Team-mate wars and a wonky gearbox – F1's 600th race

In a season remembered for the confrontational rivalry between title contenders Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher, paddock talk on the day of the 600th world championship Formula 1 race was aimed elsewhere.

It was focused on future rule changes aimed at improving the racing, which teams were coming and going, and the surging fortunes of one team and a particular driver from another squad.

This was 13 April 1997 and the Argentine Grand Prix.

Ambitious start-ups arrive

After failing to qualify for the season-opening Australian GP and then withdrawing in Brazil, despite the team having already travelled to Interlagos, MasterCard Lola threw in the towel on its F1 project just days before the Argentine race.

It's self-designed engine never materialised, leading to the team using a heavy and underpowered Ford unit that cast it wildly off the pace in Australia. The situation quickly unravelled from there. MasterCard ended its sponsorship, the team laid off the majority of its staff, the FIA fined it for its absence from the grid, and a rescue package by driver Vincenzo Sospiri to get it back on the grid for the San Marino GP failed. That all led to an estimated £3million financial hole eating into Lola Cars' budget just as its sales stronghold in Indycar racing started to shrink.

In the end, the team should've delayed its entry to 1998 as originally intended, which might have avoided the embarrassment that ended up stemming from these remarks from founder and team boss Eric Broadley that appeared in the April 1997 edition of Autosport's sister publication F1 Racing:

"Dare I say it, we're a bit organised these days. It took Stewart nine months to build a car, and it will take us three."

Stewart was the other debuting British team for 1997, starting its F1 project from scratch but with significant backing from Ford. At Argentina, its promising start, with Rubens Barrichello qualifying fifth and earning himself a Rolex watch from team boss Sir Jackie Stewart, coming to nothing as he was spun by Michael Schumacher and ended up retiring with a hydraulic issue. Jan Magnussen fared worse, losing an engine in qualifying and the race respectively.

Barrichello only finished three races all year, but did finish second in Monaco.

While one team was already off the grid by this point in 1997, there was talk that Villeneuve and his managers could be bringing Lola's Indycar rival Reynard to F1. Bernie Ecclestone was cautious on the idea of new teams: "I don't want another Lola situation. We've had enough of those in the past".

The speculation proved to be well-founded though, as Villeneuve was driving one of the Reynard-designed British American Racing cars by 1999.

1997 tech: Tyre wars and rogue leaders

It's hard to imagine an F1 car without slick tyres, and the mere mention of anything else (save for wet-weather compounds) sounds somewhat counter-productive. It's therefore easy to forget that F1's formative years were actually spent on grooved tyres, before Firestone took slicks to the 1971 Spanish Grand Prix and changed the game.

It's probably best left forgotten, however, that F1 rekindled grooved tyres for the 1998 season. Worried by the increasing speeds, the FIA decided that four grooves should be placed in each rear tyre, and three in each front tyre to reduce the overall contact patch - and give less overall grip. The track width of the cars were also to be narrowed by 200mm to slash speeds and increase lap times further.

Those changes ensured the breed of 1997 cars would be the last two metre-wide F1 cars for 20 years. Thankfully, the field looked aggressive - when compared to the 1998 field, which looked almost apologetic by comparison.

Rather than wait another year to start out with grooved tyres, Bridgestone joined F1 for the final rumble on slick tyres - kickstarting a tyre war for the first time since 1991. Goodyear, with years of experience in plying the grid with its rubber, had the early advantage - but Bridgestone's squarer front tyres offered a little more grip at the expense of more drag.

At the quicker circuits, the drag was naturally a problem that the Bridgestone runners had to contend with, but at the slower and more front-loaded circuits, they were capable of surprising the Goodyear-shod cars - mostly represented by the top teams.

Argentina's circuit at Buenos Aires was one of those circuits. A short course with 18 corners, the twisty, undulating infield sections required a pointy front-end, something that played into the hands of the Bridgestone runners.

Olivier Panis put in a marauding performance in qualifying to slot into third, beating Michael Schumacher by three tenths, while Rubens Barrichello dragged his Stewart to fifth on the grid. Panis was excellent, and shrugged off the damage sustained by Schumacher's hopeful punt at the start of the race to be in with a genuine shout of victory - before his radiator broke on lap 18.

