The 1997 Belgian Grand Prix (formally the LV Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 24 August 1997. It was the twelfth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship.

The 44-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari. Giancarlo Fisichella finished second in a Jordan-Peugeot, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen third in a Williams-Renault after Mika Häkkinen's McLaren-Mercedes was disqualified due to a fuel irregularity. Schumacher's Drivers' Championship rival, Jacques Villeneuve, finished fifth in the other Williams-Renault, having started from pole position. This was the first Formula One World Championship race to start behind a Safety Car.

With the win, Schumacher extended his lead over Villeneuve in the Drivers' Championship to 11 points with five races remaining.

Report

Michael Schumacher started from third on the grid after qualifying had been dominated by his World Championship rival, Jacques Villeneuve. In the morning warm-up, which took place in hot, dry weather, Schumacher was only 15th. However, heavy rain started to fall around half an hour before the scheduled race start and continued for around twenty minutes, completely changing the conditions and resulting in the field starting behind the safety car, the first time this happened in Formula One history.

Schumacher's brother Ralf - who had qualified sixth - spun and crashed his Jordan at Stavelot while going to take his place on the grid. He was forced to start from the pit lane in his spare car. Explaining the incident to ITV later, he said: "I had nothing to lose, and I lost it.". Also during the period of cars assembling on the grid Michael Schumacher made exploratory laps (by returning to the pits rather than the grid) in both his race car and the spare Ferrari, enabling him to assess the track situation and choose the spare that had been set-up for intermediate weather conditions.

On midfield the Arrows Yamaha showed strong pace on Bridgestone intermediate tyres. Pedro Diniz, who had already beaten teammate Damon Hill in qualifying, passed Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Johnny Herbert and David Coulthard on track to reach third place. The Brazilian driver pitted alongside Mika Häkkinen for dry tyres, however a sixteen-second pit made him drop to 12th place. He eventually made his way back to 7th place, but lost a potential podium finish.

Schumacher continued to pull further away, and by lap 12 his lead had reached a full minute, while Villeneuve had dropped to 16th following a second pit stop.

|}

  • <nowiki>*</nowiki> Ralf Schumacher and Trulli would start from the pitlane.

Race

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"

|-

! Pos !! No !! Driver !! Constructor !! Tyre !! Laps !! Time/Retired !! Grid !! Points

|-

! 1

| 5

| Michael Schumacher

| Ferrari

|

| 44

| 1:33:46.717

| 3

| 10

|-

! 2

| 12

| Giancarlo Fisichella

| Jordan-Peugeot

|

| 44

| +26.753

| 4

| 6

|-

! 3

| 4

| Heinz-Harald Frentzen

| Williams-Renault

|

| 44

| +32.147

| 7

| 4

|-

! 4

| 16

| Johnny Herbert

| Sauber-Petronas

|

| 44

| +39.025

| 11

| 3

|-

! 5

| 3

| Jacques Villeneuve

| Williams-Renault

|

| 44

| +42.103

| 1

| 2

|-

! 6

| 8

| Gerhard Berger

| Benetton-Renault

|

| 44

| +1:03.741

| 15

| 1

|-

! 7

| 2

| Pedro Diniz

| Arrows-Yamaha

|

| 44

| +1:25.931

| 8

| &nbsp;

|-

! 8

| 7

| Jean Alesi

| Benetton-Renault

|

| 44

| +1:42.008

| 2

| &nbsp;

|-

! 9

| 17

| Gianni Morbidelli

| Sauber-Petronas

|

| 44

| +1:42.582

| 13

| &nbsp;

|-

! 10

| 6

| Eddie Irvine

| Ferrari

|

| 43

| Collision

| 17

| &nbsp;

|-

! 11

| 19

| Mika Salo

| Tyrrell-Ford

|

| 43

| +1 lap

| 19

| &nbsp;

|-

! 12

| 23

| Jan Magnussen

| Stewart-Ford

|

| 43

| +1 lap

| 18

| &nbsp;

|-

! 13

| 1

| Damon Hill

| Arrows-Yamaha

|

| 42

| Wheel nut

| 9

| &nbsp;

|-

! 14

| 20

| Ukyo Katayama

| Minardi-Hart

|

| 42

| Engine

| 20

| &nbsp;

|-

! 15

| 14

| Jarno Trulli

| Prost-Mugen-Honda

|

| 42

| +2 laps

| PL

| &nbsp;

|-

!

| 18

| Jos Verstappen

| Tyrrell-Ford

|

| 25

| Spun off

| 21

| &nbsp;

|-

!

| 11

| Ralf Schumacher

| Jordan-Peugeot

|

| 21

| Spun off

| PL

| &nbsp;

|-

!

| 10

| David Coulthard

| McLaren-Mercedes

|

| 19

| Spun off

| 10

| &nbsp;

|-

!

| 21

| Tarso Marques

| Minardi-Hart

|

| 18

| Spun off

| 22

| &nbsp;

|-

!

| 22

| Rubens Barrichello

| Stewart-Ford

|

| 8

| Steering

| 12

| &nbsp;

|-

!

| 15

| Shinji Nakano

| Prost-Mugen-Honda

|

| 5

| Electrical

| 16

| &nbsp;

|-

!

| 9

| Mika Häkkinen

| McLaren-Mercedes

|

| 44

| Fuel irregularity (+30.856)

| 5

| &nbsp;

|-

!colspan="9"|

|}

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"

|-

! Pos

! Driver

! Points

|-

| 1

| Michael Schumacher

|align="right"| 66

|-

| 2

| Jacques Villeneuve

|align="right"| 55

|-

| 3

| Heinz-Harald Frentzen

|align="right"| 23

|-

| 4

| Jean Alesi

|align="right"| 22

|-

| 5

| Gerhard Berger

|align="right"| 21

|-

!colspan=4|Source:

|}

;Constructors' Championship standings

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"

|-

! Pos

! Constructor

! Points

|-

| 1

| Ferrari

|align="right"| 84

|-

| 2

| Williams-Renault

|align="right"| 78

|-

| 3

| Benetton-Renault

|align="right"| 47

|-

| 4

| McLaren-Mercedes

|align="right"| 28

|-

| 5

| Jordan-Peugeot

|align="right"| 25

|-

!colspan=4|Source: