The 1983 European Grand Prix (formally the John Player Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 25 September 1983. It was the fourteenth race of the 1983 Formula One World Championship.
The 76-lap race was won by Nelson Piquet, driving a Brabham-BMW. Piquet's Drivers' Championship rival Alain Prost was second in a factory Renault, while Nigel Mansell was third in a Lotus-Renault. With the win, Piquet moved within two points of Prost at the top of the championship with one race remaining.
Background A third Grand Prix in the United States (after the earlier races at Long Beach and Detroit) was to have been held on this date, on a track at the Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, but was cancelled at short notice due to local protests. A second race in the United Kingdom, at Brands Hatch, was quickly organised in its place, and was the first Formula One race to be officially titled the European Grand Prix: this title had, until 1977, been an honorific title given to one race held in Europe each year alongside its official, national title. For eight of the entered drivers this was their second visit of the year to Brands Hatch as the circuit had hosted the non-championship Race of Champions (won by Keke Rosberg) on 10 April earlier that year.
Qualifying Qualifying report Elio de Angelis surprised by taking pole position in his Lotus-Renault, with teammate Nigel Mansell third. Between them was the Brabham-BMW of Riccardo Patrese, with Nelson Piquet fourth in the other Brabham. The Ferraris filled the third row with René Arnoux ahead of Patrick Tambay, while the factory Renaults took up the fourth row, Eddie Cheever ahead of Drivers' Championship leader Alain Prost. Completing the top ten were Manfred Winkelhock in the ATS and John Watson in the McLaren.
The fastest non-turbo car was the Williams of Keke Rosberg in 16th; teammate Jacques Laffite failed to qualify. Williams had planned to debut their Honda turbo-powered FW09 at this race, but instead decided to wait until the season finale in South Africa. The team, did, however, enter a third car for test driver and Formula Two champion Jonathan Palmer, who qualified 25th.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault1:12.3421:12.092 — 2 6 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW1:13.4751:12.458 +0.366 3 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault1:12.6231:13.089 +0.531 4 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW1:12.7241:13.095 +0.632 5 28 René Arnoux Ferrari1:13.5961:13.113 +1.021 6 27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari1:13.8981:13.157 +1.065 7 16 Eddie Cheever Renault1:13.5921:13.253 +1.161 8 15 Alain Prost Renault1:13.3421:13.526 +1.250 9 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW1:13.6791:14.750 +1.587 10 7 John Watson McLaren-TAG1:14.2961:13.783 +1.691 11 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart1:14.4111:13.855 +1.763 12 36 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart1:15.5211:13.949 +1.857 13 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG1:15.2661:13.972 +1.880 14 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo1:14.4031:15.440 +2.311 15 23 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo1:14.7271:15.174 +2.635 16 1 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford1:14.9171:15.252 +2.825 17 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford1:15.3461:15.501 +3.254 18 30 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford1:16.0941:15.428 +3.336 19 40 Stefan Johansson Spirit-Honda1:16.5251:15.912 +3.820 20 4 Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford1:17.1341:16.640 +4.548 21 33 Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford1:16.7691:17.454 +4.677 22 25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford1:17.1411:16.880 +4.788 23 26 Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford1:17.1771:17.593 +5.085 24 32 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo1:17.8501:17.408 +5.316 25 42 Jonathan Palmer Williams-Ford1:17.4321:17.524 +5.340 26 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford1:17.4561:17.936 +5.364 27 17 Kenny Acheson RAM-Ford1:17.5771:18.069 +5.485 28 31 Corrado Fabi Osella-Alfa Romeo1:19.0871:17.816 +5.724 29 2 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford1:18.4671:18.261 +6.169 34 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford — — — Source:
Race Race report At the start, Riccardo Patrese took the lead from Elio de Angelis, followed by Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Eddie Cheever. On lap 2 Piquet passed Mansell, who was having trouble with his tyres and would soon fall to seventh, while Alain Prost made a charge to run fourth by lap 9.
