The 1982 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 9 May 1982. It was the fifth race of the 1982 Formula One World Championship.
The race was heavily overshadowed by the death of Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve, after he crashed his Ferrari heavily during qualifying. The Ferrari team withdrew from the race as a consequence.
The 70-lap race was won by John Watson, driving a McLaren-Ford. Keke Rosberg finished second in a Williams-Ford, with Eddie Cheever third in a Ligier-Matra after Watson's teammate Niki Lauda was disqualified when his car was found to be underweight.
Qualifying and death of Gilles Villeneuve Gilles Villeneuve was killed in an accident during the final qualifying session. At the time of the crash, his teammate Didier Pironi had set a time 0.1s faster than Villeneuve for sixth place. Contemporary and more recent writers say that he was attempting to improve his time on his final lap. Some suggest that he was specifically aiming to beat Pironi due to bitterness at being passed by him two weeks earlier in the closing stages of the San Marino Grand Prix, when Villeneuve believed Pironi had been ordered to remain behind him.Bamsey (1983) p.50, Lang (1992) pp.96–97, Watkins (1997) p.98 and Fearnley (May 2007) all write that Villeneuve was attempting to beat Pironi. Jenkinson (June 1982) writes only that he "was in the middle of a last desperate bid to improve his grid position." Villeneuve's biographer Gerald Donaldson quotes Ferrari race engineer Mauro Forghieri as saying that the Canadian, although pressing on in his usual fashion, was returning to the pits on his last set of qualifying tyres when the accident occurred.Donaldson (2003) pp.296–298 If so, he would not have set a time on that lap.
With eight minutes of the session left, Villeneuve came over the rise after the first chicane and found Jochen Mass in the March travelling much more slowly through Butte, the left-handed bend before the Terlamenbocht corner. Mass saw Villeneuve approaching at high speed and moved to the right to let him through on the racing line. At the same instant Villeneuve also moved right to pass Mass. The Ferrari hit the back of the March and was launched into the air at a speed estimated at 200–225 km/h (120–140 mph). It was airborne for over 100 metres before nosediving into the ground and disintegrating as it somersaulted along the edge of the track. Villeneuve, still strapped to his seat but without his helmet, was thrown a further 50 metres from the wreckage into the catch fencing on the outside edge of Terlamenbocht.Lang (1992) p.97
Several drivers stopped and rushed to the scene. John Watson and Derek Warwick pulled Villeneuve, his face blue, from the catch fencing.Fearnley (May 2007) The first doctor arrived on the scene within 35 seconds to find that Villeneuve was not breathing, although his pulse continued throughout; he was intubated and ventilated before being transferred to the circuit medical centre and then by helicopter to University St Raphael Hospital where a fatal fracture of the neck was diagnosed as well as a cut spinal cord.Watkins (1997) pp.96–98 Villeneuve was kept alive on life support while his wife travelled to the hospital and the doctors consulted with specialists worldwide. He died at 21:12 that evening.
The Ferrari team withdrew from the race after the accident and left the circuit. The final eight minutes of the qualifying were run after the crash debris had been removed. No drivers improved their times, leaving the Renaults of Alain Prost and René Arnoux on the front row of the grid.Lang (1992) pp.95 99
Abbreviated race summary John Watson won the race after taking the lead on the penultimate lap from Keke Rosberg, who was struggling on worn tires. Niki Lauda finished third on the road but was disqualified when his car was found to be underweight in post-race scrutineering, and so the final podium place went to Eddie Cheever. The final point also went to Chico Serra, in what would turn out to be not only Serra's lone point in Formula 1, but also the final point the Fittipaldi team would score in Formula 1.
