifier in tenth place despite his Prost benefiting from a new S-specification Mugen-Honda engine.

Reigning Formula Nippon (now Japanese Super Formula) champion Ralf Schumacher put his circuit knowledge to good use in practice but failed to deliver in qualifying. He put his Jordan 13th, four places behind team mate Giancarlo Fisichella.

Qualifying was red-flagged after Gianni Morbidelli crashed heavily at Dunlop. The Sauber driver, who’d been forced out early in the season with an arm injury, was unable to start the race.

1997 Japanese Grand Prix grid

Row 11. Jacques Villeneuve 1’36.071
Williams-Renault
2. Michael Schumacher 1’36.133
Ferrari
Row 23. Eddie Irvine 1’36.466
Ferrari
4. Mika Hakkinen 1’36.469
McLaren-Mercedes
Row 35. Gerhard Berger 1’36.561
Benetton-Renault
6. Heinz-Harald Frentzen 1’36.628
Williams-Renault
Row 47. Jean Alesi 1’36.682
Benetton-Renault
8. Johnny Herbert 1’36.906
Sauber-Petronas
Row 59. Giancarlo Fisichella 1’36.917
Jordan-Peugeot
10. Olivier Panis 1’37.073
Prost-Mugen-Honda
Row 611. David Coulthard 1’37.095
McLaren-Mercedes
12. Rubens Barrichello 1’37.343
Stewart-Ford
Row 713. Ralf Schumacher 1’37.443
Jordan-Peugeot
14. Jan Magnussen 1’37.480
Stewart-Ford
Row 815. Shinji Nakano 1’37.588
Prost-Mugen-Honda
16. Pedro Diniz 1’37.853
Arrows-Yamaha
Row 917. Damon Hill 1’38.022
Arrows-Yamaha
18. Ukyo Katayama 1’38.983
Minardi-Hart
Row 1019. Tarso Marques 1’39.678
Minardi-Hart
20. Jos Verstappen 1’40.259
Tyrrell-Ford
Row 1121. Mika Salo 1’40.529
Tyrrell-Ford

Villeneuve’s predicament created the circumstances for a strange race. He knew that he was unlikely to keep any points he scored at Suzuka, so the best he could do was limit Schumacher’s potential to increase his score.

The scenario was similar to last year’s championship deciding race where Lewis Hamilton needed two of his rivals to overtake Nico Rosberg, so he backed the field up at key points during the race. But Villeneuve could afford to take greater risks and didn’t have to respect the fact he was racing his team mate.

All year long Schumacher had been in the advantageous position of being able to rely on help from his team mate. But Irvine would play a more crucial role than usual in what turned out to be a strange race.

“We have been speaking about [team orders] all year,” said Irvine. “I know the situation. I have to help Michael as best I can.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

1997 Japanese Grand Prix

The tone of what was to come was set immediately as the starting lights went out and Villeneuve swerved across Schumacher’s bows, determined to keep the Ferrari back. Sure enough, he hadn’t made it halfway around the first lap before he began slowing the field in the hope someone would try to pass Schumacher.

Irvine passed Hakkinen when Schumacher briefly slowed
Villeneuve’s hopes improved from the start when Hakkinen used another rapid McLaren start to split the two Ferraris. He was sat on Schumacher’s tail as Villeneuve brought the field around at the end of a steady first lap, two seconds covering the top six cars.

Ferrari, however, had planned for this. As Villeneuve slowed the field exiting the Esses, Schumacher appeared to briefly lift in front of Hakkinen, and Irvine darted around the pair of them. He was now on Villeneuve’s tail, who had no interest in fighting him, so he let the Ferrari go.

At this point the race was verging on the comical. While Villeneuve backed up the field again hoping Hakkinen would take a pop at Schumacher, Irvine pulled five seconds clear in a single lap. By lap six he was 12 seconds ahead and last-placed Ukyo Katayama was 12 second behind Villeneuve.

Now Villeneuve put his foot down. Either he’d given up on anyone passing Schumacher or he was wary of Irvine getting so far ahead he could make his pit stop and come out ahead. But the race swung in Ferrari’s favour as McLaren and Benetton pulled their cars in between laps 13 and 14. Now Ferrari could pit Irvine and bring him out with minimal traffic ahead of him, which they did on 16.

