Hungarian GP 1997: Damon Hill’s feat ruined at the climax
A dream broken a few kilometers from its achievement. That’s because, with just over a lap to go before the checkered flag at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix, Damon Hill he was sensationally in command, aboard the modest Yamaha Arrows. A car that had little of a winner. Only the number one that the Briton wore on his muzzle deceived appearances a bit. In fact, after the 1996 world championship triumph, the choice to go racing for the team led by Tom Walkinshaw, albeit strengthened by so many promises and by an engine that was defined as official, the Yamaha V10 edited by John Judd which immediately proved to be not very powerful and not very reliable, proved to be risky. The single-seater, the A18, was the result of the ideas of the designer Frank Dernie, who boasted a long militancy in the Circus and had worked in various teams including Williams and Lotus even if in the darkest years for the British team. In terms of visual impact, the single-seater presented itself in an elegant way both for the white and blue livery and for the lines, but unfortunately it was more about appearance than anything else.
A badly born season
The season got off to a bad start so much so that in Australia at the season debut, the new world champion was unable to even start the Melbourne race. Clearly the adventure did not start auspiciously, despite Walkinshaw having tried to strengthen the team’s organization and find new sponsors. After the Albert Park debacle there was a series of non-stop retirements involving Arrows due to their chronic lack of reliability, while in the rare cases in which the machine didn’t break down, the performances weren’t the best anyway. Until the Canadian Grand Prix, held as usual on the Montreal circuit, one of the worst seasons for a world champion driver was impassive, with the media and the press obviously continually wondering what Hill’s value was without the super Williams . However, as the championship approached the halfway point something began to change because, finally, the two A18s finally began to see the checkered flag on several occasions.
From an economic point of view, the British team could also make use of the support of Hill’s partner, the Brazilian Pedro Diniz, a mid-level rider who guaranteed the team a large package of sponsors including Parmalat. In any case, the real technical turning point coincided with John’s arrival in the current season Barnard, who resigned from Ferrari, who put his hand on Dernie’s project and developed it further. The first satisfactions came in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, in which Graham’s son took an unexpected sixth place due in part to the misfortunes of others in a race where for once it was not he who had to stop before the finish line. Later the F1 Circus moved to Hockenheim and on the German track, where again in addition to aerodynamics the engines made the difference, the poor Yamaha cared for by the expert Judd was indebted for horses compared to the more powerful Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes.
But in Hungary…
But, despite his obvious technical inferiority, the Briton saw the finish line on this occasion too and on a track where the engines often jumped because they were under pressure, he finished eighth. After Germany it was the turn of the away match at the Hungaroring and it was in that case that a sort of miracle. The Arrows A18 was transformed for a weekend from an ugly duckling into a swan and Hill undoubtedly wrote one of the most exciting pages of his career. On Saturday, in qualifying, Damon grabbed to everyone’s amazement a incredible third place behind Michael Schumacher and his former Williams partner Jacques Villeneuve, with only 372 thousandths of a delay from the Ferrari of the German who occupied the first pitch. Legend has it that Bridgestone, the tire specialist who at the time supplied several teams including Arrows, had brought particularly high-performance tires for that Grand Prix, but it is equally fair to observe that the narrow and winding course of the Hungaroring married extraordinarily with the characteristics of the Arrows.
A track where historically engine power does not have a particular effect and a track that Hill certainly particularly appreciated as it evoked sweet memories for him. The first dated back to 1993, the year of his first win in an F1 Grand Prix, and the second in 1995, when in a certainly not easy year he triumphed again in Hungary at the wheel of a Frank Williams single-seater. Sunday 10 August 1997 it was understood right away that this would be a special day for the Arrows colours, as the Englishman immediately overtook via Villeneuve in the first meters after them and settled into second position behind Schumacher. But, what happened on lap 7 was incredible, with Hill who the German from Ferrari passed by force onto the main straight taking advantage of the fact that Michael was struggling with a problem with the performance of his Goodyear tyres.
Subsequently, on lap 23, the first pit stops began, with the various drivers entering the pit lane to refuel and change tyres. Everyone entered except Frentzen’s Williams which, thanks to the choice of hard tyres, continued to stay on track until the 29th lap, thus accumulating a fair margin of advantage over its pursuers. Unfortunately, the German’s glory was short-lived, as during his stop a problem with the safety valve in the filler cap caused petrol vapors to end up on the exhausts and triggered a dangerous fire. With Frentzen out of the game Hill regained the race leader and the more the laps went by the more the Englishman gave the impression of having caught the joker on an absolutely atypical day. Arrows traveled fast and with incredible regularity over the times, showing no sign of letting up both in terms of tire and engine performance. At the same time Villeneuve, who settled in second position, no longer seemed to be a concrete threat even when the second pit stop was made.
The gearbox stuck
The Canadian would have easily satisfied himself with the place of honor, given that the six points conquered would have allowed him in any case to reduce the gap in the standings from Schumacher at that moment leader of the standings. However, with just over a lap to go, the number one Arrows on its way to the team’s first and much coveted victory suffered a technical problem which slowed its progress. Hill had to slow down due to a hydraulic pump malfunction which blocked both the gearbox, which remained in third gear, and the accelerator, no longer allowing the Englishman to control the single-seater in the best possible way. Villeneuve thus managed to overtake Hill during the last lap and went on to win the Grand Prix, not without taking some risks given that in the moment of attacking the Arrows now reduced to defenseless prey he put two wheels dangerously on the grass. Graham’s son still managed to cross the finish line in second position on the day when for long stretches he had toyed with the idea of accomplishing a feat.
Even if mocked at the last minute by his former Williams teammate, the Englishman was radiant on the podium and he was celebrated with full honors by both Villeneuve and his team lined up under the prize-giving stage. Following that extraordinary race, the A18’s performance returned to a decidedly more “terrestrial” level and after this unexpected placement, which rained down like a bolt from the blue on a sunny August day, Hill did not score any more points until the end of the season. The 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix was arguably one of the most exciting moments in its history for Arrows, as the team truly came within a whisker of what could have been their first historic F1 triumph. The British stablewhich had opened its doors way back in 1978 and closed them in 2002 after a long militancy in the Circus, he never managed to win a Grand Prix and paradoxically that of the Hungaroring was the occasion in which he came closest.
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