The fact that the Goodyears and Bridgestones offered different qualities was conducive to more upsets throughout the year - most notably Damon Hill's tear-jerking almost-victory in that year's Hungarian Grand Prix and Jarno Trulli's breakout performance in Austria.

With both manufacturers starting from scratch with 1998's grooved formula, there was a level playing field. But it wasn't a universally popular move, ultimately driving Goodyear out of F1.

The race at Buenos Aires was also another precursor to a 1998 controversy, courtesy of the Tyrrell team. After finding a slight performance shortfall in its anomalous 025 car, the team arrived in Argentina with two winglets mounted on stilts atop the sidepods - dubbed the 'X-wings' by a presumed Star Wars fan within the media.

These X-wings "helped Tyrrell to its most competitive showing of the year" thus far according to Autosport magazine, as Jos Verstappen escaped the three rearmost rows on the grid for the first time in 1997.

From Autosport: The new wings helped the team overcome the problems it has been having this season getting enough heat into its tyres. Verstappen, who had a development engine, and Mika Salo - who qualified 19th - said they could feel the extra grip immediately.

Rivals expressed surprise that Tyrrell should use devices that increased drag. However, [deputy technical director Mike] Gascoyne explained that as the package makes the aerodynamics more effective, Tyrrell can now run a reduced rear wing angle, thereby reducing drag.

Those wings returned at the start of the 1998 season and were copied by half the grid, prompting the FIA to intervene and ban them. The grooved tyres, however, were only phased out 11 years later.

Starting grid - 1997 Argentine GP

Jordan and Irvine show promise

From Andrew Benson's Autosport grand prix report: At Jordan, they have always said that Ralf Schumacher was good, but the Argentine GP provided the first concrete proof of it.

A strong third place, which could easily have been closer to the lead battle, also provided evidence to back up Jordan's claims that this is the best car the team has ever produced - a view also held by Williams technical director Patrick Head.

The only blot on the copybook was the collision which took Jordan's other driver, Giancarlo Fisichella, out of the race, for which Schumacher, honestly and in the interests of team harmony, took the blame and apologised to his team-mate.

That report picks up on not only Jordan coming on as a race-winning threat, but also on its former driver, Eddie Irvine, doing the same at Ferrari after a difficult start to the year.

After granting Michael Schumacher his F1 debut in the team's maiden season in 1991, Jordan had since largely failed to make the headlines for little more than financial reasons, and appeared on the podium only twice in the years in between. Its refreshed line-up for '97 would provide "fireworks" according to commercial director Ian Phillips, and they arrived in time for the team's 100th race, held at the twisty Buenos Aires circuit.

A poor start for Ralf Schumacher, contesting his third grand prix, and the time spent battling with Fisichella added up to a greater time loss than the margin the German finished behind winner Villeneuve, meaning Jordan had possibly been denied a first win, with Fisichella also showing the pace to win at times. It was the only team to pull off a one-stop strategy with success, and been the most impressive on the harder Goodyear tyres. If it weren't for two small moments a one-two finish would've been on the cards.

Irvine's run to second in his Ferrari also received considerable praise from Benson: Irvine drove a fantastic race to well and truly answer his critics in the Italian press, who had been on his back after two first-corner accidents in the first two races of the season.

A great start from seventh on the grid got him up to third place as the field crawled around behind the pace car following the inevitable first-corner accident, which had eliminated potential front-runners like his team-mate Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.

In Irvine's first 18 races with Ferrari to that point he had scored just four times, and started 1997 by causing two multi-car crashes. He was also the slower Ferrari driver by some margin, which was traced down to his struggles with Ferrari's electric brake balance system prior to Argentina. There were already stories that his seat was under threat, but he responded well the next time he was on track.

Benson's report continues: Irvine did not waste his golden opportunity, keeping Villeneuve and [Olivier] Panis in sight before his first stop, not long after the Williams's. At this stage, it looked as if he would be a steady third or so, but that was before we knew he was on one less stop than Jacques.

