1997 FF1M Season

The 1997 FF1M Season was the 10th season of FF1M. It commenced on Sunday 26th April 2009 and finished on 5th July 2009 after seventeen races. Damon Hill won the Drivers Championship for the first time, narrowly pipping his Gui Racing team-mate Jacques Villeneuve and FJR driver David Coulthard after a season long battle. Hill and Villeneuve's team Gui Racing won the Constructors Championship scoring the 2nd highest points total in FF1M history at the time. As of the end of the 2016 season, it has become the 7th highest points total.

Teams and Drivers

Team	Title Sponsor	Engine	No.	Race Drivers	Test Drivers
AquinoPlus	Marlboro	Ferrari	1	Michael Schumacher
AquinoPlus	Marlboro	Ferrari	2	Mika Salo
Maestro Motorsport	West	Ford (W)	3	Mika Hakkinen
Maestro Motorsport	West	Ford (W)	4	Johnny Herbert
Gui Racing	Rothmans	Ferrari (W)	5	Jacques Villeneuve
Gui Racing	Rothmans	Ferrari (W)	6	Damon Hill
Ajay Motorsports	Music4	Mugen Honda	7	Cristiano Da Matta	Juan Pablo Montoya
			8	Ricardo Zonta (1-15)
			8	Juan Pablo Montoya (16-17)
Willow Images	Danka	Renault	9	Gerhard Berger
Willow Images	Danka	Renault	10	Jean Alesi
FJR	Mild Seven	Renault (W)	11	David Coulthard
FJR	Mild Seven	Renault (W)	12	Jos Verstappen
A Racing	Mastercard	Ford	14	Jan Magnussen
A Racing	Mastercard	Ford	15	Alexander Wurz
VTR	Red Bull	Renault (W)	16	Allan McNish
VTR	Red Bull	Renault (W)	17	Rubens Barrichello
J Racing	JPS	Mercedes	18	Pedro de la Rosa
J Racing	JPS	Mercedes	19	Luca Badoer
Dodgem	B&H	Ferrari	20	Olivier Panis
Dodgem	B&H	Ferrari	21	Mark Blundell
Pedersen	Fondmetal	Mercedes (W)	22	Eddie Irvine	Nicola Larini
			23	Giancarlo Fisichella (1-11)
			23	Nicola Larini (12-17)

Season Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	Australian Grand Prix	Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne	9 March
2	Brazilian Grand Prix	Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Sao Paulo	30 March
3	Argentine Grand Prix	Autodromo Oscar Alfredo Galvez, Buenos Aires	13 April
4	San Marino Grand Prix	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola	27 April
5	Spanish Grand Prix	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmelo	11 May
6	Luxembourg Grand Prix	Nurburgring, Nurburg	18 May
7	Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	1 June
8	Canadian Grand Prix	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal	15 June
9	French Grand Prix	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Magny-Cours	29 June
10	British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	13 July
11	German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring, Hockenheim	27 July
12	Hungarian Grand Prix	Hungaroring, Mogyorod	10 August
13	Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	24 August
14	Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	7 September
15	Austrian Grand Prix	A1-Ring, Spielberg	21 September
16	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka	12 October
17	European Grand Prix	Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera	26 October

Season Review

Round 1 - Australia

After the championship success of 1996, Michael Schumacher was looking to continue where he left off, and the familiarity of staying with AquinoPlus, who comfortably won the teams championship, was of comfort to him. On paper, it would be a challenge for both to retain their championships having switched from works Renault to customer Ferrari engines. AquinoPlus' Brazilian rivals, Gui Racing, were running the works counterpart. Both were running Bridgestone tyres, as were the Ford-engined Maestro Motorsport, and it was them who took the first pole position of the season courtesy of Mika Hakkinen. The Finn had a point to prove after just missing out on the championship against Schumacher last season.

All eyes were on 9th-placed Jean Alesi at the start. The Frenchman's switch from FJR to Willows Images got off to an inauspicious start when going into the first corner, his rear wing was invaded by Mark Blundell, who spun into the path of David Coulthard. Seconds later, Giancarlo Fisichella triggered a major shunt when he forgot to brake and smashed Johnny Herbert into debutant Cristiano Da Matta, who was then ricocheted into Alesi. Fisichella, Herbert, and Alesi retired, while Blundell, Da Matta, and Coulthard continued. Further up, Hakkinen was overtaken for the lead by Jacques Villeneuve into Whiteford corner, but quickly retook the lead into Clark corner.

In the opening laps, both VTR drivers were on the move with Allan McNish overtaking Damon Hill for 3rd and Rubens Barrichello overtaking the FJR of Jos Verstappen. Things got worse for FJR as on lap 5, David Coulthard rudely sent Mika Salo flying off the circuit going into Jones corner. DC sauntered across the grass and rejoined into the path of Olivier Panis, who had nowhere to go. Both drivers were out, while Salo somehow rejoined. Villeneuve's race then ended on lap 18 after a spin exiting Prost corner.

