The 1984 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Estoril on 21 October 1984. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1984 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was the first World Championship Portuguese Grand Prix since 1960, when it was held at the Boavista street circuit in Oporto.
Niki Lauda needed second place to secure the title, and gained it when Nigel Mansell spun out with 18 laps to go. As a result, he took the title by just half a point from team-mate Alain Prost, remaining the closest title-winning margin in Formula One history. The point-scoring drivers won a total of 13 world championships between them, and the three drivers on the podium were all (at least) triple World Champions from different eras – Lauda, approaching the end of his long and distinguished F1 career, Prost, enjoying the best years of his career, and Ayrton Senna, still at the dawn of his.
After running a strong second behind Prost for most of the race, Mansell's spin on lap 52 was due to his front left brake failing. The Englishman later told that as it was his last race for Lotus before joining Williams in , team boss Peter Warr (whom he had never got along with personally) had refused to give him the brakes he wanted for his Lotus 95T and that it was this that ultimately caused his retirement and handed Lauda the second place he needed to win the World Championship.
The race also represented the last win for French tyre manufacturer Michelin in Formula One until the 2001 San Marino Grand Prix and also the last win for any Formula One driver using a home tyre manufacturer until the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix when Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the race using Italian Pirelli tyres.
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:30.889 1:21.703 — 2 7 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:28.276 1:21.774 +0.071 3 19 Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 1:30.077 1:21.936 +0.233 4 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:32.269 1:22.049 +0.346 5 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:28.428 1:22.291 +0.588 6 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 1:32.986 1:22.319 +0.616 7 15 Patrick Tambay Renault 1:29.409 1:22.583 +0.880 8 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:31.192 1:22.686 +0.983 9 16 Derek Warwick Renault 1:35.913 1:22.801 +1.098 10 20 Stefan Johansson Toleman-Hart 1:28.991 1:22.942 +1.239 11 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:28.837 1:23.183 +1.480 12 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:37.154 1:24.048 +2.345 13 33 Philippe Streiff Renault 1:37.280 1:24.089 +2.386 14 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:34.809 1:24.235 +2.532 15 5 Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 1:39.696 1:24.437 +2.734 16 17 Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 1:34.003 1:24.688 +2.985 17 28 René Arnoux Ferrari 1:36.634 1:24.848 +3.145 18 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:32.530 1:25.115 +3.412 19 2 Manfred Winkelhock Brabham-BMW no time 1:25.289 +3.586 20 26 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 1:33.398 1:26.082 +4.379 21 25 François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 1:34.233 1:26.701 +4.998 22 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:31.336 1:26.840 +5.137 23 14 Gerhard Berger ATS-BMW 1:44.966 1:28.106 +6.403 24 30 Jo Gartner Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:33.540 1:28.229 +6.526 25 21 Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart 1:36.483 1:29.001 +7.298 26 10 Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 1:40.344 1:29.397 +7.694 27 9 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:34.839 1:30.406 +8.703Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 7 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 70 1:41:11.753 2 9 2 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 70 + 13.425 11 6 3 19 Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 70 + 20.042 3 4 4 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 70 + 20.317 8 3 5 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 70 + 1:32.169 5 2 6 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 69 + 1 Lap 1 1 7 15 Patrick Tambay Renault 69 + 1 Lap 7 8 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 69 + 1 Lap 12 9 28 René Arnoux Ferrari 69 + 1 Lap 17 10 2 Manfred Winkelhock Brabham-BMW 69 + 1 Lap 19 11 20 Stefan Johansson Toleman-Hart 69 + 1 Lap 10 12 26 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 69 + 1 Lap 20 13 14 Gerhard Berger ATS-BMW 68 + 2 Laps 23 14 5 Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 67 + 3 Laps 15 15 21 Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart 66 + 4 Laps 25 16 30 Jo Gartner Osella-Alfa Romeo 65 Out of Fuel 24 17 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 64 + 6 Laps 14 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 60 Engine 22 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 52 Brakes 6 16 Derek Warwick Renault 51 Gearbox 9 33 Philippe Streiff Renault 48 Transmission 13 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 39 Engine 4 25 François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 31 Electrical 21 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 24 Transmission 18 10 Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 19 Gearbox 26 17 Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 8 Electrical 16 9 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 2 Engine 27
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda 72 2 Alain Prost 71.5 3 Elio de Angelis 34 4 Michele Alboreto 30.5 5 Nelson Piquet 29Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG 143.5 2 Ferrari 57.5 3 Lotus-Renault 47 4 Brabham-BMW 38 5 Renault 34Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References