Classification
Pre-Qualifying PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap118 Raul BoeselMarch-Ford1:18.333—231 Jean-Pierre JarierOsella-Ford1:19.999 +1.666335 Derek WarwickToleman-Hart1:20.847 +2.514436 Teo FabiToleman-Hart1:21.499 +3.166532 Riccardo PalettiOsella-Ford1:21.784 +3.451619 Emilio de VillotaMarch-Ford1:22.879 +4.546
Qualifying +PosNo.DriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap115 Alain Prost Renault1:15.9621:15.701216 René Arnoux Renault1:15.9031:15.730 +0.02936 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford1:17.6541:15.847 +0.14648 Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford1:17.5771:16:049 +0.34853 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford1:17.3441:16:308 +0.607628 Didier Pironi Ferrari1:18.7961:16:501 +0.800722 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo1:17.6961:16:575 +0.8748 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari1:17.5071:16:616 +0.915912 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford1:17.6141:16:944 +1.243101 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW1:17.1241:17.535 +1.423112 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW1:18.3661:17.126 +1.425127 John Watson McLaren-Ford1:18.6391:17.144 +1.4431311 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford1:18.6551:17.762 +2.061149 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-Ford1:19.4301:17.879 +2.178155 Derek Daly Williams-Ford1:18.1941:18.591 +2.4931625 Eddie Cheever Ligier-Matra1:20.1821:18.301 +2.6001723 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo1:18.4251:18.371 +2.6701831 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford1:20.0561:18.403 +2.7021926 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra1:19.4031:18.565 +2.8642010 Eliseo Salazar ATS-Ford1:20.4401:18.967 +3.2662135 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart1:20.5941:18.985 +3.284224 Brian Henton Tyrrell-Ford1:20.5181:19.150 +3.4492336 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart1:20.5411:19.300 +3.5992429 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford1:22.5121:19.584 +3.8832520 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford1:21.7751:19.598 +3.8972618 Raul Boesel March-Ford1:20.5221:19.621 +3.9202717 Jochen Mass March-Ford1:20.5521:19.777 +4.0762830 Mauro Baldi Arrows-Ford1:20.8021:19.815 +4.1142914 Roberto Guerrero Ensign-Ford1:20.1161:20.482 +4.4153033 Jan Lammers Theodore-Ford1:21.4531:20.584 +4.883Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 70 1:35:41.995 10 9 2 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford 70 + 7.268 3 6 3 25 Eddie Cheever Ligier-Matra 69 + 1 Lap 14 4 4 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 68 + 2 Laps 11 3 5 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 67 + 3 Laps 8 2 6 20 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 67 + 3 Laps 23 1 7 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 66 + 4 Laps 22 8 18 Raul Boesel March-Ford 66 + 4 Laps 24 9 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 66 + 4 Laps 17 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford 70 Underweight 4 5 Derek Daly Williams-Ford 60 Spun Off 13 17 Jochen Mass March-Ford 60 Engine 25 15 Alain Prost Renault 59 Spun Off 1 2 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 52 Spun Off 9 30 Mauro Baldi Arrows-Ford 51 Throttle 26 31 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 37 Broken Wing 16 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 34 Gearbox 6 4 Brian Henton Tyrrell-Ford 33 Engine 20 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 29 Engine 5 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 29 Transmission 19 36 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart 13 Brakes 21 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 9 Clutch 7 16 René Arnoux Renault 7 Turbo 2 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-Ford 0 Clutch 12 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 0 Collision 15 10 Eliseo Salazar ATS-Ford 0 Collision 18 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari Withdrew due to Villeneuve's death 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari Fatal accident during qualifying 14 Roberto Guerrero Ensign-Ford 33 Jan Lammers Theodore-Ford 32 Riccardo Paletti Osella-Ford 19 Emilio de Villota March-Ford
Notes
This was the 200th Grand Prix in which a German driver participated. In those 200 races, German drivers won 3 Grands Prix, achieved 20 podium finishes, 1 pole position, and 4 fastest laps. This was the 25th Grand Prix start for Osella and the 5th Grand Prix start for Toleman. This was the 5th Grand Prix start for Hart-powered car. This was the 9th Belgian Grand Prix win for a Ford-powered car, breaking the previous record set by Ferrari at the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix. This the second of only three races that the Ferrari team entered but did not start. The other two were the 1950 French Grand Prix and the 1982 Swiss Grand Prix.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 18 2 John Watson 17 3 Keke Rosberg 14 4 Niki Lauda 12 5 Didier Pironi 10Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Ford 29 2 Renault 22 3 Williams-Ford 20 4 Ferrari 16 5 Tyrrell-Ford 10Source:
References
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