That day, Michael Schumacher ended up in the gravel after a clumsy blocking move on Villeneuve backfired, leaving the Canadian free and clear to secure the title. Three years after his clash with Damon Hill in Adelaide, Schumacher was again under fire from all sides.
What is less well known is what happened later that evening, and how the German attempted to smooth the waters with the new world champion.
The 1997 season had been all about Villeneuve and Schumacher. Having lost out to Williams team-mate Hill the previous year, Villeneuve had completely destroyed his new partner, Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
Instead, he faced an external challenge from Ferrari, in the second year of the Schumacher era. The Maranello team was still searching for the first drivers’ title since 1979, but it was regaining momentum under Ross Brawn’s technical leadership.
The title battle took an extra twist at the penultimate round in Suzuka, where Villeneuve faced a penalty for a yellow flag offence in practice, and ultimately came away with no points. That meant Schumacher was in front heading to the last race, the European Grand Prix at Jerez.
Qualifying produced an extraordinary outcome when Villeneuve, Schumacher and Frentzen all set identical laptimes of 1m21.072s, a bizarre phenomenon not seen before or since. Villeneuve did it first, so he was on pole.
“It was a Hollywood scenario,” Villeneuve recalls. “But the whole season was, and that’s why it’s one of the championships that gets remembered. You couldn’t write it. If you wrote it, then people will say ‘Why do they write something like this? Of course, it cannot happen’.
Schumacher aced the start as Williams team-mates Villenueve and Frentzen tripped over each other at Turn 1
Photo by: Motorsport Images
“But yes it did. Apparently, the FIA had another digit, but it doesn’t count for the grid. I’m not sure what that exit digit was, but I was happier not to know, because maybe it could have been someone else!”
The race itself unfolded perfectly for the championship, with Schumacher leading, and – once he had passed Frentzen after making a bad start – Villeneuve hunting him down in second.
“We had imagined a million plans, and obviously none of them happened!” says Villeneuve. “I got into Turn 1 with Heinz-Harald, we didn’t know what to do or who should be in front, and it didn’t work out well.
“Then it was just a crazy race, qualifying lap after qualifying lap. I almost crashed a few times, getting closer…
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