Many said that if Williams and Jacques Villeneuve were to stand any chance in the respective Championships, they had to start winning at Austria. Although it had been said for the past few races, it was more important here than ever before. With the circuit being new to all teams, the potential was there for a great race.

Before the Race

The free practice sessions produced some surprising results. The new track, and low grip surface was obviously having a big effect on the usual form guide.

The most notable surprise was from the Stewart team. In both the Free Practice periods they had a driver in the top 3, and a fantastic Qualifying performance put Barrichello 5th and Magnussen 6th.

Jacques Villeneuve took pole position from Mika Hakkinen in a close battle. Jacques put in a lap towards the end that secured pole by 0.094. One of the major surprises from the session was Trulli who grabbed 3rd in his Prost, indicating that Bridgestone teams had a performance advantage over the Goodyear shod cars.

Frentzen followed in 4th place, with the 2 Stewart cars of Barrichello and Magnussen claiming 5th and 6th position, a magnificent performance from the team.

Damon Hill surprised by out qualifying both Ferrari's, and was bullish about his chances for the race.

Eddie Irvine followed in 8th place in front of Michael Schumacher. Another poor qualifying session had given the Championship leader a big task, but I didn't doubt that he would be up at the front towards the end.

The Race

Gerhard Berger headed to the pit lane on the Parade Lap after noticing a warning light, but didn't stop. The result was that he would start from the pit lane in his home GP.

The field left the grid and headed towards the first corner, which was expected to cause problems.

Villeneuve made a poor start, causing lots of wheel spin. This allowed Hakkinen to head off in the lead. Heading into turn 1, Villeneuve was passed by Trulli who slotted neatly into 2nd place. Further round Lap 1, Villeneuve was passed again by Barrichello who had just avoided hitting the Canadian.

Coming towards the end of Lap 1, Mika Hakkinen suffered an engine problem that put him out, coming to a halt across the track from the pitlane. Mika seems to be cursed with bad luck when in the lead, and yet another chance to score his first victory disappeared. This gave us a fantastic situation. For the first time in his career, Trulli was leading a Grand Prix ahead of Rubens Barrichello. Jacques Villeneuve was under pressure in 3rd place from Jan Magnussen.

At the end of Lap 3 the field where as follows: Trulli - 1.455s - Barrichello - 1.333s - Villeneuve - 0.351s - Magnussen - 1.961s - Frentzen - 0.360s - M. Schumacher

Michael Schumacher had made a good start and was now in 6th place behind Frentzen. Trulli posts the first fastest lap of 1m 15.656s, and continued to improve this fast lap for the next 9 laps. On Lap 5 Villeneuve began to pick up the pace. He later said that his tyres took around 5 laps to get up to the correct temperature. Villeneuve began to close the gap to Trulli. Lap 7 and Magnussen is falling back, creating an interesting 'train' of drivers behind him, made up of Frentzen and M. Schumacher, with Coulthard, Hill, R. Schumacher, and Irvine following.

Trulli now began to increase he lead lap by lap, by around 0.8 seconds a lap over Barrichello in 2nd place. Villeneuve continued to close the gap to Barrichello.

Lap 13 and the positions are as follows: J. Trulli - 4.597s - Barrichello - 0.620s - Villeneuve - 6.937s - Magnussen - 0.385s - Frentzen - 0.953s - M. Schumacher

On Lap 14 Eddie Irvine loses two places as Jean Alesi and Ralf Schumacher slip past him.

Lap 22, Trulli now leads by 8.857 seconds. Villeneuve is chasing down Barrichello, and the gap is now a small 0.422. Magnussen is still holding up the cars behind him, which is stopping Frentzen and Schumacher from closing any gap to Villeneuve.

The next lap Villeneuve finally passes Barrichello to take 2nd place in a clean move the Canadian later remarked upon. The next lap he posts a new fast lap 1m 12.577s. He was now able to pull away from the Stewart in an attempt to close the 10 second gap to leader Trulli, who was doing very well leading his first race.

Lap 26 and the 1st round of pit stops begin. Magnussen heads for the pits for his first stop (8.4 seconds), allowing the train of cars behind him free. Lap 27 and Barrichello heads for his stop (8.6 seconds). The Stewart Grand Prix team produced two calm and steady stops to get their drivers back underway with a minimum of fuss.

After these 2 stops the top 6 was as follows: Trulli - 8.276s - Villeneuve - 11.086s - H. Frentzen - 0.206s - M. Schumacher - 1.480s - Coulthard - 1.195s - D. Hill. Coulthard and Hill move into the Top 6.

