1997

[F1GTRUeno]

Is a massively underrated year in F1 history IMO.

Just been watching old races and season reviews and 1997 really, really stands out.

Seemingly anyone from the top 5-6 teams were getting podiums and at some point leading a race with a chance of winning it.

Plenty of overtaking because the tyres that year had extreme grip (that's what they keep banging on about in commentary and interviews) so they could follow better and brake later.

The cars looked amazing with great shapes, liveries and sponsors. They sounded great too because V10 (okay, V8 for Tyrrell and Minardi).

Had the Lola debacle and McLaren getting done for their brake thing to add a little spice with then built up massively in the last race. Damon nearly winning in Hungary was a wonderful performance (aided by Bridgestone being mega in hot conditions) and it still breaks my heart just like it did 7 year old huge Damon fan me when he loses it at the end).

If you watch the season then Schumacher and Villeneuve are obviously the two fighting at the top but for nearly every race there's no real certainty that either are going to be definite winners and the title race going down to the last race and ending the way it did after a proper fight was even better.

Can we just have the teams buy the 1997 cars and run them instead next year?

[glazbagun]

Did Schumacher not commission a special chrome helmet to comemorate his victory in the final race? Felt that was tempting fate even as a kid!

[wolfie1978]

F1GTRUeno said:

Is a massively underrated year in F1 history IMO.

Just been watching old races and season reviews and 1997 really, really stands out.

Seemingly anyone from the top 5-6 teams were getting podiums and at some point leading a race with a chance of winning it.

Plenty of overtaking because the tyres that year had extreme grip (that's what they keep banging on about in commentary and interviews) so they could follow better and brake later.

The cars looked amazing with great shapes, liveries and sponsors. They sounded great too because V10 (okay, V8 for Tyrrell and Minardi).

Had the Lola debacle and McLaren getting done for their brake thing to add a little spice with then built up massively in the last race. Damon nearly winning in Hungary was a wonderful performance (aided by Bridgestone being mega in hot conditions) and it still breaks my heart just like it did 7 year old huge Damon fan me when he loses it at the end).

If you watch the season then Schumacher and Villeneuve are obviously the two fighting at the top but for nearly every race there's no real certainty that either are going to be definite winners and the title race going down to the last race and ending the way it did after a proper fight was even better.

Can we just have the teams buy the 1997 cars and run them instead next year?

Whilst i agree about the look of the cars from 1997 surely the only reason Schumacher even had a chance that season was because Villeneuve couldn't keep it together and Williams kept dropping the ball. Add to that Frentzen wasn't as fast as everyone expected. How many times did Villeneuve bin it? I also remember both cars starting on slicks at a wet monaco! The titles should have been all but wrapped up by the half way point.

[anonymous-user]

wolfie1978 said:

Whilst i agree about the look of the cars from 1997 surely the only reason Schumacher even had a chance that season was because Villeneuve couldn't keep it together and Williams kept dropping the ball. Add to that Frentzen wasn't as fast as everyone expected. How many times did Villeneuve bin it? I also remember both cars starting on slicks at a wet monaco! The titles should have been all but wrapped up by the half way point.

I think you also have to factor in Schumacher's ability to get results from a car few others could. Not many drivers having that car at their disposal would have been in with a shout of the WC come the end of the year regardless of Villeneuve and Williams' errors. My favourite Schumacher seasons are 1996 - 2000 - he won so many races he shouldn't really have won!

[ralphrj]

wolfie1978 said:

Whilst i agree about the look of the cars from 1997 surely the only reason Schumacher even had a chance that season was because Villeneuve couldn't keep it together and Williams kept dropping the ball. Add to that Frentzen wasn't as fast as everyone expected. How many times did Villeneuve bin it? I also remember both cars starting on slicks at a wet monaco! The titles should have been all but wrapped up by the half way point.

^This. In the end Villeneuve can thank the poor reliability of the Mercedes engine (how things change) for gifting him victories at Silverstone, Austria and the Nurburgring.

