Mechanical Mayhem Allows Villeneuve Revenge
Everyone moved away on their warm-up lap, and everyone made it back again. I
bet Schumacher breathed a huge sigh of relief.
As the lights went off, Hill was swamped, Villeneuve making a good start, and
Hakkinen and Alesi even better ones, Alesi coming from the third row to hassle
Villeneuve into the first corner, followed closely by Hakkinen ans Schumacher,
the Ferrari driver having muscled down the inside of Hill. It was close
though, and Hakkinen had a look at Alesi at the end of the Hangar Straight
into Stowe, but the move wasn't on. Going into Club, Hill tried a similar
manouevre on Schumacher, but the Ferrari driver blatantly blocked it. The
twisty Priory/Luffield section precluded any overtaking moves, and going over
the finishing line for the first time it was Villeneuve from Alesi (@1.6s),
Hakkinen (@2.7s), Schumacher (@3.6s), Hill (@4.3s), Barrichello (@5.0s) and
Irvine.
Villeneuve piled off into the distance, setting a fastest lap of 1:29.599 on
lap 2, the only driver to get into the 1:29s until Berger on lap 56. More
ominous was the puff of smoke which came from the rear of Schumacher's car as
he lifted off the accelerator. Hill, sensing something was amiss with the
Ferrari dropped back a safe distance, and his prudence was rewarded a couple
of corners later on lap 3 when the Ferrari let go spectacularly, the hyraulics
failing and leaving the Ferrari stuck in 6th gear. It was a long trundle home
for the Ferrari. Jean Todt's face wasn't happy.
This was what Hill had been waiting for, and he took a second out of Hakkinen
on lap 3, rapidly catching him up. The problem was overtaking though, and
although he could catch up, he couldn't get by. Hakkinen was on a two-stop
strategy, and Hill a one-stop. The extra weight was telling, and all Hill
could do was to continue to apply heavy pressure while Villeneuve disappeared
(he was also on a two-stop). Although Hill would close down the Hangar
Straight and in the Priory/Luffield section, the McLaren had better
acceleration out of Luffield due to its lower weight. Hill's ability in
traffic would be severely tested.
Ferrari's day though was about to get worse. Lap 4, and the rear of Irvine's
car started to pump out copious quantities of smoke, victim of an imminent
hydraulics failure. He went over the start line, but pulled off and out later
around the lap. Jean Todt's face turned to stone, and he stormed off the pit
lane wall to the garage, Presumably he wanted to escape before Luca di
Montezemolo or Gianni Agnelli, who were spectating, got to him first.
Things then stabilised slightly, Villeneuve setting a fastest lap on lap 9
(1:29.384) as he continued his escape. Interest instead was focussed on the
two Saubers, Frentzen and Hernert in 9th and 10th, but never more than one
second apart.
On lap 9 though Diniz increased the excitement level and provided an
overtaking opportunity, losing it as he hit the kerbs at Club. Katayama was
forced to take partly to the gravel in avoidance, and in the ensuing confusion
Salo overtook both. Four laps later and Katayama came in for an early
pit-stop. The problem was he didn't re-emerge.
Hakkinen was still holding up a frustrated Hill, who had lapped 0.5s faster
than the Finn on lap 12, and could see Alesi pulling away. Despite the
McLaren's oversteer in Luffield there was nothing he could do about it. It was
at this point we had only the third retirement of the race, Rosset pulling off
on lap 14 - reliability levels were getting better. The first of the scheduled
stops happened on lap 15, Panis stationary for 13.3s. Brundle was in on lap
17, taking 12.0s.
Villeneuve was in the traffic, and he was being very tentative, making sure
the drivers knew he was there before overtaking. Such was his pace that this
didn't slow him down much, still being 16.4s ahead of Alesi on lap 20. He
maintained this lead until lap 23, when he came into the pits, being
stationary for 9.5s (Coulthard and Herbert also came in). The Canadian
re-emerged in fourth, directly behind team-mate Damon Hill. He had also got
himself a grandstand view of the action.
Going over the start-line for the 26th time, Damon Hill was having serious
designs on third place, but his car had other ideas. While braking for Copse
corner, the car turned in extremely early and proceeded to swap ends,
disappearing off into the kitty litter. A left fron wheel nut was loose or
broken, and this probably caused the car to veer right under braking. Hill
tried to correct, but the car had already gone. Hakkinen's mirrors were
emptied only to be filled by another Williams. Not for long though, as
Hakkinen pitted at the end of the lap (6.9s).
Alesi finally pitted on lap 31 (10.4s), and lap 32 the order was Villeneuve,
Berger (@8.195s), Hakkinen (@26.520), Alesi (@28.513), Barrichello (@41.111)
and Coulthard (@48.109), until Berger pitted at the end of the lap (taking
10.4s), re-emerging in fourth.
The interest was now the battle for second, Hakkinen 3s ahead of Alesi, but
with Hakkinen on a lighter fuel load and requiring a further stop. Try as he
might though, Hakkinen just couldn't pull away, getting no further away than
6.6s by the time he pitted on lap 43. Out by this time was Pedro Diniz, the
engine giving up the ghost. He had had a misfire for most of the race, but
more importantly he had been ahead of team-mate Panis until this point. Also
on lap 40, Brundle pitted for a third time (8.9s), one of his previous stops
having been unscheduled.