Having rejoined in the lead after his first pitstop, Hakkinen's race came to an end due to engine failure. This handed the lead briefly to Schumacher, who had yet to stop, and ultimately, the 1996 champion would finish 3rd behind Barrichello and race winner Hill. Although the Gui Racing driver had scored the full 12 points, the team would later be disqualified for breach of rule 13.1b - 'No team shall post pictures of Sean Connery in a mankini'. This indiscretion meant that VTR led the teams championship ahead of AquinoPlus, while Pedersen were 3rd thanks to a very strong drive from Eddie Irvine, who went from 17th to finish 4th.

Round 2 - Brazil

After the disappointment of losing a win through mechanical troubles, Mika Hakkinen quickly bounced back to take his second consecutive pole position at Interlagos, nearly three tenths quicker than Melbourne winner Damon Hill with home hero Rubens Barrichello up in 3rd. The other two Brazilians didn't have such a good qualifying session with Cristiano Da Matta 19th and Ricardo Zonta 21st.

It seemed as if Hakkinen would avenge his lost win as he was peerless from the start, but things went disastrously wrong when he misjudged a lapping manoeuvre on compatriot Mika Salo at Subida Dos Boxes. Salo spun into the path of Hakkinen, and then unsighted, Gerhard Berger ploughed into the back of the Maestro driver and removed his rear wing. Worse for Hakkinen was that he had just missed the pitlane entrance and had to do a full lap without a rear wing. The undamaged Salo managed to recover to 6th, while Hakkinen and Berger finished out of the points.

The main beneficiary was Hill, who went on to take his second win in a row and formed an all British podium with two Scots either side; David Coulthard in 2nd and Allan McNish in 3rd. VTR's second consecutive podium ensured that they held onto the lead in the teams championship, while Eddie Irvine moved up to 2nd in the drivers championship after another top five finish. As for the Brazilian contingency, Barrichello, Da Matta, and Zonta all retired in quick succession for the same reason as each other, broken suspension.

Round 3 - Argentina

Despite a second non-score from a second pole position, Mika Hakkinen's speed was unaffected with yet another pole position at Buenos Aires. This time, he was joined by Michael Schumacher, who himself was looking for a better run of form after a very early retirement at Interlagos. Championship leader Damon Hill qualified 4th with teammate Jacques Villeneuve alongside him on the second row.

In the race, it was another case of bad luck or no luck for Hakkinen as his engine failed very early into what was a long race for the drivers. From the second row, both Gui Racing drivers had the measure of Schumacher and overhauled the reigning champion to take a 1-2 finish, with Villeneuve taking his first win of the season. Hill still led the championship, but now with a different Brit as his nearest challenger after David Coulthard took a solid 4th in the race.

Round 4 - San Marino

Not too far away from the actual country of San Marino is Imola, location for the first European race of the season. For the first time, Mika Hakkinen would not qualify on pole position as he had to settle for 4th, although only three tenths behind Jacques Villeneuve, who had taken his first pole of the season ahead of Damon Hill and Rubens Barrichello. For fans of the Ferrari powerplant, they were overjoyed with an all Gui Racing front row, less so with home drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Luca Badoer qualifying 12th and 21st.

The two Gui Racing drivers went into combat at the start with Hill attempting to outbrake Villeneuve into Tamburello, but he overdid it slightly and fell back behind his teammate, who quickly built a gap. Just a couple of laps later, Hill's race was already over thanks to a lack of oil pressure, while Gerhard Berger made contact with Johnny Herbert at Variante Alta and spun to the back of the field. Two other drivers getting frisky with each other at the same chicane were David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher in a battle for 7th, while Fisichella and Alexander Wurz enjoyed a good tussle for 9th which ended with the Italian spinning round at Tamburello on lap 6 after running wide and applying too much power for dirty rear tyres to handle. He would've continued had Cristiano Da Matta not torn his wheel off in the aftermath.

At the front, Hakkinen kept Villeneuve under pressure and sold him a dummy going into Piratella on lap 9 and swept round the outside going into Acque Minerale to take the lead. On the next lap, Barrichello forced his way past Villeneuve for 2nd going into Tamburello, who lost a further two places to Allan McNish and Jos Verstappen after running wide at the exit. It was ultimately a poor race for the Canadian as he had fallen to 7th by lap 56, but gained 6th from Coulthard going into Variante Bassa. With three laps to go however, he misjudged the distance between himself and Herbert going into Piratella, spun, and dropped back down to 7th.

Ever since he took the lead, Hakkinen was praying to make the finish without any issues, but his car was reliable this time and he broke the Gui Racing maelstrom by taking his first win of the season ahead of Barrichello. 3rd went to Verstappen after he jumped McNish during the pitstops. For the Italians in the crowd, the best result they got was Villeneuve's 7th. Unlike his compatriot, Badoer made the finish, albeit 12th and last of the runners.

