1982 Canadian Grand Prix

1982 Canadian Grand Prix
Race 8 of 16 in the 1982 Formula One World Championship
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Race details
Date	13 June 1982
Official name	XXI Grand Prix du Canada
Location	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Course	Temporary street circuit
Course length	4.410 km (2.740 miles)
Distance	70 laps, 308.700 km (191.817 miles)
Weather	Overcast and chilly 17 °C (63 °F) [1]
Pole position
Driver	Didier Pironi	Ferrari
Time	1:27.509
Fastest lap
Driver	Didier Pironi	Ferrari
Time	1:28.323 on lap 66
Podium
First	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW
Second	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-Ford
Third	John Watson	McLaren-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1982 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on 13 June 1982. It was the eighth race of the 1982 Formula One World Championship. This was the first Canadian Grand Prix to be held in June, the organisers having moved the race from the autumn to allow for warmer weather; ^[2] it has been held in June ever since.

The 70-lap race was won by Nelson Piquet, driving a Brabham-BMW. It was the first Formula One victory for a BMW-engined car, but the only victory of the season for defending Drivers' Champion Piquet. Team-mate Riccardo Patrese finished second in an older Brabham-Ford, with John Watson third in a McLaren-Ford.

Death of Riccardo Paletti

The race was marred by the death of Italian driver Riccardo Paletti, in only his second F1 race start. At the start, the lights took an unusually long time to turn to green. During this time, Didier Pironi, who had the pole position, stalled the engine of his Ferrari. Pironi lifted his hand to signal the problem just as the lights switched to green, which was too late to abort the start. The other cars swerved across the track, trying to squeeze past Pironi's stationary car. ^[3] Raul Boesel just clipped the back left of the Ferrari, spinning his March into the path of Eliseo Salazar and Jochen Mass. Salazar, Boesel and Mass suffered minor impacts but it looked as if everyone had passed the Ferrari without serious consequences. ^[4] However, Paletti could not react in time and slammed into the rear of the stranded Ferrari at 180 km/h (110 mph), catapulting it into the path of Geoff Lees. The Osella's nose was crushed in severely.

Due to the force of the severe impact, Paletti sustained heavy chest injuries and was lying unconscious in his car, wedged against the steering wheel. Didier Pironi and Sid Watkins, the FIA's head doctor, were on the scene to stabilise and assist Paletti. As Watkins climbed over the wreckage of the Osella, the petrol from the fuel tank ignited, enveloping the car in a wall of fire. When the fire was finally put out, the injured Paletti was without a pulse. It took the rescue workers 25 minutes to cut him out safely from his wrecked car, as the sparks caused by the cutting equipment threatened to re-ignite the petrol on the track. He was flown by a medical helicopter to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he died soon after arriving. His mother was watching from the stands, as they were to celebrate his 24th birthday later that week. Paletti suffered a torn aorta as well as fractures to both legs. ^[5] According to track doctor Jacques Bouchard his pupils were already dilated (indicating brain death) when medical personnel arrived and that the extended extraction time made no difference to his chances of survival. ^[5] Paletti was the last driver to lose his life in a Formula One car until Elio de Angelis was killed while testing for Brabham at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France in 1986, and was the last fatality at a Formula One race weekend until Roland Ratzenberger at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	1:31.332	1:27.509	—
2	16	René Arnoux	Renault	1:31.494	1:27.895	+0.386
3	15	Alain Prost	Renault	1:32.258	1:28.563	+1.054
4	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:32.105	1:28.663	+1.154
5	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1:33.136	1:28.740	+1.231
6	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1:35.027	1:28.822	+1.313
7	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	1:30.963	1:28.874	+1.365
8	2	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-Ford	1:31.343	1:28.999	+1.490
9	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	1:30.286	1:29.183	+1.674
10	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	1:33.242	1:29.228	+1.719
11	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	1:32.246	1:29.544	+2.035
12	25	Eddie Cheever	Ligier-Matra	1:32.969	1:29.590	+2.081
13	5	Derek Daly	Williams-Ford	1:31.757	1:29.883	+2.374
14	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	1:33.023	1:30.048	+2.539
15	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1:32.792	1:30.146	+2.637
16	29	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	1:36.428	1:30.518	+3.090
17	30	Mauro Baldi	Arrows-Ford	1:38.956	1:30.599	+3.009
18	31	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	1:41.588	1:30.717	+3.208
19	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1:33.664	1:30.946	+3.437
20	14	Roberto Guerrero	Ensign-Ford	1:36.524	1:31.235	+3.726
21	18	Raul Boesel	March-Ford	1:35.573	1:31.759	+4.250
22	17	Jochen Mass	March-Ford	1:33.756	1:31.861	+4.352
23	32	Riccardo Paletti	Osella-Ford	1:41.020	1:31.901	+4.392
24	10	Eliseo Salazar	ATS-Ford	1:39.542	1:32.203	+4.694
25	33	Geoff Lees	Theodore-Ford	1:36.359	1:32.205	+4.696
26	4	Brian Henton	Tyrrell-Ford	1:39.211	1:32.325	+4.816
27	9	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-Ford	no time	1:32.359	+4.850
28	19	Emilio de Villota	March-Ford	1:37.409	1:34.045	+6.536
29	20	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:37.678	1:42.730	+10.169

