Unoff. HHF Fan Site: HHF News Archive 1997

Fri, 19-Dec-1997

Heinz-Harald Frentzen's race engineer Tim Preston left the team. This is not a good sign for the next season.

Fri, 05-Dec-1997

Under partly wet conditions Frentzen was 5th fastest in the 1998 prototype and Villeneuve 7th. ->Test-times

Thu, 04-Dec-1997

More tests were done at Barcelona. Again Villeneuve was fastest in the 1998 prototype. And again Herbert was second and Frentzen third fastest. ->Test-times

Wed, 03-Dec-1997

After the test-stop in November the FIA allowed the teams to start with testing for next year. The Williams Team gave some young and talented drivers to test the 1997 car on Tuesday. On Wednesday Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jacques Villeneuve started with their work on a 1997 car rebuilt in 1998 specification and on the new tyres. Villeneuve was fastest of all drivers testing 1998 specifications cars present at the Barcelona track. Second was Johnny Herbert and third Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Off course these drivers were faster who drove in 1997 cars. Frentzen and Villeneuve are fully involved in the development of the 1998 Williams car. ->Test-times

Tue, 11-Nov-1997

After the FIA court has taken all of Michael Schumacher's championship points of this season away for ramming Villeneuve in Jerez Heinz-Harald Frentzen surprisingly is vice-champion of the 1997 season.

Sun, 26-Oct-1997

That's it: Villeneuve is world champion. Michael Schumacher tried to ram him in lap 48. But it didn't work. Schumacher went into the gravel trap and Villeneuve could continue. In the end he was 3rd after he let pass Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. It was a fair play by Villeneuve because he had had a lucky victory in Silverstone when Hakkinen had to retire in the lead. After the start Villeneuve was too slow so Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen could pass. Then the team order came and Frentzen let pass Villeneuve. Then HHF had the order to hold up the field behind him so no one could go between Villeneuve and Schumacher. And again Heinz-Harald Frentzen set the fastest racelap overall. Despite the fact that Schumacher and Villeneuve were fighting for the title and were driving on the edge Frentzen's fastest lap was an astonishing 0.8 seconds faster than the second fastest lap set by Villeneuve. The last three races HHF set the fastest racelaps. This is a very promising view for him for the next season 1998. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 25-Oct-1997

Never seen in Formula One before: the top three qualifiers drove all the identical time up to the thousandth of a second. Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen all drove a laptime of 1:21.074 in this order in the qualifying session. So the positions on Sunday's starting grid are in this order too. What a show. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 24-Oct-1997

In the Friday practice session Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 6th fastest with about 0.4 seconds behind the fastest Olivier Panis. Villeneuve was 3rd, M. Schumacher 9th. ->GP Timetable

Sun, 12-Oct-1997

It was a good race at Suzuka for Heinz-Harald Frentzen, a bad one for Villeneuve. After a good start from 6th position on the grid HHF was 5th. The whole field was held up by Villeneuve who wanted to block Michael Schumacher. Schumacher himself blocked Hakkinen who was driving behind him and Irvine could pass both and attack Villeneuve. After Villeneuve's first pitstop Heinz-Harald Frentzen could go faster. After his second pitstop he drove the fastest laps of the race and in the end he could attack the leading Michael Schumacher. But when the flag dropped HHF had to be content with the 2nd place. Villeneuve was 5th. ->GP Timetable

Mon, 29-Sep-1997

Team boss Frank Williams officially confirmed that Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen will drive for Williams in 1998. Williams said: «We are very content with our drivers they are both very good and we are looking forward to compete with them in the 1998 championship». Heinz-Harald Frentzen's comment on Sunday's Schumacher-Schumacher-crash was: «I'm glad to be a single child ...».