Drivers Championship

Position	Driver	Constructor	Points
1st	Damon Hill	Gui Racing	32
2nd	Rubens Barrichello	VTR	20
3rd	David Coulthard	FJR	16
4th	Jacques Villeneuve	Gui Racing	14
5th	Allan McNish	VTR	14

Constructors Championship

Position	Constructor	Points
1st	Gui Racing	34
2nd	VTR	34
3rd	FJR	24

Round 5 - Spain

Barcelona was next on the FF1M calendar and so far in terms of the tyre war, Bridgestone held the advantage over Goodyear with four wins and four pole positions out of four races. However, the American tyre manufacturer were keeping them honest thanks to FJR and VTR's efforts. Sim Steele's team were jointly leading the teams championship with Gui Racing, and their hopes of a maiden win were in sight after Rubens Barrichello took pole position in a tight qualifying session. Damon Hill was 2nd, just nine thousandths away from pole. Home driver Pedro de la Rosa could only manage 21st in the struggling J Racing.

Barrichello didn't have a good launch at the start and lost the lead to Hill, but from 4th on the grid, Johnny Herbert utilised the slipstream of Hill and bravery on the brakes into the first corner allowed him to take the lead. Distracted by Herbert's banzai manoeuvre, Hill lost 2nd to Barrichello going into Repsol while further back at the same corner, Giancarlo Fisichella was knocked into a spin by Ricardo Zonta. On the following lap at the same corner, Barrichello muscled his way past Herbert for the lead. The Maestro driver then lost more places in quick succession to both Gui Racing drivers.

Both VTR drivers were running light fuel loads with Barrichello on a three-stop strategy. Allan McNish demonstrated their competitiveness by outbraking Gerhard Berger for 11th into Repsol on lap 5. In contrast, Herbert and Mika Hakkinen appeared to have split their strategies as Herbert's heavier fuel load dropped him to 5th behind his teammate on lap 7, then to both FJR drivers at the start of the following lap, and then to Michael Schumacher going into La Caixa. Both FJR drivers then battled each other for 5th with David Coulthard gaining track position over Jos Verstappen.

Schumacher moved up to 4th during the first round of pitstops, but dropped time after a spin at Renault. Alexander Wurz wasn't so fortunate as he made it as far as the barriers. Having made their first stops, Jacques Villeneuve overtook Hill for what would become the net lead after Barrichello made his second of three stops. Pushing hard to make his strategy work, the Brazilian set the fastest lap on lap 34 before having an off track excursion at Renault.

Once the strategies had taken shape, Villeneuve was in the lead, but Hakkinen had jumped Hill for 2nd and began chasing after the Canadian, who was pressured into a mistake at Renault on lap 48 and allowed Hakkinen into the lead. Sadly, for the Finn, he was destined not to win as his Ford engine failed on lap 57 and gifted Hill his third win of the season with his teammate 2nd. Coulthard would've been 3rd but suffered an engine failure on the final lap, handing the final podium place to Herbert. As for the only Spaniard on the grid, he finished 11th ahead of Mark Blundell, Eddie Irvine, and Jan Magnussen.

Round 6 - Luxembourg

As if to create some confusion, the Nurburgring played host to the Luxembourg Grand Prix as Jerez had pinched the European Grand Prix moniker for the season finale. In qualifying, Mika Hakkinen was even more fired up than ever as he took pole position by an eye watering six tenths of a second from home hero Michael Schumacher. Championship leader Damon Hill was down in 8th alongside his teammate.

Weather would play a key role in the race as heavy rain in the opening laps forced everyone into the pits early for wet tyres. In an effort to avoid a collision with 5th-placed Johnny Herbert, who was exiting the pits, Hill ran wide at the Castrol S and spun round, losing time in the process. Hakkinen led the opening phase, but made a relatively early fuel stop and dropped to 6th behind the Dodgem of Olivier Panis, who was going well in the wet. Attempting to overtake the Frenchman into Castrol, Hakkinen locked his rear brakes and spun.

Schumacher had taken the lead after Hakkinen's stop and together with David Coulthard, pulled out an enormous gap over the rest of the field. Schumacher's teammate Mika Salo wasn't so comfortable as he had a quick spin at the Veedol chicane. Meanwhile at one third distance, Jos Verstappen attempted an overtake on 7th placed Panis, who had just made a pitstop, but missed his braking point going into the Ford complex and crashed out. Further up, Jacques Villeneuve had similar difficulties trying to pass Rubens Barrichello for 3rd and spun at Castrol. Despite a nudge from Allan McNish, Villeneuve was able to rejoin without damage.

The Castrol S continued to catch out drivers throughout the race. Eddie Irvine locked his fronts followed by his rears and had a spin, while Herbert had a moment avoiding a reemerging McNish and did well not to fully spin. Barrichello then had his own spin at Veedol on lap 49, while Hill moved up to 5th at the expense of Panis at the Dunlop hairpin. By lap 62, Schumacher and Coulthard were still 1st and 2nd, but the Scot suffered another engine failure, promoting Villeneuve to 2nd and McNish to 3rd. Come the chequered flag, Schumacher had mastered the conditions to take his and AquinoPlus' first win of the season. The best of the Mercedes-engined cars was Irvine in 8th.

Round 7 - Monaco

The normally sun-dappled streets of Monte Carlo received an unexpected surprised in the form of rain for the qualifying session which created a partially mixed up grid aside from the two Gui Racing drivers, who still qualified on the front row with Jacques Villeneuve on pole. As at the Nurburgring, Olivier Panis performed well in the wet conditions with 3rd on the grid, with Pedro de la Rosa also shining with 4th. Those not doing so well included Mika Hakkinen in 11th, David Coulthard in 13th, and Allan McNish in 15th.

From pole position, Villeneuve's start was perfect as he maintained the lead, but Damon Hill had a poor getaway and lost 2nd to Panis, and the Dodgem slowing the field down from the start allowed Villeneuve to build a three second lead by the end of the first lap. Going into Sainte Devote on lap 2, Rubens Barrichello somehow squeezed past de la Rosa for 4th.

Hakkinen was in the wars as on lap 3, he was bumped by Johnny Herbert going into the Seafront chicane and dropped from 9th to 11th. Three laps later, he overtook compatriot Mika Salo at the same place in a much cleaner manoeuvre. Less clean was the battle for 6th between Gerhard Berger and Eddie Irvine as the Ulsterman tapped the Willow Images driver into a half spin at Sainte Devote. Upon recovering, Berger was collected by Herbert and lost a wheel, while the Maestro driver was forced into the pits for a new front wing. At least the other Maestro of Hakkinen was on the move as he overtook Luca Badoer for 7th.

On lap 7, Hill attacked Panis going into Seafront. The battle lasted until the exit of the Piscine complex and Hill finally moved up to 2nd, but he had lost over 17 seconds to his teammate. Meanwhile, Hakkinen continued his charge as he overtook Irvine for 6th going into Sainte Devote on lap 12, then de la Rosa for 5th, and then Panis for 4th going into Seafront on lap 15. Irvine's quest for more points then ended on lap 21 when he crashed heavily at the first Piscine chicane.

At the front, Villeneuve was completely untroubled and dominant as he took a lights-to-flag victory. Barrichello took 2nd after jumping Hill during the pitstops. The other Gui Racing driver held onto 3rd after holding off the charging Hakkinen in the middle stages of the race. Further back, Coulthard put in a steady drive to finish 5th, while the top eight were completed by Salo, Panis, and Jean Alesi, who took his first points finish of the season.

Round 8 - Canada

The only race in North America took place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a popular venue in the FF1M calendar, and after three podium finishes in a row, the crowd were expecting no more than a Jacques Villeneuve victory. They would have to tolerate the Canadian being 5th on the grid behind both FJR drivers, his own teammate, and polesitter Mika Hakkinen.

In the race, Villeneuve gave it a good go in front of his home crowd and was in contention for the win, but he just missed out by two seconds from David Coulthard, who took his, FJR's, Renault's, and Goodyear's first win of the season. Completing the podium was Allan McNish, while Hakkinen had his customary retirement, this time of his own making after crashing out. Damon Hill was a steady 4th and had his championship lead trimmed once again.

Drivers Championship

Position	Driver	Constructor	Points
1st	Damon Hill	Gui Racing	60
2nd	Jacques Villeneuve	Gui Racing	50
3rd	David Coulthard	FJR	33
4th	Michael Schumacher	AquinoPlus	33
5th	Rubens Barrichello	VTR	32

Constructors Championship

Position	Constructor	Points
1st	Gui Racing	98
2nd	VTR	60
3rd	FJR	47

Round 9 - France

The middle of rural France was the location for the exact halfway point of the season, courtesy of Magny-Cours. With Renault having won their first race of the season last time out, they were looking to carry the momentum across to their home race. They took a decent step towards another win with pole position courtesy of VTR and Rubens Barrichello, with the Gui Racing of Jacques Villeneuve joining him on the front row. The two French drivers of Jean Alesi and Olivier Panis qualified 15th and 19th.

Race day saw an unusually high attrition rate with only eight runners come the chequered flag. There were no less than 11 failures in the engine and transmission area, and these included both Gui Racing drivers, David Coulthard, and polesitter Barrichello. Home drivers Panis and Alesi were also part of that list. However, Renault would get their wish of a home win courtesy of a maiden triumph for FJR's Jos Verstappen, who beat Mika Hakkinen by less than two seconds. Completing the podium was Gerhard Berger, his first podium in what had been a tough season for the Austrian in an uncompetitive Willow Images.

