The 1997 European Grand Prix (formally the XLII European Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 26 October 1997 at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Spain. Originally scheduled as the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Estoril circuit, it was moved when Estoril's management had financial difficulties. It was the 17th and final race of the 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 69-lap race was won by Mika Häkkinen in a McLaren, his first Formula One race victory. His teammate David Coulthard finished second and Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve took third, which was sufficient for him to win the World Championship.
Michael Schumacher, driving for Ferrari, had led the championship by a single point ahead of Villeneuve going into the race. During the race, Villeneuve and Schumacher collided while battling for the lead and the resulting damage to Schumacher's car forced him to retire. The blame for the incident was later attributed to Schumacher by the sport's governing body, the FIA, and he was stripped of his second-place finish in the championship. Schumacher's tactics were widely criticised by the media, including publications based in his home country of Germany, and in Ferrari's home country of Italy.
Following the race, Williams and McLaren were accused of colluding to decide the finishing order. Villeneuve stated that "it was better to let them through and win the World Championship". The FIA determined there was no evidence to support the claims, and dismissed the accusations. This is the last World Championship Grand Prix to be held in Jerez and the last season finale to be held on the European continent to date. Häkkinen's victory was the first victory for a Finnish driver in the Formula One World Championship in 12 years since Keke Rosberg won the 1985 Australian Grand Prix.<!---->
Häkkinen and Coulthard's first and second-place finishes ensured the McLaren team scored their first one-two finish since the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix and made the Woking based team the only team to score a 1-2 finish during any of the 1997 Grands Prix.<!----> This was the last race for Gerhard Berger, who had won 10 times and had been competing in Formula One since 1984, and Ukyo Katayama. This was also the last Grand Prix until the 2009 Australian Grand Prix where slick tyres were used, as grooved tyres would be used in the sport from the start of the season until the end of the season. This race was also the only time during the 1997 season that Villeneuve stood on the podium without being the race winner, the other seven of eight podiums Villeneuve achieved that season all being wins.<!---->
Background
The 1997 European Grand Prix was the final round of the 1997 Formula One World Championship and occurred at the Circuito de Jerez on 26 October 1997. The race was added to the schedule after Japan because engine suppliers Renault did not want their last Formula One race to be in Japan.
Heading into the final race of the season, two drivers were still in contention for the World Drivers' Championship, despite Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher driving the inferior car, perhaps not even the second-fastest car on the grid. Schumacher was leading with 78 points; Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve was second with 77 points, one point behind Schumacher. Behind Schumacher and Villeneuve in the Drivers' Championship, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was third on 41 points in the other Williams, with Jean Alesi and David Coulthard on 36 and 30 points, respectively.<!----> Villeneuve had won two more races than Schumacher during the season, meaning that in the event of a tie on points, the rules stated Villeneuve would be world champion.
Villeneuve had to finish the race in a points-scoring position (points were awarded for drivers finishing in sixth place or higher) and ahead of Schumacher to become World Drivers' Champion. Schumacher would be world champion if he finished ahead of Villeneuve, or if Villeneuve failed to score any points by finishing lower than sixth or not completing the race. In the World Constructors' Championship, Williams led with 118 points and Ferrari were second on 100. Williams had therefore clinched the constructors' title before the race, as even if Ferrari finished first and second in the race, thereby taking 16 points, and both Williams cars failed to score a point, they could not beat Williams.
Practice and qualifying
Four practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—two on Friday from 11:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 14:00 CEST (UTC+2), and two on Saturday morning held from 09:00 to 09:45 and from 10:15 to 11:00 CEST. In the first two practice sessions, Prost driver Olivier Panis set the fastest time with a lap of 1 minute and 22.735 seconds, one-tenth of a second faster than Arrows driver Damon Hill. Villeneuve and Rubens Barrichello were third and fourth. Mika Häkkinen and Coulthard respectively set the fifth and eighth-fastest times for McLaren; they were separated by Frentzen and Alesi. Michael Schumacher and Ralf Schumacher completed the top ten. In the final two practice sessions, Coulthard set the fastest lap with a time of 1:20.738; Häkkinen finished with the second-fastest time. The Williams drivers were quicker, with Villeneuve in third and Frentzen in sixth. Panis slipped to fourth ahead of Gerhard Berger, their best times one-tenth of a second apart. They were ahead of Stewart driver Jan Magnussen, Shinji Nakano for Prost, Hill, and Alesi. At the end of the session, the three fastest drivers had all set the same laptime, the first time this had happened in the history of the World Championship.
