Williams Domination Rubs Salt In Ferrari Reliability Wound
Williams needed just two points to win the constructors championship, whereas
after recent perfomances Ferrari would be happy just to score that many
points. As it was, Williams took home 16 points, the constructors
championship, and a 90 point lead. Ferrari took home nothing.
On this tight and twisty circuit, a good start would be essential, and as per
usual, Hill bogged down. Schumacher went sailing into the first corner
followed by Villeneuve. Alesi muscled around the outside of Hill at the first
corner, the Englishman deciding it was wiser to back off rather than argue it
out, there being another 76 laps to go. Berger and Irvine were next up.
Disaster struck further down the field at the second corner, Diniz pitching
into a 180 degree spin, forcing Salo off and out in avoidance. As Diniz rolled
backwards, the Minardi of Lamy hit the left rear tyre. Lamy continued
unaffected, and although Diniz spun himself around and got going again, he had
to go into the pits with a distinctly deranged suspension. He didn't
re-emerge.
The front four separated out into pairs, Schumacher and Villeneuve pulling a
second a lap out over Alesi/Hill, who in turn were gradually pulling away from
Irvine/Berger. Hill was obviously the faster driver, but passing was another
matter. Meanwhile on lap 6 we lost Brundle, the Jordan driver running wide
onto the gravel, the ridges repeatedly flicking the car up as it shed its
front wing and bent the suspension. The car looked distinctly second hand
afterwards.
Everything remained static until the first round of pit stops. On lap 19,
Schumacher was 0.251s ahead of Villeneuve, who was 19.510s ahead of Alesim
with Hill -0.454s, Berger -3.724, and Irvine -5.098. Schumacher dived into the
pits, allowing Villeneuve a clear track. He didn't need a second invitation,
and quickly set a new fastest lap as he looked to take advantage. Schumacher,
meanwhile, had emerged directly behind Gerhard Berger, and this being a race
for position he wasn't about to move over. Judicious placing of the car by
Berger meant that Schumacher couldn't get past, and there he remained until
berger pitted on lap 24.
Villeneuve pitted on lap 21, and the benefit of an earlier clear track meant
that he re-emerged in third, ahead of the embattled Berger and
Schumacher. Alesi pitting on lap 22 also meant that Hill now had a clear
track, and he too set a fastest race lap next time around. However, Hill's
pit-stop on lap 25 wasn't as smooth as he would have wished, Hill being forced
to wait before flooring the throttle as the Ferrari of Irvine went past to its
pit. This brief delay caused Hill to re-emerge directly behind Alesi, again. A
lap earlier meanwhile and the field had lost another car, the gearbox of
Coulthard siezing on the main straight, causing the car to fish-tail before
gently tipping it off the track.
The Alesi/Hill battle was fierce, Hill harrying Alesi hard, while Alesi's car
was looking extremely unsettled, suffering from what was later diagnosed as a
brake problem. Lap 29 and Alesi twitched badly into the first corner. Two laps
later though, and at the same place, the Benetton was forced to go
wide. Through went Hill, and over the next four corners Hill pulled out 3
seconds. Hill wasn't content with just points, he wanted a win. One lap later
and the field was depleted yet again, the Ferrari of Irvine pulling off with a
smokey engine. This was his sixth straight retirement.
Hill was 21s down on Schumacher, but he set about the gap by producing a
fastest race lap (lap 32), and by lap 39 was only 12.3s down, when Schumacher
pitted for a second time. Thus we had a Williams 1-2, until Villeneuve pitted
on lap 40, and Hill on lap 41. What was still a 12s gap for Hill became 1.9s
by lap 50, and it was shaping up to be an excellent fight. Schumacher slightly
spoiled it though by pitting yet again on lap 52, leaving Hill with a 26.798
deficit to race leader Villeneuve. Undaunted, Hill began to cut it down. Just
to add to his worries, Williams discovered a minor problem with Hill's fuel
rig, and weren't exactly sure how much fuel he was carrying. Hill didn't let
it bother him though.
Hill's cause was aided when Villeneuve pitted on lap 58. A problem with a
cross-threading right-rear wheel nut meant that Villeneuve's pit stop was a
disasterously long 14.8s, compared to 6.6s for Hill's five laps later
(meanwhile, unseen and unnoticed, Berger slipped past Alesi on lap 59). Thus
on lap 65 the gap was only 6.566s. It was on this lap that Berger's jinx
struck again, the right side of his engine deciding to let go, spewing vast
quantities of liquid and smoke out of the rear of the car. Berger pulled off
the circuit, obviously wondering what he has to do just to finish these
days. Schumacher must be wondering the same, as he also pulled off on lap 72
with engine failure.
Hill though was catching Villeneuve by over a second a lap, first position in
his sight. Villeneuve did respond, his frequent lock-ups into the penultimate
corner testament to his effort, but still Hill relentlessly bore down on
him. The gap became less than a second, but Villeneuve made no obvious
mistake, and held his line. Hill was helpless, and in second he stayed. No
great matter though, as Hill remains in the lead of the championship by 17
points, with four races to go. The next is at Spa, a track unseen by
Villeneuve, and a difficult one to learn (he should try playing Microprose F1
GP. Oliver Gavin did this to learn the track, and won the Formula Opel race
there at his first appearance). It looks to be Hill's championship, but
Villeneuve is still in with a chance.
