On July 27, 1997 , the German Grand Prix was held, at the Hockenheimring . This time around, the spotlight had shifted away from Michael Schumacher, who always dominated the headlines when it came to his home race, and towards Gerhard Berger for various reasons.
The Austrian had missed the previous three races (Montreal, Magny-Cours and Silverstone) due to sinusitis that required surgery. His replacement at Benetton had been a young compatriot, Alex Wurz , who got out of the seat once the regular driver was able to get back behind the wheel of the car.
However, Berger’s comeback did not get off to a good start, as his own crew chief, Italian Flavio Briatore , was not convinced that he was fit.
“My own boss had doubts as to whether I would be able to put on a reasonably passable performance after the long hiatus,” Berger confessed in his biography, Zielgerade . “Flavio Briatore has never been a great motivator.”
“I already knew very well that I wanted to stop at the end of the season. I knew more precisely that I would no longer drive for Briatore. So I said at a press conference that a contract extension with Benetton was out of the question for me,” Berger recalls of the beginning. of the Hockenheim weekend.
The Austrian’s motivation to show everyone what he was capable of had not diminished. Especially since he had to face a huge loss during his hiatus. His father, Johann Berger , had crashed a sports plane in the Alps, due to heavy fog, and lost his life on July 9. His son described it as an experience for which there was “no comparison.”
On Saturday at Hockenheim (July 26), Gerhard Berger took pole for the first time in almost two years. With his mind on his father and only two and a half weeks after his passing, but still aware that his Formula 1 career was coming to an end, he spent the night thinking about the next day’s race.
“Actually, this pole would have been enough for everything I wanted to show and make clear, but before I went to bed I thought: now I could win the race,” says Berger.
Sunday started well for the Austrian as he defended his pole and started to control the race from the front. But he needed a wide lead for his two-stop strategy to work out.
“I needed 17 seconds and the time was perfect,” says Berger, continuing: “Suddenly a Stewart blew up the engine and there was a smokescreen like I’ve never seen in Formula 1.”
“I was going 300kph, the wall was ahead and I thought ‘if it’s there, I’m dead’. I braked, drove at walk pace through the wall of fog. I lost four seconds and that was the end of the race.” Berger said.
Giancarlo Fisichella, in his Jordan, took the lead for a short time, due to Berger’s slow driving through fog caused by Jan Magnussen ‘s Stewart. However, the Austrian’s prudence earned him the chance to emerge unscathed, while Fisichella received a slow puncture as a gift, after running over small pieces of Magnussen’s broken engine.
Fisichella finally retired with four laps to go. By this time, Berger had already regained the lead. Behind, Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) inherited second place after Fisichella retired, and Mika Hakkinen (McLaren) moved up to third position.
Berger took victory with a 17-second advantage and after leading 38 of the 45 scheduled laps. He also set the fastest lap which, added to his pole and victory, earned him a hat-trick .
“That’s how I won the grand prix, and I knew why it was and where the power came from. The joy it brought me was incomparable to any feeling I’ve ever experienced,” said Berger, who fought back tears on the podium at the thought of his father.
With this perfect weekend, Berger celebrated the tenth and last victory of his Formula 1 career, which ended at the end of the 1997 season, after 210 Grand Prix.
Berger’s triumph at Hockenheim in 1997, now a quarter of a century ago, remains the last victory by an Austrian in Formula 1. Benetton did not win again afterwards either, although the team continued to compete until the end of 2001 before being Renault.
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