Sun, 28-Sep-1997

Fourth time on 3rd position in a row: HHF finished the GP of Luxembourg on 3rd position behind Alesi and winner Villeneuve. In the beginning it didn't look promising. Frentzen came out of lap 1 on 12th position after the mess in the first corner when Little Schumacher threw out Big Schumacher. Frentzen and Villeneuve touched each other. Then Michael Schumacher and Gerhard Berger had to go to the gravel trap. Obviously Frentzen had big trouble when he had to slow down after the first corner and several cars passed him. After that he got stuck in a bunch of cars all held up by Magnussen in the Stewart. After his first pitstop in lap 30 HHF drove the fastest lap of the race in lap 32. When both leading McLaren drivers had to retire with engine problems Villeneuve took another lucky victory. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 27-Sep-1997

Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 3rd fastest when the qualifying session ended. He was just 0.139 seconds slower than pole setter Mika Hakkinen and 0.05 seconds slower than his teammate Jacques Villeneuve. In the free practice session in the morning Frentzen had dominated setting the fastest time as usual on Saturday mornings. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 26-Sep-1997

In the second free practice session for the GP of Luxembourg Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 7th on the grid. Villeneuve was 12th, Hakkinen was fastest. ->GP Timetable

Sun, 21-Sep-1997

In the warmup session Frentzen was 13th behind Villeneuve who was 12th. The fastest lap was set by Hakkinen. Marques was disqualified yesterday because his Minardi had too less weight. When the race started HHF lost 2 positions and was 6th in front of Michael Schumacher. He and Schumacher were held up by Magnussen but after Magnussen's pitstop both could get closer to the leading drivers. Then Schumacher outbraked Frentzen but got a 10 seconds penalty because he did it when yellow flags were out. Frentzen again showed his driver's abilities when he outbraked Nakano in the first corner after start-finish-line. Under braking he steered to the right with only his left hand on the steering wheel while showing the finger with his right hand to Nakano. In the end he laid on 3rd position and came very close to Coulthard but the race was finished before he could try to gain the 2nd position. Villeneuve took his 10th victory. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 20-Sep-1997

In the free practice session Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 8th fastest on the track. Diniz was fastest. In the qualifying session he chose the harder tyre compound and reached the 4th fastest time with Jacques Villeneuve snatching the pole position. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 19-Sep-1997

In the free practice session for the Austrian GP Heinz-Harald Frentzen was fastest of the day. Villeneuve was 2nd fastest. ->GP Timetable

Thu, 18-Sep-1997

In the information session for the Austrian GP Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 8th fastest with Damon Hill fastest of the day. Villeneuve was 12th fastest. ->GP Timetable

Sun, 07-Sep-1997

In the race Heinz-Harald Frentzen started from second position behind Alesi after his good result from the qualifying session on Saturday. Until his one and only pitstop in lap 30 Frentzen had to fight against Coulthart behind him who laid on 3rd position. But Coulthart had a very short stop so he was leading when he went out of the pits. HHF tried to catch Alesi who drove on second position in the last 23 laps but he could not get closer finally. So he ended the race on 3rd position. Coulthart won. Villeneuve was 5th, M. Schumacher 6th. ->GP Timetable

Thu, 04-Sep-1997

Today Mika Hakkinen was disqualified by the FIA after the chemical «fingerprint» of the gasoline he used during the qualifying session for the GP of Belgium was not identical with that one the FIA possesses. That moves Heinz-Harald Frentzen up to third position in the result of the GP at Spa-Franchorchamps and gives him an extra point in the drivers championship table.

Sun, 31-Aug-1997

The German newspaper 'Welt am Sonntag' reported that Heinz-Harald Frentzen stays with the Williams Team next season. There has been some speculation that Frentzen would not drive next year because of his bad results. Team boss Frank Williams said «I am very happy with him and he's got a two-year contract. He's a fantastic driver, he's got plenty of talent but he still needs time to learn how to use the Williams' potential to the full.»

