Jacques Villeneuve is the new World Champion ...

Published on 26 October 1997 by Verstappen Info Page

Jacques Villeneuve is the new World Champion 1997 of the FIA World Championship. Michael Schumacher dominated the race in the first half due to a bad start of Jacques Villeneuve. In lap 48 Jacques Villeneuve overtook Michael Schumacher, from second position, on the inside. The only thing left for Michael was a desperate attempt by steering in hard to the inside. In doing so he rammed the side-pot of Jacques and eliminated himself by damaging his front wheel suspension. Luckily enough Michael didn't succeed in his plan, eliminating his opponent, which did work out for him in 1994 in Australia with Damon Hill.

The race was won by Mika Hakkinen in the end, the second place went to David Coulthard and the third place was for the World Champion himself. In the final lap both McLaren's were let through by Jacques so Hakkinen could win his first Grand Prix ever. Jos had a tough race and finished 16th eventually after a long fight with Ukyo Katayama. He handsomely stayed in front of Katayama who had an obvious advantage by using Bridgestone tyres on this circuit. For a complete overview of the results you can take a look at our season page.