Jacques Villeneuve continues to close the gap between himself and Trulli. The gap is now 7.456 seconds on Lap 32. It was 10.765 seconds when he passed Barrichello. Berger makes his pit stop (12.7 seconds).

Lap 34. Pedro Diniz makes his stop, along with Nakano. Jacques Villeneuve posts another fastest lap 1m 11.934s. Lap 36 Alesi makes his stop (9.8 seconds), and Trulli (9.7 seconds).

Lap 38. Alesi, 2 laps out from his pit stop is under pressure from Eddie Irvine. His Ferrari is light on fuel compared to the 'full & heavy' Alesi. Eddie makes a move on the outside of turn 2 on Alesi, which was a good pass. Irvine had the advantage and left room for Alesi. Alesi however began to move slightly to the right, and hit Irvine's front right tyre, throwing him into the air, and landing in the gravel. The car did not roll, and came close to hitting Irvine's helmet as it leaped into the air. Alesi came to a rest in the sand, while Irvine slowly made his way to the pits, where he later retired with suspension damage. Michael Schumacher also passes Frentzen, but under Yellow Flags at the Alesi incident spot. This one pass would later cost Schumacher heavily.

Lap 42 and 43 produced vital pit stops. First in was Ralf Schumacher with 13.7 seconds, his brother Michael with 10.4, Frentzen with 9.3 seconds and Coulthard on the following lap with 8.5 seconds. Fisichella comes in 2 laps later (8.5 seconds). After this group of stops, the top 6 had all stopped, and looked like this: J. Villeneuve - J. Trulli - M. Schumacher - R. Barrichello - J. Magnussen - D. Coulthard - Frentzen - Fisichella - R. Schumacher - Hill. Notable was Michael Schumacher, who was now in 3rd place and looking like a threat to second place Trulli and the leader Villeneuve.

On Lap 48 Michael Schumacher was handed a 10-second penalty. The reason was his pass on Frentzen, which was under Yellow Flag conditions. The penalty was a 10-second stop, which in the end cost Schumacher any chance of winning the race. Schumacher left the pits in 9th place. He later remarked that he had no chance of seeing these flags, as he passed Frentzen on the inside, with the yellows on the outside of the circuit.

Lap 52, and the top 6 remains unchanged, except for Michael Schumacher back in 9th. Villeneuve now holds a 7 second lead over Trulli.

On Lap 58 both Prost cars suffer engine blowouts, which takes out Nakano and Trulli. For both to drop out with the same problem on the same lap was very strange, and resulted in the end of a possible win for Trulli.

Lap 61, and Magnussen also suffered engine failure. Coulthard is now closing on Villeneuve, aiming for a 2nd straight win.

Schumacher is now in a position to pass Barrichello on Lap 66, but Barrichello blocks his attempt. Losing concentration after the move, Barrichello slides wide into the final turn and runs into the gravel, taking off his front wing and retiring. Schumacher is now in 7th place, with Hill is next target for 1 Championship point. The Top 6 at this point where: Villeneuve - 2.680s - Coulthard - 1.185s - Frentzen - 7.805s- Fisichella -19.962s - R. Schumacher - 1.278s - D. Hill with M. Schumacher in 7th

Gerhard Berger also makes the same mistake as Barrichello on Lap 68, but is able to keep going. Villeneuve is able to keep a 3-second gap back to Coulthard, who is under heavy pressure from Frentzen.

Lap 69, and Michael Schumacher passes Damon Hill at turn 2 in a move that came out of no where. Hill appeared to take the corner wide, later saying he did not expect Michael to be where he was. Schumacher was now in 6th place with one Championship point, with his brother in front on him in 5th place. In this position Michael would keep a 1-point lead in the Championship.

Villeneuve was able to keep his short lead over Coulthard, and win the Austrian Grand Prix. Coulthard followed home 2.909 seconds behind to take 2nd place. Frentzen brought his Williams home in 3rd place; a result Williams will be pleased about. Fisichella and Jordan 4th and 5th respectively, an impressive performance that is sure to inspire Jordan and Damon Hill for next year. Michael Schumacher a good 6th place considering he started 9th and had a 20-30 second penalty.

The Austrian Grand Prix was maybe one of the best races so far this year. With the new circuit, it produced a lot of surprises and chances for teams like Prost and Stewart to have their cars running at the front. Williams appear to be back on form going on their performance here, although a 2nd place for Frentzen I feel is what they wanted out of him. Ferrari are doing very well considering their qualifying performances during the last 2 races. Was the 10-second stop-go a harsh punishment for Michael Schumacher? The punishment could certainly cost him with only 3 races left. A second place would have kept a gap between himself and Villeneuve, but now its wide open.

Result