Sun, 24-Aug-1997

Again desaster for the Williams Team. When it started to rain the team let Villeneuve and Frentzen start on wet tyres with a car setup for dry conditions. Even in the TV you could see that Schumacher decided to go out on intermediate tyres and let the crew put on more front and rear wing on his Ferrari. It shouldn't be too difficult for the Williams team to look what Schumacher is doing and to chose tha same strategy as Schumacher and Ferrari currently are the only rivals for the championship title. It could have been so easy, but when the race was started behind the safety car, the wet tyres hadn't any use because the track was drying up slowly. After the safety car disappeared, Schumacher could go every lap about seven seconds faster on his intermediates than the rest because he had more downforce with his car's steeper wings. When Villeneuve came in ot change to intermediates he made a severe error which Heinz-Harald Frentzen didn't make. He chose slick tyres although the track was wet - but drying up. HHF even overtook Coulthard and had to go onto the wet track line for doing that. When the track was dry Frentzen could go the laps faster than Schumacher. But Schumacher had chosen the right tactics from the beginning.. The Ferrari Team is depending on Schumacher's decisions. But the Williams Team mostly says what the drivers have to do - even with such results. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 23-Aug-1997

All the day he had worked for a better result. But after being 3rd in the 2nd free practice session Heinz-Harald Frentzen took only 7th position on the starting grid in the qualifying session. During his 3rd turn he came too much across the curbs and damaged the rear suspension of his Williams. When he went out with the t-car which was setup for Villeneuve he had to quit the last fast lap because Coulthard had a spin in Busstop-Chicane. Vileneuve took the pole position. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 22-Aug-1997

It was a wet Friday at Spa-Francorchamps. In the second free practice session both Williams drivers left the front grid to the other competitors. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 13th fastest leaving Villeneuve on 17th behind him. ->GP Timetable

Sun, 17-Aug-1997

Newspapers reported that Heinz-Harald Frentzen escaped an explosion of his car when he came into the pits for the Hungarian GP. Patrick Head the team director called Frentzen in after he saw the flames at the back of the car. The team wanted to refuel the car but a marshal warned the team by radio not to do so because he had found the missing fuel valve and presumed the car would explode when gasoline would be filled in the tank. Frentzen was glad to get away without any harm and he said he was very impressed that the people in the background at a raceday are working very serious and doing a great job.

Sun, 10-Aug-1997

This could have been one more victory for Heinz-Harald Frentzen. His tactic to go out with the harder tyre compound in the race and to choose a two stop strategy worked very well. When all others had to go in for the first of three stops he took the lead. In lap 29 he had a 20 seconds advantage to the second Damon Hill. But then the fuel valve of his fuel tank flew away and some gasoline burned on his exhaust pipe. Frentzen had to go in and then he had to retire because the team could not fix that. If only Williams could get that damn car working. In the last lap Villeneuve snatched the first position away from Damon Hill who had led the race in his Arrows when his car suffered a hydraulic pressure failure. By the way: Frentzen drove the absolutely fastest lap with about 1 second faster than the driver with the second fastest lap. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 09-Aug-1997

In the second free practice session on Saturday Frentzen was fastest on the track. After problems in the practice sessions with the softer Goodyear tyre compound he and his engineers decided to take the harder compound for the race. This decision was made for the race at Sunday but Heinz-Harald Frentzen had to use this compound in the qualifying session too. The result was a 6th position on the grid for the race. While all other Goodyear drivers had chosen the softer tyre compound only Frentzen and the two Jordan drivers used the harder compound. But the Jordan drivers qualified only 13th and 14th on the grid. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 08-Aug-1997

In the second free practice session for the Hungarian GP Frentzen was 4th fastest while Villeneuve was 11th fastest as usual on Fridays. M. Schumacher drove the fastest lap with his new Ferrari-chassis. ->GP Timetable

Sun, 27-Jul-1997

Another bad day for Heinz-Harald Frentzen. After the start of the race Irvine touched Frentzen's Williams and both had to retire with a tyre damage. Villeneuve made the desaster complete when he spun off in lap 38. Besides Frank Williams and Patrick Head confirmed that they will compete with both Frentzen and Villeneuve in 1998. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 25-Jul-1997

