[Race] The GROAT - Round 2 - 1997 Hungaroring vs 1957 Nürburgring

[crmalcolm]

1997 Hungaroring
Sunday proved to be the warmest day of the weekend, meaning those on softer tyres, which incorporated almost all of the Goodyear runners, would struggle to maintain their tyres. As such, those on Bridgestones, as well as Heinz-Harald Frentzen on harder Goodyears, had the advantage, although it would all depend on their starts.

Ultimately Hill would make a strong start, sprinting ahead of Villeneuve to sit in second behind Schumacher. Elsewhere, Eddie Irvine streaked through to third, with Villeneuve slotting into fifth behind Mika Häkkinen, while Jean Alesi inadvertently forced teammate Gerhard Berger onto the grass through turn two.

Schumacher and Hill quickly established a gap over third placed Irvine, although the German racer was pushing his Goodyear shod Ferrari far harder than Hill. Within six laps the Ferrari's rear tyres were showing signs of blistering, with Hill's Arrows remaining glued to its tail with no sign of weakness.

Indeed, come lap eleven Schumacher was in serious trouble, and was hence almost powerless to prevent Hill from sweeping past to claim the lead into turn one. The German racer would try, however, squeezing the Arrows-Yamaha right onto the white line on the inside of the right-hander, before ultimately relenting on the exit.

With that Hill was away, prompting Schumacher to come in for his first stop a few laps later, catching Ferrari out somewhat. Häkkinen duly took up the hunt of the Arrows, Irvine having stopped on lap seven for fresh rubber, although an engine failure for the McLaren-Mercedes left Villeneuve and Frentzen at the head of the pack.

Villeneuve began the pit sequence on lap 24, with Hill coming in a lap later to cover the Canadian's stop. Frentzen stayed out for four laps but his hopes were curtailed by a damaged fuel rig, meaning Hill was left with a handsome, and ever growing, lead over Villeneuve.

Hill duly escaped at a consistent rate from the lead Williams-Renault, stopping for a second time on lap 51 without losing the lead. Indeed, as soon as his advantage had grown to thirty seconds the Brit began to pace himself against those behind him, with Arrows, Yamaha and Bridgestone looking set for their maiden victory.

That was, until the Brit's pace collapsed with two and a half laps to go, a hydraulic leak causing Hill's car to jam in third gear. Villeneuve hence began to close at a rapid rate, and duly charged past the weaving Arrows on the final lap as they headed out past the paddock.

With that the race was run, with Villeneuve streaking across the line to claim a surprise win, while Hill was a heartbroken second. Johnny Herbert secured a surprising third for Sauber-Petronas, their best finish of the campaign, with Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher and Shinji Nakano claiming the remaining points.


1957 Nürburgring
Fangio had taken pole position in his Maserati 250F, with Mike Hawthorn in the Ferrari 801 alongside. Jean Behra (Maserati) and Peter Collins (Ferrari) completed the four-car front row. Fangio's pole time of 9 minutes 25.6 seconds was 2.8 seconds ahead of Hawthorn.

Come the race, Ferrari planned to not pit while Fangio decided upon a one-stop strategy on softer tyres. This didn't stop Hawthorn getting off the grid in the lead, ahead of teammate Collins and Fangio. Fangio took the lead on lap three and pitted, as planned, on lap 12, with a 30-second lead. However, this pit stop was disastrous; the left rear wheel nut became lost underneath the car and once it was found, Hawthorn and Collins had long gone past. Fangio emerged in third place, nearly 50 seconds behind the Ferrari pair.

Fangio started by taking 15.5 seconds off Hawthorn on his first lap and 8.5 the next. Setting not just fastest laps quicker than his qualifying time, but nine lap records, seven in succession, Fangio virtually drove the wheels off his Maserati in his chase. He caught with, and overtook, Collins early in the 21st lap and took the lead of Hawthorn later the same lap. Hawthorn challenged, but Fangio held firm to win the race, and his fifth World Championship title.

After the race, Fangio commented 'I have never driven that quickly before in my life and I don't think I will ever be able to do it again.' It would turn out to be somewhat accurate statement, as it was his final World Championship victory, and he retired in 1958.

[Born Racer]

Very different races, as one featured a surprise runaway leader and the other a hunt back up to first (Villeneuve's pursuit of Hill was assisted by the Arrows driver being hampered). 1957 was a superb demonstration of excellence by a world champion, as was 1997, but it was the Hungarian race that I voted for, just because it seemed astonishing at the time and still does. Yes, the Bridgestones were on form that weekend, but Damon had one of his weekends where he was untouchable.

[Adam43]

I so want to vote 1997, but I can’t.

[S griffin]

I enjoyed Hungary 97, seeing an underdog coming so close to pulling off a real upset

However 1957 Germany will always go down in history as one of the greatest ever