Williams superiority in the Australian GP propably ...

Published on 15 March 1997 by Verstappen Info Page

Williams superiority in the Australian GP propably caused Frentzen's retirement in the race. All teams suffered brake problems last weekend due to increased tyre grip, caused by the tyre war between Goodyear and Bridgestone. Drivers can therefore brake later which increases wear on the brake discs. Williams suffered most because it had the fastest car and only had 1 type of brake discs. During the race Frentzen already got the signal of his team to take it easy on his brakes but still a failure in the left front brake caused him to retire in lap 55.

In the same Australian Grand Prix Jos Verstappen was the heaviest driver at the weigh-in last weekend with 79,5 Kg. Ukyo Katayama was the lightest driver with 63 Kg. A heavier driver isn't a disadvantage anymore to a team as the minimum weight of an F1 car has to be 600 Kg (including 5 Kg for the on-board camera) and weight has to be added to reach this minimum.