In the second free practice session for the German GP at Hockenheim both Williams drivers were far back on the grid. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 18th while Villeneuve was 16th fastest. It is said that Villeneuve perhaps will use a new rear wing in the race. This wing is even smaller than on a Formula 3 car. But a problem is the higher tyre wear. ->GP Timetable

Wed, 16-Jul-1997

Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 6th fastest on the track during today's tests for the Williams Team at Monza / Italy. He clocked a fastest time of 1:24.44 and was 0.71 seconds behind Johnny Herbert's fastest time. Yesterday HHF set the 2nd fastest time behind Fisichella. ->Test-times

Sun, 13-Jul-1997

In the morning warmup session the driver field was a little bit puzzled. Because the track was wet everyone tried to find a good wet setup in case it should rain during the race. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 11th fastest on the track with Damon Hill fastest - surprisingly. The race: After the formation lap Heinz-Harald Frentzen got his gear stuck and he couldn't switch to neutral. As a result the engine stalled. The start was stopped and he had to start from behind after the second formation lap. Then in the second corner after the traffic lights went off Jos Verstappen hit Frentzen's rear tyre with his front wing and ripped it. HHF had to retire. The next thing was another pitstop drama by the Williams crew. They couldn't remove the old front tyre of Villeneuve's car. When it worked finally Villeneuve had lost his lead. In the end he could win but only because Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen had to retire. If only Patrick head had kept his mouth shut and got his technical stuff working. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 12-Jul-1997

Heinz-Harald Frentzen came to a second position on tomorrow's starting grid when he drove the second fastest lap during the qualifying session. He was only beaten by Villeneuve. There was hard criticism on Frentzen by Williams director Patrick Head and on Villeneuve by Bernard Dudot sports chief of Renault F1. Head said that he doesn't believe that Frentzen would win a total amount of at least 30 Grand Prix in his Formula One career. He further said that Frentzen would have to learn to think more technically. Dudot said that Villeneuve hasn't the experience to become world champion this season. He said that Hill would lead the team if he had stayed at Williams.(No comment!) ->GP Timetable

Fri, 11-Jul-1997

Second free practice session on Friday for the British GP: Heinz-Harald Frentzen was third fastest behind Jacques Villeneuve. Mika Hakkinen was fastest. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 04-Jul-1997

When the evening came HHF again was fifth fastest driver on the list. Again Hakkinen was fastest. ->Test-times

Thu, 03-Jul-1997

At the second day of testing on the Silverstone circuit Heinz-Harald Frentzen was fifth fastest behind Irvine. Hakkinen was fastest in the McLaren. ->Test-times

Wed, 02-Jul-1997

At the first day of testing in Silverstone/Great Britain Heinz-Harald Frentzen was second fastest just 4 thousands of a second slower than Ralf Schumacher in the Jordan who set the fastest lap. ->Test-times

Sun, 29-Jun-1997

In a wet warmup session Heinz-Harald Frentzen came to an 8th position while Villeneuve was 7th. Eddie Irvine was fastest (with the new Ferrari engine). The race started and Frentzen couldn't keep the pace of Michael Schumacher. The Williams Team thought Schumacher was on a three stop strategy. But he planned only two stops. Schumacher had the new Ferrari engine estimated by experts as the strongest engine behind the Mercedes V10. And Schumacher's Ferrari was equipped with the new (and secret) electromechanical differential. With htis he was fastest in the mid sector. When the rain started and there were 15 laps to go both Frentzen and Schumacher decided to stay out with slick tyres. They did a pretty good job. Frentzen even was slightly faster. But in the end he took the 2nd place with 30 seconds distance to Schumacher. But he was glad to finish after all the things happened since Imola. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 28-Jun-1997

In a dry second practice session Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 2nd just 0.4 seconds away from the fastest time of Jacques Villeneuve. In the qualifying session Frentzen was beaten only by M. Schumacher who won the pole position. Villeneuve was 4th. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 27-Jun-1997

