Bring Back V10s - Classic F1 stories The Race

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. 

As we're between series on Bring Back V10s at the moment, we thought we'd share a little gift with those of you who aren't part of The Race Members' Club: The first episode of our special members-only series looking back at the 1997 F1 season one race at a time!
Glenn Freeman is joined by Edd Straw, Matt Beer and Ben Anderson to discuss the key moments from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, where David Coulthard ended McLaren's mid-1990s winless streak, with a slight assist from an overambitious Eddie Irvine.
If you like what you hear and want more, click here to sign up to The Race Members' Club, or you can sign up for all of The Race's bonus audio content (but not the other perks of membership) directly in the Apple Podcasts app.
The second episode, looking back at the 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix, is out already and there's more on the way!

For our next instalment of Bring Back V10s members' questions, Glenn Freeman is joined by Ben Anderson and Matt Beer. Subjects tackled this time include Juan Pablo Montoya racing for Williams in 1999 instead of Alex Zanardi, how Michael Schumacher's 1995 season would have gone with Ford power instead of Renault, what would have happened to David Coulthard without his 1994 Williams call-up, Ferrari's weird 'F1 logo' livery at Spa in 1999, and what we think are common misconceptions about the V10 era.