The Luxembourg Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Luxemburg) was the name given to two races of the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

Formula One World Championship Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

, held in 1997 and 1998. Both races were held in Germany at the Nürburgring, which is located some from the Germany–Luxembourg border. The Luxembourg title was chosen in 1997 as the Hockenheimring was already contracted to host the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in R ...

. The Nürburgring had previously hosted the

European Grand Prix The European Grand Prix (also known as the Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held every year from to , except in . During these years, the European Grand Prix was held in a countr ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and 1996, but it was renamed due to other changes in the 1997 schedule. Following the cancellation of the

Portuguese Grand Prix The Portuguese Grand Prix (''Grande Prémio de Portugal'') is a motorsports event that was first held in 1951 as a sportscar event, and then intermittently disappearing for many years before being revived again. In 1964 event was held as a spo ...

, a second race in Spain was added, with

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...

hosting the European Grand Prix along with the

Spanish Grand Prix The Spanish Grand Prix ( es, Gran Premio de España, ca, Gran Premi d'Espanya) is a Formula One motor racing event currently held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The race is one of the oldest in the world still contested, celebrating it ...

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. Jerez was due to host the race again in 1998, but the rights to the European Grand Prix had been revoked from the organisers of the race after an incident on the podium in 1997. In 1999 the Nürburgring race returned to using the European Grand Prix title, which it held every year until 2007.

History

1997

As it was, the Luxembourg Grand Prix provided a moment in history, as

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

-powered cars took the first four places at the finish with

Jacques Villeneuve Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve ( born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian professional racing driver and amateur musician who won the 1997 Formula One World Championship with Williams. In addition to Formula One (F1) he has competed in various o ...

( Williams-

) taking first place. The race was also Villeneuve's final Formula One victory. For a long time it looked as if

Mika Häkkinen Mika Pauli Häkkinen (; born 28 September 1968), nicknamed "The Flying Finn", is a Finnish former racing driver. He won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1998 and 1999, both times driving for McLaren. Häkkinen is one of three Fo ...

would take his first Formula One win as he pulled away at the front from his

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

teammate

David Coulthard David Marshall Coulthard (; born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver from Scotland, later turned presenter, commentator and journalist. Nicknamed 'DC', he competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between and , taking 13 Grand Prix vi ...

. However, in the space of one lap, both McLarens had pulled out of the race with blown engines allowing Villeneuve to move close to an eventual

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Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...

's race was over by the end of the first lap after his brother

Ralf Schumacher Ralf Schumacher (born 30 June 1975) is a German former racing driver. He is the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, and the pair are the only siblings to each win Formula One races. Schumacher began kart ...

collided with his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella at the first corner; this caused immediate retirement for three out of the four cars involved (Ralf, Fisichella, and

Ukyo Katayama is a Japanese former racing driver and team manager, most notable for competing for six years in Formula One. He participated in 97 Grands Prix, debuting on 1 March 1992. He scored a total of five championship points, all of them for the Tyrre ...

), and also caused suspension damage to the fourth car (Michael Schumacher's

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

) which also led to its retirement two laps later.

1998

1998 saw Mika Häkkinen gain revenge for his engine failure at the previous race by taking victory at this one, with Michael Schumacher second despite qualifying on pole, and Häkkinen's teammate Coulthard third. Häkkinen also, like Villeneuve the year prior, went on to win the World Championship in the final race of the season at Suzuka; this meant that every winner of the Luxembourg GP went on to win that year's World Championship.

Winners

''A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.''

Notes

References

{{Formula One races Formula One Grands Prix National Grands Prix Recurring sporting events established in 1949 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1998