An oddity of the year was that, despite being the 2 title contenders, Schumacher and Villeneuve never shared a podium that season.

glazbagun said:

Did Schumacher not commission a special chrome helmet to comemorate his victory in the final race? Felt that was tempting fate even as a kid!

Schumacher raced with a chromed helmet in the final round of the 1998 season. It is a bit uncharitable to suggest that it was to commemorate a victory in a race that hadn't taken place! However, Schumacher's manager had a box of 'Schumacher - 1997 World Champion' t-shirts for distributing if he had won. I suspect it was neither the first or last time that a few hundred brand new t-shirts have ended up in the bins at the final race.

[99dndd]

I remember the top 3 set identical times in qualifying for the last race.

I used to have a Mastercard Lola poster on my wall, I was quite proud of it.

[DanielSan]

99dndd said:

I remember the top 3 set identical times in qualifying for the last race.

I used to have a Mastercard Lola poster on my wall, I was quite proud of it.

There’s a good post on reddit about the full story of why the Lola situation in 97 was such a massive balls up.

[LP670]

Ive been watching F1 religiously since 1992 and id put 1997 as my favourite season of them all. Last season of wide track and slick tyres until 2017 but the cars looked so much better back then, not just shape but the liveries (Rothamans, West, B&H etc.) A final race showdown plus a clash between the two protagonists gave it all the ingredients to shine. Oh and i nearly forgot....... N/A V10 engines!

season montage here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgAF2Puad7E

[markcoznottz]

Last 'proper' season of F1 imho. Cars were still quite lively, and were identifiable as bigger f3000 cars, obviously with greatly enhanced aero, but the DNA was pure motorsport, unlike the modern boring ste.

[m444ttb]

I recall 1997 along with 1998 and 1999 as enjoyable seasons. Even if I wanted Schumacher in a Ferrari to win so was denied three times in a row. As a Williams fan I never warmed to JV. Winning the 1997 title means we have to put up with his opinions seemingly for the rest of his life.

[thebigmacmoomin]

DanielSan said:

99dndd said:

I remember the top 3 set identical times in qualifying for the last race.

I used to have a Mastercard Lola poster on my wall, I was quite proud of it.

There’s a good post on reddit about the full story of why the Lola situation in 97 was such a massive balls up.

Wasnt it was because sponsor Mastercard wanted to have their sponsored car out there when it wasnt ready.

[FW18]

wolfie1978 said:

Whilst i agree about the look of the cars from 1997 surely the only reason Schumacher even had a chance that season was because Villeneuve couldn't keep it together and Williams kept dropping the ball. Add to that Frentzen wasn't as fast as everyone expected. How many times did Villeneuve bin it? I also remember both cars starting on slicks at a wet monaco! The titles should have been all but wrapped up by the half way point.

I'm fairly certain that Renault said something along the lines of "If Hill was in the car then we would be walking away with the championship" Certainly Villeneuve has been possibly one of the luckiest champions in the history of the sport.

But overall 1997 was a season to enjoy. Reigning champion in a underdog car, resurgent Ferrari, the dark horse in the fast and fragile McLaren and Benetton having a competitive car.

[entropy]

Found some races on YT and watched them over the Xmas period.

I'd forgotten how much of an exciting and incident packed season it was. All I remember in retrospect beforehand was the influence of the tyre war. Had Schumi driven the Prost he would possibly won a race at least. I think Schumi would have been fighting for WDC had he driven the Benetton.

As dramatic and exciting the cars and race results were the racing was so so.

[mcholeboy_59]

FW18 said:

I'm fairly certain that Renault said something along the lines of "If Hill was in the car then we would be walking away with the championship" Certainly Villeneuve has been possibly one of the luckiest champions in the history of the sport.

But overall 1997 was a season to enjoy. Reigning champion in a underdog car, resurgent Ferrari, the dark horse in the fast and fragile McLaren and Benetton having a competitive car.