Under changing weather conditions the second free practice session on Friday for the French Grand Prix was held at Magny Cours. The times that were driven aren't important because everything was mixed up. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 6th fastest despite a crash in the last minutes of the session, teammate Villeneuve was 5th fastest and Michael Schumacher was fastest over all. Frentzen commented: «I was too fast ...». ->GP Timetable

Sun, 15-Jun-1997

Heinz-Harald Frentzen admitted that he had missed the start and therefore he felt back from position 4 to 7. After 10 laps he had to come in for a unscheduled pitstop because the same Goodyear tyre-problem occured as in Barcelona. He fighted from position 17 back to 4th, when the race was finished in lap 56 after the severe accident of Olivier Panis. Fortunately Panis didn't suffer any more serious injury despite of a broken right leg. Villeneuve crashed his car in lap 2 and had to retire. Michael Schumacher won the race. Goodyear will have to do a lot of work because some other drivers had the same problem with the bubbles in the rubber as Frentzen had. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 14-Jun-1997

In the second free practice session Heinz-Harald Frentzen came to a 7th position while M. Schumacher was fastest. His teammate Villeneuve was 9th. In the qualifying session Michael Schumacher took the pole position while Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 4th behind Jacques Villeneuve and Rubens Barrichello. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 13-Jun-1997

Heinz-Harald Frentzen had a very impressive performance when he was fastest in the second free practice session on Friday for the Canadian GP. His fastest lap was 1:20.289. ->GP Timetable

Thu, 05-Jun-1997

Another day of testing at Magny Cours/France. Heinz-Harald Frentzen drove a fastest lap of 1:15.71 (47 laps) and was slightly slower than the fastest man Olivier Panis in the Ligier-Mugen-Honda with 1:15.68 (46 laps). But Frentzen was slightly faster than his teammate Villeneuve who reached a 1:15.88 (82 laps). ->Test-times

Wed, 04-Jun-1997

The Williams Team and other teams had tests at Magny Cours/France to prepare for the Canadian Grand Prix. Both drivers Frentzen and Villeneuve were there. Heinz-Harald Frentzen's fastest lap was 1:17.50 and he was slightly slower than his teammate Villeneuve with 1:17.31. Villeneuve was 7th fastest and Frentzen 8th fastest. Jean Alesi was fastest man of the day with a 1:15.13. ->Test-times

Sun, 25-May-1997

When the red lights went out Heinz-Harald Frentzen had a bad start and fell back on 6th position. After the 6th lap he had a massive Problems with his rear tyres. They got bubbles and he had to come into the pits very soon. The problem persisted with his next two set of tyres too. The Williams Team had no idea what caused the problem. Some expert say that Frentzen's slightly oversteering car setup caused the problem especially at Barcelona while Villeneuve with a more understeering setup hadn't this problem at all. Frentzen finished the race on 8th position while Villeneuve won. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 24-May-1997

Heinz-Harald Frentzen dominated the 2nd free practice session at Saturday. His fastest lap was 1:17.457. He was about 0.207 seconds faster than Villeneuve. In the qualifying session he was then beaten by Villeneuve by about 0.266 seconds. Yesterday Frentzen was relatively slow because he used only one set of tires for both practice sessions. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 23-May-1997

During the second free practice session for the GP of Spain something went wrong for Frentzen despite the promising results during the testing session a week before. Frentzen was 12th fastest with a gap of 2.3 seconds to the fastest who was Alesi in the Benetton. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 16-May-1997

Again Villeneuve was slightly faster with 1:18.91 than Frentzen with 1:19.10. Fastest of the day was Alesi followed by Hakkinen. ->Test-times

Thu, 15-May-1997

This day Villeneuve was marginally faster (1:18.42) than Frentzen (1:18.59) at the Barcelona tests and was fastest of the day. ->Test-times

