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EXCLUSIVE TACH COVERAGE

Canadian Grand Prix

June 15, 1997
 

Schumacher wins a sad race.

Andrew Frankl
TACH European Bureau Chief

I cannot remember a race as full of incidents and accidents as this afternoon ' s race in Montreal. Immediately after the start we had a crash involving -yet again- Ferrari 's Eddie Irvine. This time he got involved in other people 's problems but had he qualified better he would not have been in the thick of it in the first place. After all team-mate Schumacher put an identical car on pole! We were just recovering from Irvine 's sudden demise when local hero Jacques Villeneuve locked up his brakes at the chicane to crash out like some kind of rookie.. the collective sighs of the capacity crowd could be heard in Toronto , hundreds of miles away . Whilst all this was going on double world champion Michael Schumacher was pulling away from the ever improving Fisichella in the Peugeot engined Jordan. Jean Alesi -anxious to keep his seat in the Benetton team for 1998 - was solid as a rock in third place, taking no chances beyond going as fast as he could without getting into trouble. Frentzen,y et again was disappointment personified , Frank Williams must be getting fed up with his excuses and regretting letting Damon Hill go.

Ukyo Katayama livened up proceedings by crashing at a place where nobody has ever crashed before necessitating a safety car and a tow truck on the track. When things got back into normal hard charging David Coulthard went into the lead as Michael Schumacher pitted for new tyres.For a long while it looked as though the young Scot might win for the second time this year but it was not to be .

Behind the leaders there were all sorts of battles taking place between Barrichello, Verstappen and Salo whilst Ralf Schumacher had a huge crash supposedly because of a flat tyre . As he crashed out of just about every race this year apart from one there were those who suggested that maybe he has problems controlling his youthful enthusiasm. Still, big brother Michael used to be exactly the same years ago. Johnny Herbert ran into trouble with the authorities by speeding in the pit lane which earned him a 10 second stop-go penalty. Damon Hill astonished everyone by not breaking down, for some strange reason the Yamaha engine kept going !

Just as Coulthard looked like a winner things went dramatically wrong for him . He went into the pits for a new set of tyres but could not leave as his clutch cried enough. Had he stayed out on the track just a little bit longer he would have won as at that point Schumacher was still behind him . Whilst David was in the pits Frenchman Olivier Panis had a huge crash in the Prost .The exact cause of the crash might remain a mystery , it looked as though he might have lost the back of the car and failed to correct it .He hit the barrier on the right side of the track at high speed and shot virtually straight across to the left where the car totally demolished the tyre wall with several of the tyres falling on the stricken car as well as all over the track . First the safety car came out and then a few minutes later the race director decided to stop the race after 56 out of 69 laps. With Panis injured and with an ambulance on the track it was probably the right decision . As I am writing this report shortly after the end of the race I can only give the official news -Panis is OK apart from a broken leg. Naturally if there any developments The Autochannel will be reporting them just as soon as we get the news. Hopefully we will get nothing beyond a statement from Team Prost to the effect that the popular Frenchman will be out of action for a few weeks.

The customary celebrations were very subdued with Schumacher, Alesi and Fisichella all refusing to spray champagne . A nice gesture to an injured colleague . With Villenuve crashing out and Schumacher winning for the second time this year Michael is back in the lead at the top of the leader board with 37 points . Jacques is still second with 30 whilst poor Olivier is third with 15. Team Jordan celebrated Fisichella 's first ever podium finish, the young Italian is one of the great discoveries of the season. Now the circus returns to Europe for a long stretch,8 consecutive races to be precise.

Whilst anything is possible unless there is a sudden change in form it should go to the wire between Villeneuve and Schumacher . A wonderful prospect .I just hope I am right !

Formula 1 World Championship - Canadian Grand Prix

 
 
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