I don't think hill would of stood a chance against michael in 97 in all honesty.... we all know how much he was rattled by him when he was in the superior williams against the inferior benetton.

the 97 ferrari was a BIG step up from previous years, and damon was, lets be honest, getting on a bit. Jacques was fast as hell in 96 and 97, no denying that, so 'lucky' i'm not so sure. certainly not in the nico rosberg league of lucky.

Just a shame how williams so spectaculary dropped the ball for the 1998 reg changes, and then jacques made the awful decision to join B.A.R for 99.. (or was he dropped for ralf/zinardi? anyhow, thats gotta be up there with one of the worst career decisions in f1 history)

huge fall from grace.

[DanielSan]

A big part of Williams being so far back in 98 was Renault leaving as a factory outfit and Williams having th run the customer Mechachrome engines instead, they just weren’t developed at the pace Renault would have developed directly.

Benetton had a similar drop off in performance for the same reason. That said the Winfield Williams is still one of my favourite liveries.

[F1GTRUeno]

mcholeboy_59 said:

I don't think hill would of stood a chance against michael in 97 in all honesty.... we all know how much he was rattled by him when he was in the superior williams against the inferior benetton.

the 97 ferrari was a BIG step up from previous years, and damon was, lets be honest, getting on a bit.

I think Damon was in a better place mentally at the end of 1996 having won the WDC tbh. I think Michael would've been a huge test and he was before and was for Jacques but you could see it in flashes of his driving for Arrows and Jordan that Damon was still extremely quick if given the opportunity.

That 97 Williams was an absolute peach and the 97 Ferrari was still a bit of a mess for a large part of the early season. Michael has alluded to it before.

[glazbagun]

mcholeboy_59 said:

Just a shame how williams so spectaculary dropped the ball for the 1998 reg changes, and then jacques made the awful decision to join B.A.R for 99.. (or was he dropped for ralf/zinardi? anyhow, thats gotta be up there with one of the worst career decisions in f1 history)

huge fall from grace.

IIRC, Williams, in another example of how they treated their champions, wanted to cut his salary from £5M to £3.5M. BAR paid him £8M to switch and he was on £13M/year (behind only Schumacher at the time, I think) when Richards arrived and started moaning about his price. I'd say he did OK decision-wise.

[entropy]

F1GTRUeno said:

I think Damon was in a better place mentally at the end of 1996 having won the WDC tbh. I think Michael would've been a huge test and he was before and was for Jacques but you could see it in flashes of his driving for Arrows and Jordan that Damon was still extremely quick if given the opportunity.

That 97 Williams was an absolute peach and the 97 Ferrari was still a bit of a mess for a large part of the early season. Michael has alluded to it before.

Agreed.

Ross Brawn & Rory Byrne arrived too late to have an effect on the beginning of the 97 season which was a B-spec of the previous year's car.

[Vocal Minority]

I've started doing the same because of this thread.

Three other observations are -

cars are pretty, especially the Jordan 197.

Olivier Panis would surely have won a race on merit/pace had he not broken his legs

Damon Hill actually did an ok job all things considered in that Arrows.

[Sa Calobra]

mcholeboy_59 said:

I don't think hill would of stood a chance against michael in 97 in all honesty.... we all know how much he was rattled by him when he was in the superior williams against the inferior benetton.

the 97 ferrari was a BIG step up from previous years, and damon was, lets be honest, getting on a bit. Jacques was fast as hell in 96 and 97, no denying that, so 'lucky' i'm not so sure. certainly not in the nico rosberg league of lucky.

Just a shame how williams so spectaculary dropped the ball for the 1998 reg changes, and then jacques made the awful decision to join B.A.R for 99.. (or was he dropped for ralf/zinardi? anyhow, thats gotta be up there with one of the worst career decisions in f1 history)

huge fall from grace.

The "inferior" Benetton.

I remember watching and reading alot in the 90's on F1. If it was clean and Williams hadn't gotten rid of Hill he'd have been a triple champ.