On October 26, 1997, Jacques Villeneuve was crowned the first Canadian Formula 1 World Champion in history. The title for the Williams driver also meant one of the darkest hours in the career of record champion Michael Schumacher.
The entire Formula 1 year 1997, the then 26-year-old Villeneuve and Schumacher, who was two years his senior, fought a gripping duel for the world championship throne. Twelve of the 17 World Championship races were each won by one of the two World Championship rivals, the lead over the competition was exorbitant.
With the razor-thin lead of 78 to 77 points under his belt, the Ferrari star traveled to Jerez for the final showdown, where the final European Grand Prix was due.
Already in qualifying it became clear how tight the conditions were on the last race weekend of the year: Both Michael Schumacher and his Williams competitors Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald-Frentzen drove the same time to the thousandth of a second in qualifying – unique in Formula 1 -Story.
Schummel-Schumi provokes a crash – and is eliminated himself
Despite second place on the grid, Schumacher took the lead in the field after the start on Sunday before the first corner and comfortably led the Grand Prix for more than 45 of 69 laps. The first title for Scuderia Ferrari was within reach for the German.
However, towards the end of the middle third of the race, the world championship leader lost more and more speed. Villeneuve, on the other hand, kept catching up and finally sat down directly behind the rear of the Ferrari.
Schumacher knew that Villeneuve, who was never considered one of the most talented but one of the bravest drivers in Formula 1, would attack. And he came! On lap 48, the Canadian in the British Williams-Renault attempted an optimistic overtaking manoeuvre.
In the dry sack corner he moved to the inside after the back straight and shot past Schumacher with a significant excess of speed.
Schumi, seeing all his victory and World Cup skins swimming away, pulled rustically inwards and provoked a collision. An almost congruent intentional crash had given the German his first championship in 1994 against Damon Hill.
The legendary ramming of Jerez: Schumacher (left) provokes the accident with Jacques Villeneuve
First Grand Prix victory for Mika Häkkinen
But this time it was different: while Schumacher ended up in the gravel bed, Villeneuve continued his journey in the almost undamaged car. He drove the last laps in safety mode with the certainty that one point was enough to win the world championship.
McLaren-Mercedes men Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard passed and celebrated the Finn’s first Grand Prix win, while Villeneuve saw the checkered flag in third place and became World Champion.
At the hour of Villeneuve’s greatest career success, the unsuccessful crash attempt also meant the darkest hour of Schumacher’s Formula 1 career.
For his grossly unsportsmanlike behavior, the most successful German racing driver of all time was not only punished with his premature exit from the race, but also with disqualification from the entire Drivers’ World Championship – a one-off event.
Villeneuve dry: “Wouldn’t have got curve without his push!”
Years later, the seven-time world champion himself recognized that he had done bad things. His reputation as a “cheat Schumi” was more widespread than ever.
“If there was one thing in my Formula 1 time that I could undo, I would choose Jerez in 1997,” he said at a press conference in 2010.
Unforgotten: Michael Schumacher follows the 1997 season finale from the side of the track (Image source: Sutton Motorsport Images)
And the ’97 world champion? He evaluates what is perhaps the most legendary scene of his entire motorsport career with some distance objectively dry. In the end he was even grateful to Schumacher:
“Of course I would never have gotten the corner without his push. But I thought: ‘I’ll surprise him now! He’ll do it again, crash again.’ And then he actually did it! On the next lap I saw him standing on the wall. Then I thought: Yes, that’s it!” explained Villeneuve in 2012 in “Auto Bild Motorsport”. How right he was!
Mats Yannick Roth