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; 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. 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. However, Paletti could not react in time and slammed into the rear of the stranded Ferrari at , 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. 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. 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 PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap128 Didier PironiFerrari1:31.3321:27.509—216 René ArnouxRenault1:31.4941:27.895 +0.386315 Alain ProstRenault1:32.2581:28.563 +1.05441 Nelson PiquetBrabham-BMW1:32.1051:28.663 +1.154523 Bruno GiacomelliAlfa Romeo1:33.1361:28.740 +1.23167 John WatsonMcLaren-Ford1:35.0271:28.822 +1.31376 Keke RosbergWilliams-Ford1:30.9631:28.874 +1.36582 Riccardo PatreseBrabham-Ford1:31.3431:28.999 +1.490922 Andrea de CesarisAlfa Romeo1:30.2861:29.183 +1.6741011 Elio de AngelisLotus-Ford1:33.2421:29.228 +1.719118 Niki LaudaMcLaren-Ford1:32.2461:29.544 +2.0351225 Eddie CheeverLigier-Matra1:32.9691:29.590 +2.081135 Derek DalyWilliams-Ford1:31.7571:29.883 +2.3741412 Nigel MansellLotus-Ford1:33.0231:30.048 +2.539153 Michele AlboretoTyrrell-Ford1:32.7921:30.146 +2.6371629 Marc SurerArrows-Ford1:36.4281:30.518 +3.0901730 Mauro BaldiArrows-Ford1:38.9561:30.599 +3.0091831 Jean-Pierre JarierOsella-Ford1:41.5881:30.717 +3.2081926 Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra1:33.6641:30.946 +3.4372014 Roberto GuerreroEnsign-Ford1:36.5241:31.235 +3.7262118 Raul BoeselMarch-Ford1:35.5731:31.759 +4.2502217 Jochen MassMarch-Ford1:33.7561:31.861 +4.3522332 Riccardo PalettiOsella-Ford1:41.0201:31.901 +4.3922410 Eliseo SalazarATS-Ford1:39.5421:32.203 +4.6942533 Geoff LeesTheodore-Ford1:36.3591:32.205 +4.696264 Brian HentonTyrrell-Ford1:39.2111:32.325 +4.816279 Manfred WinkelhockATS-Fordno time1:32.359 +4.8502819 Emilio de VillotaMarch-Ford1:37.4091:34.045 +6.5362920 Chico SerraFittipaldi-Ford1:37.6781:42.730 +10.169
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 70 1:46:39.577 4 9 2 2 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-Ford 70 + 13.799 8 6 3 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 70 + 1:01.836 6 4 4 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 10 3 5 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 69 + 1 Lap 16 2 6 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 68 Out of Fuel 9 1 7 5 Derek Daly Williams-Ford 68 Out of Fuel 13 8 30 Mauro Baldi Arrows-Ford 68 + 2 Laps 17 9 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 67 + 3 Laps 1 10 25 Eddie Cheever Ligier-Matra 66 Out of Fuel 12 11 17 Jochen Mass March-Ford 66 + 4 Laps 22 4 Brian Henton Tyrrell-Ford 59 + 11 Laps 26 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford 52 Gearbox 7 18 Raul Boesel March-Ford 47 Engine 21 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 41 Engine 15 15 Alain Prost Renault 30 Engine 3 16 René Arnoux Renault 28 Spun Off 2 10 Eliseo Salazar ATS-Ford 20 Engine 24 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford 17 Clutch 11 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 8 Fuel System 19 14 Roberto Guerrero Ensign-Ford 2 Clutch 20 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1 Collision 5 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1 Collision 14 31 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 0 Withdrew after teammate's fatal collision 18 32 Riccardo Paletti Osella-Ford 0 Fatal collision on first start 23 33 Geoff Lees Theodore-Ford 0 Collision on first start 25 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-Ford 19 Emilio de Villota March-Ford 20 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford
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 17Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Ford 42 2 Ferrari 26 3 Williams-Ford 26 4 Renault 22 5 Brabham-Ford 19Source:
References