Round 10 - Great Britain

Two wins in a row put FJR in good shape for Silverstone, effectively their home race, and David Coulthard duly delivered to take his first pole of the season by two tenths of a second from Jacques Villeneuve. Three more Brits followed, but surprisingly, it was Eddie Irvine who had beaten Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert to 3rd on the grid, the Goodyears performing well on his Pedersen. As for the remaining Brits, Allan McNish was 10th, while Mark Blundell was down in 21st.

With two thirds of the British drivers qualifying in the top five, there was a lot of expectation for a home winner, but polesitter Coulthard took it all in like a duck taking to water and dominated the race with a lights to flag victory. Jacques Villeneuve was 2nd, nearly half a minute behind, while Hill followed his teammate home to 3rd. Irvine couldn't quite match his qualifying pace, but still had a decent race to 5th, while McNish made it four Brits in the points with 7th. The remaining two Brits finished, although Herbert faded from 5th to 11th, and Blundell was 16th, ahead of the last remaining runner, Jan Magnussen in the A Racing.

Round 11 - Germany

Although Gui Racing and their drivers had fairly comfortable leads in the both championships, it was becoming clear that FJR and VTR with their Renault engines and Goodyear tyres were giving them a hard time. It was Rubens Barrichello who gave them the hardest time in qualifying at Hockenheim with a convincing pole position. Over half a second was the gap to 2nd placed Damon Hill. Jacques Villeneuve was 3rd followed by the two FJR drivers and Allan McNish. Michael Schumacher was down in 11th and it seemed as if his AquinoPlus car, engine, and tyre combination was being outdeveloped.

From pole position, Barrichello had the perfect launch to comfortably lead going into the first corner, while from 2nd and 3rd, both Gui Racing drivers were caught sleeping by David Coulthard outbraking the pair of them into the Nordkurve. Further back, Schumacher and Jan Magnussen both collided and spun round causing a minor traffic jam. Going into the Jim Clark chicane, Hill ran wide trying to overtake Coulthard for 2nd which paved the way for both McNish and Jos Verstappen to assume their positions, while Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen both spun, possibly from contact. Delayed by his battle with Coulthard, Hill had dropped to 7th behind Johnny Herbert and Eddie Irvine.

AquinoPlus and A Racing's other drivers had their own moment of aggro on lap 2 as Alexander Wurz drove into Mika Salo at Jim Clark, and then received karma when he spun and had a wheel torn off by Olivier Panis. Three laps later, Pedro de la Rosa's attempted overtake on Gerhard Berger resulted in him running wide at the Ostkurve. Trying to take advantage of this, Giancarlo Fisichella was rudely shoved off the track at the exit by Berger, but kept going in front of de la Rosa.

By half distance, Barrichello had a comfortable lead over Verstappen, but his race would end prematurely thanks to a napalmed Renault. The Dutchman therefore took the lead from a trio of Brits, but this became a duo on lap 32 when 2nd-placed Hill crashed out at the Agip curve. McNish then took over 2nd before a wheel nut loosened and caused terminal damage to his hub. Coulthard's inherited 2nd place then dramatically became the lead with three laps remaining after teammate Verstappen's gearbox broke, cruelly denying him victory.

Three wins in four races moved Coulthard to within nine points of championship leader Hill, who himself was now only two points ahead of Villeneuve, who had recovered from his lap 1 incident to finish 3rd behind his sparring partner Herbert. Elsewhere, there was joy for Ajay Motorsports as Cristiano Da Matta recorded his first ever points with 7th, but it was misery for Schumacher as his first corner collision left him snookered down in 9th.

Round 12 - Hungary

Despite finishing 6th at the previous race, Giancarlo Fisichella was dropped by Pedersen after being outperformed by teammate Eddie Irvine, who had outqualified the Italian in all races so far. His replacement was another Italian, Nicola Larini, who last raced (canonically) during the 1988 season with Shannon. The changed seemed to work as Larini qualified 9th, two places ahead of Irvine. Taking pole position was the current in-form driver, David Coulthard, who was a mammoth three quarters of a second ahead of Jacques Villeneuve. Michael Schumacher performed better compared to previous races with 3rd, while championship leader Damon Hill equalled his worst qualifying of the season with 8th.

The race started in wet conditions and from 4th on the grid, Mika Hakkinen had the best start to take the lead into the first corner, while further back, his teammate was sideswiped by an out of control Luca Badoer, while tagging the back of Jan Magnussen put Olivier Panis into a spin. Having lost 3rd at the start, Schumacher surprised Villeneuve into the penultimate corner and retook 3rd before challenging Coulthard for 2nd at the start of lap 3. At the same time, Hill powered ahead of his teammate for 4th.

