The 1997 Spanish Grand Prix (formally the XXXIX Gran Premio Marlboro de España) was a Formula One motor race held on 25 May 1997 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. It was the sixth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship.
The 64-lap race was won from pole position by Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, driving a Williams-Renault. Frenchman Olivier Panis finished second in a Prost-Mugen-Honda, six seconds behind Villeneuve, having only started 12th. Another Frenchman, Jean Alesi, finished third in a Benetton-Renault.
The win, Villeneuve's third of the season, put him back into the lead of the Drivers' Championship by three points from German Michael Schumacher, who finished fourth in his Ferrari.
Race summary
Michael Schumacher, having started 7th, ended the first lap in 2nd position, and was challenging Villeneuve in the Williams for the lead. However, Schumacher, in the spare Ferrari, was unable to stay with the leader and was starting to slow the cars behind him. By lap 13, the gap between him and Villeneuve was approximately 20 seconds, and a train of cars consisting to David Coulthard, Jean Alesi, Mika Häkkinen, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and Johnny Herbert was behind him. His lap times were approximately 1:26 while Villeneuve's was 1:22.
In this high tyre wearing race, especially for the Goodyear tyres, Irvine failed to let Panis through, and thus allowing Jean Alesi and Michael Schumacher to catch him up. When Irvine finally yielded on lap 57, the gap between Panis and Villeneuve was back up to 16.1 seconds. Irvine later received a stop-go penalty for his actions. After Panis cleared the traffic, he was lapping 1.5 to 2 seconds faster than the leader and managed to close the gap to less than 6 seconds by the end of the race, but it was too late and Villeneuve took his 3rd victory of the season. This was Panis's final podium finish in Formula One.
Classification
Qualifying
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! Pos !! No !! Driver !! Constructor !! Time !! Gap
|-
! 1
| 3
| Jacques Villeneuve
| Williams-Renault
| 1:16.525
|
|-
! 2
| 4
| Heinz-Harald Frentzen
| Williams-Renault
| 1:16.791
| +0.266
|-
! 3
| 10
| David Coulthard
| McLaren-Mercedes
| 1:17.521
| +0.996
|-
! 4
| 7
| Jean Alesi
| Benetton-Renault
| 1:17.717
| +1.192
|-
! 5
| 9
| Mika Häkkinen
| McLaren-Mercedes
| 1:17.737
| +1.212
|-
! 6
| 8
| Gerhard Berger
| Benetton-Renault
| 1:18.041
| +1.516
|-
! 7
| 5
| Michael Schumacher
| Ferrari
| 1:18.313
| +1.788
|-
! 8
| 12
| Giancarlo Fisichella
| Jordan-Peugeot
| 1:18.385
| +1.860
|-
! 9
| 11
| Ralf Schumacher
| Jordan-Peugeot
| 1:18.423
| +1.898
|-
! 10
| 16
| Johnny Herbert
| Sauber-Petronas
| 1:18.494
| +1.969
|-
! 11
| 6
| Eddie Irvine
| Ferrari
| 1:18.873
| +2.348
|-
! 12
| 14
| Olivier Panis
| Prost-Mugen-Honda
| 1:19.157
| +2.632
|-
! 13
| 17
| Gianni Morbidelli
| Sauber-Petronas
| 1:19.323
| +2.798
