Summary

Jacques Villeneuve took his first Formula One win in his fourth Formula One race at the Nurburgring (Germany). He finished just in front of Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari. Third was David Coulthard, who could keep his McLaren in front of Damon Hill, who drove an excellent race.

The complete race report and comment in the Atlas Team F1 Journal will be out next Tuesday April 30.

Notes

Alesi crashed into Salo on lap 1.

Irvine and Panis crashed on lap 6.

Verstappen parked his Arrows at the beginning of the pit-lane after his gearbox broke down.

Frentzen spun after his gearbox failed.

Mika Hakkinen got two stop and go penalties after pit-lane-speeding.

Mika Salo was disqualified because his weight was one kilogram under the 595 km rule.

Katayama was disqualified after being pushed at the start.

Quotes

Villeneuve: "This was just one race. It is a great feeling but there is a long way to go in the championship. Michael was pushing me really hard, but it was fun."

Schumacher: "I kept thinking back to it and hoping there would be a chance to pass but Jacques drove perfectly."

Coulthard: "It feels like a win for me, especially after such a battle with Damon."

Hill: "I had trouble trying to overtake Rubens Barrichello. The car felt strange and started behaving badly. I lost a lot of time when we checked the car in the pits. We haven't found anything wrong yet. I still have a good lead in the championship."

Ferrari

Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo, who was at the Nurburgring today, has denied the rumours that their designer, John Barnard, would resign from the team.

"The gap is narrowing although we have to wait a bit longer before we are back on the winning road... But it will come."