Competition car Unregistered

Chassis no. 5

- Second place at the Canadian Grand Prix and Silverstone with Alesi!

- The last Formula 1 car driven by Gerard Berger in a Grand Prix

- Exceptional track record with Jean Alesi – Three podium finishes

- In a rare state of preservation

Across 16 seasons, from its official debut as a Formula 1 constructor in 1986 to its final season in 2001 following a buyout from Renault, Benetton Formula scored 27 grand prix wins. The Renault V10-powered Benetton B197 was the Italian fashion brand’s last F1 race winner, scored in the summer of 1997.

 

Driven by Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi, the B197 scored seven further podium finishes, two pole positions and two fastest laps as Benetton finished third in the 1997 F1 constructors’ world championship. Fittingly, Berger’s victory at Hockenheim in the German GP came to represent a neat bookend for Benetton, following 11 years on from the same driver achieving the team’s first F1 win at the Mexican GP in 1986, its inaugural season running under the Benetton name.

 

Famous for its colourful sweaters and T-shirts, plus its provocative advertising campaigns, Benetton first entered F1 as a sponsor of the Tyrrell team in 1983, then switched its signature green livery to the factory Alfa Romeos for 1984-85. In the spring of 1985, the company upped its F1 commitment by purchasing the Toleman team.

 

Based in Witney, Oxfordshire, Toleman had entered F1 in 1981 and at first struggled as a backmarker. By 1984, in alliance with the explosive talent of a rookie Ayrton Senna, the team became a genuine frontrunner. Senna most famously nearly won the Monaco GP, which was stopped early because of heavy rain, and scored two further podiums.

 

But in early 1985 Toleman was under threat of closure. Senna’s defection to Team Lotus plus the F1 withdrawal of tyre supplier Michelin undermined Toleman’s campaign and, with neither Pirelli nor Goodyear willing to provide tyres, the team sat out the opening rounds of the championship. The Benetton deal pulled the team back from the brink and it returned to the grid at Monaco, under new ownership.

 

Cast for years as a perennial underachiever, Benetton finally hit its zenith in 1994-95 when Michael Schumacher secured back-to-back world titles, with the team achieving its only constructors’ championship in the second of those seasons after switching from Ford V8 power to Renault’s dominant V10. But by 1997, the team’s fortunes had begun to slide in the wake of Schumacher’s move in ’96 to Ferrari, where he was followed by technical director Ross Brawn and chief designer Rory Byrne.

 

The Benetton B197 was the team’s last F1 car to be designed by Byrne and represents a team in transition. Aerodynamicist Nick Wirth shared responsibility with Byrne for its creation before stepping up as chief designer once Byrne had departed. Previously the founder of the short-lived Simtek team, which had been rocked to its core by the death of Roland Ratzenberger at Imola in its first season of 1994, Wirth transferred to Benetton in 1996. He was initially hired to mastermind the design and build of a new windtunnel at the Enstone factory, the team’s base since the winter of 1992.

 

Initial reports on the B197 suggested an upturn for Benetton after the deflation of 1996. That season, both Berger and Alesi had switched from Ferrari as Schumacher headed to Maranello. The result was Benetton’s first winless season since 1988. But now in January 1997 Berger beat his own track record in tests at Jerez, while Alesi reckoned the new car to be better than its B196 predecessor in the fast corners – the parts of tracks that always counted the most for the swashbuckling French-Sicilian.

 

The car was described as an evolution of the 1996 contender, and therefore also of the championship-winning B195. Both Berger and Alesi had struggled with the handling of the Benetton following their switch from Ferrari, in a chassis which had been designed around Schumacher’s ‘knife-edge’ handling preferences. In contrast, the new car was built specifically for the requirements of Berger and Alesi.

