Villeneuve wins, Hill races
67 laps, 305 km
Weather: Low cloud, cool, and slightly misty.
The European GP proved to be the most exciting race yet this year.
It had drama, overtaking (a rarity these days, make the most of
it), and was attention holding the whole race through. It also
provided a new race winner.
The complexion of the entire race was decided at the start. As
the lights went out, Villeneuve rocketed away into the lead, Coulthard
following him through, even getting his nose ahead at one point.
Hill, by contrast, was going backwards, Schumacher overtaking
to his right, Barrichello on his left. Katayama didn't move from
the grid, his engine having cut-out. Katayama managed to get his
engine started, and rejoined last. Berger was also having problems,
his left front brake appearing to lock on. He managed to limp
back
to the pits for repairs.
After the first corner, the order was Villeneuve, Coulthard, Barrichelloe,
Schumacher, Hill and Hakkinen. Villeneuve started to edge away.
The rest of the field behaved itself, and the all made it back
to the start-line without a mishap.
Alesi, however, having made an atrocious start, was impatient
to make up places. He was in 13th place, and under braking for
the Castrol Curve at the end of the start/finish straight he attempted
an extremely ambitious overtaking manouevre on Salo, a la Irvine
in Melbourne. He dived down the inside from a long way back as
Salo turned in. Salo's right-rear went over Alesi's left-front,
flipping it briefly into the air. Alesi speared off into the gravel
never to be seen again, probably wishing he'd never bothered coming
after the weekend he had had. Everyone thought that Salo's suspension
was done form but somehow he kept going.
Lap 3, and Villeneuve briefly held the fastest lap, before it
was broken by the recovering Berger. Hill was impatient to be
moving up the field, and was climbing all over the back of Schumacher.
Coming up to the Veedol Chicane, Hill attempted to dive down the
inside, but Schumacher chopped across, having
none of it. Hill was going to have to work for this.
It continued on the next couple of laps. Berger set the fastest
lap again (1:22.109), and Schumacher was locking up under braking.
Then on lap 7, Hill got a much better exit from the Coke Cola
curve. This enabled him to slipstream down the straight, and to
use his higher top speed to pull alongside at the end of the straight.
Hill passed Schumacher into the Castrol Curve, but was soon being
held up by Barrichello.
Things were close back down the field, too close for Irvine. Panis,
Alesi's understudy for the day, outbraked himself into the Veedol
Chicane when trying to pass Irvine. They made contact, and pirouetted
off into the gravel. Both managed to drive out, and both went
back into the pits, the end of play for them for the day.
Although the positions for the next few laps remained static,
this wasn't for lack of effort by the drivers. At the end of lap
8, Villeneuve was leading by 5.112s from Coulthard, who was 0.742s
ahead of Barrichello, was was in turn 0.508s ahead of Hill, who
was 0.497s ahead of Schumacher. In turn, Hakkinen and Frentzen
were catching as well as these four tripped each other up. Hill
just couldn't get close enough to Barrichello. The Peugeot engine
appeared to have similar grunt to the Renault, and the Jordan
was superb around the Coke Cola corner. Lap 12, and Hill had a
look beneath Barrichello into the Veedol. This forced Barrichello
off line, and he was consequently slow out of the chicane. Barrichello
took the inside line into the next corner, and Hill attempted
to go around the outside, but to no avail. Barrichello stayed
ahead, and the only result was that Schumacher was yet still closer.
Lap 14 and there was an almost copy-cat manouevre by Hill. None
of it was working for Hill, but it made for exciting TV.
The gap between Barrichello, Hill and Schumacher oscillated slightly,
but never by much more than half a second. On lap 19 the Williams
mechanics brought the tyres out to try and break the stalemate.
Hill dropped back slightly, and at the end of lap 19 the gaps
were Villeneuve to Coulthard 12.063s, with Barrichello 3.603s
back, Hill -1.163s, Schumacher -0.444s, and Hakkinen -0.689s.
Frentzen came in for tyres this lap (8.2s stop), but Hill stayed
out until lap 21, when Verstappen also stopped. But Hill's stop
was a disastrously long 20.9s, the mechanics taking a great interest
in the right-front wheel area. Hill rejoined behind Brundle and
Herbert. Berger also pitted, and was stationary for 9.6s.
Lap 23, and Schumacher pitted, taking a respectable 7.7s. Coulthard
was in two laps later, and emerged directly in front of Schumacher.
It only took two corners for the German to pass though. Lap 26,
and Hakkinen pitted, taking 6.6s. This was to be the start of
a very bad day, as he was given a ten second
penalty for speeding in the pits. He took this on lap 32. Lap
26 and Villeneuve pitted, taking 8.9s, and emerged still in the
lead. Hill was down in 11th place.