At the start of lap 5, Schumacher made his move on Coulthard for 2nd and succeeded, while a charging Rubens Barrichello pushed too hard at the tricky turn 11 and dropped from 5th to 7th. The other VTR outdid his teammate's effort by crashing out on lap 8 at turn 9. Seconds later, Badoer crashed out at the same corner, while Irvine had a spin at turn 4. The next two incidents had far more dramatic championship implications as 4th-placed Hill locked up and spun at the turn 6-7 chicane on lap 9, dropping him way down the order, while Coulthard's gearbox failed on the following lap. Having heard the news over the radio, Schumacher briefly slid off circuit exiting the chicane, but with no harm to his 2nd place.

Elsewhere, Cristiano Da Matta was having a good drive from 12th on the grid, undoubtedly buoyed by his points finish in the previous race as he overtook Mika Salo for 7th going into the first corner on lap 11. Salo then tumbled down the order as he lost places to Gerhard Berger, Larini, and Jean Alesi, while 5th-placed Verstappen went in the opposite direction by overtaking Barrichello for 4th on lap 15.

As the race progressed, Villeneuve was finding his feet as he had overtaken Schumacher for 2nd and began closing in on race leader Hakkinen. On lap 28 with the track drying out, the Finn was pressured into misjudging a lapping manoeuvre on Panis as he tagged the back of the Dodgem and spun round, briefly handing Villeneuve the lead, although the Canadian would drop down to 4th after a pitstop. Further back, Ricardo Zonta and Irvine collided going into the chicane which popped the Brazilian in the air, and a somewhat heavy landing caused an explosion of car parts and a retirement for Zonta.

At the start of lap 40, Barrichello overtook Schumacher for 2nd into the first corner, but the German would regain that place going into the final corner. On the next lap, Hill's race came to an end after a collision with Alexander Wurz going into the first corner left him beached in the gravel, and it seemed as if it was the British driver's fault as he swerved into the path of the Austrian. Schumacher and Barrichello continued their fierce scrap, but both ran off track at turn 12 after Barrichello attempted an overtake, handing 2nd to Villeneuve. Schumacher then lost 4th to Verstappen at the chicane on lap 45 and had a clumsy half spin on the kerb in the process.

After more pitstops for Barrichello and Verstappen, Schumacher had regained 3rd, but on old tyres, he was lapping much slower and was overtaken by Barrichello on lap 56, followed by Verstappen on lap 70. Hakkinen was in a similar situation having taken the lead from Villeneuve, but any hopes of winning ended thanks to gearbox failure. This left Villeneuve to take a significant win as thanks to Hill's retirement, the Canadian took the lead of the championship by 10 points. Completing the podium were Barrichello and Verstappen, while another 7th place for Da Matta meant that Ajay Motorsports had overtaken J Racing for 10th in the championship.

Drivers Championship

Position	Driver	Constructor	Points
1st	Jacques Villeneuve	Gui Racing	76
2nd	Damon Hill	Gui Racing	66
3rd	David Coulthard	FJR	57
4th	Rubens Barrichello	VTR	43
5th	Michael Schumacher	AquinoPlus	38

Constructors Championship

Position	Constructor	Points
1st	Gui Racing	130
2nd	FJR	90
3rd	VTR	73

Round 13 - Belgium

Gui Racing's win at the previous round was timely for them as it put a stop to FJR's winning streak. That momentum was carried over into with Damon Hill taking pole position by half a second from Allan McNish. Amazingly, this was Hill's first pole of the season considering his three wins from earlier in the season. His championship rivals, Jacques Villeneuve and David Coulthard, were down in 6th and 7th.

The race was a battle between Hill and McNish with the Scot beating the Englishman for his first career win by over 20 seconds. Rubens Barrichello made it a double podium finish for VTR with 3rd, while Coulthard finished 4th ahead of Villeneuve, gaining one point over the Canadian in the championship. Despite qualifying 3rd and setting the fastest lap, Jos Verstappen finished outside the points after a troubled race.

Round 14 - Italy

Another race in Italy gave Ferrari fans another reason to cheer on the three teams that ran the their engine, and at Monza where power and top speed matter, only a victory would satisfy them, especially after Maestro with its American Ford engine won the other Italian race at Imola. In qualifying, it was close between the top Renault, Ford, and Ferrari teams, but the advantage went to VTR with a first career pole for Allan McNish. Mika Hakkinen was 2nd with Damon Hill 3rd and the two FJR drivers 4th and 5th. The top five were separated by exactly two tenths of a second, but championship leader Jacques Villeneuve had a poor session down in 8th. The two Italians of Nicola Larini and Luca Badoer were 16th and 22nd.