Race Results 1 J.Villeneuve Williams 1:46:21.134, 172.372kph 2 D.Hill Williams + 0.771 3 J.Alesi Benetton + 1:24.212 4 M.Hakkinen McLaren - 1 lap 5 O.Panis Ligier - 1 lap 6 R.Barrichello Jordan - 2 laps 7 U.Katayama Tyrrell - 3 laps 8 R.Rosset Arrows - 3 laps 9 M.Schumacher Ferrari - 7 laps 10 G.Lavaggi Minardi - 8 laps Not Classified G.Berger Benetton - 13 laps H.Frentzen Sauber - 27 laps J.Herbert Sauber - 42 laps E.Irvine Ferrari - 46 laps P.Lamy Minardi - 53 laps D.Coulthard McLaren - 54 laps J.Verstappen Arrows - 67 laps M.Brundle Jordan - 72 laps P.Diniz Ligier - 76 laps M.Salo Tyrrell - 77 laps Drivers Championship 1 D.Hill 79 2 J.Villeneuve 62 3 J.Alesi 35 4 M.Schumacher 29 5 M.Hakkinen 19 6 D.Coulthard 18 7 G.Berger 16 8 O.Panis 13 9 R.Barrichello 12 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 Championship 1 Williams 141 2 Benetton 51 3 Ferrari 38 4 McLaren 37 5 Jordan 15 6 Ligier 14 7 Sauber 10 8 Tyrrell 5 9 Arrows 1 Fastest Laps 4 Villeneuve 1:21.081 20 Villeneuve 1:21.071 23 Hill 1:20.929 32 Hill 1:20.735 34 Hill 1:20.581 35 Hill 1:20.473 36 Hill 1:20.263 67 Hill 1:20.093 Pit Stop Times: Lap 14 Frentzen 6.5s 17 Herbert 6.6 19 Schumacher 7.9 21 Villeneuve 7.8 22 Katayama 9.0, Alesi 7.1 24 Berger 9.2, Barrichello 8.3 25 Hill 6.8, Irvine 13.6 26 Hakkinen 8.0 27 Lavaggi 6.1 33 Frentzen 6.6 39 Schumacher 6.9 40 Villeneuve 7.0 41 Hill 6.7 45 Panis 8.6 46 Alesi 8.7 49 Berger 8.7 50 Frentzen 8.6, Barrichello 8.6 52 Schumacher 9.7, Rosset 9.9 58 Villeneuve 14.8 63 Hill 6.6 Top Six Lap Chart Lap/Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 5 6 2 3 4 1 1 6 3 5 2 1 2 1 6 3 5 2 1 3 1 6 3 5 2 1 4 1 6 3 5 2 1 5 1 6 3 5 2 1 6 1 6 3 5 2 1 7 1 6 3 5 2 1 8 1 6 3 5 2 1 9 1 6 3 5 2 1 10 1 6 3 5 2 1 11 1 6 3 5 2 1 12 1 6 3 5 2 1 13 1 6 3 5 2 1 14 1 6 3 5 2 1 15 1 6 3 5 2 1 16 1 6 3 5 2 1 17 1 6 3 5 2 1 18 1 6 3 5 2 1 19 6 3 5 4 1 2 20 6 3 5 4 1 2 21 3 5 6 4 1 2 22 5 6 4 1 2 7 23 5 6 4 1 2 7 24 5 6 1 2 7 3 25 6 1 7 3 5 4 26 6 1 3 5 4 2 27 6 1 3 5 4 2 28 6 1 3 5 4 2 29 6 1 3 5 4 2 30 6 1 3 5 4 2 31 6 1 5 3 4 2 32 6 1 5 3 4 14 33 6 1 5 3 4 14 34 6 1 5 3 4 14 35 6 1 5 3 4 14 36 6 1 5 3 4 14 37 6 1 5 3 4 7 38 6 1 5 3 4 7 39 6 5 1 3 4 7 40 5 6 1 3 4 7 41 6 1 5 3 4 7 42 6 1 5 3 4 7 43 6 1 5 3 4 7 44 6 1 5 3 4 7 45 6 1 5 4 7 3 45 6 1 5 4 7 3 46 6 1 5 4 7 3 47 6 1 5 4 7 3 48 6 1 5 4 7 3 49 6 1 5 7 3 4 50 6 1 5 3 4 7 51 6 1 5 3 4 7 52 6 5 1 3 4 7 53 6 5 1 3 4 7 54 6 5 1 3 4 7 55 6 5 1 3 4 7 56 6 5 1 3 4 7 57 6 5 1 3 4 7 58 5 6 1 3 4 7 59 5 6 1 4 3 7 60 5 6 1 4 3 7 61 5 6 1 4 3 7 62 5 6 1 4 3 7 63 6 5 1 4 3 7 64 6 5 1 4 3 7 65 6 5 1 3 7 9 66 6 5 1 3 7 9 67 6 5 1 3 7 9 68 6 5 1 3 7 9 69 6 5 1 3 7 9 70 6 5 1 3 7 9 71 6 5 1 3 7 9 72 6 5 3 7 9 11 73 6 5 3 7 9 11 74 6 5 3 7 9 11 75 6 5 3 7 9 11 76 6 5 3 7 9 11 77 6 5 3 7 9 11