Villeneuve (and Coulthard) made his final pit-stop on lap 41, taking 7.4s
(9.5s for Coulthard), and thereafter ran untroubled and unthreatened to a well
deserved second victory, although Benetton did challenge the leagilty of his
front wing (this was turned down, but Benetton stated that they would take it
further). He had avenged his Canadian defeat. The drama wasn't yet over
though. Running quietly and unobtrusively, Berger had caught team-mate Alesi,
but he didn't have to worry about passing though. Braking for the Stowe corner
at the end of the Hangar Straight, a puff og smoke came from the right side of
Alesi's car. Sensing something seriously amiss, Alesi let Berger through at
Priory, and came into the pits. As the mechanics remobed the right rear tyre,
a huge black dust cloud billowed upwards. Another brake bites the
dust..... Hakkinen also pitted this lap, taking 7.4s.
Gerhard Berger was now 2nd, 19.880s down on Villeneuve, and 16s up on
Hakkinen. Being unthreatened and unlikely to catch Villeneuve, his pit-crew
hung out a board saying 'cool brakes'. He didn't seem to take much notice
though, actually catching Villeneuve and braking into the 1:29s (1:29.984) on
lap 56. It was a hopeless pursuit, and he finished in a well earned second.
For sheer entertainment value both Sauber's deserved points, but had to make
do with 8th and 9th positions, Frentzen ahead of Herbert, but only by
0.7s. They had been nose to tail throughout the race, and had swapped
positions on track a couple of tims. Seeing how Frentzen is recognised as
being one of the fastest drivers out there, Herbert was doing his reputation
no end of good. Give the Ford engine a bit more power, and they'd both be up
there. Pity the next race is at Hockenheim then. Expect the Williams's to
disappear there too, barring mechanical failure.
1 J.Villeneuve Williams 1:33:00.874, 199.576kph 2 G.Berger Benetton + 19.026 3 M.Hakkinen McLaren + 50.830 4 R.Barrichello Jordan +1:06.716 5 D.Coulthard McLaren +1:22.507 6 M.Brundle Jordan - 1 lap 7 M.Salo Tyrrell - 1 lap 8 H.Frentzen Sauber - 1 lap 9 J.Herbert Sauber - 1 lap 10 J.Verstappen Arrows - 2 laps 11 G.Fisichella Minardi - 2 laps Not Classified J.Alesi Benetton -17 laps O.Panis Ligier -21 laps P.Diniz Ligier -23 laps D.Hill Williams -35 laps P.Lamy Minardi -40 laps R.Rosset Arrows -48 laps U.Katayama Tyrrell -49 laps E.Irvine Ferrari -56 laps M.Schumacher Ferrari -58 laps Drivers Championship 1 D.Hill 63 pts 2 J.Villeneuve 48 3 M.Schumacher 26 4 J.Alesi 25 5 G.Berger 16 6 D.Coulthard 16 7 M.Hakkinen 16 8 O.Panis 11 9 R.Barrichello 10 10 E.Irvine 9 11 H.Frentzen 6 12 M.Salo 5 13 J.Herbert 4 14 M.Brundle 3 15 J.Verstappen 1 16 P.Diniz 1 Constructors: 1 Williams 111 2 Benetton 41 3 Ferrari 35 4 McLaren 32 5 Jordan 13 6 Ligier 12 7 Sauber 10 8 Tyrrell 5 9 Arrows 1 Top 6 Lap Chart Lap/Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 5 6 1 7 3 11 1 6 3 7 1 5 11 2 6 3 7 1 5 11 3 6 3 7 5 11 2 4 6 3 7 5 11 2 5 6 3 7 5 11 2 6 6 3 7 5 11 4 7 6 3 7 5 11 4 8 6 3 7 5 11 4 9 6 3 7 5 11 4 10 6 3 7 5 11 4 11 6 3 7 5 11 4 12 6 3 7 5 11 4 13 6 3 7 5 11 4 14 6 3 7 5 11 4 15 6 3 7 5 11 4 16 6 3 7 5 11 4 17 6 3 7 5 11 4 18 6 3 7 5 11 4 19 6 3 7 5 4 11 20 6 3 7 5 4 8 21 6 3 7 5 4 8 22 6 3 7 5 4 8 23 6 3 7 5 4 8 24 3 7 5 6 4 11 25 3 7 5 6 4 11 26 3 7 5 6 4 11 27 3 7 6 4 11 8 28 3 6 4 7 11 8 29 3 6 4 7 11 8 30 3 6 4 7 11 8 31 3 6 4 7 11 8 32 6 4 7 3 11 8 33 6 7 3 4 11 8 34 6 7 3 4 11 8 35 6 7 3 4 11 8 36 6 7 3 4 11 8 37 6 7 3 4 11 8 38 6 7 3 4 11 8 39 6 7 3 4 8 11 40 6 7 3 4 8 11 41 6 7 3 4 11 8 42 6 7 3 4 11 8 43 6 7 3 4 11 8 44 6 7 4 11 8 12 45 6 4 7 11 8 12 46 6 4 7 11 8 12 47 6 4 7 11 8 12 48 6 4 7 11 8 12 49 6 4 7 11 8 12 50 6 4 7 11 8 12 51 6 4 7 11 8 12 52 6 4 7 11 8 12 53 6 4 7 11 8 12 54 6 4 7 11 8 12 55 6 4 7 11 8 12 56 6 4 7 11 8 12 57 6 4 7 11 8 12 58 6 4 7 11 8 12 59 6 4 7 11 8 12 60 6 4 7 11 8 12 61 6 4 7 11 8 12