1984 British Grand Prix

1984 British Grand Prix
Race 10 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	22 July 1984
Official name	XXXVII John Player British Grand Prix
Location	Brands Hatch Kent, Great Britain
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.206 [1] [2] or 4.207 [3] km (2.613 or 2.614 miles)
Distance	71 (aggregated: 11 + 60) laps, 298.626 [1] or 298.633 [2] or 298.697 [3] km (185.558 or 185.562 or 185.602 miles)
Scheduled distance	75 laps, 315.450 [4] or 315.457 [5] or 315.525 [6] km (196.012 or 196.016 or 196.058 miles)
Pole position
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW
Time	1:10.869
Fastest lap
Driver	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG
Time	1:13.191 on lap 57
Podium
First	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG
Second	Derek Warwick	Renault
Third	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart
Lap leaders

The 1984 British Grand Prix (formally the XXXVII John Player British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch, Kent, England on 22 July 1984. It was the tenth race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship.

The 71-lap race was won by Austrian Niki Lauda, driving a McLaren-TAG, with local driver Derek Warwick second in a Renault and Brazilian Ayrton Senna third in a Toleman-Hart. Lauda's teammate Alain Prost retired shortly after half distance with a gearbox failure, enabling Lauda to reduce the Frenchman's lead in the Drivers' Championship to 1.5 points.

Report

Background

Going into the race, McLaren driver Alain Prost led the Drivers' Championship with 34.5 points. Teammate Niki Lauda was second on 24, closely followed by Lotus's Elio de Angelis on 23.5, Ferrari's René Arnoux on 22.5, Williams' Keke Rosberg on 20 and Brabham's Nelson Piquet on 18. McLaren led the Constructors' Championship with 58.5 points, comfortably ahead of Ferrari on 31.5, Lotus on 29.5, Williams on 24 and Brabham on 21.

Prior to the event, the FIA announced that the Tyrrell team would be disqualified from the World Championship for the illegal use of fuel and ballast on their cars. The ruling resulted in Tyrrell losing the 13 points they had scored in the first nine races of the season. ^[7] Tyrrell owner Ken Tyrrell was granted a High Court order to allow their cars to compete in the Friday Qualifying session. ^[8] As a result of his crash in the previous race at Dallas in which he broke both of his ankles, Martin Brundle was replaced in the No. 4 Tyrrell by Swedish driver Stefan Johansson.

Qualifying

Johnny Cecotto broke both legs after a heavy crash during first practice. ^[9] He would never race in Formula One again. Nelson Piquet claimed pole position. Niki Lauda's win for McLaren saw him become the highest point scorer in Formula One history, passing Jackie Stewart's 360 points.

Renault driver Derek Warwick gave the British fans something to cheer when he finished 42 seconds behind Lauda in second place, while Cecotto's Toleman teammate Ayrton Senna finished 21 seconds behind Warwick in third, his second podium finish in just his rookie season. Lotus-Renault driver Elio de Angelis kept his championship hopes alive finishing a lap down in fourth place. He was followed by the two Ferraris of Michele Alboreto and René Arnoux in the final points positions.

Lauda's win saw him move to 33 points and with Prost failing to finish his championship lead was cut to just 1.5 points. With 67.5 points, McLaren had scored almost double the number of Constructors' points than second placed Ferrari who were on 34.5 points.