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	G	70	1:46:39.577	4	9
2	2	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-Ford	G	70	+ 13.799	8	6
3	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	M	70	+ 1:01.836	6	4
4	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	G	69	+ 1 Lap	10	3
5	29	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	P	69	+ 1 Lap	16	2
6	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	M	68	Out of Fuel	9	1
7	5	Derek Daly	Williams-Ford	G	68	Out of Fuel	13
8	30	Mauro Baldi	Arrows-Ford	P	68	+ 2 Laps	17
9	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	G	67	+ 3 Laps	1
10	25	Eddie Cheever	Ligier-Matra	M	66	Out of Fuel	12
11	17	Jochen Mass	March-Ford	A	66	+ 4 Laps	22
NC	4	Brian Henton	Tyrrell-Ford	G	59	+ 11 Laps	26
Ret	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	G	52	Gearbox	7
Ret	18	Raul Boesel	March-Ford	A	47	Engine	21
Ret	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	G	41	Engine	15
Ret	15	Alain Prost	Renault	M	30	Engine	3
Ret	16	René Arnoux	Renault	M	28	Spun Off	2
Ret	10	Eliseo Salazar	ATS-Ford	M	20	Engine	24
Ret	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	M	17	Clutch	11
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	M	8	Fuel System	19
Ret	14	Roberto Guerrero	Ensign-Ford	M	2	Clutch	20
Ret	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	M	1	Collision	5
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	G	1	Collision	14
Ret	31	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	P	0	Withdrew after teammate's fatal collision	18
Ret	32	Riccardo Paletti	Osella-Ford	P	0	Fatal collision on first start	23
Ret	33	Geoff Lees	Theodore-Ford	G	0	Collision on first start	25
DNQ	9	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-Ford	M
DNQ	19	Emilio de Villota	March-Ford	A
DNQ	20	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	P
Source: [6] [7]

Notes

• This was the 1st Grand Prix win and podium finish for a BMW-powered car.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 John Watson 30 2 Didier Pironi 20 3 Riccardo Patrese 19 4 Alain Prost 18 5 Keke Rosberg 17 Source: [8]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Ford 42 2 Ferrari 26 3 Williams-Ford 26 4 Renault 22 5 Brabham-Ford 19 Source: [8]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "Weather History for CYUL - June, 1982 - Sunday, June 13, 1982". Weather Underground. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
2. Roebuck, Nigel. "Grand Prix Gold: 1982 Canadian GP". Autosport . Retrieved 28 October 2017.
3. "Riccardo Paletti". Racer.com. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
4. "Riccardo Paletti Profile". grandprix.com.
5. "Paletti Died Within Minutes of Crash". Syracuse Post-Standard. UPI. 15 June 1982.
6. "1982 Canadian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
7. "1982 Canadian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 13 June 1982. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
8. "Canada 1982 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 March 2019.

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