The 1982 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on 15 August 1982. It was the thirteenth race of the 1982 Formula One World Championship.
The 53-lap race was won by Italian driver Elio de Angelis, driving a Lotus-Ford. De Angelis held off Finland's Keke Rosberg in the Williams-Ford to win by just 0.05 seconds, or less than half a car length, claiming the first victory for Lotus since the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix and the last in the lifetime of team founder Colin Chapman, who died at the end of 1982. Frenchman Jacques Laffite finished third in a Ligier-Matra, one lap behind.
Report A chicane had been added at the entrance to the pits earlier in the year. Nelson Piquet's Brabham led into the first corner from pole position, while Renault's Alain Prost passed Piquet's team-mate Riccardo Patrese for second. Further back, there was a collision which eliminated the two Alfa Romeos of Andrea de Cesaris and Bruno Giacomelli, as well as the Williams of Derek Daly. Prost's advantage over Patrese lasted only a few corners before the Italian re-passed him. On lap 2, Patrick Tambay punctured the right rear tyre on his Ferrari, Michele Alboreto crashed his Tyrrell at the Bosch Kurve, Patrese took the lead from Piquet and the two Brabhams immediately began to pull away on their half-full tanks.
Shortly before half distance, Piquet made the first planned mid-race fuel and tyre pit stop in modern F1 history. He rejoined in fourth place, behind Prost and Elio de Angelis, and just ahead of Keke Rosberg. Shortly afterwards, Patrese made his stop, having built up a sufficient lead to rejoin the race still in first place. However, the Italian suffered an engine failure three laps later, leaving Prost to inherit a comfortable lead from de Angelis.
Piquet was back up to third but was now in trouble, unable to make any inroads into the leaders and struggling to stay ahead of Rosberg. On lap 32, the Brazilian retired with an electrical failure. Free of the Brabham, Rosberg began closing in on de Angelis, who at this point was ten seconds ahead.
Prost was leading by half a minute when on lap 49, five from the end, his Renault suffered a mechanical failure. This left de Angelis and Rosberg – neither of whom had won a Grand Prix before – battling for the lead. At the start of the last lap de Angelis was 1.6 seconds ahead. Rosberg closed rapidly on the final tour and was right on the Lotus's gearbox heading into the final corner, the Rindt Kurve. De Angelis calmly defended the inside line, but slid wide on the exit of the corner. Rosberg dived inside on the home straight, only to come up short by 0.050 seconds, or less than half a car length.
De Angelis joyfully celebrated his maiden win, while Rosberg had nonetheless boosted his Driver's Championship chances, moving into second place ahead of John Watson, who had suffered an engine failure. Ligier's Jacques Laffite completed the podium, coming home a lap down, while Patrick Tambay was fourth in the sole Ferrari, having recovered from a puncture early in the race. Watson's McLaren team-mate Niki Lauda was fifth, with Mauro Baldi taking the final point in his Arrows.
This was the 150th World Championship race victory for the Cosworth DFV engine. However, it was also to be the last hailed by Colin Chapman's famous act of throwing his cloth cap into the air after a Lotus victory, as Chapman would die four months later. It was also the last win by a Chapman-built Lotus, and the team's last win until the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW1:27.612 1:28.398 — 2 2 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW1:27.971 1:28.296 +0.359 3 15 Alain Prost Renault1:29.867 1:28.864 +1.252 4 27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari1:29.522 1:29.856 +1.910 5 16 René Arnoux Renaultno time 1:30.261 +2.649 6 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford1:31.108 1:30.300 +2.688 7 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford1:32.686 1:31.626 +4.014 8 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford1:31.814 1:34.534 +4.202 9 5 Derek Daly Williams-Ford1:34.114 1:32.062 +4.450 10 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford1:33.005 1:32.131 +4.519 11 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo1:33.353 1:32.308 +4.696 12 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford1:34.070 1:32.881 +5.269 13 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo1:34.431 1:32.950 +5.338 14 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra1:34.530 1:32.957 +5.345 15 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart1:33.878 1:33.208 +5.596 16 14 Roberto Guerrero Ensign-Ford1:34.796 1:33.555 +5.943 17 36 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart1:34.690 1:33.971 +6.359 18 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford1:34.668 1:34.164 +6.554 19 4 Brian Henton Tyrrell-Ford1:34.184 1:36.228 +6.572 20 20 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford1:35.724 1:34.187 +6.575 21 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford1:34.422 1:34.579 +6.810 22 25 Eddie Cheever Ligier-Matra1:34.620 1:34.815 +7.008 23 30 Mauro Baldi Arrows-Ford1:35.653 1:34.715 +7.103 24 17 Rupert Keegan March-Ford1:36.274 1:34.770 +7.158 25 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-Ford1:35.666 1:34.984 +7.372 26 33 Tommy Byrne Theodore-Ford1:35.318 1:34.985 +7.373 27 18 Raul Boesel March-Ford1:35.149 1:35.654 +7.537 28 31 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford1:35.622 1:35.206 +7.594 29 10 Eliseo Salazar ATS-Ford1:35.581 1:35.271 +7.659
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 53 1:25:02.212 7 9 2 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford 53 + 0.050 6 6 3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 52 + 1 Lap 14 4 4 27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari 52 + 1 Lap 4 3 5 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford 52 + 1 Lap 10 2 6 30 Mauro Baldi Arrows-Ford 52 + 1 Lap 23 1 7 20 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 51 + 2 Laps 20 8 15 Alain Prost Renault 48 Injection 3 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 44 Engine 18 4 Brian Henton Tyrrell-Ford 32 Engine 19 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 31 Electrical 1 33 Tommy Byrne Theodore-Ford 28 Spun off 26 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 28 Engine 21 2 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 27 Engine 2 25 Eddie Cheever Ligier-Matra 22 Engine 22 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 17 Engine 12 16 René Arnoux Renault 16 Injection 5 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-Ford 15 Spun off 25 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 7 Suspension 15 36 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart 7 Transmission 17 14 Roberto Guerrero Ensign-Ford 6 Spun off 16 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1 Spun off 8 17 Rupert Keegan March-Ford 1 Steering 24 5 Derek Daly Williams-Ford 0 Collision 9 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 0 Collision 11 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 0 Collision 13 18 Raul Boesel March-Ford 31 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 10 Eliseo Salazar ATS-Ford
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Didier Pironi 39 2 Keke Rosberg 33 3 John Watson 30 4 Niki Lauda 26 5 Alain Prost 25Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 64 2 McLaren-Ford 56 3 Williams-Ford 46 4 Renault 44 5 Lotus-Ford 29Source:
References