On 14th June 1997, the circuit making use of the perimeter roads on the man-made Ile Notre Dame, hosted qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. It produced a very close fight between Michael Schumacher in the F310B and the Williams of Jacques Villeneuve. Coming off best was the German who earned the right to start the following day’s race at the head of the field by just 13 thousandths of a second.
On Sunday, Jacques Villeneuve was soon out of the running on the opening lap, but that didn’t make it a stroll in the park for Michael. Giving him a hard time was David Coulthard in the Mclaren, who drove an amazing race. The Scotsman could have won the race, but he stalled during his pit stop, losing precious time. Michael Schumacher duly won, ahead of Jean Alesi in the Benetton and Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan. Thanks to this, his 24th win, (110th for Ferrari) Michael took the lead in the classification on 37 points, against 30 for his closest rival, Villeneuve.
Here are the last couple of minutes for the 1997 Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying Session, with Jacques driving the Williams FW19 Renault and Michael driving the Ferrari F310B
— see video above —
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