Patrese and de Angelis had pulled clear of the rest of the field when, on lap 11, de Angelis attempted to overtake the Brabham at Surtees Corner, only to make contact and send both cars spinning. Piquet duly went through into the lead, while Patrese rejoined the track ahead of Prost but was soon caught and passed by the Renault. De Angelis also rejoined, but continued for only two laps before retiring with an engine failure.
At quarter distance, Piquet led Prost by around 10 seconds, with Patrese a further 10 seconds back and holding up Cheever, René Arnoux, Mansell and Patrick Tambay. On lap 20 Arnoux spun at Surtees, dropping him to the back of the field. There were no further changes among the front-runners until the pit stops, during which both Brabhams hit trouble: Patrese was delayed by a misfitted rear wheel, while Piquet was held up by a malfunctioning wheel-nut gun. Piquet nonetheless retained his lead over Prost, while an unscheduled second stop for Cheever (due to a loose helmet visor which was taped by his pit crew) left Tambay in third and Mansell fourth, with Andrea de Cesaris up to fifth in the Alfa Romeo and Derek Warwick sixth in the Toleman.
In the closing stages, Tambay suffered brake problems, allowing Mansell past on lap 66 before spinning off at Druids two laps later. This moved the second Toleman of Bruno Giacomelli into the top six, while also ending Tambay's challenge for the Drivers' Championship. Shortly afterwards, Warwick had a bizarre accident when his cockpit fire extinguisher leaked, giving him burns to his right hand and leg, though he held on to fifth place.
Up front, Piquet cruised to his second consecutive win, finishing 6.5 seconds ahead of Prost with Mansell a further 24 seconds back. De Cesaris finished four seconds behind Mansell and ten ahead of Warwick, who in turn finished eight seconds ahead of teammate Giacomelli. Patrese ultimately finished seventh, while Arnoux was ninth and Cheever tenth, both one lap down on Piquet. With one race to go, Prost still led the Drivers' Championship but by only two points over Piquet, while Arnoux's failure to score left him needing to win in South Africa to have any chance of the title.
The race also saw the last appearance of the Theodore team, which was struggling financially and had scaled back to one car for Roberto Guerrero. Guerrero finished 12th, one place ahead of Palmer's Williams.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 76 1:36:45.865 4 9 2 15 Alain Prost Renault 76 + 6.571 8 6 3 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 76 + 30.315 3 4 4 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 76 + 34.396 14 3 5 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 76 + 44.915 11 2 6 36 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart 76 + 52.190 12 1 7 6 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 76 + 1:12.684 2 8 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 75 + 1 Lap 9 9 28 René Arnoux Ferrari 75 + 1 Lap 5 10 16 Eddie Cheever Renault 75 + 1 Lap 7 11 30 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford 75 + 1 Lap 18 12 33 Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford 75 + 1 Lap 21 13 42 Jonathan Palmer Williams-Ford 74 + 2 Laps 25 14 40 Stefan Johansson Spirit-Honda 74 + 2 Laps 19 15 26 Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford 73 + 3 Laps 23 27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari 67 Spun off 6 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 64 Engine 26 32 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 63 Throttle 24 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 50 Engine 17 1 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford 43 Engine 16 23 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo 39 Clutch 15 7 John Watson McLaren-TAG 36 Spun off 10 4 Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford 27 Oil leak 20 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 25 Engine 13 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 12 Oil pump 1 25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford 0 Clutch 22 17 Kenny Acheson RAM-Ford 31 Corrado Fabi Osella-Alfa Romeo 2 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford Source:
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 57 2 Nelson Piquet 55 3 René Arnoux 49 4 Patrick Tambay 40 5 Keke Rosberg 25Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 89 2 Renault 78 3 Brabham-BMW 59 4 Williams-Ford 36 5 McLaren-Ford 34Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References