1983 European Grand Prix

The 1983 European Grand Prix (formally the John Player Grand Prix of Europe[1]) was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 25 September 1983. It was the fourteenth race of the 1983 Formula One World Championship.

1983 European Grand Prix
Race 14 of 15 in the 1983 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 25 September 1983
Official name John Player Grand Prix of Europe
Location Brands Hatch, Kent, England
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.206 km (2.613 mi)
Distance 76 laps, 319.656 km (198.588 mi)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver
Lotus-Renault
Time 1:12.092
Fastest lap
Driver Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault
Time 1:14.342 on lap 70
Podium
First
Brabham-BMW
Second
Renault
Third
Lotus-Renault

The 76-lap race was won by Nelson Piquet, driving a Brabham-BMW. Piquet's Drivers' Championship rival Alain Prost was second in a factory Renault, while Nigel Mansell was third in a Lotus-Renault. With the win, Piquet moved within two points of Prost at the top of the championship with one race remaining.

Report

Background

A third Grand Prix in the United States, supposed to be held at the Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens was canceled at short notice due to local protests. The British Brands Hatch circuit, just outside London, was able to organise a European Grand Prix in the same year, to make up for this failed US event, in 9 weeks.

Qualifying

Qualifying produced a surprise as Elio de Angelis took pole position in his Lotus-Renault, with team-mate Nigel Mansell third. Between them was the Brabham-BMW of Riccardo Patrese, with Nelson Piquet fourth in the other Brabham. The Ferraris filled the third row with René Arnoux ahead of Patrick Tambay, while the factory Renaults took up the fourth row, Eddie Cheever ahead of Drivers' Championship leader Alain Prost. Completing the top ten were Manfred Winkelhock in the ATS and John Watson in the McLaren.

The fastest non-turbo car was the Williams of Keke Rosberg in 16th; team-mate Jacques Laffite failed to qualify. Williams had planned to debut their Honda turbo-powered FW09 at this race, but instead decided to wait until the season finale in South Africa. The team, did, however, enter a third car for test driver and Formula Two champion Jonathan Palmer, who qualified 25th.[2]

Race

At the start, Patrese took the lead from de Angelis, followed by Mansell, Piquet and Cheever. On lap 2 Piquet passed Mansell, who was having trouble with his tyres and would soon fall to seventh, while Prost made a charge to run fourth by lap 9.

Patrese and de Angelis had pulled clear of the rest of the field when, on lap 11, de Angelis attempted to overtake the Brabham at Surtees Corner, only to make contact and send both cars spinning. Piquet duly went through into the lead, while Patrese rejoined the track ahead of Prost but was soon caught and passed by the Renault. De Angelis also rejoined, but continued for only two laps before retiring with an engine failure.

At quarter distance, Piquet led Prost by around 10 seconds, with Patrese a further 10 seconds back and holding up Cheever, Arnoux, Mansell and Tambay. On lap 20 Arnoux spun at Surtees, dropping him to the back of the field. There were no further changes among the front-runners until the pit stops, during which both Brabhams hit trouble: Patrese was delayed by a misfitted rear wheel, while Piquet was held up by a malfunctioning wheel-nut gun.[3] Piquet nonetheless retained his lead over Prost, while an unscheduled second stop for Cheever left Tambay in third and Mansell fourth, with Andrea de Cesaris up to fifth in the Alfa Romeo and Derek Warwick sixth in the Toleman.

In the closing stages, Tambay suffered brake problems, allowing Mansell past on lap 66 before spinning off at Druids two laps later. This moved the second Toleman of Bruno Giacomelli into the top six, while also ending Tambay's challenge for the Drivers' Championship. Shortly afterwards, Warwick had a bizarre accident when his cockpit fire extinguisher leaked, giving him burns to his right hand and leg, though he held on to fifth place.[3]

Up front, Piquet cruised to his second consecutive win, finishing 6.5 seconds ahead of Prost with Mansell a further 24 seconds back. De Cesaris finished four seconds behind Mansell and ten ahead of Warwick, who in turn finished eight seconds ahead of team-mate Giacomelli. Patrese ultimately finished seventh, while Arnoux was ninth and Cheever tenth, both one lap down on Piquet. With one race to go, Prost still led the Drivers' Championship but by only two points over Piquet, while Arnoux's failure to score left him needing to win in South Africa to have any chance of the title.

The race also saw the last appearance of the Theodore team, which was struggling financially and had scaled back to one car for Roberto Guerrero.[4] Guerrero finished 12th, one place ahead of Palmer's Williams.