Wed, 14-May-1997

The Williams Team started their pre-race tests at the Barcelona circuit. Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jacques Villeneuve fighted for to be the fastest on track. The round today was Frentzen's. His best laptime of 1:19.42 was marginally faster than Villeneuve's of 1:19.50 and he was fastest of the day. ->Test-times

Sun, 11-May-1997

In the warmup session Frentzen drove the fourth fastest lap with 1:21.794 about 0.314 seconds away from the fastest man Hakkinen in the McLaren. The race was a desaster for the Williams Team. The team's meteorologist said that the track would dry up within half an hour after the race start. So the team managment decided to send the drivers out on slick tyres. It was not the decision of the drivers neither Villeneuve nor Frentzen to go out on slicks. The team itself spoiled a possible victory. After the race start Villeneuve and Frentzen felt back. Even when they decided to have an early pitstop for rain tyres they could not do anything against being lapped by Schumacher because the cars had a dry weather setup. Schumacher's Ferrari had a rain setup. After a collision of Villeneuve with a barrier and a brake failure of Heinz-Harald Frentzen both Williams drivers retired. Schumacher won the race. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 10-May-1997

First pole position for Heinz-Harald Frentzen. In a thrilling qualifying session Frentzen outqualified M. Schumacher and Villeneuve with a best laptime of 1:18.216. The Williams Team congratulated him for this outstanding work. ->GP Timetable

Thu, 08-May-1997

During the second free practice session of the Monaco GP at Thursday Heinz-Harald Frentzen had a crash with his Williams. He was not injured, the car was damaged severely. He admitted that this was his fault. He was seventh fastest of the day with 1:21.885 0.7 seconds away from the fastest today - Johnny Herbert in the Sauber. ->GP Timetable

Wed, 30-Apr-1997

Again Frentzen was second fastest of the day at the Barcelona tests. He drove a fastest lap of 1:19.04 (61 laps). Once more Alesi was fastest overall with 1:18.65 (65 laps). ->Test-times

Tue, 29-Apr-1997

The Williams Team performed tests at Barcelona/Spain. Frentzen drove the second fastest lap with 1:19.66 (49 laps) behind Alesi in the Benetton with 1:18.86 (41 laps). ->Test-times

Sun, 27-Apr-1997

Now he has done it: Heinz-Harald Frentzen celebrated his first victory in Formula One at the GP of San Marino. After a bad start on the dirty side of the lane, he attacked Schumacher who was on 2nd position. When Schumacher and Villeneuve came in for their first pitstops HHF drove a tremendous fast lap to gain time for the lead after his first pitstop. Now Villeneuve had the same problems with the gearbox as Frentzen during the Brasilian GP. Villeneuve had to retire while Frentzen drove to his first victory. Besides: In the morning warmup under rainy conditions Heinz-Harald Frentzen was fastest too with over 2 seconds distance to Jacques Villeneuve. In the evening Heinz-Harald celebrated his first victory with the Williams Team. He had to drink brandy and beer, brandy and beer, brandy and ... And he had to smoke a big cigar with Patrick Head, the technical director at Williams - old English tradition. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 26-Apr-1997

In the free practice session HHF was fastest in the end. In the qualifying session he was only beaten by Villeneuve by about 0.35 seconds. Frentzen's fastest qualifying time was 1:23.646, Villeneuve's was 1:23.303. Both drivers were fined by the FIA for ignoring yellow flags during the qualifying. If they offend the rules again at Imola or Monaco they will get a one race ban. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 25-Apr-1997

Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 7th fastest of the second free practice session at Imola with 1:26.600. Villeneuve was 5th fastest with 1:26.499. Both Williams drivers ran with full fuel tanks and tested their car setups for the race. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 18-Apr-1997

Frentzen got a whole day to work on his own setup at the Barcelona circuit. He was fifth of the day with Berger in the Benetton fastest at the test session. Frentzen was quite content with what he found out.