 

Power came from Renault’s RS9 V10, a new design despite the French manufacturer having already announced it would pull the plug on its factory commitment to F1 at the end of 1997. Peak revs were said have been raised by 5-6000rpm, weight had been reduced by 11kg and the centre of gravity was lowered by 40mm by opening the vee angle from 67 to 71 degrees. It was also shorter in height than its predecessor.

 

The positivity from the early tests was carried over at the launch, held amid chaos at the Planet Hollywood restaurant in London’s west end. Into February, Berger and Alesi topped the times at Jerez, before the Austrian set a new unofficial track record at Estoril – although Jacques Villeneuve showed superior race pace in the new Williams FW19.

 

At the first grand prix of the year in Melbourne, qualifying triggered a sense of anti-climax as Alesi and Berger lined up only eighth and 10th respectively following an error on set-up. But the race was better, the pair running fourth and fifth.

 

On to Brazil, where Benetton’s pre-season air of optimism was revived by Berger’s performance, the Austrian qualifying third and leading briefly during the pitstops, before closing in on winner Villeneuve to finish second. But in Argentina, mediocrity set in, Berger and Alesi finishing an unremarkable sixth and seventh.

 

Berger’s season was then interrupted by a health issue: a sinus problem flared up in June. Fellow Austrian and new Benetton test driver Alex Wurz was drafted in to replace him at a test. Two weeks before the Canadian GP 37-year-old Berger had surgery, only to pick up an infection on a flight to New York for promotional work ahead of the Montréal round. He stepped down for the Canadian race and made way for Wurz, who juggled his first F1 races with his commitments to Mercedes in the FIA GT Championship.

 

The rookie made an impressive start to his F1 career, qualifying just 0.4sec off Alesi in 11th despite a crash, then raced well before a transmission problem curtailed his debut. Alesi ran a one-stop strategy at the British GP that allowed him to jump ahead of Wurz and inherited second place when Mika Häkkinen retired his McLaren late in the grand prix. Behind him, Wurz sealed a remarkable first F1 podium in third.

 

Berger, having missed three races, returned for a test at Monza and despite being shaken by a crash when his throttle stuck open on the approach to the Roggia chicane, was deemed fit to race at the German GP at Hockenheim, a circuit where he nearly always excelled. His performance that weekend was remarkable, especially as he was also mourning the recent loss of his father who had been killed in an air crash. Berger stuck his B197 on pole position, then dominated the grand prix for what turned out to be not only Benetton’s final F1 win but also his own.

 

The victory was a lone highpoint that season. Berger retired from F1 at the end of the year, while Alesi announced his switch to Sauber for 1998 at the Italian GP – a race he should have won from pole position, only for a self-induced slow pitstop to drop him behind McLaren’s David Coulthard.

 

Alesi and Berger were classified fifth and equal sixth respectively in the drivers’ standings, with Benetton finishing far in the wake of constructors’ champion Williams and second-placed Ferrari. That autumn, team chief Flavio Briatore was replaced by Prodrive founder David Richards as Benetton reset for a future without factory Renault engines. Powered by Renault-built customer Mecachrome V10s – a company run by Briatore – its fortunes dwindled, until Renault plotted its return to F1 and bought the team in March 2000. Fresh investment and impetus as the factory Renault team culminated in back-to-back world championships for Fernando Alonso in 2005-06.

 

This car, chassis 5, was raced mostly by Alesi through 1997. This was the chassis in which he ran out of fuel at the season-opening Australian GP in Melbourne and scored second places in Montréal and Silverstone.

 

At the 1997 Australian GP, Alesi qualified chassis 5 only eighth after struggling for grip, technical director Wirth admitting the team had made an error in the running of the car. It was suggested the mistake involved an incorrect ride height. In the race, chassis 5 fared better as Alesi moved up the order to run fourth – only to fail to respond to calls to come in for fuel for five laps. He ran out on lap 35 and was forced to park the car. Alesi’s engineer Alan Permane has since explained that the pit-to-car radio failed.

