Sunday 30th June
Magny Cours
Hill made a rocket of a start, chopping rapidly across to the right to block Alesi before swooping into the first corner with a three car-length lead from Alesi, Hakkinen, Villeneuve, Berger, Brundle and Coulthard. Hill put the hammer down, establishing a 1.5s gap on the first lap, while Irvine made up five places from his last place starting position. At the end of the first lap Diniz was up to eighth place, having by far his best performance yet.
Alesi tried to respond, but the gap to Hill still extended (1.887s, 2.449s, 3.089s in four laps). Meanwhile, on lap 2, the first of the retirements occured, the Forti of Montermini pulling off the circuit (repairs to the car had been performed on the grid before the warm-up lap due to a small fire), and the Minardi of Fisichella disappearing. Lap 5, and the Ferrari challenge disappeared altogether, the gearbox of Irvine expiring completely.
Things soon settled down into a pattern, with Hill extending his lead while others formed scrapping pairs, Villeneuve trying to pass Hakkinen, while Panis (10th) was all over Barrichello (9th). The problem was the strength of the Peugeot engine - the Ligier would catch up in the corners, but lose out down the straights. Things changed only when Panis pitted on lap 19, taking 8.1s (meanwhile Verstappen had speared off into the gravel on lap 11, the inside wheels going over the kerbs onto the gravel before spearing straight on into another trap, victim of wheel-bearing failure).
Further pit-stops came on lap 22, Barrichello taking 8.4s, Alesi 7.3, and on lap 23 Lamy took 10.2s, and Brundle 8.5. Berger was in on lap 25 (8.1), and Hill and Hakkinen on lap 27. The situation was extremely fluid for a while as the strategies sorted themselves out, Hill emerging 10.7s ahead of Alesi (Diniz was out on lap 30 with a mechanical failure), Villeneuve @14.456, Hakkinen @16.620, Berger @19.601, Coulthard @42.748. Panis was challenging Brundle for seventh (0.6s back), but despite going through the hairpin more cleanly than Brundle, couldn't pull alongside.
On lap 36, Villeneuve suddenly put on a spurt, catching up 1.2s in a single lap. He kept the momentum going, and the following lap he dived down the inside of Alesi at the Adelaide hairpin. From then on, barring pit stop problems or mechanicals, the top three were set for the end of the race.
The rest of the race was largely uneventful. Lap 46 and Panis was all over Barrichello, the Peugeot's sheer grunt again making passing problematical. Pass he did though, and on lap 52 Panis came up to overtake Coulthard. Again, he dived down the inside at the Adelaide hairpin, but the Scotsman didn't want to concede it and turned in. Light contact was made, but Panis was through, at least until his last pit stop on lap 55.
By lap 56, Berger was catching Alesi, while Villeneuve was 10.3s back from Hill. Berger's problem was that altough faster over a lap, the equality of engine and chassis together with the aerodynamic instability from close proximity made it extremely difficult to pass. As Alesi admitted in the post-race interview, he deliberately held Berger up through the twisty bits just to annoy him. Going into the Adelaide hairpin Berger tried looking left and right, but never really had a chance, and they retained their positions until flag fall.
The final moment of drama was on lap 58, when Frentzen's throttle stuck wide open. Frentzen went off at the final chicane with the front wheels locked but the rears still driving. He stuck it in the gravel, his race ended.
For the rest it was a cruise to the flag, Hill taking a well deserved first race win in France. A first lap blitz had done the damage, and the damage was evident in the points standings, Hill 28 points ahead of the next competitor, team-mate Jacques Villeneuve. The championship is now Hill's for the taking.
Results
1 5 D.Hill 1:36:28.795, 190.183kph
2 6 J.Villeneuve + 8.127
3 3 J.Alesi + 46.442
4 4 G.Berger + 46.859
5 7 M.Hakkinen + 1:02.774
6 8 D.Coulthard + 1 lap
7 9 O.Panis + 1 lap
8 12 M.Brundle + 1 lap
9 11 R.Barrichello + 1 lap
10 19 M.Salo + 2 laps
11 14 J.Herbert + 2 laps
12 17 R.Rosset + 3 laps
13 20 P.Lamy + 3 laps
Not Classified
15 H.Frentzen + 16 laps
18 U.Katayama + 39 laps
22 L.Badoer + 43 laps
10 P.Diniz + 44 laps
16 J.Verstappen + 62 laps
2 E.Irvine + 67 laps
21 G.Fisichella + 70 laps
23 A.Montermini + 70 laps
1 M.Schumacher + 72 laps
Note: After post-race scrutineering Johnny Herbert was disqualified for
running illegally high deflectors, the same offense that cost Eddie Irvine his
qualifying position.