The race was mostly dominated by the top three teams as they filled the top six places, but it was Hill who returned to the top step of the podium with a convincing win over the two VTR drivers, with McNish leading a close quartet separated by less than eight second. Rubens Barrichello's 3rd was a good result as he'd started behind the two FJR drivers and beat both to the podium. Jos Verstappen finished ahead of David Coulthard, which wasn't ideal for the Scot's championship chances. Villeneuve was a distant 6th having been off the pace throughout the entire meeting, and he had lost the championship lead to Hill by three points in the process, but at least he was still in championship contention, unlike Michael Schumacher who was now out of it after another non-score. The remaining points were scored by the two Pedersen drivers of Eddie Irvine and Larini, who had scored his first points since the 1988 Italian Grand Prix. The other Italian finished 12th, last of those still running.

Round 15 - Austria

Returning to the calendar for the first time (canonically) since the 1987 season was the Austrian Grand Prix, located at a heavily redesigned Österreichring, now known as the A1-Ring after the national telecom company. The revamped circuit appeared to suit VTR well as they qualified on the front row with Rubens Barrichello on pole, while Damon Hill and David Coulthard shared the second row. Once again, Jacques Villeneuve was off colour as he qualified down in 9th, while the two local drivers, Gerhard Berger and Alexander Wurz, were 11th and 13th.

In the race, the combination of works Renault engines and Goodyear tyres was completely unrivalled, although VTR and FJR's clean sweep wasn't fulfilled thanks to Allan McNish suffering an early engine failure. Barrichello however was able to control the race for his first win of the season, although less than nine seconds ahead of Coulthard. This result kept them both in mathematical championship contention. Jos Verstappen was 3rd, just over 21 seconds behind Barrichello, but over 40 seconds ahead of 4th-placed Michael Schumacher. Hill was a rather anonymous 6th, but extended his championship lead thanks to Villeneuve also suffering an engine failure. Those three points also meant that Gui Racing had clinched the teams championship. As for the Austrians, Berger finished in the points with 8th while Wurz was 10th.

Drivers Championship

Position	Driver	Constructor	Points
1st	Damon Hill	Gui Racing	89
2nd	Jacques Villeneuve	Gui Racing	83
3rd	David Coulthard	FJR	74
4th	Rubens Barrichello	VTR	67

Constructors Championship

Position	Constructor	Points
1st	Gui Racing	160
2nd	FJR	118
3rd	VTR	117

Round 16 - Japan

With four drivers still in contention for the drivers championship, it was all to play for at Suzuka, although realistically, it was between the two Gui Racing drivers. None of the four championship contenders qualified on pole position with Damon Hill the best of all in 2nd. Jacques Villeneuve was the next best in 4th with Rubens Barrichello 6th and David Coulthard having it all to do from 7th. On pole for the first time in his FF1M career was Coulthard's teammate, Jos Verstappen. As for the only team running Japanese engines, Ajay Motorsports had swapped out Ricardo Zonta for newly crowned and inaugural FF1M-3000 champion Juan Pablo Montoya, and the Colombian starred in his debut FF1M qualifying session with 9th, eight places ahead of teammate Cristiano Da Matta.

The Dutchman maintained the lead at the start while Hill had a poor start and dropped to 4th behind Mika Hakkinen and Villeneuve. Keen to make up for lost time, Hill had a look at his teammate going into 130R, but was forced to back out of it. Also eager to progress was Coulthard, and on lap 2, he performed a successful overtake going into 130R on Allan McNish for 6th. On lap 3, the two Gui Racing drivers continued to battle with Hill overtaking Villeneuve into the first corner, only for Villeneuve to regain the place going into 130R. Barrichello then joined the fight as he took advantage of Hill's slow exit to outbrake the Brit into the Casio triangle for 4th. Coulthard was next to attack Hill and overtook him for 5th going into 130R on lap 4, and then passed Barrichello for 4th going into the first corner on lap 10.

Further down the order, Da Matta got his line wrong at the Esses and spun into the barriers at high speed. This promoted Mark Blundell up to 17th but then he got his line wrong going into the first corner on lap 14 and spun into the path of the unfortunate Mika Salo. Both drivers came into the pits for new front wings, and then both had separate crashes at the Spoon curve, ending their races.

At the first round of pitstops, Hill jumped Coulthard for position after staying out for at least one extra lap, but then undid all his hard work by crashing out at the final part of the Esses and presenting Villeneuve with a golden opportunity to close the gap in the championship. This also promoted Montoya into the points, but unfortunately for the Colombian, his Mugen Honda engine failed and denied him the opportunity to score points in his debut race.

By lap 32, Villeneuve was 3rd and Coulthard was 4th. If they remained there until the chequered flag, then both drivers would still have been in championship contention for the final race. Coulthard wanted more however and pushed hard, too hard as he went into the gravel at the first corner and fell behind both VTR drivers. Three laps later, Michael Schumacher felt the need to better Coulthard's effort by totalling his car at the first corner barriers, almost as if he'd suffered a stuck throttle.

