Austria 1997:
with Murray Walker.
F1 Racing November 1997.

There's a bit of a cliché of mine that in Formula 1 anything can happen and it usually does. After Monza I said Michael
Schumacher was on a roll to his third world championship and now here he is fighting for it with every turn of his wheels. Well done Austria! Martin Brundle said to me after the race: "Dull circuits make for good racing", and the new A1-Ring certainly had us on our toes. It was great to be back. Stunning scenery, good organisation, a much better circuit than we'd expected and bloody good TV coverage. I enjoyed every second. I've got so many snapshot recollections that I'd need a mighty big roll of film to cover them, but first of all let's be clear that a new star was born in Austria - Jarno Trulli. Amidst talk of being dropped by Prost next year, he qualified third (thanks the Bridgestone), in a car set up for his team-mate, took hold of only his seventh grand prix in a good enough car by the scruff of its neck after Hakkinen's retirement (is poor Mika ever going to have any good luck?) and drove like the veteran he isn't until Mugen-Honda's third engine in two days said, "Enough!"

Villeneuve's forceful driving and the Williams strategy deservedly won the race, but Jarno can hold his head high. That point Michael Schumacher fought so hard for might well be the championship decider. After a debatably justified penalty he pressured Barrichello into submission for seventh place and Damon Hill out of the way for sixth. Can Schumacher and Ferrari resist Williams, Villeneuve and Frentzen now that they are gelling? I'm not sticking my neck out again.....

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