Classification

Qualifying
Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:12.342 1:12.092 —
2 6 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:13.475 1:12.458 +0.366
3 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 1:12.623 1:13.089 +0.531
4 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:12.724 1:13.095 +0.632
5 28 René Arnoux Ferrari 1:13.596 1:13.113 +1.021
6 27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari 1:13.898 1:13.157 +1.065
7 16 Eddie Cheever Renault 1:13.592 1:13.253 +1.161
8 15 Alain Prost Renault 1:13.342 1:13.526 +1.250
9 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 1:13.679 1:14.750 +1.587
10 7 John Watson McLaren-TAG 1:14.296 1:13.783 +1.691
11 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 1:14.411 1:13.855 +1.763
12 36 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart 1:15.521 1:13.949 +1.857
13 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:15.266 1:13.972 +1.880
14 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 1:14.403 1:15.440 +2.311
15 23 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo 1:14.727 1:15.174 +2.635
16 1 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford 1:14.917 1:15.252 +2.825
17 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 1:15.346 1:15.501 +3.254
18 30 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford 1:16.094 1:15.428 +3.336
19 40 Stefan Johansson Spirit-Honda 1:16.525 1:15.912 +3.820
20 4 Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford 1:17.134 1:16.640 +4.548
21 33 Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford 1:16.769 1:17.454 +4.677
22 25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford 1:17.141 1:16.880 +4.788
23 26 Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford 1:17.177 1:17.593 +5.085
24 32 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:17.850 1:17.408 +5.316
25 42 Jonathan Palmer Williams-Ford 1:17.432 1:17.524 +5.340
26 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:17.456 1:17.936 +5.364
27 17 Kenny Acheson RAM-Ford 1:17.577 1:18.069 +5.485
28 31 Corrado Fabi Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:19.087 1:17.816 +5.724
29 2 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 1:18.467 1:18.261 +6.169
WD 34 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford — — —
Source: [5][6][7][8]

Race
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 76 1:36:45.865 4 9
2 15 Alain Prost Renault 76 + 6.571 8 6
3 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 76 + 30.315 3 4
4 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 76 + 34.396 14 3
5 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 76 + 44.915 11 2
6 36 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart 76 + 52.190 12 1
7 6 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 76 + 1:12.684 2  
8 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 75 + 1 Lap 9  
9 28 René Arnoux Ferrari 75 + 1 Lap 5  
10 16 Eddie Cheever Renault 75 + 1 Lap 7  
11 30 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford 75 + 1 Lap 18  
12 33 Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford 75 + 1 Lap 21  
13 42 Jonathan Palmer Williams-Ford 74 + 2 Laps 25  
14 40 Stefan Johansson Spirit-Honda 74 + 2 Laps 19  
15 26 Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford 73 + 3 Laps 23  
Ret 27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari 67 Spun Off 6  
Ret 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 64 Engine 26  
Ret 32 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 63 Throttle 24  
Ret 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 50 Engine 17  
Ret 1 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford 43 Engine 16  
Ret 23 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo 39 Clutch 15  
Ret 7 John Watson McLaren-TAG 36 Spun Off 10  
Ret 4 Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford 27 Oil Leak 20  
Ret 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 25 Engine 13  
Ret 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 12 Oil Pump 1  
Ret 25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford 0 Clutch 22  
DNQ 17 Kenny Acheson RAM-Ford    
DNQ 31 Corrado Fabi Osella-Alfa Romeo    
DNQ 2 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford        
Source: [9]

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
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References
  1. "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1983". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  2. "8W - Who? - Jonathan Palmer". Forix.autosport.com. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  3. "The Grand Prix of Europe". Motor Sport. London. November 1983. p. 46. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  4. "Roberto Guerrero - Biography". F1 Rejects. Archived from the original on 21 March 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  5. "John Player Grand Prix of Europe - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  6. "John Player Grand Prix of Europe - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  7. "John Player Grand Prix of Europe - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  8. Hamilton, Maurice, ed. (1983). AUTOCOURSE 1983–84. Hazleton Publishing Ltd. p. 210. ISBN 0-905138-25-2.
  9. "1983 European Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  10. "Europe 1983 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
Previous race:
1983 Italian Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
1983 season		 Next race:
1983 South African Grand Prix
Previous race:
1977 British Grand Prix
(designated European Grand Prix)		 European Grand Prix Next race:
1984 European Grand Prix
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