Qualifying classification
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Driver
! scope="col" | Constructor
! scope="col" | Time
! scope="col" |
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| align="center" | 3
| data-sort-value="VIL" | Jacques Villeneuve
| Williams-Renault
| 1:21.072
|
|-
! scope="row" | 2
| align="center" | 5
| data-sort-value="SCH1" | Michael Schumacher
| Ferrari
| 1:21.072
| +0.000
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| align="center" | 4
| data-sort-value="FRE" | Heinz-Harald Frentzen
| Williams-Renault
| 1:21.072
| +0.000
|-
! scope="row" | 4
| align="center" | 1
| data-sort-value="HIL" | Damon Hill
| Arrows-Yamaha
| 1:21.130
| +0.058
|-
! scope="row" | 5
| align="center" | 9
| data-sort-value="HAK" | Mika Häkkinen
| McLaren-Mercedes
| 1:21.369
| +0.297
|-
! scope="row" | 6
| align="center" | 10
| data-sort-value="COU" | David Coulthard
| McLaren-Mercedes
| 1:21.476
| +0.404
|-
! scope="row" | 7
| align="center" | 6
| data-sort-value="IRV" | Eddie Irvine
| Ferrari
| 1:21.610
| +0.538
|-
! scope="row" | 8
| align="center" | 8
| data-sort-value="BER" | Gerhard Berger
| Benetton-Renault
| 1:21.656
| +0.584
|-
! scope="row" | 9
| align="center" | 14
| data-sort-value="PAN" | Olivier Panis
| Prost-Mugen-Honda
| 1:21.735
| +0.663
|-
! scope="row" | 10
| align="center" | 7
| data-sort-value="ALE" | Jean Alesi
| Benetton-Renault
| 1:22.011
| +0.939
|-
! scope="row" | 11
| align="center" | 23
| data-sort-value="MAG" | Jan Magnussen
| Stewart-Ford
| 1:22.167
| +1.095
|-
! scope="row" | 12
| align="center" | 22
| data-sort-value="BAR" | Rubens Barrichello
| Stewart-Ford
| 1:22.222
| +1.150
|-
! scope="row" | 13
| align="center" | 2
| data-sort-value="DIN" | Pedro Diniz
| Arrows-Yamaha
| 1:22.234
| +1.162
|-
! scope="row" | 14
| align="center" | 16
| data-sort-value="HER" | Johnny Herbert
| Sauber-Petronas
| 1:22.263
| +1.191
|-
! scope="row" | 15
| align="center" | 15
| data-sort-value="NAK" | Shinji Nakano
| Prost-Mugen-Honda
| 1:22.351
| +1.279
|-
! scope="row" | 16
| align="center" | 11
| data-sort-value="SCH2" | Ralf Schumacher
| Jordan-Peugeot
| 1:22.740
| +1.668
|-
! scope="row" | 17
| align="center" | 12
| data-sort-value="FIS" | Giancarlo Fisichella
| Jordan-Peugeot
| 1:22.804
| +1.732
|-
! scope="row" | 18
| align="center" | 17
| data-sort-value="FON" | Norberto Fontana
| Sauber-Petronas
| 1:23.281
| +2.209
|-
! scope="row" | 19
| align="center" | 20
| data-sort-value="KAT" | Ukyo Katayama
| Minardi-Hart
| 1:23.409
| +2.337
|-
! scope="row" | 20
| align="center" | 21
| data-sort-value="MAR" | Tarso Marques
| Minardi-Hart
| 1:23.854
| +2.782
|-
! scope="row" | 21
| align="center" | 19
| data-sort-value="SAL" | Mika Salo
| Tyrrell-Ford
| 1:24.222
| +3.150
|-
! scope="row" | 22
| align="center" | 18
| data-sort-value="VER" | Jos Verstappen
| Tyrrell-Ford
| 1:24.301
| +3.229
|-class="sortbottom"
! colspan="6" |107% time: 1:26.747
|-class="sortbottom"
! colspan="6" |Source:
|}
Warm-up
A half an hour warm-up session took place on Sunday morning for teams to set-up their cars for the race later that day. A majority of the teams appeared to use the soft compound tyres except for Jordan who were using the harder tyre compound. Häkkinen lapped fastest with a time of 1:23.016 ahead of Berger in second position and Panis in third. The top ten was completed by Coulthard, Villeneuve, Herbert, Michael Schumacher, Frentzen, Nakano, and Hill. There were no incidents during the session. Frentzen also got a better start than Villeneuve and overtook him for second position. Under the orders of the Williams team, Frentzen let teammate Villeneuve past on lap eight. On the 12th lap, Pedro Diniz's race ended early when he spun and stalled. Schumacher made his first pit-stop on lap 22 and Villeneuve made his first stop the following lap. Both retained their positions. During the first round of pitstops the McLarens swapped places with Coulthard leading Häkkinen and Frentzen dropped to fifth position behind both of them. Braking later than Schumacher, Villeneuve held the inside line and was ahead on the track when Schumacher turned in on him resulting in a collision with his front-right wheel and Villeneuve's left-hand sidepod. ITV's pit lane reporter James Allen stated that onboard footage shows Schumacher twitching his steering wheel left before turning right into Villeneuve. Martin Brundle, in the commentary box alongside Murray Walker, immediately observed that Schumacher's move had been deliberate, saying: "I don't think... That didn't work. That didn't work, Michael. You hit the wrong part of him, my friend. I don't think that will cause Villeneuve a problem." On French television channel TF1, former Williams driver Jacques Laffite reacted with curse words, live on television, calling Schumacher "an idiot." The right-front wheel of Schumacher's Ferrari hit the left radiator pod of Villeneuve's Williams—unlike the collision with Hill at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, where Schumacher inflicted damage on Hill's suspension—and caused Schumacher to retire. Villeneuve described the incident after the race. He said: "The car felt very strange. The hit was very hard. It was not a small thing." He continued but damage to the mounts on his car's battery meant he was slower than the cars behind him.
At the time of the incident, there were 22 laps of the race remaining. The slower pace of Villeneuve's car meant that on the last lap, he had been caught by both McLarens, Häkkinen having regained second place from Coulthard under team orders. After the race, Villeneuve stated: "I did not fight then. It was better to let them through and win the World Championship. It is a good exchange." Third place meant Villeneuve finished ahead of Schumacher in the Drivers' Championship by three points, and became World Champion. Häkkinen's victory was the first of his career.