Williams were running out of options. Keeping Villeneuve ahead of Schumacher was their last best chance to influence the race in his favour but here too they slipped up. When Schumacher came in on lap 18, Villeneuve was left out for an extra lap as the Ferrari driver set a new fastest lap of the race. Villeneuve left the pits fractionally too late to keep Schumacher behind, though the Ferrari driver dived inside the Williams as Villeneuve drifted towards the racing line at turn one.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Schumacher pointed an accusing finger at Villeneuve afterwards. “I am not sure whether it was the correct thing to do, to come across the road and try to push someone,” he said. “I was able to correct my own situation and took him on the inside, but it could have been very dangerous.”

Villeneuve tried in vain to compromise Schumacher’s race
At this point Irvine was 14 seconds up the road. “I was just waiting for the phone call,” he explained. Sure enough Ferrari quickly told him to back off and let Schumacher through to maximise his drivers’ championship score. Irvine duly cut his pace by six seconds a lap and the pair swapped places again at turn six. Now it was Irvine’s turn to keep Villeneuve bottled up, but doing this cost him time which eventually helped Frentzen to get ahead. He beat Irvine to second place and by doing so sealed the constructors’ championship for Williams.

The final kick in the teeth for Villeneuve came when he made his second pit stop early, in a bid to get out from behind Irvine, but the refuelling hose didn’t go on properly. That dropped him to fifth behind Hakkinen.

Frentzen made a fight of it in the closing stages, closing in on Schumacher and perhaps giving the Williams pit wall cause to wonder why they’d let him lose so much time in the queue behind his team mate at the start. His cause was aided by the driver he’d replaced at Williams, Damon Hill, who didn’t exactly dive out of the way when Schumacher prepared to lap him. The Arrows driver, grappling with a gearbox fault and a broken head rest, later said he was waiting to let Schumacher through in a safe place.

Villeneuve took the flag just in front of the three-stopping Alesi, with Johnny Herbert close behind. Fisichella, Berger and Ralf Schumacher also finished on the lead lap, while Coulthard went off at 130R on the final tour.

Schumacher’s victory meant a championship which seemed to be lost was back within his grasp. And he admitted he owed a debt to his team mate. “I have said many times that Eddie is a great driver and a fine team mate,” he said. “I really have to thank him for this victory. And if any question marks have been raised about his future, I think they should be forgotten now.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

1997 Japanese Grand Prix result

Pos.No.DriverTeamLapsTime / gap / reason
15Michael SchumacherFerrari531:29’48.446
24Heinz-Harald FrentzenWilliams-Renault531.378
36Eddie IrvineFerrari5326.384
49Mika HakkinenMcLaren-Mercedes5327.129
57Jean AlesiBenetton-Renault5340.403
616Johnny HerbertSauber-Petronas5341.630
712Giancarlo FisichellaJordan-Peugeot5356.825
88Gerhard BergerBenetton-Renault531’00.429
911Ralf SchumacherJordan-Peugeot531’22.036
1010David CoulthardMcLaren-Mercedes52Engine
111Damon HillArrows-Yamaha521 lap
122Pedro DinizArrows-Yamaha521 lap
1318Jos VerstappenTyrrell-Ford521 lap
3Jacques VilleneuveWilliams-Renault53Disqualified
21Tarso MarquesMinardi-Hart46Gearbox
19Mika SaloTyrrell-Ford46Engine
14Olivier PanisProst-Mugen-Honda36Engine
15Shinji NakanoProst-Mugen-Honda22Wheel bearing
20Ukyo KatayamaMinardi-Hart8Engine
22Rubens BarrichelloStewart-Ford6Spun off
23Jan MagnussenStewart-Ford3Spun off
17Gianni MorbidelliSauber-PetronasDid not start

1997 Japanese Grand Prix championship standings

Nine days after the race, to no great surprise, the FIA rejected the appeal from Villeneuve and Williams. This meant he did not score two points for fifth place and instead of heading to the final round with a one-point lead, Villeneuve was one point behind Schumacher with just the final race at Jerez left to run.

Become a RaceFans Supporter

RaceFans is run thanks in part to the generous support of its readers. By contributing £1 per month or £12 per year (or the same in whichever currency you use) you can help cover the costs of creating, hosting and developing RaceFans today and in the future.