|-
! 14
| 19
| Mika Salo
| Tyrrell-Ford
| 1:20.079
| +3.554
|-
! 15
| 1
| Damon Hill
| Arrows-Yamaha
| 1:20.089
| +3.564
|-
! 16
| 15
| Shinji Nakano
| Prost-Mugen-Honda
| 1:20.103
| +3.578
|-
! 17
| 22
| Rubens Barrichello
| Stewart-Ford
| 1:20.255
| +3.730
|-
! 18
| 21
| Jarno Trulli
| Minardi-Hart
| 1:20.452
| +3.927
|-
! 19
| 18
| Jos Verstappen
| Tyrrell-Ford
| 1:20.582
| +4.057
|-
! 20
| 20
| Ukyo Katayama
| Minardi-Hart
| 1:20.672
| +4.147
|-
! 21
| 2
| Pedro Diniz
| Arrows-Yamaha
| 1:21.029
| +4.504
|-
! 22
| 23
| Jan Magnussen
| Stewart-Ford
| 1:21.060
| +4.535
|-
! colspan="6" |107% time: 1:21.882
|-
! colspan="6" |Source:
|}
Race
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! Pos !! No !! Driver !! Constructor !! Laps !! Time/Retired !! Grid !! Points
|-
! 1
| 3
| Jacques Villeneuve
| Williams-Renault
| 64
| 1:30:35.896
| 1
| 10
|-
! 2
| 14
| Olivier Panis
| Prost-Mugen-Honda
| 64
| +5.804
| 12
| 6
|-
! 3
| 7
| Jean Alesi
| Benetton-Renault
| 64
| +12.534
| 4
| 4
|-
! 4
| 5
| Michael Schumacher
| Ferrari
| 64
| +17.979
| 7
| 3
|-
! 5
| 16
| Johnny Herbert
| Sauber-Petronas
| 64
| +27.986
| 10
| 2
|-
! 6
| 10
| David Coulthard
| McLaren-Mercedes
| 64
| +29.744
| 3
| 1
|-
! 7
| 9
| Mika Häkkinen
| McLaren-Mercedes
| 64
| +48.785
| 5
|
|-
! 8
| 4
| Heinz-Harald Frentzen
| Williams-Renault
| 64
| +1:04.139
| 2
|
|-
! 9
| 12
| Giancarlo Fisichella
| Jordan-Peugeot
| 64
| +1:04.767
| 8
|
|-
! 10
| 8
| Gerhard Berger
| Benetton-Renault
| 64
| +1:05.670
| 6
|
|-
! 11
| 18
| Jos Verstappen
| Tyrrell-Ford
| 63
| +1 lap
| 19
|
|-
! 12
| 6
| Eddie Irvine
| Ferrari
| 63
| +1 lap
| 11
|
|-
! 13
| 23
| Jan Magnussen
| Stewart-Ford
| 63
| +1 lap
| 22
|
|-
! 14
| 17
| Gianni Morbidelli
| Sauber-Petronas
| 62
| +2 laps
| 13
|
|-
! 15
| 21
| Jarno Trulli
| Minardi-Hart
| 62
| +2 laps
| 18
|
|-
!
| 2
| Pedro Diniz
| Arrows-Yamaha
| 53
| Engine
| 21
|
|-
!
| 11
| Ralf Schumacher
| Jordan-Peugeot
| 50
| Engine
| 9
|
|-
!
| 22
| Rubens Barrichello
| Stewart-Ford
| 37
| Engine
| 17
|
|-
!
| 19
| Mika Salo
| Tyrrell-Ford
| 35
| Puncture
| 14
|
|-
!
| 15
| Shinji Nakano
| Prost-Mugen-Honda
| 34
| Gearbox
| 16
|
|-
!
| 1
| Damon Hill
| Arrows-Yamaha
| 17
| Engine
| 15
|
|-
!
| 20
| Ukyo Katayama
| Minardi-Hart
| 11
| Gearbox
| 20
|
|-
!colspan="8"|
|}
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! Pos
! Driver
! Points
|-
| 1
| Jacques Villeneuve
|align="right"| 30
|-
| 2
| Michael Schumacher
|align="right"| 27
|-
| 3
| Olivier Panis
|align="right"| 15
|-
| 4
| Eddie Irvine
|align="right"| 14
|-
| 5
| David Coulthard
|align="right"| 11
|-
!colspan=4|Source:
|}
;Constructors' Championship standings
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! Pos
! Constructor
! Points
|-
| 1
| Ferrari
|align="right"| 41
|-
| 2
| Williams-Renault
|align="right"| 40
|-
| 3
| McLaren-Mercedes
|align="right"| 21
|-
| 4
| Benetton-Renault
|align="right"| 17
|-
| 5
| Prost-Mugen-Honda
|align="right"| 15
|-
!colspan=4|Source: