The 1982 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Hockenheimring on 8 August 1982. It was the twelfth race of the 1982 Formula One World Championship.
The race was overshadowed by an accident during qualifying in which Drivers' Championship leader Didier Pironi heavily crashed his Ferrari, sustaining severe leg injuries that ultimately ended his Formula One career.
The 45-lap race was won by Pironi's teammate Patrick Tambay, with René Arnoux second in a Renault and Keke Rosberg third in a Williams-Ford.
Report Qualifying Hockenheim had been modified from the year before, with the first chicane being made slower and another chicane added to slow cars through the very fast Ostkurve. Didier Pironi set the fastest practice time, but was seriously injured in qualifying for this Grand Prix and never raced in Formula One again. With the track wet thanks to persistent showers, Pironi was on a quick lap when his Ferrari hit the back of Alain Prost's slow moving Renault at high speed, vaulting over the top of it before landing tail-first and cartwheeling to a stop in eerie similarity to Gilles Villeneuve's fatal accident earlier in the season. Pironi survived but suffered severe leg injuries that sidelined him for the rest of the year. He never managed to return to Formula One and died in 1987. Pironi's accident also had a profound effect on Prost who never forgot the sight of the Ferrari flying over his car, the crash firming his views on the danger of driving Formula One cars in the wet, where visibility was virtually zero when following behind another car.
Thanks to Hockenheim's long straights, the turbocharged cars were overwhelmingly dominant in qualifying. Not only did turbocharged cars take up the first six grid positions, but the utmost proof of this was how Riccardo Patrese, who placed 6th in the turbocharged Brabham-BMW, was 2.9 seconds faster than the fastest non-turbo qualifier, Michele Alboreto in 7th driving a Ford-Cosworth powered Tyrrell. The Toleman pair of Derek Warwick and Teo Fabi could not use the turbocharged Hart engines to their advantage, with Warwick only managing 14th position and Fabi failing to qualify.
Race Since Ferrari never withdrew the injured Pironi, pole position was left empty at the start. Nelson Piquet led the race, but collided with Eliseo Salazar while lapping him at the new Ostkurve chicane. Piquet ripped his seatbelt off before his car had stopped moving. After the two cars came to a stop, an irate Piquet quickly climbed out of his Brabham, approached Salazar, and then punched and kicked Salazar in a rage, which continued for some time after the collision. Patrick Tambay, driving the lone Ferrari, won his first Formula One race.
Before his accident, Piquet and his Brabham team had planned to make a pit stop for fuel and tyres, which was unconventional strategy at the time. Using soft qualifying tyres and a smaller load of fuel, Piquet sped away to over a 30-second lead. The plan may have been successful if there were no unforeseen problems.
Several months later, a mechanic revealed that Piquet's BMW engine was suffering from mechanical issues and would have blown up anyway had he not been taken out by the crash. Piquet then phoned Salazar, both to apologize for his outburst and to convey the gratitude of BMW executives, several of whom personally attended the race and were thus spared the embarrassment of witnessing their engine failing at their home country Grand Prix.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1Q2 Gap 1 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 1:47.947no time — 2 15 Alain Prost Renault 1:48.8902:07.540 +0.943 3 16 René Arnoux Renault 1:49.2562:11.164 +1.309 4 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:49.4152:03.434 +1.468 5 27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari 1:49.5702:04.090 +1.623 6 2 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:49.760no time +1.813 7 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:52.625no time +4.678 8 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 1:52.7862:08.873 +4.839 9 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford 1:52.8922:05.368 +4.945 10 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:53.0732:07.821 +5.126 11 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:53.8872:12.280 +5.940 12 25 Eddie Cheever Ligier-Matra 1:54.211no time +6.264 13 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:54.476no time +6.529 14 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 1:54.594no time +6.647 15 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:54.982no time +7.035 16 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-Ford 1:55.2232:11.546 +7.276 17 4 Brian Henton Tyrrell-Ford 1:55.4742:11.280 +7.527 18 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1:55.866no time +7.919 19 5 Derek Daly Williams-Ford 1:55.8762:07.514 +7.929 20 31 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 1:56.2502:11.607 +8.303 21 14 Roberto Guerrero Ensign-Ford 1:56.4892:14.398 +8.542 22 10 Eliseo Salazar ATS-Ford 1:56.5372:11.823 +8.590 23 30 Mauro Baldi Arrows-Ford 1:56.6802:12.107 +8.733 24 18 Raul Boesel March-Ford 1:57.2452:13.758 +9.298 25 20 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 1:57.337no time +9.390 26 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 1:57.4022:10.226 +9.455 27 33 Tommy Byrne Theodore-Ford 1:59.0072:13.032 +11.060 28 17 Rupert Keegan March-Ford 1:59.951no time +12.004 29 36 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart no timeno time – 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford 1:52.683no time +4.736
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari 45 1:27:25.178 5 9 2 16 René Arnoux Renault 45 + 16.379 3 6 3 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford 44 + 1 Lap 9 4 4 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 44 + 1 Lap 7 3 5 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 44 + 1 Lap 11 2 6 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 44 + 1 Lap 26 1 7 4 Brian Henton Tyrrell-Ford 44 + 1 Lap 17 8 14 Roberto Guerrero Ensign-Ford 44 + 1 Lap 21 9 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 43 + 2 Laps 18 10 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 43 + 2 Laps 14 11 20 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 43 + 2 Laps 25 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 36 Spun Off 10 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 36 Handling 15 5 Derek Daly Williams-Ford 25 Engine 19 18 Raul Boesel March-Ford 22 Tyre 24 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 21 Handling 13 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 18 Collision 4 10 Eliseo Salazar ATS-Ford 17 Collision 22 15 Alain Prost Renault 14 Injection 2 2 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 13 Engine 6 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 9 Gearbox 8 25 Eddie Cheever Ligier-Matra 8 Fuel System 12 30 Mauro Baldi Arrows-Ford 6 Fuel System 23 31 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 3 Steering 20 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-Ford 3 Clutch 16 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 0 Practice Accident 1 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford 0 Withdrew 33 Tommy Byrne Theodore-Ford 17 Rupert Keegan March-Ford 36 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Irish driver Tommy Byrne. This was the 5th Grand Prix start for a Colombian driver. This was the 5th podium finish for a Finnish driver.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Didier Pironi 39 2 John Watson 30 3 Keke Rosberg 27 4 Alain Prost 25 5 Niki Lauda 24Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 61 2 McLaren-Ford 54 3 Renault 44 4 Williams-Ford 40 5 Lotus-Ford 20Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References