1983 French Grand Prix

Last updated
1983 French Grand Prix
Race 3 of 15 in the 1983 Formula One World Championship
Paul Ricard 1970.png
Race details
DateApril 17, 1983
Location Paul Ricard Circuit
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.810 [1] km (3.610 miles)
Distance 54 laps, 313.740 [1] km (194.949 miles)
Weather Dry, grey and cool [1]
Pole position
Driver Renault
Time 1:36.672
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of France.svg Alain Prost Renault
Time 1:42.695 on lap 34
Podium
First Renault
Second Brabham-BMW
Third Renault
Lap leaders
  • 1983 French Grand Prix

The 1983 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on April 17, 1983.

Contents

French driver Alain Prost won the race for the Renault team, and this was the French marque's 3rd French Grand Prix win in a row and the 4th in 5 seasons. Second was the Brabham-BMW of 1981 World Champion Nelson Piquet, with Prost's Renault teammate Eddie Cheever finishing third. Rounding out the points finishers were Patrick Tambay in his Ferrari, and the non-turbo Williamses of Keke Rosberg and Jacques Laffite. This was the final time that both Renault cars started on the front row until the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, when young Spaniard Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli started on the front row.

Summary

Qualifying

On home soil, Renault dominated the French Grand Prix. Alain Prost took pole position 2.3 seconds faster than second placed teammate Eddie Cheever. On the fast Circuit Paul Ricard with its 1.8 km long Mistral Straight, turbo engines had a large advantage. The fastest normally-aspirated car was the 12th placed McLaren-Ford of Long Beach runner up Niki Lauda, qualifying some 4.3 seconds slower than pole-sitter Prost. After occupying the front row of the grid at Long Beach, Ferrari had difficulty with René Arnoux qualifying 4th and Tambay qualifying 11th.

Failing to qualify for the race were the RAM-Fords of Eliseo Salazar and debutante Jean-Louis Schlesser and the Osella of Piercarlo Ghinzani.

Race

As he had done in qualifying, Prost dominated the race for his first win in over 12 months, only losing the lead during the mid-race pit stops. Piquet finished second in the Brabham-BMW while Eddie Cheever finished 3rd in his Renault. Tambay managed to salvage what had been a tough weekend by finishing 4th with the Williams pair of Rosberg and Laffite finishing a lap down in 5th and 6th respectively.

Before the race, Lotus driver Nigel Mansell had his toes accidentally run over by his own team pushing his car in the pits which caused him to need a pain killing injection. He started the race but retired after just 6 laps when the pain of pushing the pedals became unbearable. Long Beach winner John Watson was the races first retirement on lap 3 with engine failure in his McLaren.

Classification

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
115 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost Renault 1:38.3581:36.672
216 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Cheever Renault 1:38.9801:39.785+2.308
36 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:41.0951:39.104+2.432
428 Flag of France.svg René Arnoux Ferrari 1:40.0271:39.115+2.443
511 Flag of Italy.svg Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:39.5121:39.312+2.640
65 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:39.6011:39.746+2.929
722 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 1:38.099†1:39.611+2.939
823 Flag of Italy.svg Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo 1:41.2151:39.618+2.946
935 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 1:43.0381:39.881+3.209
109 Flag of Germany.svg Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 1:40.2331:44.997+3.561
1127 Flag of France.svg Patrick Tambay Ferrari 1:40.3931:40.488+3.721
128 Flag of Austria.svg Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford 1:41.0651:41.492+4.393
1336 Flag of Italy.svg Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart 1:42.2191:41.775+5.103
147 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:41.8381:42.448+5.166
153 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:42.1771:43.317+5.505
161 Flag of Finland.svg Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford 1:42.4501:42.551+5.778
1734 Flag of Venezuela (1930-1954).svg Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford 1:43.5521:42.615+5.943
1812 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1:43.3201:42.650+5.978
192 Flag of France.svg Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 1:43.2951:42.678+6.006
2025 Flag of France.svg Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford 1:42.8081:42.737+6.065
2129 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 1:42.9621:44.346+6.290
2233 Flag of Colombia.svg Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford 1:43.3671:43.602+6.695
2331 Flag of Italy.svg Corrado Fabi Osella-Ford 1:45.6381:43.411+6.739
244 Flag of the United States.svg Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford 1:44.3171:43.654+6.982
2526 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford 1:44.4701:44.905+7.798
2630 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Chico Serra Arrows-Ford 1:44.7781:45.859+8.106
2717 Flag of Chile.svg Eliseo Salazar RAM-Ford 1:45.0732:02.335+8.401
2832 Flag of Italy.svg Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 1:46.5411:45.812+9.140
2918 Flag of France.svg Jean-Louis Schlesser RAM-Ford 1:45.8661:46.102+9.194
Source: [2] [3] [4] [5]

Race

PosNoDriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
115 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost Renault M 541:34:13.91319
25 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW M 54+ 29.72066
316 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Cheever Renault M 54+ 40.23224
427 Flag of France.svg Patrick Tambay Ferrari G 54+ 1:06.880113
51 Flag of Finland.svg Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford G 53+ 1 Lap162
62 Flag of France.svg Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford G 53+ 1 Lap191
728 Flag of France.svg René Arnoux Ferrari G 53+ 1 Lap4 
83 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford G 53+ 1 Lap15 
925 Flag of France.svg Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford M 53+ 1 Lap20 
1029 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Marc Surer Arrows-Ford G 53+ 1 Lap21 
1134 Flag of Venezuela (1930-1954).svg Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford G 52+ 2 Laps17 
1222 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo M 50+ 4 Laps7 
1336 Flag of Italy.svg Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart P 49Gearbox13 
Ret26 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford M 47Engine25 
Ret31 Flag of Italy.svg Corrado Fabi Osella-Ford M 36Engine23 
Ret9 Flag of Germany.svg Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW G 36Turbo10 
Ret8 Flag of Austria.svg Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford M 29Wheel bearing12 
Ret23 Flag of Italy.svg Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo M 28Spun Off8 
Ret30 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Chico Serra Arrows-Ford G 26Gearbox26 
Ret33 Flag of Colombia.svg Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford G 23Engine22 
Ret4 Flag of the United States.svg Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford G 21Clutch24 
Ret11 Flag of Italy.svg Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault P 20Electrical5 
Ret6 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW M 19Water Leak3 
Ret35 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart P 14Engine9 
Ret12 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford P 6Physical18 
Ret7 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Watson McLaren-Ford M 3Engine14 
DNQ17 Flag of Chile.svg Eliseo Salazar RAM-Ford P  
DNQ32 Flag of Italy.svg Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford M   
DNQ18 Flag of France.svg Jean-Louis Schlesser RAM-Ford P     
Source: [6] [7]

Championship standings after the race

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "The French Grand Prix". MotorSport. May 1983. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  2. "69e Grand Prix de France de Formule 1 - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  3. "69e Grand Prix de France de Formule 1 - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  4. "69e Grand Prix de France de Formule 1 - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  5. Hamilton, Maurice (1983). AUTOCOURSE 1983–84. Hazleton Publishing Ltd. p. 116. ISBN   0-905138-25-2.
  6. "1983 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  7. "1983 French Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 17 April 1983. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  8. 1 2 "France 1983 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
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