By lap 28, Hill was all over the back of Brundle, who was in 9th
place. Schumacher was also flying, having set a fastest lap of
1:21.976. Lap 29, and Hill tried an unusually forceful manoeuvre
on Brundle at the Coke Cola curve, passing on the inside. Brundle
had a look back into the Castrol curve, but thought better of
it. Hill accelerated away.
A couple of corners later, and Hill had caught the Ligier of Diniz,
who was having by far his best race this season. Under braking
for the Dunlop Hairpin, Hill tried to dive down the inside. Diniz
didn't appear to have seen him, and started to squeeze him out.
Hill took to the inside gravel, and both cars over-ran the gravel,
Diniz because Hill's car was in the way. Brundle, Herbert and
Verstappen slipped through in the confusion while Hill and Diniz
sorted themselves out and regained the track. OK, Hill still had
a lot of work to do, but at least he had "passed" Diniz.........
Diniz pitted to have his car checked.
With all this action, it was easy to forget about the leaders,
but Schumacher was catching Villeneuve very quickly. Lap 30, the
gap was 4.167s. This became 3.8s the next lap, and the gap then
stabilised. Villeneuve appeared to have lost the time passing
Fisichella. By lap 33, the order was Villeneuve, Schumacher, Coulthard,
Barrichello, Frentzen, Hakkinen, Brundle, Herbert, Verstappen
and Hill.
Schumacher continued to close down Villeneuve, getting within
0.663s by lap 38. Hill managed to pass Herbert, and the gaps were
(from the leader) Coulthard -13.636, Barrichello -17.480, Frentzen
-24.677, Hakkinen -26.868. Hill though, was on the move, and set
a new fastest lap on lap 39. Verstappen retired shortly afterwards
on lap 41.
The second set of Pi-stops were due, and Frentzen let Hakkinen
overtake him into the Dunlop Hairpin, as he knew that he was pitting
that lap (stationary 7.8s). Berger was down in 11th place.
Lap 43, and both Hill and Salo pitted (8.2 and 8.1s respectively).
Hill emerged just in front of Frentzen. Lap 44, and Schumacher
arrived in (8.5s). He emerged in 6th place. Hakkinen came in (8.4s),
but had yet another dose of bad luck. His speed-limiter appeared
to have broken, as he gained yet another ten second penalty for
speeding in the pits. This was a bonus for Hill though, as Hakkinen's
car was removed from the circuit just when he had to overtake
it.
Things started to settle down then, and there were few changes
of place. Lap 51, Hill set a new fastest lap (1:21.598), and thought
this to be so good he did it again on lap 52 (1:21.463). Villeneuve
was leading Schumacher by 0.9s, from Coulthard, Barrichello, Hill,
Hakkinen, Brundle, Frentzen, Salo, Herbert,
Berger, Diniz, Lamy, Katayama and Fisichella.
By lap 54 the gap between Villeneuve and Schumacher was down to
0.504s. And that was about as close as it ever got. Despite Schumacher's
outstanding achievement in an inferior car, he still couldn't
make up the 10kph speed difference at the end of the straights.
The battles behind still raged, and on lap 57 Frentzen succumbed,
spinning off under braking for the Castrol Curve. He just missed
Rosset in the Arrows while spinning off, but managed to collect
himself together and rejoin in one piece. On lap 58, Hill finally
managed to pass Barrichello, and on lap 61, Frentzen called it
a day, the off-road excursion having possibly damaged the car.
Villeneuve and Schumacher were circulating nose to tail, the traffic
causing the gap to fall to 0.211a. Hill also caught up with Coulthard,
but as he said in the post-race interview "I know he's not
stupid, and he needs the points." Hill stayed behind, despite
a last corner look which had the effect of allowing Barrichello
to catch up. There was a mad-dash for the finishing line, but
the positions stayed the same.
Results, after 67 laps
| J.Villeneuve | 1h33:26.473 | 196.006kph | |
| M.Schumacher | 0.762 | ||
| D.Coulthard | 32.834 | ||
| D.Hill | 33.511 | ||
| R.Barrichello | 22.713 | ||
| M.Brundle | 55.567 | ||
| J.Herbert | 1:18.027 | ||
| M.Hakkinen | 1:18.438 | ||
| G.Berger | 1:21.061 | ||
| M.Salo | 1 lap | ||
| P.Diniz | 2 laps | ||
| U.Katayam | 2 laps | ||
| R.Rosset | 2 laps | ||
| P.Lamy | 2 laps | ||
| G.Fisichella | 2 laps | ||
| Not Classified | |||
| H.Frentzen | 8 laps | ||
| J.Verstappen | 29 laps | ||
| O.Panis | 61 laps | ||
| E.Irvine | 61 laps | ||
| J.Alesi | 66 laps |
| Fastest lap: D.Hill, 1:21.363, 201.585kph |