Race classification
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Driver
! scope="col" | Constructor
! scope="col" | Tyre
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Time/Retired
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Points
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| align="center" | 9
| data-sort-value="HAK" | Mika Häkkinen
| McLaren-Mercedes
|
| 69
| 1:38:57.771
| align="center" | 5
| align="center" | 10
|-
! scope="row" | 2
| align="center" | 10
| data-sort-value="COU" | David Coulthard
| McLaren-Mercedes
|
| 69
| +1.654
| align="center" | 6
| align="center" | 6
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| align="center" | 3
| data-sort-value="VIL" | Jacques Villeneuve
| Williams-Renault
|
| 69
| +1.803
| align="center" | 1
| align="center" | 4
|-
! scope="row" | 4
| align="center" | 8
| data-sort-value="BER" | Gerhard Berger
| Benetton-Renault
|
| 69
| +1.919
| align="center" | 8
| align="center" | 3
|-
! scope="row" | 5
| align="center" | 6
| data-sort-value="IRV" | Eddie Irvine
| Ferrari
|
| 69
| +3.789
| align="center" | 7
| align="center" | 2
|-
! scope="row" | 6
| align="center" | 4
| data-sort-value="FRE" | Heinz-Harald Frentzen
| Williams-Renault
|
| 69
| +4.537
| align="center" | 3
| align="center" | 1
|-
! scope="row" | 7
| align="center" | 14
| data-sort-value="PAN" | Olivier Panis
| Prost-Mugen-Honda
|
| 69
| +1:07.145
| align="center" | 9
|
|-
! scope="row" | 8
| align="center" | 16
| data-sort-value="HER" | Johnny Herbert
| Sauber-Petronas
|
| 69
| +1:12.961
| align="center" | 14
|
|-
! scope="row" | 9
| align="center" | 23
| data-sort-value="MAG" | Jan Magnussen
| Stewart-Ford
|
| 69
| +1:17.487
| align="center" | 11
|
|-
! scope="row" | 10
| align="center" | 15
| data-sort-value="NAK" | Shinji Nakano
| Prost-Mugen-Honda
|
| 69
| +1:18.215
| align="center" | 15
|
|-
! scope="row" | 11
| align="center" | 12
| data-sort-value="FIS" | Giancarlo Fisichella
| Jordan-Peugeot
|
| 68
| +1 lap
| align="center" | 17
|
|-
! scope="row" | 12
| align="center" | 19
| data-sort-value="SAL" | Mika Salo
| Tyrrell-Ford
|
| 68
| +1 lap
| align="center" | 21
|
|-
! scope="row" | 13
| align="center" | 7
| data-sort-value="ALE" | Jean Alesi
| Benetton-Renault
|
| 68
| +1 lap
| align="center" | 10
|
|-
! scope="row" | 14
| align="center" | 17
| data-sort-value="FON" | Norberto Fontana
| Sauber-Petronas
|
| 68
| +1 lap
| align="center" | 18
|
|-
! scope="row" | 15
| align="center" | 21
| data-sort-value="MAR" | Tarso Marques
| Minardi-Hart
|
| 68
| +1 lap
| align="center" | 20
|
|-
! scope="row" | 16
| align="center" | 18
| data-sort-value="VER" | Jos Verstappen
| Tyrrell-Ford
|
| 68
| +1 lap
| align="center" | 22
|
|-
! scope="row" | 17
| align="center" | 20
| data-sort-value="KAT" | Ukyo Katayama
| Minardi-Hart
|
| 68
| +1 lap
| align="center" | 19
|
|-
! data-sort-value="18" scope="row" |
| align="center" | 5
| data-sort-value="SCH1" | Michael Schumacher
| Ferrari
|
| 47
| Collision
| align="center" | 2
|
|-
! data-sort-value="19" scope="row" |
| align="center" | 1
| data-sort-value="HIL" | Damon Hill
| Arrows-Yamaha
|
| 47
| Gearbox
| align="center" | 4
|
|-
! data-sort-value="20" scope="row" |
| align="center" | 11
| data-sort-value="SCH2" | Ralf Schumacher
| Jordan-Peugeot
|
| 44
| Water leak
| align="center" | 16
|
|-
! data-sort-value="21" scope="row" |
| align="center" | 22
| data-sort-value="BAR" | Rubens Barrichello
| Stewart-Ford
|
| 30
| Gearbox
| align="center" | 12
|
|-
! data-sort-value="22" scope="row" |
| align="center" | 2
| data-sort-value="DIN" | Pedro Diniz
| Arrows-Yamaha
|
| 11
| Spun off
| align="center" | 13
|
|-
!colspan="9"|
|}
Post-race
Schumacher–Villeneuve collision
thumb|left|220px|The <!--Curva-->Dry Sac corner was the scene of [[Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher's collision on lap 48.]]