Rory Byrne’s latest Benetton, who moved to Ferrari, was handled during the 1997 season by Nick Wirth. Pat Symonds replaced Ross Brawn, who also joined Ferrari, as technical director. The B197 was equipped with an evolution version of the Renault engine, the RS09, lighter and with a narrower angle than the 1996 version, which allowed the center of gravity to be lowered. Confirmed Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi, the Benetton team had mixed results over the course of the season, but Berger took a nice victory at Hockenheim, after being replaced in three GPs by Alexander Wurz due to health problems. Benetton was third in the constructors' final standings behind Williams and Ferrari; Alesi finished third in the drivers' classification, while Berger, despite having three GPs less, was fifth. Wurz, with the four points of third place in Great Britain, was 14th.