Jacques Villeneuve will start from pole position ...

Published on 25 October 1997 by Verstappen Info Page

Jacques Villeneuve will start from pole position in the last en decisive European Grand Prix. The qualifying session on the circuit of Jerez de la Frontera in Southern Spain was exciting from start to finish. Both Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, the numbers two and three, set the exact same time as the Canadian, 1:21.072 to be exact, but set this time at a later moment. Until 5 minutes before the end of the session the two remaining title candidates watch each other closely. When Michael Schumacher eventually went out to have a last attempt of improving his time Villeneuve went directly after him. Both drivers though couldn't improve on their times so the ranking was final.

To make it even more exciting Damon Hill closed in on the first three towards the end of the session. Damon set a time of 1:21.130, only 5/100 seconds behind. Damon Hill starts from second row tomorrow behind Michael Schumacher, so he might think of settling an old account from 1994. Katayama showed himself too in his final qualifying session (next year he will be climbing the Himalaya), with a pirouette that wouldn't look bad on an ice dancer. Ralf Schumacher showed that Germans directly start to dig holes when they see sand or gravel. After a spin that ended in the gravel pit he immediately dug himself in because he went on the gas much too soon.

This race too both Tyrrell's of Jos and Mika weren't able to impress. In the end Jos only set the 22nd and last time of 1:24.301 and Mika just in front of him with a 21st spot with 1:24.222. Luckily for Tyrrell the team will get an up-to-date powerplant next season, the Ford V10, so the team will be able to compete again. For a complete overview of the results you can take a look at our season page.