Formula One seasons can be appreciated like memories of nights out. Some, like 1998's epic Hakkinen/Schumacher fight, or 1989's internecine McLaren ding-dong, are joyous evenings of fine wine, merriment and hazy pre-dawn snuggles in the arms of "the one". Others, like the anathema of 2002 and the error-blighted 2008 are futile, angst-ridden, head-wrecking blowouts on cheap gin. And others, like 1997, are nights among friends that seem to pass without too much incident, but in hindsight become touching memories of days gone by as the cobwebs clasp the season review video case like oft-forgotten anecdotes.
What I'm trying to say is that, looking back on it, 1997 was a good year for F1.
By and large, the 1997 season isn't exactly looked on as being a classic moment in F1 history. Sandwiched awkwardly in between the mid-90's Hill/Schumacher ding-dong and the turn-of-the-millennium Hakkinen/Schumacher era like a gawky, bespectacled middle child, the year is often written off as a gimmie year for Jacques Villeneuve. With Williams having by far the dominant machinery, Villeneuve having the miserably out of his depth Heinz-Harald Frentzen for a team mate, and Michael Schumacher still adjusting to life at Ferrari, the fact that the Canadian man wrapped up the title was certainly no surprise. And yet in many ways it was the journey taken rather than the destination that made 1997 such a fun season.
Despite it being a season ostensibly dominated by Villeneuve and Schumacher, it was bookended by wins for the resurgent McLaren outfit, interspersed with one brilliant final victory for Gerhard Berger, in the race he returned to the cockpit following a lay-off caused by a sinus issue and the death of his father, and saw him win despite pressure from the unlikely source of Giancarlo Fisichella in his Jordan. We had the tears of joy from Jackie Stewart, who saw his brand new team pick up a maiden podium in their debut season, at Monaco no less, and the almost-unbelievable sight of Damon Hill dragging the recalcitrant Arrows A18 to within half a lap of victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, in a race that, had Hill succeeded in reaching the top step of the podium, would have gone down as one of the most inexplicable results in sporting history.
And there was more. Jarno Trulli's manful efforts with his Prost car in Austria went sadly unrewarded, while right at the start of the season, we had the spectacular demise of the Lola F1 team, who were forced onto the grid against their will by megabucks sponsor Mastercard, and failed to qualify after running some 12 seconds off the pace for the whole weekend, much less trouble the cameramen. There were also moments of wonderfully cheeky inventiveness, like Tyrrell's innovative, but sadly hideous, X wings.
The excitement was often assisted by the failures of the top two. Certainly had Villeneuve been slightly more competent, he would have won the title at a canter, rather than coming so close to losing it. He won seven of the 17 events, but retired from five grands prix, racked up a disqualification in Japan for ignoring yellow flags, and only finished on the podium on one more occasion, when he wrapped up the title in Jerez. From the moment he got caught up with Johnny Herbert at the opening corner of the Australian GP, through to Williams's fantastically incompetent decision to start their cars on slicks at a drenched Monaco track, and his visit to the yet-to-be-named-so Wall of Champions in Canada, Villeneuve and the Williams team did little more than blunder their way to the title.
All this allowed Schumacher to keep himself in the title hunt, as he snatched five wins and three further podiums to come so close to an unlikely Ferrari title. That he was to end his title bid in inglorious circumstances thanks to "that" moment in Jerez does rather detract from his overall performance, but his wins in Monaco and Japan were as good as anything he managed before or since. Though the Jerez finale was tainted by his deliberate collision with Villeneuve, seen by most as another sign of his evil cheating nature, it is often forgot that Williams spent that weekend working on a pact with rivals McLaren to help Villeneuve win the title. In the end, the pact led to Villeneuve letting Hakkinen and Coulthard through for a 1-2 finish in the closing stages in return for their help. Which can hardly be described as "not cheating".
The season was also fantastically open in terms of race-by-race results. Back in 1997, with teams allowed to change as many engines, gearboxes and other parts as they liked, the cars were highly-stressed and designed to only last for a single race. And often, that was a requisite that they failed to achieve. The 17 races in 1997 had an average number of 12.6 classified finishers (watching the 0.6 cross the line was always a wonderful moment). Fast forward to 2007, and you find an average of 16.5 finishers every race weekend. The unreliability led to a mix of results as well, 2007 saw just 7 different drivers stand on the podium, but in 1997, 12 people found themselves spraying champagne come the chequered flag.
You could, just about, draw some parallels between 1997 and our current season. The sport had just moved from one channel to another in the UK, on the back of a much-publicised British champion taking the honours the year before, only to see that champion struggle to a hilarious extent. Back in 1997, Hill didn't even make the start of the first race of the season after his Arrows broke down on the formation lap of the Australian Grand Prix. Sadly for ITV, unlike this year, they didn't get a different Brit filling the Hill-sized hole. Save for Coulthard's pair of wins, 1997 kicked off a decade of underachievement on the home-grown driver front, much to ITV's chagrin.
Speaking of ITV, 1997 was a fantastic year for the TV coverage of the sport. With Mark Blundell still employed as an overweight Champ Car driver, there was Simon Taylor there to give some geniune analysis (though Blunders did show up in the commentary box in Canada), Murray Walker was still holding back the onset of senility in his commentary, we had full live coverage of every qualifying session for the first time ever, and the FIA still had this rocking guitar bit in the coverage, instead of the garbled mess they had now. Yes, there were the accompanying adverts, but you can't have everything.
So overall then, 1997 was a fantastic year of F1. If it was the awkward middle child at the time, then hindsight has seen it blossom into a vision of beauty. And all I'm saying is that it wouldn't hurt for someone to say it every once in a while.
Trackback(0)
TrackBack URI for this entryComments (0)
Subscribe to this comment's feedWrite comment
| < Prev |
|---|
