1997 Season

Team changes

Two new teams enter Formula One. Stewart Grand Prix makes their debut with factory backing from the Ford Motor Company, signing Rubens Barrichello and Danish driver Jan Magnussen. Lola also enters, fielding Ricardo Rosset and former Benetton test driver Vincenzo Sospiri.

Ligier is sold by Flavio Briatore to Alain Prost and becomes Prost Grand Prix. Footwork reverts to the “Arrows” name following a buy-out by Tom Walkinshaw, and switches from Hart to Yamaha engines. Tyrrell makes the opposite move, swapping their Yamaha units for Ford.

Sauber forms a technical partnership with new title sponsor Petronas, creating Sauber Petronas Engineering. They secure licensing rights to engine and gearbox components from Ferrari — effectively running near-identical units to the Scuderia — with the engines branded as Petronas. It is Ferrari’s first season supplying engines to more than one team since 1993.

On the tyre front, Japanese manufacturer Bridgestone enters Formula One, breaking Goodyear’s five-year run as sole supplier. Bridgestone provides tyres to Arrows, Prost, Minardi, Stewart, and Lola.

Driver changes

The biggest news concerns Damon Hill. The reigning World Champion is dropped by Williams and joins the newly restructured Arrows team alongside Brazilian Pedro Diniz, who moves from Ligier. It is the only time in Arrows history that the team carries the number 1 on their car.

Williams replace Hill with Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who had driven for Sauber since 1994. His departure from Sauber prompts Peter Sauber to sign Ferrari test driver Nicola Larini as his replacement.

Jordan sign debutant Ralf Schumacher, Michael’s younger brother, and pair him with Giancarlo Fisichella, who made his debut at Minardi in 1996. Fisichella’s move to Jordan opens a Minardi seat for Ukyo Katayama, who comes across from Tyrrell. Tyrrell replace Katayama with Jos Verstappen, who moves from Arrows. The remaining Minardi seat goes to Italian rising star Jarno Trulli.

At Arrows, Verstappen’s old seat goes to Rosset’s former spot — Rosset and Sospiri joining the new Lola entry instead. The new Prost team retains Olivier Panis and signs Japanese rookie Shinji Nakano. Martin Brundle, Jordan’s 1996 driver and Barrichello’s teammate, is unable to find a seat and leaves the sport as a driver.

Calendar

The season runs to seventeen rounds, up from sixteen in 1996. The Austrian Grand Prix returns to the calendar for the first time since 1987, to be held at the shortened and redeveloped A1-Ring — a new layout on the site of the old Österreichring.

The Portuguese Grand Prix, originally scheduled as the season finale at Estoril, is cancelled after the circuit’s owners fail to make requested upgrades. It is replaced by the European Grand Prix at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain. The Luxembourg Grand Prix joins the calendar for the first time as a World Championship round, taking place at the Nürburgring in Germany — the circuit had hosted the European Grand Prix in 1995 and 1996. With Hockenheim already holding the German Grand Prix, the Nürburgring race carries the Luxembourg name.

Regulation changes

The revised Concorde Agreement covering 1997–2001 is signed by the FIA and eight of the eleven teams from 1996. Key sporting changes include the maximum race count rising to seventeen, Friday free practice being abolished, and Saturday practice sessions extended to one hour each with no lap limits. Two tyre compounds are permitted in practice, but teams must nominate one for use in qualifying and the race. A new provision allows race starts behind the Safety Car if track conditions are wet.

Technical regulations remain largely unchanged from 1996, with only more detailed specifications added for front and rear impact-absorbing structures.