 

Chassis 5’s next appearance at the Argentinian GP proved disappointing. Alesi could only qualify 11th and chose a one-stop pit strategy for the race, running on a hard tyre. Running ninth from the start, he engaged Damon Hill’s Arrows in a duel but began to struggle with a downshift problem, dropped behind the reigning world champion and finished seventh.

 

Next time out at Imola for the San Marino GP, Alesi and chassis 5 once again qualified poorly, this time in 14th. A problem generating heat into the tyres was blamed, with the car looking a real handful out on track. However, fortunes improved during the race. Alesi bided his time on a one-stop strategy, drove steadily without showing great pace and was rewarded with world championship points for a fifth place finish.

 

In Monaco, Alesi qualified ninth but this time there would be no climb up the order. Challenging Mika Salo’s Tyrrell, he spun and stalled at Portier on lap 16 and was out of the race.

 

Thereafter, chassis 5 brought greater joy to Alesi, with three podium finishes in the next four races. The higher grip found at the Barcelona circuit for the Spanish GP led to an upturn in form, with Alesi qualifying chassis 5 fourth on the grid. He made up a place in the race to finish third after an intelligent tyre-conserving drive.

 

In Montréal for the Canadian GP, Alesi qualified eighth fastest – but would have been higher without a gearbox problem. The following day, he made a great start and moved up the order after Jacques Villeneuve crashed out in his Williams. Alesi then moved past Giancarlo Fisichella’s Jordan when they pitted on the same lap, then ran behind race leader David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher. The race was stopped early when Olivier Panis crashed his Prost and sustained leg injuries. As Coulthard had pitted and stalled when he tried to rejoin, Alesi was classified second behind the winning Ferrari of Schumacher.

 

At Magny-Cours for the French GP, Alesi was unhappy with the balance of chassis 5 and qualified eighth once again. In the race, he ran behind new team-mate Alex Wurz, with both finding themselves held up by Jarno Trulli’s Prost until the first pitstops. Alesi then ran behind the Jordans of Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher, until a late flurry of rain brought chaos. As drivers pitted for wet-weather tyres, Alesi briefly led,but eventually finished fifth following a collision with Coulthard’s McLaren, for which the Benetton driver admitted he had been at fault.

 

Alesi made his last race appearance in chassis 5 at Silverstone for the British GP – and it proved to be another season highlight for him. Again, generating heat into the Benetton’s tyres proved a headache and he could only qualify 11th. But on a one-stop strategy, Alesi moved ahead of team-mate Wurz and steadily rose to run behind only leader Mika Häkkinen and Villeneuve. When the McLaren retired with a Mercedes engine failure, Alesi was promoted to a second-place finish, with the impressive Wurz joining him on the podium for a Benetton two-three.

 

Chassis 5 made one final GP appearance at season’s end, this time in the hands of Gerhard Berger – meaning it was the Austrian’s last-ever F1 car. Berger qualified eighth for his swansong at Jerez for the European GP, but signed off with a strong final race performance, despite losing a place at the start. In a race made infamous by Michael Schumacher’s collision with Villeneuve’s Williams, Berger passed Eddie Irvine’s Ferrari on the last lap to finish just off the podium in fourth place, as Renault bowed out of F1 – at least for now.

 

This splendid single-seater officially joined the collection on 20 December 1999. It was supplied by Renault Sport. The V10 engine had been removed and the car is still without an engine. It was then used in two exhibitions, one in-house and one at a branch. Shortly afterwards, it was loaned on a long-term basis to illustrate the legendary Formula 1 room at the Lohéac museum, the work of the great collector and press man Michel Hommell. The car is in striking original condition, with all the electrical wiring and running gear appearing to be present. The period steering wheel has a sticker on the back reading B197 J.Alesi S.wheel. This Formula 1 car really looks like it has just come out of a race. When we dismantled the seat shell, we found the initials GB, which correspond to Gerhard Berger and confirm that he was most likely the last driver to race this magnificent car with its impressive history and authenticity.