Sun, 13-Apr-1997

The race ended for Heinz-Harald Frentzen after 5 laps. His clutch refused to work properly and a gearbox sensor commanded the gearbox to shift to neutral. That's it. Villeneuve won the race but it was a thrilling finish between him and Irvine. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 12-Apr-1997

Heinz-Harald Frentzen led the timetable of the free practice session with an astonishing time of 1:24.874. In the Qualifying he drove the 2nd fastest lap with 1:25.271 behind Villeneuve with 1:24.473. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 11-Apr-1997

In the free practice sessions on Friday at Buenos Aires Heinz-Harald drove the 7th fastest lap with 1:27.169. Villeneuve was fastest with 1:25,755. HHF has caught a severe flu, so the expectations aren't too high for him doing an impressive show on the track. ->GP Timetable

Sun, 30-Mar-1997

The race was started twice. At the first start Magnussen's Stewart didn't leave the grid. In the first corner Villeneuve made a mistake and went through the gravel bed. HHF had to avoid a crash with another car and went through the gravel bed too. There he damaged the car and had to use the spare car at the restart of the race. In the spare car he had bad start and due to a broken clutch and problems with the gearbox he ended the race at 9th position while Villeneuve won. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 29-Mar-1997

The free practice session on Saturday ended with Villeneuve being fastest with 1:16.030. Frentzen was fifth fastest with 1:16.611. In the Qualifying Villeneuve was fastest with 1:16.004 while Frentzen's last laps were cut with a red flag because Fisichella had an accident. This left Frentzen only two laps so he couldn't use these anymore. He qualified only on eight position with 1:16.924 and was very uncontent. According to Frentzen the Williams FW19 has a basic problem with balance when running low fuel. Villeneuve therefore runs the qualification sessions with a lot more fuel than usually. He did it at Melbourne too. In the eveneing the mechanics found a broken damper unit at Frentzen's car. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 28-Mar-1997

A good beginning from Heinz-Harald Frentzen during the practice sessions of the Brazilian GP on Friday. He was fastest overall with 1:17.506. Villeneuve was second fastest with 1:17.829. ->GP Timetable

Sun, 09-Mar-1997

During the warmup session Villeneuve again was fastest, followed by Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Frentzen's last year's team mate Johnny Herbert in the Sauber-Petronas was third fastest. After the start of the race HHF took the lead in front of Villeneuve, who was pushed out off the track by Irvine in the first corner. HHF led the field until lap 39. He had a two stop strategy while the others only had one stop. HHF set the fastest lap of the race and was sometimes one second per lap faster than the other drivers. But when his second pitstop came, the Williams crew couldn't get his right rear tyre fast enough on the car so he lost the lead to Coulthard. During the race the brakes of his Williams overheated and he had to slow down some laps. It was just 3 laps to go and Frentzen laid on second position when his left front brake disc exploded and he spun off in the gravel. Under other circumstances it would have been his first victory. Frank Williams excused the cars unreliability and he said that Frentzen did a good job during the race. By the way: Coulthard won the race. ->GP Timetable

Sat, 08-Mar-1997

In the qualifying session Frentzen was second fastest. He only was beaten by Villeneuve. Villeneuve's fastest lap of 1:29.369 was about 1.7 seconds faster than Frentzen's. Michael Schumacher reached the third position on the starting grid. ->GP Timetable

Fri, 07-Mar-1997

During the free training session at the GP of Australia Heinz-Harald Frentzen drove the second fastest lap of the day. His laptime was 1:32.910 and he was about 0.4 seconds slower than Michael Schumacher. ->GP Timetable

Thu, 20-Feb-1997

Again Frentzen was fastest at the Estoril tests with 1:18.92. Alesi drove the second fastest time with 1:19.00 and Berger the third fastest with 1:19.53. ->Test-times

Wed, 19-Feb-1997

Today was Heinz-Harald Frentzen's day. He set the pace at Estoril with 1:18.68 and was faster than Alesi (1:19.09) and Villeneuve (1:19.48). ->Test-times

