Qantas Australian
Grand Prix 1997
Albert
Park Circuit, Melbourne March 9. First Race. Circuit length:
5.302 km. Race distance: 58 laps; 307.516 km.
Podium 1996: Damon Hill (GB), Jacques Villeneuve (Can), Eddie
Irvine (Ire).
Australian
Grand Prix: the Australian Grand Prix moved from Adelaide to
Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne in 1996. It was the opening race
of the 1996 season and it will be the same this year. Martin
Brundle impressed the crowd when he crashed enormously. The
Jordan broke in two pieces, which is a fantastic result of tests
with crashes. Martin Brundle had no injuries at all and could
start again. The race was dominated by rookie Jacques Villeneuve
who almost won his first Grand Prix after taking Pole Positon the
day before the race. Villeneuve had to slow down and teammate
Damon Hill passed and won the first race of the season. Eddie
Irvine (Ferrari) drove to a 3rd position which was his best
result in 1996.
This year we will see two brand new teams making their Grand Prix debut: Stewart Grand Prix and MasterCard Lola. Formula One legend Jackie Stewart and his son Paul Stewart will come with a team which is sponsored by HSBC and Malaysia. Malaysia will organise a Grand Prix in the near future and hopes that this will promote the country. MasterCard will have special offers for their Formula One Card holders. Bridgestone enters Formula One and has shown their potential in pre-season testing and last season tests with Jos Verstappen. Teams could use all tyres but 1998 will be the year without slicks. World champion Damon Hill teams up with Arrows-Yamaha and team manager Tom Walkinshaw believes that he will win 2 or 3 races this year.