Eddie Cheever (Alfa Romeo), Philippe Alliot (RAM) and Jo Gartner (Osella) were all outed in a first lap crash which started when Riccardo Patrese lost his Alfa going into the Graham Hill Bend. The race was stopped after 11 laps to clear Jonathan Palmer's RAM.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:14.568	1:10.869
2	7	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:11.494	1:11.076	+0.207
3	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	1:11.598	1:11.344	+0.475
4	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:11.734	1:11.573	+0.704
5	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:13.740	1:11.603	+0.734
6	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	1:12.278	1:11.703	+0.834
7	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart	1:11.890	1:13.991	+1.021
8	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault	1:13.184	1:12.435	+1.566
9	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:13.645	1:13.122	+2.253
10	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	1:14.106	1:13.138	+2.269
11	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	1:13.713	1:13.374	+2.505
12	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:15.355	1:13.528	+2.659
13	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	1:14.281	1:13.934	+3.065
14	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham-BMW	1:17.731	1:14.040	+3.171
15	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-BMW	1:17.040	1:14.336	+3.467
16	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	1:14.568	1:26.939	+3.699
17	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	1:14.871	1:14.568	+3.699
18	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	1:15.113	1:14.609	+3.740
19	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	1:16.116	1:15.112	+4.243
20	25	François Hesnault	Ligier-Renault	1:17.384	1:15.837	+4.968
21	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:16.466	1:16.829	+5.597
22	21	Huub Rothengatter	Spirit-Hart	1:17.665	1:16.759	+5.890
23	10	Jonathan Palmer	RAM-Hart	1:18.244	1:17.265	+6.396
24	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	1:24.043	1:17.517	+6.648
25	3	Stefan Johansson	Tyrrell-Ford	1:18.450	1:17.777	+6.908
26	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	1:17.893	1:17.912	+7.024
27	30	Jo Gartner	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:18.347	1:18.121	+7.252
Source: [10] [11] [12]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	M	71	1:29:28.532	3	9
2	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	M	71	+ 42.123	6	6
3	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart	M	71	+ 1:03.328	7	4
4	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	G	70	+ 1 lap	4	3
5	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	G	70	+ 1 lap	9	2
6	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	G	70	+ 1 lap	13	1
7	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	M	70	+ 1 lap	1
8	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	M	69	Turbo	10
9	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	P	68	+ 3 laps	21
10	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	M	68	+ 3 laps	19
11	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-BMW	G	67	+ 4 laps	15
12	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	G	66	+ 5 laps	17
DSQ	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	G	68	Disqualified	26
NC	21	Huub Rothengatter	Spirit-Hart	P	62	+ 9 laps	22
Ret	25	François Hesnault	Ligier-Renault	M	43	Electrical	20
Ret	7	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	M	37	Gearbox	2
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault	G	24	Gearbox	8
Ret	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	G	24	Electrical	12
Ret	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	G	14	Water pump	16
Ret	10	Jonathan Palmer	RAM-Hart	P	10	Accident	23
Ret	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham-BMW	M	9	Electrical	14
Ret	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	P	8	Spun off	11
Ret	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	G	5	Engine	5
DSQ	3	Stefan Johansson	Tyrrell-Ford	G	1	Disqualified	25
Ret	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	G	0	Accident	18
Ret	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	P	0	Accident	24
Ret	30	Jo Gartner	Osella-Alfa Romeo	P	0	Accident	27
DNQ	20	Johnny Cecotto	Toleman-Hart	M		Injury
Source: [13] [14]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 34.5 2 Niki Lauda 33 3 Elio de Angelis 26.5 4 René Arnoux 23.5 5 Keke Rosberg 20 Source: [15]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG 67.5 2 Ferrari 34.5 3 Lotus-Renault 32.5 4 Renault 26 5 Williams-Honda 24 Source: [15]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Points accurate at final declaration of results. Tyrrell's points were subsequently reallocated.

References

• Jenkinson, Denis (August 1984). "1984 British Grand Prix race report – A four-ring circus". MotorSport. LX (8): 960.
• "1984 British Grand Prix". wildsoft.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
• "Britain 1984". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

1. MotorSport
2. Wildsoft
3. StatsF1
4. Derived from MotorSport
5. Derived from Wildsoft
6. Derived from StatsF1
7. "Tyrrell are banned for rest of season". The Glasgow Herald. 19 July 1984. p. 16.
8. "Tyrrell wins ruiling, to be in British Grand Prix". The Tuscaloosa News. 20 July 1984. p. 15.
9. "Großbritannien 1984". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
10. "John Player Special British Grand Prix – QUALIFYING 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
11. "John Player Special British Grand Prix – QUALIFYING 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
12. "John Player Special British Grand Prix – OVERALL QUALIFYING". Formula1.com. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
13. "1984 British Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
14. "1984 British Grand Prix – Race Results & History". GPArchive.com. 22 July 1984. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
15. "Britain 1984 – Championship". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.

Previous race: 1984 Dallas Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1984 season	Next race: 1984 German Grand Prix
Previous race: 1983 British Grand Prix Previous race at Brands Hatch: 1983 European Grand Prix	British Grand Prix	Next race: 1985 British Grand Prix Next race at Brands Hatch: 1985 European Grand Prix