Drivers Championship 1. D.Hill 63 2. J.Villeneuve 38 3. M.Schumacher 26 4. J.Alesi 25 5. D.Coulthard 14 6. M.Hakkinen 12 7. O.Panis 11 8. G.Berger 10 9. E.Irvine 9 10. R.Barrichello 7 11. H.Frentzen 6 12. M.Salo 5 13. J.Herbert 4 14. M.Brundle 2 15. J.Verstappen 1 16. P.Diniz 1 Constructors Championship 1. Williams Renault 101 2. Ferrari 35 3. Benetton Renault 35 4. McLaren Mercedes 26 5. Ligier Mugen 12 6. Sauber Ford 10 7. Jordan Peugeot 9 8. Tyrrell Yamaha 5 9. Footwork Hart 1 Fastest Laps 11 Hill 1:19.059 28 Villeneuve 1:19.044 29 Hill 1:19.042 38 Villeneuve 1:18.971 38 Panis 1:18.712 47 Villeneuve 1:18.629 48 Villeneuve 1:18.610 Top 6 Lap Chart Lap/Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 5 3 4 7 6 1 5 3 7 6 4 12 2 5 3 7 6 4 12 3 5 3 7 6 4 12 4 5 3 7 6 4 12 5 5 3 7 6 4 12 6 5 3 7 6 4 12 7 5 3 7 6 4 12 8 5 3 7 6 4 12 9 5 3 7 6 4 12 10 5 3 7 6 4 12 11 5 3 7 6 4 12 12 5 3 7 6 4 12 13 5 3 7 6 4 12 14 5 3 7 6 4 12 15 5 3 7 6 4 12 16 5 3 7 6 4 12 17 5 3 7 6 4 12 18 5 3 7 6 4 12 19 5 3 7 6 4 12 20 5 3 7 6 4 12 21 5 7 6 4 3 12 22 5 7 6 4 3 12 23 5 7 6 4 3 12 24 5 7 6 4 3 12 25 5 7 6 4 3 8 26 5 7 6 3 4 10 27 6 5 7 3 4 10 28 6 5 7 3 4 10 29 6 5 7 3 4 10 30 5 3 6 7 4 8 31 5 3 6 7 4 8 32 5 3 6 7 4 8 33 5 3 6 7 4 8 34 5 3 6 7 4 8 35 5 3 6 7 4 8 36 5 3 6 7 4 8 37 5 6 3 7 4 8 38 5 6 3 7 4 8 39 5 6 3 7 4 8 40 5 6 3 7 4 8 41 5 6 3 7 4 8 42 5 6 3 7 4 8 43 5 6 3 7 4 8 44 5 6 4 7 3 8 45 5 6 4 7 3 8 46 5 6 7 3 4 8 47 5 6 7 3 4 8 48 5 6 7 3 4 8 49 5 6 7 3 4 8 50 5 6 7 3 4 8 51 5 6 7 3 4 8 52 5 6 3 4 7 8 53 5 6 3 4 7 8 54 5 6 3 4 7 8 55 5 6 3 4 7 8 56 5 6 3 4 7 8 57 5 6 3 4 7 8 58 5 6 3 4 7 8 59 5 6 3 4 7 8 60 5 6 3 4 7 8 61 5 6 3 4 7 8 62 5 6 3 4 7 8 63 5 6 3 4 7 8 64 5 6 3 4 7 8 65 5 6 3 4 7 8 66 5 6 3 4 7 8 67 5 6 3 4 7 8 68 5 6 3 4 7 8 69 5 6 3 4 7 8 70 5 6 3 4 7 8 71 5 6 3 4 7 8 72 5 6 3 4 7 8