For the first time in 50 GP's ...

Published on 09 March 1997 by Verstappen Info Page

For the first time in 50 GP's McLaren has won a race again. David Coulthard is the, maybe unexpected, winner of the first Grand Prix of this season. Michael Schumacher finished second, followed closely by Mika Hakkinen and Gerhard Berger. Olivier Panis finished 5th and Nicola Larini did well and finished 6th. Rookie Shinji Nakano who spun off the track twice still managed to finish 7th and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who had led the race for quite some time spun off the track with only 3 laps still to go, propably due to a blocking brake.

Jos Verstappen went off in the 3rd lap. While overtaking Ukyo Katayama, Ukyo hit Jos, Jos picked up a lot of dirt and in the next corner his car had lost all grip and went straight on. In the first lap Jacques Villeneuve and Johnny Herbert both got off the track due to a blocking action of Eddy Irvine who had to give up shortly after. Damon Hill didn't even start after his throttle 'broke' in the installation lap. Teammate Pedro Diniz, though outside the 107 % limit, could still compete after a protest of the team with the stewards.

For a complete overview of the race results and a race report you can take a look at our Australian Grand Prix page.

After the race we spoke to Jos about his retirement. Jos told us that Katayama pushed him to the right while Jos was overtaking him. Their wheels touched and Jos went through the gravel. Because his tyres had picked up a lot of dirt Jos was extra careful for the next fast chicane. Telemetry read-out afterwards learned that Jos was braking 8 to 10 metres earlier but to no avail. The car lost all grip and went straight into the gravel. Luckily both Jos and his car were unharmed.

Jos thinks that the grip-problems of the car were caused by the fact the team had the new Goodyear-tyres in Australia for the first time. These tyres were mainly tested by the top teams with cars with more horsepower. Therefore the team has to work hard on a different set up of the car because the grip problem that now showed wasn't there whit the pre-season tests. Luckily the will to change is there with the team so Jos is still confident about this season.

Jos further told that he will be changing his position in the car a bit. He will have his chair put a little more to the back so that he is able to break better. The adjustments to the steering rod (a bit upwards) are available after the Argentine GP.