Villeneuve, struggling with illness, a "wonky gearbox" and worn tyres, had opted for a three-stop strategy while Irvine was capable of going the distance on two stops, added Benson:

When he came out of his final stop still 4.4 seconds ahead of the Ferrari, the race looked tied up. But within five laps, the now irrepressible Irishman was on his tail and staging the grandstand finish fans would like to see in all Grands Prix.

With eight laps to go, it seemed impossible that Irvine would not get past, and when he came out of the last corner on lap 69, with three to go, right on the Williams's tail, he looked certain to get by. But no.

"Just before then, I got close and then backed off and tried to clean the tyres up, because I'd grained them a bit pushing so hard," Irvine said. "I backed off for a lap and a half, tried to clean them up and then went at him."

Outside pressures aside, Eddie's reputation precedes him in such circumstances. "I knew if I made a mistake he was capable of doing a banzai move," said Villeneuve, "so I was a little bit worried."

"I had a feeling all weekend that the race was going to go well," Irvine said. "Once the fuel came off it, it was very good, and I was just pushing, pushing.

"I specifically set up my car so it would be good on tyres. But basically the Williams is just too fast."

Despite the successes of both Jordan and Irvine, the following week's Autosport magazine's news section reported that their stories from Argentina ended on negative notes:

Fisichella said: "I'm extremely upset, I was going to attack in the second half of the race and we should both have been in the points. We will discuss it when we get back to Europe."

But Schumacher added: "He missed his line coming through the fast corner before the hairpin. I tried to overtake him, and I felt he made space, but he closed the door."

The Jordan mechanics refused to welcome Schumacher home from the pit wall. Jordan claimed it was to do with superstition after Barrichello retired just 100m short of a podium finish in Hungary in '95. There is also understood to be a dispute between the team and its mechanics about bonus money.

After the race, the team quickly applied a 'code of practice' to ensure its drivers did not clash again.

For Irvine, things were more unfortunate:

Irvine's parents received threatening phone calls at their Northern Ireland home last week after the flag of the Irish Republic was raised on the podium of the Argentine GP. Irvine, although born in Northern Ireland and technically British, races under an Irish licence. He had requested a neutral flag to be raised if he made the podium but the rules say a recognised flag must be used.

Villeneuve speaks out

Jacques Villeneuve said this was the hardest race of his Grand Prix career, but that had less to do with the Ferrari driven by hard man Irvine than the fact he had spent most of the weekend on the toilet.

Autosport's Argentine GP report started with reference to the race winner's stomach complaints, and how despite carrying a variety of physical and mechanical ailments, Villeneuve drove what might have been better termed 'the best race of his Grand Prix career'.

F1 had a tyre battle between Goodyear and Bridgestone in 1997, with both Williams and Ferrari running the former. In Argentina, Williams chewed through its soft tyres, with Villeneuve ending each stint with blistered rubber. The team's explanation was the more time Villeneuve spent in the pits, the more he could rest.

The gamble paid off, Villeneuve responding each time he was put under pressure by Irvine and finishing 0.979 seconds clear.

After enduring with that rubber, the championship leader flew to Barcelona to get a taste of the grooved tyres being introduced for 1998. Although unanimously voted for by the teams - along with cars being narrowed by 20cm - on the grounds that they would improve safety and the racing, it didn't take long for regret to set in, wrote Autosport:

"Before running it I knew it was a mistake, and I proved it. It's like going back 30 years. This year a lot of drivers have started to enjoy driving with the softer tyres - why change it? It's like driving on sand or in the rain. The cars reach the limit well before the drivers.

"What they are proposing scares me, because it's not going to be F1 anymore. It will destroy racing, as it exists. It's a joke."

Villeneuve's comments resonated with many, but ultimately led to no change, and grooved tyres were used for over a decade.

The world champion's number two

Irvine successfully reversed his fortunes in Argentina, but Villeneuve's Williams team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen's pointless run continued. A "philosophy change" resulted in second on the grid, but a clutch problem put him out of the race after five laps.

But Frentzen only had to wait one more race to pick up his first win in San Marino, answering many of his critics, while fellow potential Argentina victor Fisichella's day eventually came in F1's 700th race, and with Jordan no less...

Results 1997 Argentine GP - 72 laps