1997 Japanese Grand Prix

Championship standings

Villeneuve leads the championship for the first time since Spain after winning Luxembourg.

Previous race

Villeneuve won Luxembourg after McLaren’s dominant 1–2 collapsed when both Häkkinen and Coulthard broke down in quick succession from the front. Schumacher was eliminated at the first corner. Alesi finished second, Frentzen third.

Entrants

Local driver Ukyo Katayama announces his retirement from Formula One, with this race as his penultimate start.

Practice

Four practice sessions are held before the Sunday race — two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday morning.

Thirty minutes into the first Saturday practice session, Jos Verstappen’s Tyrrell pulled over with a fuel pick-up problem, prompting yellow flags. Nine drivers, including both Schumacher and Villeneuve, failed to reduce speed in the yellow flag zone. Villeneuve set his fastest time of the session on that same lap, and faces a potential disqualification.

Villeneuve takes pole with a 1:36.071, half a tenth ahead of Schumacher’s 1:36.133. Irvine qualifies third, Häkkinen fourth — just three thousandths behind Irvine. Berger fifth, Frentzen sixth, Alesi seventh.