1997 French Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher achieved his second pole position in a row, meanwhile Jacques Villeneuve managed to take his worst qualifying position in the season so far. Jarno Trulli took his best qualifying position ever on his first race for Prost, Alexander Wurz outqualified teammate Jean Alesi on his only second start for Benetton and Pedro Diniz outqualified teammate 1996 World Champion Damon Hill for the first time in the season. Norberto Fontana made his first appearance for Sauber, becoming the first Argentine driver to star a Formula One race since Oscar Larrauri in 1988 Australian Grand Prix. On last spot Tarso Marques came back to the grid for Minardi.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:14.548
2	4	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Renault	1:14.749	+0.201
3	11	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Peugeot	1:14.755	+0.207
4	3	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	1:14.800	+0.252
5	6	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:14.860	+0.312
6	14	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Mugen-Honda	1:14.957	+0.409
7	8	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Renault	1:14.986	+0.438
8	7	Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	1:15.228	+0.680
9	10	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:15.270	+0.722
10	9	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:15.339	+0.791
11	12	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Peugeot	1:15.453	+0.905
12	15	Shinji Nakano	Prost-Mugen-Honda	1:15.857	+1.309
13	22	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	1:15.876	+1.328
14	16	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	1:16.018	+1.470
15	23	Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford	1:16.149	+1.601
16	2	Pedro Diniz	Arrows-Yamaha	1:16.536	+1.988
17	1	Damon Hill	Arrows-Yamaha	1:16.729	+2.181
18	18	Jos Verstappen	Tyrrell-Ford	1:16.941	+2.393
19	19	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Ford	1:17.256	+2.708
20	17	Norberto Fontana	Sauber-Petronas	1:17.538	+2.990
21	20	Ukyo Katayama	Minardi-Hart	1:17.563	+3.015
22	21	Tarso Marques	Minardi-Hart	1:18.280	+3.732
107% time: 1:19.766
Source:[3]

At the beginning of the race, Michael Schumacher started from the pole position, followed closely by Frentzen in a Williams car. Damon Hill experienced difficulty from the outset, as he lost his wing at the first corner due to going off the track. Both McLaren drivers jumped from the fifth row to 6th (David Coulthard) and 7th (Mika Häkkinen), passing the Benetton drivers and Jarno Trulli. On lap 5 Tarso Marques ended his comeback race at Minardi with an engine failure on the finishing line. A tough weekend continued at Arrows, as Diniz tangled with Jos Verstappen at the Adelaide Hairpin and lost his front wing, spending more than twenty seconds in the pits and dropping to the back of the field.

The race proceeded without significant incident until the latter stages when a nearby thunderstorm brought rain to the circuit. Some drivers opted to pit for wet tyres, while others remained on their dry tyres. Under these challenging conditions, multiple drivers, including Michael Schumacher, experienced spins. Despite his spin, Schumacher was able to maintain his lead.

Ultimately, Michael Schumacher finished ahead of Frentzen by a considerable margin. During the race's conclusion, an intense battle took place among Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard, and Jean Alesi. Concurrently, Jacques Villeneuve was striving to overtake Eddie Irvine for the final spot on the podium.

Ralf Schumacher encountered a spin, which cost him sixth place. However, as noted in the race records, Michael Schumacher (having lapped his brother) permitted Ralf to pass him at the final corner. Commentator Murray Walker deemed this move unwise at the time. On the last lap, Alesi forced Coulthard off the track, resulting in Coulthard losing fifth place. Consequently, Ralf Schumacher secured the final point, as he had managed to unlap himself.

In the race's closing moments, Villeneuve caught up to Irvine. Attempting an ambitious maneuver at the final corner, Villeneuve spun off the track but managed to rejoin the race and fend off Alesi at the finish line.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	72	1:38:50.492	1	10
2	4	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Renault	72	+23.537	2	6
3	6	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	72	+1:14.801	5	4
4	3	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Renault	72	+1:21.784	4	3
5	7	Jean Alesi	Benetton-Renault	72	+1:22.735	8	2
6	11	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Peugeot	72	+1:29.871	3	1
7	10	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	71	Collision	9
8	16	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	71	+1 lap	14
9	12	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Peugeot	71	+1 lap	11
10	14	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Mugen-Honda	70	+2 laps	6
11	20	Ukyo Katayama	Minardi-Hart	70	+2 laps	21
12	1	Damon Hill	Arrows-Yamaha	69	+3 laps	17
Ret	19	Mika Salo	Tyrrell-Ford	61	Electrical	19
Ret	8	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Renault	60	Spun off	7
Ret	2	Pedro Diniz	Arrows-Yamaha	58	Spun off	16
Ret	17	Norberto Fontana	Sauber-Petronas	40	Spun off	20
Ret	22	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	36	Engine	13
Ret	23	Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford	33	Brakes	15
Ret	9	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	18	Engine	10
Ret	18	Jos Verstappen	Tyrrell-Ford	15	Spun off	18
Ret	15	Shinji Nakano	Prost-Mugen-Honda	7	Spun off	12
Ret	21	Tarso Marques	Minardi-Hart	5	Engine	22
Source:[4]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1   Michael Schumacher 47 2   Jacques Villeneuve 33 3   Heinz-Harald Frentzen 19 4   Eddie Irvine 18 5   Olivier Panis 15 Source:[5]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1   Ferrari 65 2   Williams-Renault 52 3   Benetton-Renault 25 4   McLaren-Mercedes 21 5   Prost-Mugen-Honda 16 Source:[5]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.