1997 Brazilian Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 2 of 17 in the 1997 Formula One season | |||
 |
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| Date | 30 March 1997 | ||
| Official name | XXVI Grande Prêmio do Brasil | ||
| Location | Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil | ||
| Course | Permanent Racing Facility | ||
| Course length | 4.292 km (2.667 mi) | ||
| Distance | 72 laps, 309.024 km (192.019 mi) | ||
| Weather | Overcast and dry with temperatures reaching up to 23 °C (73 °F) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:16.004 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Jacques Villeneuve
|
Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:18.397 on lap 28 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||
| Second | Benetton-Renault | ||
| Third | Prost-Mugen-Honda | ||
The 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Autódromo José Carlos Pace near Interlagos, Brazil on 30 March 1997. It was the second race of the 1997 Formula One season. The 71-lap race was won by Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve after he started from pole position. Gerhard Berger finished second for the Benetton team and Prost driver Olivier Panis was third.
The Lola team arrived in Brazil still not having received any money from major sponsor MasterCard. Already several million dollars in debt, the team returned to base without even completing a lap of the circuit. A few days later, the team officially withdrew from the championship.
Jacques Villeneuve took his third consecutive, and his career fifth, pole position after a 1:16.004, over half a second faster than Michael Schumacher in second. Gerhard Berger and Mika Häkkinen completed the second row.
The race was red-flagged after several incidents at the original start. As in Australia, Jacques Villeneuve went off the track at the first corner. Behind this, an incident involved several drivers including Damon Hill, Eddie Irvine, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jan Magnussen. Irvine took some blame for the incident. Additionally, Rubens Barrichello's car failed on the line, and the track blockage was what ultimately caused the red flag. Barrichello took the restart in the spare Stewart, causing Magnussen to miss the race.
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