25 years ago today, Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher contested an iconic 1997 F1 title decider at Jerez. But the story of the pair meeting at a post-race party is just as unforgettable, recalls eye-witness adamcooperF1
That day, Michael Schumacher ended up in the gravel after a clumsy blocking move on Villeneuve backfired, leaving the Canadian free and clear to secure the title. Three years after his clash with Damon Hill in Adelaide, Schumacher was again under fire from all sides.
The title battle took an extra twist at the penultimate round in Suzuka, where Villeneuve faced a penalty for a yellow flag offence in practice, and ultimately came away with no points. That meant Schumacher was ahead as we went to the last race, the European GP in Jerez. The race itself unfolded perfectly for the championship, with Schumacher leading, and – once he had passed Frentzen after making a bad start – Villeneuve hunting him down in second.Motorsport Images
"I could see all race that I was braking a lot later than Michael, so I could attempt a kamikaze move. If I got a metre closer at the end of the back straight, I could go for it. I knew I could surprise him, and the only way to overtake him was to surprise him. I did my pitstop after him, put on new tyres, and I knew I had two laps on new rubber to do it, and that was it.
In the end, he dropped back to third, as McLaren drivers Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard went past in a carefully choreographed move, but that was what he needed to guarantee himself the title. "Everything happened super fast, from starting F3 in Italy, going to Japan, going to Atlantic, winning Indy, winning F1. The ball was rolling and the peak was reached super fast."That afternoon mood in the Ferrari camp was downbeat, to say the least. Not only had Schumacher lost the title and the post-1979 wait been extended for another year, it was apparent that some kind of punishment might follow if FIA President Max Mosley pursued the matter.
Along with most of the drivers, Villeneuve was staying in the Montecastillo Hotel at the circuit. That evening he dined with his entourage, including manager Craig Pollock, friend and racer Patrick Lemarie, physio Erwin Gollner, and a couple of others. I joined them as they finished, and we decided it was time to head for the Renault function.
The Villeneuve posse climbed into a couple of taxis, and we headed back to Jerez. It was now a question of finding somewhere with a bit of Sunday night action in what is a sleepy town, even on a race weekend. There was probably some talk of crashing the Marlboro party, but that stopped when we bumped into another convoy of cars at a roundabout on the outskirts of the city.
"There was 20 of us and we were making so much noise that someone finally gave us the keys of the bar and said it was OK, just go for it," says Villeneuve."Someone must have paid for it! So they opened for the bar for us, but there wasn't any barman, it was just us, running it. It was brilliant." "Personally at the moment I thought it was cool, because that's the kind of thing I would have done. 'OK, you've beaten me.' That's the way it was with Damon the year before. At that moment I didn't see what was coming right after."
"He used it to take pictures, to clean things up," said Villeneuve."The story was, 'It shows I didn't do anything bad during that race, because look, we're friends.' That's what got me upset, and I didn't see it coming."