The odds of Heinz
Harald Frentzen being a Williams driver next year
shortened considerably with his second ‘first
corner’ crash in a row. Admittedly it
involved the Ferrari number two driver Eddie
Irvine, much experienced at ‘first
corner’ incidents and as such, Patrick
Head, William’s technical director, was
right to voice his concern at Frentzen’s
proximity to the Irishman on the grid. However,
Irvine was blameless on this occasion and suffered a
similar punishment to that which Frentzen meted out
to Tyrrell’s Jos Verstappen at
Silverstone. William’s, nil points.
Berger made the
perfect start from the line with The Jordan of Fisichella hot on his tail.
A brief skirmish between McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen
and Schumacher, amounted to little and the German
settled in behind Fisichella as the Berger’s Benetton immediately started to pull
out a gap which never really shortened.
Frentzen meanwhile
starting from 5th place, took the long way round the NordKurve
corner out of the stadium complex and Irvine, making
the best start of his life, shot from tenth place to
take the Germans 5th. Frentzen forced on to the grass
by his own mistake and attempting to regain the
track, clipped Irvine’s rear left tyre,
instantly puncturing it, damaging his front wing
which in turn, caused his own right front to deflate
also. By the time both cars returned to the pits, the
Ferrari’s rear section was on fire from
bodywork, damaged by the flailing rubber of the
shredded Goodyear falling onto the engine. "If
someone runs into the back of you. there’s not a
lot you can do." Said Irvine and, for once
the evidence was plain to see, despite further
excuses from Frentzen. "I was on the outside
and I had no place to go." He said.
"I could not go on the grass. He (Irvine) ran
over my right tyre. I think that was not
necessary." The video evidence proved that
the opposite was true and the luckless German could
only look forward to a roasting from his team, this
time around.
Similar misfortune
befell David Coulthard, also victim to
Frentzen who took out part of his right wing,
damaging his transmission and ending his race before
it even began. How the pendulum of fate swings with
such alarming regularity for the McLaren drivers. It
was now the ‘Flying Finn’
Hakinnen’s turn for the spotlight, staying in
the beam of the leading string of four and was never
far from Schumacher’s wing until the race order
changed temporarily during the pit stops.
As Berger continued to
pull away to a 7.7 second lead by lap 9, Fisichella
was doing a great job under pressure, resisting the
advances of Schumacher Senior. A further 10 seconds
down the track Villeneuve in a most unusual position
of 6th was unable to catch Jean Alesi, 5 seconds in
front of him and was in danger of losing his place to
Jarno Trulli in the Mugen-Honda powered
Prost.
By lap 11, Arrows driver Pedro Diniz had
taken the Sauber of Johnny Herbert out
and it was pit stop time for some of the front
runners, on laps 14 and 15. The Benettons on two
stops were at a disadvantage to the Jordans and the
Ferrari who were one a single stop but Berger managed
to rejoin the race in 4th position behind Hakkinen
whom he soon caught and passed. By lap 23 both
Fisichella, leading a Grand Prix for the first time
and Schumacher had stopped and Berger was once again
leading the race and pushing as hard as he could to
build a lead for his final stop on lap 34.
With Berger increasing
his lead to 19 seconds over the Jordan driver, the Stewart-Ford Zetec Project 7 engine
of Jan Magnussen decided to let go as Berger
was coming up to lap him. "I think I lost
four or five seconds when someone’s engine broke
in front of me and it was very foggy! I almost
stopped completely and I really felt that I had lost
the race." Said Berger. "It was a
real surprise for me to continue in the lead."
The procession
continued unchanged with the exception of
Berger’s increasing lead but by lap 34 when he
pitted, he had not bought enough time to get in and
out in front of Giancarlo who had inherited the lead
again. This was not to last, for a small mistake made
at the Ostkurve allowed Berger to slip through
and regain his rightful place at the head of the
field.
Schumacher maintained
station about 20 seconds adrift of the leader with
Hakkinen a further 5 seconds down. With just 7 laps
to go and a certain 2nd place finish, Fisichella
picked up a puncture and it was to his credit that,
at a little under 200mph, he managed to keep the car
under control and despite spinning at the pit lane
entrance, had enough presence of mind to keep the
engine running, enabling him to pit for fresh rubber.
This put him out of contention and a further lap saw
him retire from a hard fought race with a damaged
radiator caused by the incident. "That second
place was mine!" said a downhearted
Fisichella "To have finished second would
have realised another lifetime dream for me and I am
trying to overcome the disappointment not only for me
but for the team." Referring to the fact
that Schumacher picked him up on his way back to the
pits after taking second place, he added, "Thanks
to Michael for giving me a lift home-he is a
gentleman and I have a lot of respect for him."
Damon Hill in
the Arrows finished another race, albeit in 8th
position. After gaining the first point for the team
at Silverstone, Hill was disappointed not to have
finished higher. Having tasted the minor league
success of a championship point, an experience he
will remember with abundance from his previous season
with Williams, he said, "A few weeks ago
perhaps we would have been delighted to finish. But
now we have got to the stage where we’re
disappointed because the car was very competitive for
the circuit and we didn’t get any points."
It must be galling for him to see his old seat with
the Grove team being squandered to such a degree.
As a result of the
increasing ban on tobacco advertising several cars
were adorned with cryptic versions of their
sponsor’s logos. The question mark on the
Williams car was symbolic also of the confusion that
must now reign within the team. Schumacher has
strengthened his hold on the driver’s
championship and the constructor’s title looks
tentative at the very most for the team. With
arguably, still the best car on the grid, their
performance, despite a fortuitous win by Villeneuve
at Silverstone, has taken a drastic slide for the
worse. The decision to replace Hill with Frentzen
must now look, even to boss Frank Williams, as
one of the few blunders of his career. Despite Patrick
Head’s assurance that the German will still
be on their books next year, it looks increasingly
unlikely, unless he can utilise the finest of tools
he has been given and start producing top podium
results for the rest of the season. Williams
can’t afford to throw it all away at this stage
of the game.
As the Austrian
National Anthem played for the first time in two
years, ironically at the same circuit where Berger
had his last victory, he shed a private tear, no
doubt thinking that his father would have been
overjoyed by the occasion had he been there to
witness it.
"I really felt
I had some special power here this weekend,"
said an emotional Berger at the end of his race. "This
sport is a locked mind. I knew when I came back that
all the Media sharks were waiting to get some
negative headlines and I wanted to show them that
it’s different and I did it." Berger
certainly did it alright. The ‘old dog’
has taught himself some new tricks and has raised the
anti into the bargain. Instead of facing retirement
in the absence of a competitive drive, there is now a
price on his head.
Chris Richardson
Results of the 45th
German Grand Prix,
HOCKENHEIM, Jul 27,
1997
1. Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault
1hr 20m 59.046sec
2. Michael
Schumacher Ferrari) +17.527
3. Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes
+ 24.770
4. Jarno Trulli Prost-Mugen-Honda
+ 27.165
5. Ralf Schumacher
Jordan-Peugeot + 29.995
6. Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault
+ 34.717
7. Shinji Nakano
Prost-Mugen-Honda) 1:19.722
8. Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha
one lap
9. Norberto Fontana
Sauber - Petronas one lap
10. Jos Verstappen Tyrrell-Ford
one lap
11. Giancarlo
Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot five laps
:
"I finish my dream
... my target was the podium and now ...
nothing." Giancarlo Fisichella,
driver for Jordan Peugeot