Become a RaceFans Supporter today and browse the site ad-free. Sign up or find out more via the links below:

A precious win put Schumacher ahead going into the final race

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

17 comments on “Villeneuve disqualification sets up championship showdown with Schumacher”

  1. Remember it like it was yesterday and proof that team orders aren’t always bad.

    Great race

    1. So do I. I’m glad that Keith puts these articles up. It’s great to remember, isn’t it.

    2. I think team orders are always bad when they constitute one driver being subservient to the other driver from race one of the season. Makes JV’s WDC that year even sweeter though, having to battle not just MS, but EI who was only there to be a rear gunner. Two against one for the most part, as HHF played a much more minor role in doing the same for JV as the season wound down, but not from race one.

      1. Irvine was rarely on the same piece of road as either Schumacher or violence to either help or hinder. The only points he took off villenuve all season was at mangy cours.

        Frentzen on the other hand took points of Schumacher on 3 occasions

        1. This is not true as Irvine wiped out Villeneuve and Herbert in the first corner of the season. JV most likely would’ve won what race even with his slow start and lost positions.

  2. MS: “I am not sure whether it was the correct thing to do, to come across the road and try to push someone.”

    And then we all know what happened two weeks later!

    1. Jonathan Parkin
      12th October 2017, 16:22

      Just said the same thing myself reading the article

  3. It’s so hard to believe that the 2017 cars are the same width as the 1997 cars. They seem like such limos these days.

    1. @ecwdanselby agree. Only the Mercedes looks properly wide head on with the narrow nosecone revision especially.

      But the cars are way, way too long

  4. So so interesting to tie this article and it’s quotes into the Lauda article about safety going too far. JV was hauled up on the FIA carpet for calling the pending grooves tires for 98 a joke. Here above he is saying one of the reasons he wanted to win the WDC in 97 was because he thought the reg changes for 98 would be the beginning of the end for F1 as we knew and loved it. Too much dumbing down of the sport was his concern. His stance 20 years ago was that the cars and tracks post-Senna had been made safe enough, and any more and it would no longer be F1. 20 years ago!!

    1. @robbie, being cynical, I think that he was speaking out of self interest and disguising it by claiming it was in the interests of the sport.

      I think what he was really worried about was the fact that, with Adrian Newey leaving Williams and Renault withdrawing support for their engine programme, he suspected that Williams were going to fall back behind their rivals when the new regulations kicked in (which is exactly what did happen). From his point of view, a change in regulations would be something of a disaster for him as it would allow others to catch up and overtake Williams – why would he be happy when he would be one of those with the most to lose from those changes?

      1. @anon While there may be something to your cynical approach, JV has consistently to this day been an advocate for keeping a little danger in the sport and not dumbing it down too much. He was a always a bit of a daredevil and loved to live on the edge, just like his Dad, and back in 97 truly thought the grooved tires were a joke and would take away from the enjoyment of driving F1 cars. A review of his commentary throughout the years shows that he has always wanted F1 to be the pinnacle and has always feared it becoming too sanitized. In very recent years he was decrying the fact that F1 cars were not much faster than GP2, and that needed changing. He criticized the hiring of Max Verstappen at such a young age, not as something personal against Max, but because he felt it made F1 look too easy if a trend such as his hiring age was to catch on. He was right as the rule for age and qualification was changed not long after Max entered, and the cars have been made faster and are now back to the dimensions last employed in 97. Of course I’m not suggesting JV deserves credit, but sure enough the grooved tires and the slow and narrow cars are gone. So sure, while he might have had an ulterior motive in 97, he’s been consistent past his F1 career and to this day on what he thinks F1 should be.

  5. “The scenario was similar to last year’s championship deciding race where Lewis Hamilton needed two of his rivals to overtake Nico Rosberg, so he backed the field up at key points during the race. But Villeneuve could afford to take greater risks and didn’t have to respect the fact he was racing his team mate

    Right, because Hamilton did….. :)

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      12th October 2017, 18:57

      Racing his teammate for the WDC

      1. Right, I was implying that though racing his teammate, Hamilton too didn’t didn’t have to respect that, because he decided so.

  6. “First of all the rules change for ’98 – this could be the last real season of Formula One…”

    This sounds familiar. And I’d hardly point to the Schumacher-Hakkinen era as the end of real Formula 1.

  7. Somehow I didn’t hate Ferrari here for ‘team orders’.

Comments are closed.