Monaco GP: Tight Battles in Monaco's Tight Streets
Posted Sunday 11th May, 1997
The 55th edition of the Monaco GP got underway without big issues - which is noteworthy in itself with the narrow first corners. Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher both started well, but Rubens Barrichello was less fortunate. The Brazilian had a poor getaway and lost places to Mika Hakkinen and Olivier Panis. Heinz-Harald Frentzen kept his 6th place from qualifying. The field settled soon and overtaking proved difficult as ever, although Panis did a couple of attempts to conquer a spot on the podium, with Barrichello preying on them, never more than 2 seconds away.
Lap 26 was the moment they had been waiting for. Hakkinen and Panis approached Pedro Diniz' DFC to lap him on the main straight. Hakkinen chose the inside line, while Panis stayed on the outside. Diniz visibly hesitated, but decided to move out of the way for Panis, blocking Hakkinen in the process. Both Panis and Barrichello moved up a place, although Hakkinen quickly regained 4th in Sainte Devote on the next lap. A little while later, Barrichello was the first driver to make his stop in the 31st lap.
Pit stops were something Panis did not need to worry about in this race. He made a small mistake and as we know, it only takes a small mistake to end your race in Monaco. Lap 33 was the moment and Anthony Noghes was the place where the Frenchman's podium hopes faded. He ran a little bit wide and although the contact with the wall was not that heavy, it was enough for the Prost to loose a front wheel. David Coulthard moved up into the points as a result, just like Gerhard Berger who saw Barrichello come out of the pits a few seconds behind him. The Brazilian had quickly caught up, but it took a mistake from the experienced Austrian to allow him through and back into the top six.
The running order was shaken up by more pit stops, most notably when Villeneuve briefly lost the lead to Michael Schumacher when the Canadian came in a few laps earlier than the German. Villeneuve decided not to wait, however, and regained 1st place on track by outbraking the Ferrari going into Sainte Devote. Michael Schumacher went into the pits a few laps later and ended up behind Barrichello, who was on a short second stint as part of a two stop strategy. He did stay in front of Giancarlo Fisichella and Nathan van Dijk though, the Italian and the Dutchman also having moved up the field, making the most of fresh tyres on a 2-stopper. Michael Schumacher regained 2nd place in lap 46 by outbraking Barrichello into Sainte Devote. Mere moments later, there was more spectacle on the main straight as Hakkinen suffered a puncture and spun out of the race.
The final series of pit stops was kicked off by Barrichello and Fisichella, both dropping out of the points for a short time. Coulthard was next, but he did not gain anything relative to the Brazilian and the Italian. Van Dijk was the last driver to make his pit stop in lap 53, dropping back to 9th behind Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher, Frentzen, Herbert, Barrichello, Fisichella, Coulthard and Berger. Since they had stopped late and were on fresher Goodyears or Bridgestones, Barrichello, Fisichella, Coulthard and Van Dijk were relatively quick and were looking to increase their points tally for this race.
Increasing a points tally was not going to happen for Villeneuve, though. It was no fault of his own, but the suspension on his Williams failed in lap 55 and the Canadian had to pull over. He had been looking strong to increase his championship lead to immense proportions, but this changed in a whim. Villeneuve was not the only one to retire from this race in the closing stages; Coulthard suffered a very similar fate just two laps later. The McLaren driver slowed down rather abruptly as soon as he noticed something was wrong, which left the just lapped Jos Verstappen unable to avoid him. Verstappen's accident added to a miserable start of the season for Tyrrell, who had never looked even close to being in contention for points up until this point.
Another team which had not scored any points so far, was Stewart Grand Prix. Rubens Barrichello seemed set to change this, however, running in 4th and even catching Benetton's Johnny Herbert at a rapid pace. There was visible disbelief on the Stewart pitwall in lap 59, when a big cloud of smoke signalled the failure of the Ford engine in the back of Barrichello's car. The Brazilian had once again shown very promising pace, but he was yet to finish a race in 1997. Due to other drivers' misfortunes, Berger was now running in 4th. He did have the quicker Fisichella and Van Dijk right behind him, however, and in lap 61 he could no longer hold the Jordan back in the Nouvelle Chicane. Only one lap later Van Dijk also got past, although this looked like it may have been a team order, Van Dijk being significantly quicker and on fresher tyres.
Van Dijk quickly got on the back of Fisichella and both looked to be able to possibly even challenge Herbert in the final laps. Fisichella and Jordan missed the chance of fighting for a podium, however. The Italian suffered an oil leak in lap 63 and retired from 4th place. As a result, his compatriot, Jarno Trulli, promoted into the points in only his third race for Prost and he would stay there, despite having to make an unplanned stop due to a slow puncture and despite some pressure from fellow rookie Jan Magnussen before the latter had mechanical issues himself.
Meanwhile at the front, Michael Schumacher could cruise to his first win of the season. Heinz-Harald Frentzen did the same to finish 2nd, rising to 2nd in the drivers' championship as well. Johnny Herbert completed the podium, keeping just enough of a margin over a fast approaching Nathan van Dijk. Gerhard Berger and Jarno Trulli scored their first points of the season with 5th and 6th respectively.
RESULTS
DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP
