1997 Argentine Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 3 of 17 in the 1997 Formula One season | |||
 |
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| Date | 13 April 1997 | ||
| Official name | XX Gran Premio Marlboro de la Republica Argentina | ||
| Location | Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||
| Course | Permanent Racing Facility | ||
| Course length | 4.259 km (2.646 mi) | ||
| Distance | 72 laps, 306.648 km (190.542 mi) | ||
| Weather | Partially cloudy and dry with temperatures reaching up to 21 °C (70 °F) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:24.473 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Gerhard Berger
|
Benetton-Renault | |
| Time | 1:27.981 on lap 63 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | Jordan-Peugeot | ||
The 1997 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 13 April 1997. It was the third race of the 1997 Formula One season and the 600th World Championship event. The 72-lap race was won by Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve after he started from pole position. Eddie Irvine finished second for the Ferrari team and Jordan driver Ralf Schumacher came in third.
Most of the talk before the grand prix was about Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Eddie Irvine and their poor starts to the season. Despite going out of business, Lola Team Principal Eric Broadley was confident that the team could be up and running again by the San Marino Grand Prix, albeit with a new main sponsor. The Tyrrell team also caused a stir after arriving at the grand prix with four new wings on the car, two on the nose cone, the other two alongside the drivers head. They resembled x-wings and this was soon used as their nickname. The practice session bought no surprises with the two Williams cars first and second.
As with the practice session, both Williams were once again on the front row, with Jacques Villeneuve on pole. The first real surprise of the weekend was the performance of Olivier Panis in the Prost, who managed to qualify third on the grid. Another strong performance was the fifth place of Rubens Barrichello in the Stewart. As expected, both McLarens qualified low down the field, complaining of poor handling on the bumpy surface. Interestingly, slowest qualifier Pedro Diniz's lap time would have still been comfortably fast enough to have put him on pole for the previous year's race.
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