Bring Back V10s - Classic F1 stories The Race

Michael Schumacher appeared to take control of the 1997 F1 title fight with a commanding performance at the French Grand Prix, where a newly-blond Jacques Villeneuve had one of his scrappiest weekends of the season. 

In the latest episode of our 1997 Revisited series, Glenn Freeman and the team look back on the main talking points from that weekend at Magny-Cours, including Jarno Trulli's call-up to race for Prost, more misery for Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher doing his brother Ralf a favour, and what on earth was going wrong for Villeneuve and Williams. 

The 1997 Canadian Grand Prix featured all kinds of drama: Jacques Villeneuve crashed out of his home race early on, some drivers could barely make a set of tyres last 10 laps, David Coulthard lost victory when his car stalled while making a precautionary pitstop, and Michael Schumacher claimed the win in a race that was cut short when Olivier Panis crashed heavily in his Prost, breaking both of his legs. 

Glenn Freeman, Matt Beer, Ben Anderson and Edd Straw debate all of that, plus Alex Wurz's F1 debut and how the Benetton team he joined was getting on 18 months on from losing Schumacher to Ferrari. 

Jacques Villeneuve got his faltering F1 title bid back on track at the 1997 Spanish Grand Prix, as Williams's superiority - with one car, at least - was restored at Barcelona.

Behind Villeneuve, Olivier Panis came through from the middle of the pack to claim second on Bridgestone tyres that held up much better than the Goodyears - but could he have won the race without an unwanted intervention from a lapped Eddie Irvine? 

We also discuss Ferrari's lack of pace, Michael Schumacher's lap one heroics, and what on earth was going on with Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the second Williams. 

Michael Schumacher was at his sublime best on the soggy streets of Monte Carlo, while Williams dropped the ball in spectacular fashion with a disastrous strategy call before the race even started. It was also a day for the underdogs, with Rubens Barrichello claiming Stewart's first podium finish, and Mika Salo nursing his underpowered Tyrrell into the points... without making a fuel stop! 

Things finally came good for Heinz-Harald Frentzen at the 1997 San Marino Grand Prix, where his troubled start for Williams appeared to clear with a maiden victory narrowly ahead of Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. In round four of our 1997 Revisited series, we look back at how Frentzen came out on top, what went wrong for his Williams team-mate Jacques Villeneuve, plus Damon Hill's woeful collision with Shinji Nakano, David Coulthard's comedy engine failure, and another podium finish for Eddie Irvine. 

In round three of our look back at the 1997 F1 season, we recall Jacques Villeneuve's narrow victory over Eddie Irvine, plus Michael Schumacher making a mess of the start, a big 'what if' for Olivier Panis and Prost, and an even bigger 'what if' for Jordan after their drivers collided while in with a chance of winning the race.