Now down in 6th, Coulthard resumed his push and set a new fastest lap on the 42nd tour. He moved up to 5th two laps later after Hakkinen crashed out at 130R, but then an electrical problem forced Coulthard into the pits for remedies and back down to 6th. Once back out on track, he looked at Eddie Irvine's 5th around the outside on the pit straight before forcing his way past into Spoon, but then he spun at 130R, narrowly avoided being collected by Irvine, and then messed up his rejoin by driving into the barrier and needing a new front wing. His championship battle had finally ended in spirited fashion.

As for Coulthard's teammate, not much was seen of him, but he'd put in a brilliantly controlled drive from pole position to take his second win of the season, giving plenty of consolation to FJR. Villeneuve took 2nd and the championship lead from Hill by two points. Barrichello finished 3rd and like Coulthard, was also out of the championship. McNish followed his teammate home in 4th, which kept VTR within two points of the runner-up spot in the teams championship.

Round 17 - Europe

The final race of the season took place at the compact Jerez circuit and marked the first time in FF1M history that Spain held two races in one season. The drivers championship fight had been whittled down to a two horse race between the two Gui Racing drivers with the advantage lying with Jacques Villeneuve, but the Canadian had his worst qualifying session of the season down in 11th. Damon Hill was a bit better off in 6th, and three points for 6th place in the race would give him the championship proving Villeneuve failed to score. The session was dominated by FJR as they locked out the front row with David Coulthard on pole. The only Spaniard on the grid, Pedro de la Rosa, struggled down in 21st, exactly the same grid position as in Barcelona.

The race was a tense affair for the two championship contenders as they tried to make their way as far up the field as possible. Just as in qualifying, FJR were untouchable as Coulthard led home Jos Verstappen, securing 2nd in the teams championship for the Yorkshire team. 3rd to 7th were separated by just 15 seconds with Mika Hakkinen completing the podium. 4th and securing five points was Hill, and with Villeneuve only managing to score two points for finishing 7th, the championship was decided in favour of Hill.

Results and Standings

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers in race.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
Points	12	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

Race by Race

Round	Grand Prix	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team
1	Australian Grand Prix	Mika Hakkinen	Jacques Villeneuve	Damon Hill	Gui Racing-Ferrari	Highlights
2	Brazilian Grand Prix	Mika Hakkinen	Mika Hakkinen	Damon Hill	Gui Racing-Ferrari	Highlights
3	Argentine Grand Prix	Mika Hakkinen	Jacques Villeneuve	Jacques Villeneuve	Gui Racing-Ferrari
4	San Marino Grand Prix	Jacques Villeneuve	Jacques Villeneuve	Mika Hakkinen	Maestro-Ford	Highlights
5	Spanish Grand Prix	Rubens Barrichello	Rubens Barrichello	Damon Hill	Gui Racing-Ferrari	Highlights
6	Luxembourg Grand Prix	Mika Hakkinen	Jacques Villeneuve	Michael Schumacher	AquinoPlus-Ferrari	Highlights
7	Monaco Grand Prix	Jacques Villeneuve	Allan McNish	Jacques Villeneuve	Gui Racing-Ferrari	Highlights
8	Canadian Grand Prix	Mika Hakkinen	Damon Hill	David Coulthard	FJR-Renault
9	French Grand Prix	Rubens Barrichello	Jacques Villeneuve	Jos Verstappen	FJR-Renault
10	British Grand Prix	David Coulthard	David Coulthard	David Coulthard	FJR-Renault
11	German Grand Prix	Rubens Barrichello	David Coulthard	David Coulthard	FJR-Renault	Highlights
12	Hungarian Grand Prix	David Coulthard	Jacques Villeneuve	Jacques Villeneuve	Gui Racing-Ferrari	Highlights
13	Belgian Grand Prix	Damon Hill	Jos Verstappen	Allan McNish	VTR-Renault
14	Italian Grand Prix	Allan McNish	David Coulthard	Damon Hill	Gui Racing-Ferrari
15	Austrian Grand Prix	Rubens Barrichello	David Coulthard	Rubens Barrichello	VTR-Renault
16	Japanese Grand Prix	Jos Verstappen	David Coulthard	Jos Verstappen	FJR-Renault	Highlights
17	European Grand Prix	David Coulthard	David Coulthard	David Coulthard	FJR-Renault

Championship Standings

*The original displayed results revealed that Mika Salo was missing 3 points from the Brazilian GP. The audit has now taken effect.

Gui Racing were disqualified from the Australian GP for breach of rule 13.1b, which states that “no team shall post pictures of Sean Connery in a mankini.” The misdemeanour was later traced down to the pre-season launch, where Sean Connery made a guest appearance and found himself himself in a racey photoshoot with Angus McBarnes, Gui Racing’s press officer. Race winner Damon Hill was allowed to keep his points and Gui Racing's 'win' is recognised in the statistics.

Engine Trophy

Qualifying Results

Notes

The 1997 FF1M Season thread can be found at http://forum.theracingline.net/showthread.php?t=215