1997 Italian Grand Prix
Going Into This Race
Pre-Race Report
Championship standings
Schumacher extends his lead over Villeneuve to 11 points after Belgium, with five races remaining.
Previous race
Heavy rain fell half an hour before the Belgian start, triggering the first Safety Car start in Formula One history. Schumacher, who had been only 15th in the dry morning warm-up, switched to his spare car set up for intermediate conditions while most of the front-runners gambled on full wets. He passed Alesi and Villeneuve within two laps of racing and had built a lead of over a minute by lap 12. Fisichella finished second after Häkkinen was disqualified post-race for a fuel irregularity. Frentzen was promoted to third. Villeneuve recovered from 16th to fifth. Ralf Schumacher had to start from the pit lane after crashing his Jordan on the way to the grid.
Practice
Alesi sets pole in qualifying — his first and only of the season — after Fisichella led the early running. Frentzen qualifies second, Fisichella third, Villeneuve fourth, Häkkinen fifth, Coulthard sixth. Both Ferraris are down in ninth and tenth.
Adapted by AI summarisation from “1997 Italian Grand Prix” on Wikipedia . This adapted text is licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0 . Modifications: summarised and spoiler-trimmed.
Last 5 Races
Full season →| # | Date | Grand Prix | Pole | P1 | P2 | P3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 29 Jun | 🇫🇷 French Grand Prix | Schumacher | Schumacher | Frentzen | Irvine |
| 9 | 13 Jul | 🇬🇧 British Grand Prix | Villeneuve | Villeneuve | Alesi | Wurz |
| 10 | 27 Jul | 🇩🇪 German Grand Prix | Berger | Berger | Schumacher | Häkkinen |
| 11 | 10 Aug | 🇭🇺 Hungarian Grand Prix | Schumacher | Villeneuve | Hill | Herbert |
| 12 | 24 Aug | 🇧🇪 Belgian Grand Prix | Villeneuve | Schumacher | Fisichella | Frentzen |
Drivers' Championship
Full standings →| Pos | Driver | Team | Pts | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacques Villeneuve | Williams | 55 | 5 |
| 2 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Williams | 23 | 1 |
| 3 | Jean Alesi | Benetton | 22 | 0 |
| 4 | Gerhard Berger | Benetton | 21 | 1 |
| 5 | Eddie Irvine | Ferrari | 18 | 0 |
| 6 | Olivier Panis | Prost | 15 | 0 |
| 7 | David Coulthard | McLaren | 14 | 1 |
| 8 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Jordan | 14 | 0 |
| 9 | Mika Häkkinen | McLaren | 14 | 0 |
| 10 | Johnny Herbert | Sauber | 14 | 0 |