Monday, Oct. 27, 1997 | 10:42 a.m.
SUN WIRE REPORTS
Despite being rammed by archrival Michael Schumacher -- intentionally, he says -- Jacques Villeneuve captured the Formula One world drivers' title in the season-ending Europe an Grand Prix.
The collision happened just over halfway through Sunday's race in Jerez, Spain, when Schu macher, who was ahead, tried to cut Villeneuve off as the challenger attempted to pass inside on a curve.
When Schumacher veered over, Villeneuve was already halfway past. The German's fire-red Ferrari wound up colliding with Villeneuve's car, then bouncing off into a gravel pit. Schumacher was out of the race.
Villeneuve went on to take third place in the season-ending race and winning the 1997 world drivers' championship. Mika Hakkinen of Finland captured the race, with fellow McLaren Mercedes teammate David Coulthard of Britain taking second.
The championship was the first for Villeneuve, a 26-year-old Canadian whose father Gilles Villeneuve, a racing legend, was killed while practicing for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. Villeneuve, who dyes his close-cropped hair platinum blond, was greeted when he rolled into his pit area after the race by dancing mechanics wearing clown-like yellow wigs.
Of winning the championship, Villeneuve, a big grin plastered across his face after emerging from his Williams Renault racing car, said: "It takes a little bit of time to sink in. But then you see all the faces of your team, the people that are close to you. It just feels great."
FIA, the Formula One's governing body, ruled the collision between Schumacher and Villeneuve a "racing incident" and said no action was required.
Schumacher said he hadn't been aware Villeneuve was trying to pass him until the last instant, but implicitly acknowledged being at least partially to blame for the collision that cost him the race and his third world championship.
"It was surprising, suddenly there was a blue car beside me," Schumacher said. "But in motor sports you have to be ready for surprises."
"This is not the happiest day in my life," the 28-year-old German said.
Schumacher is also accused of intentionally crashing into Damon Hill in the Australian Grand Prix during the last race of the 1994 season, allowing Schumacher to keep his one-point lead over Hill in the drivers' standings and win his first drivers' championship.
The same situation existed going into Sunday's race. Schumacher led Villeneuve by one point. All he had to do to win his third championship was to finish ahead of Villeneuve, or simply keep him from finishing in the six top point-scoring positions.
"He decided to turn in on me, but he didn't do it well enough because he went off (the track) and I didn't," Villeneuve said. "I knew Michael was capable of trying to take me off, which he tried to do."
Schumacher's loss was also a blow for Ferrari, which has not won a drivers' championship since 1979.
Villeneuve knew he was taking a risk when he zoomed up behind Schumacher, braking late in the curve and trying to wedge through a narrow inside opening.
"But there was no point in just being second," Villeneuve said. "It was better to try, and (risk) a finish in the gravel."
Villeneuve said his car's suspension and tires were damaged in the collision, and he nursed it the final laps, allowing Hakkinen and Coulthard to pass on the final lap.
It didn't matter for Villeneuve, who needed only to finish in one of the top six places to assure his first world title.
"It was better to let them through and win the championship," Villeneuve said.
Villeneuve said he did all he could to stay clear of Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Eddie Irvine, who had threatened to block the Canadian to allow Schumacher to win, as he did in the Japanese Grand Prix. Irvine, who finished fifth, never got close enough to Villeneuve to carry out his threat.
For his part, Hakkinen was overjoyed at winning the race.
"The more I realize what has happened today, the happier I feel ... Today's result is fantastic," he said.
* NASCAR RAINED OUT: At some tracks, the key is horsepower. Other ovals put a premium on brakes. At North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, it's usually tire wear that tells the story. That is likely to be the case today in the rain-postponed ACDelco 400. The race, scheduled for Sunday, was rescheduled after NASCAR officials determined the big wet front sitting atop the North Carolina sandhills was not going to move out soon enough to get the event run.
* VEGAN NINTH: Butch Leitzinger of State College, Pa, won the Exxon World SportsCar championship race Sunday at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Calif., to wrap up the season drivers' title. Leitzinger and Dyson Racing Ford R&S MK III teammate John Paul Jr. of West Palm Beach, Fla., edged Andrea Montermini of Italy and Antonio Hermann of Brazil in the MOMO Ferrari 333SP by 21.725 seconds. Shane Donley of Las Vegas teamed with Kris Wilson of Newport Beach, Calif., to finish ninth.
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