1997 Australian GP *Round 1* (Murray Walker/Martin Brundle Commentary)

1997 was an exciting season in F1 and with it, a whole HOST of changes, from teams to drivers.

How could the new boys cope, could Heinz Harald Frentzen be a title challenger in his first year with Williams? Could Ferrari finally build a reliable car for Schumacher to challenge? Or was this a new year where other teams could try and take some wins?

*Note*

F1 Coverage moved from BBC to ITV so unfortunately, there were Adverts during the race which is why you may here some skipped footage.

If anything did happen, Murray would always remind you and let you know so you never truly miss anything.

New Teams:-

Stewart Grand Prix

Lola-Ford (They failed to qualify and never returned)

Prost GP (Changed from Ligier)

Arrows (Reverted Name change from Footwork)

Drivers:-

Arrows - D. Hill & P. Diniz

Williams - J. Villeneuve & H.H Frentzen (Who replaced Damon Hill)

Ferrari -  Schumacher & Irvine

Benetton - Alesi & Berger

Mclaren - Hakkinen & Coulthard

Jordan - Ralf Schumacher (Rookie) & Fisichella

Prost - Panis & Shinji Nakano (Rookie)

Sauber - Herbert & Larini

Tyrrell - J. Verstappen & M.Salo

Minardi - Katayama & Jarno Trulli (Rookie)

Stewart - Barrichello & Jan Magnuessen

Race Results:-

1 | David Coulthard | McLaren
2 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari
3 | Mika Hakkinen | McLaren
4 | Gerhard Berger | Benetton
5 | Olivier Panis | Prost
6 | Nicola Larini | Sauber
7 | Shinji Nakano | Prost| +2 laps | 
8 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Williams DNF | 
9 | Jarno Trulli | Minardi | +3 laps | 
10 | Pedro Diniz | Arrows +4 laps