Tue, 18-Feb-1997

Villeneuve set the fastest test-time at Estoril with 1:18.38 followed by Berger and Alesi. Frentzen was 4th fastest with 1:19.45, about 1.2 seconds slower than Villeneuve. ->Test-times

Mon, 17-Feb-1997

Not a good da for German drivers at Estoril. Frentzen set the 5th fastest time with 1:20.22 (51 laps) and R. Schumacher in the Jordan did the 6th fastest lap with 1:20.73 (68 laps). Berger was fastest of the session with 1:19.47. ->Test-times

Sun, 16-Feb-1997

Again Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jacques Villeneuve tested their car at Estoril. Villeneuve was fastest with 1:21.08 (63 laps). Second was Fisichella in the Jordan with 1:22.14 (54 laps) and third was Frentzen with 1:22.17 (34 laps). ->Test-times

Sat, 15-Feb-1997

Frentzen and Villeneuve started with test sessions at Estoril/Portugal today. Villeneuve was fastest with 1:19.67 (31 laps) and Frentzen was second fastest with 1:19.78 (27 laps). ->Test-times

Sat, 08-Feb-1997

The Benetton drivers were strong today at Jerez. Both Berger and Alesi were faster than Heinz-Harald Frentzen. All three did not drive much laps. Berger marked the top with a 1:22.15 (16 laps), Alesi reached a 1:22.30 (24 laps) and HHF did a 1:22.79 (23 laps). ->Test-times

Fri, 07-Feb-1997

Today the test-session at Jerez was very short for Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Due to problems with his rear wing and to the very windy weather conditions he drove only 5 laps. But nevertheless he reached the top of the timetable with a best laptime of 1:23.36. He was faster than Alesi, Verstappen, Salo, Fisichella and Berger. ->Test-times

Tue, 04-Feb-1997

On Schedule Heinz-Harald Frentzen had his first test with the new FW19 at Barcelona. He did 60 laps and - spun off. But he marked a best time of 1:19.40 just one second faster than on tests last Thursday. But the weather and track conditions changed meanwhile. The Williams Team provides both drivers with an own car at the test sessions. So Villeneuve and Frentzen don't have to wait for the car setup and seat to be changed. ->Test-times

Fri, 31-Jan-1997

Today Heinz-Harald Frentzen was at the presentation of the new Williams FW19. The car was presented at the old Williams plant at Didcot/Great Britain. On Monday Frentzen will test the car at Barcelona for the first time.

Thu, 30-Jan-1997

A further test session at Barcelona for Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Again he set the pace. His fastest lap was a 1:20.40. Olivier Panis in the old Ligier JS43 with Bridgestone tyres came near to him with 1:20.44. ->Test-times

Wed, 29-Jan-1997

The Williams Team started tests with the old FW18B at Barcelona. Heinz-Harald Frentzen set the fastest laptime of 1:19.30. ->Test-times

Wed, 22-Jan-1997

On the third test day at Jerez Heinz-Harald Frentzen dominated with a best laptime of 1:22.03 (40 laps). Surprisingly Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan was second fastest of the day with 1:22.72. ->Test-times

Tue, 21-Jan-1997

Again Heinz-Harald Frentzen tested last years Williams FW18B with the new Renault V10 engine. He was fastest on the track with a 1:21.93 (57 laps). He got near Gerhard Bergers track record from Friday 17th of January with the new Benetton. On this day Berger set the fastest lap overall with 1:21.25 (91 laps). The second fastest lap today set Coulthard in the new McLaren MP4/12 with 1:22.22 (51 laps) the third fastest was "Little Schumacher" with 1:23.69 in last years Jordan with the new Peugeot V10. Michael Schumacher with his new Ferrari ranged further down the list. ->Test-times

Mon, 20-Jan-1997

Heinz-Harald Frentzen did his first test in the new year. He tested last years Williams FW18B with the new Renault V10 engine. Due to the wet weather conditions the times much slower than on other days. It seems that Bridgestone prepared the rain tyres much better than Goodyear. ->Test-times

Heinz-Harald Frentzen: News Archive 1997