1983 Grand Prix of South Africa

 1983 Grand Prix of South Africa

Racing data
15th of 15 races in the 1983 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	XVII Grand Prix of South Africa
Date:	October 15, 1983
Place:	Midrand
Course:	Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit
Length:	316.008 km in 77 laps of 4.104 km
Weather:	sunny and hot
Spectator:	~ 95,000
Pole position
Driver:	Patrick Tambay	Ferrari
Time:	1: 06.554 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Nelson Piquet	Brabham
Time:	1: 09.948 min
Podium
First:	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham
Second:	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo
Third:	Nelson Piquet	Brabham

The 1983 Grand Prix of South Africa took place on October 15th as the 15th and final race of the 1983 Formula 1 World Championship on the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit .

Reports

background

For the first time since 1963 , the South African Grand Prix marked the end of a season.

Alain Prost was two points ahead of Nelson Piquet and eight points ahead of René Arnoux before the final run in the World Championship standings . So these three pilots had the chance to win the world championship.

At Williams it was decided to equip both regular drivers with the new FW09 , which had already been in the testing phase for several weeks. The car had a Honda turbo engine. All teams had long since realized that the naturally aspirated V8 engines from Ford-Cosworth , which had been used as standard in previous years, were no longer competitive with the turbo units that were now widely used.

The teams Theodore and Spirit did not participate in the season finale. Since the field of participants was reduced to exactly 26 drivers, all the drivers present were able to qualify for one of the 26 starting positions.

training

While Patrick Tambay completed the fastest training time, his Ferrari team- mate René Arnoux stopped at the edge of the track due to technical problems. When he pushed the 126C3 back onto the asphalt with marshals, the car rolled over his foot. Nevertheless, shortly afterwards he qualified for fourth place on the grid behind the two Brabham drivers Nelson Piquet and Riccardo Patrese . Alain Prost finished fifth ahead of Keke Rosberg in the new Williams.

run

Piquet immediately took the lead and, together with his team-mate Patrese, quickly gained a considerable lead over the rest of the field. Tambay, who initially followed in third place, was overtaken by Andrea de Cesaris and Alain Prost on the second lap .

Niki Lauda, who quickly caught up from twelfth place on the grid, took third place from Prost in the 18th lap.

On lap 28, Piquet had a pit stop to refuel without losing the lead. When Lauda also headed for the pits a little later, Prost briefly returned to third place, but retired on lap 35 due to damage to the turbocharger. Since Arnoux had already retired at this point due to an engine failure, only Piquet was able to actively influence winning the world title. He only had to reach fourth place to become world champion. In the event of a poorer result or even failure of Piquet, Prost would be the overall winner. Aware of this, Piquet slowed down to save his car. He accepted that Patrese and Lauda would overtake him. After Lauda was eliminated in the 72nd lap, de Cesaris overtook the second-placed Piquet, who finally came third and thus secured his second world title after 1981 .

A few days after the race, Renault announced the separation from Alain Prost. One of the reasons for this may have been the team's dissatisfaction with the fact that the competitor BMW , of all things, was the first world champion with a turbo engine in Formula 1 history, even though Renault had introduced this technology in Grand Prix racing in 1977 . Prost, who led the World Cup for a long time but made several mistakes towards the end of the year, was blamed for this.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
TAG Williams team	1	Keke Rosberg	Williams FW09	Honda RA163-E 1.5 V6 t	G
	2	Jacques Laffite
Benetton Tyrrell team	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell 012	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	4th	Danny Sullivan
Fila Sport	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham BT52B	BMW M12 / 13 1.5 L4 t	M.
	6th	Riccardo Patrese
Marlboro McLaren International	7th	John Watson	McLaren MP4 / 1E	TAG / Porsche TTE PO1 1.5 V6 t	M.
	8th	Niki Lauda
Team ATS	9	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS D6	BMW M12 / 13 1.5 L4 t	G
John Player Team Lotus	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus 94T	Renault EF1 1.5 V6 t	P
	12	Nigel Mansell
Equipe Renault Elf	15th	Alain Prost	Renault RE40		M.
	16	Eddie Cheever
RAM Automotive Team March	17th	Kenny Acheson	RAM 01	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	P
Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo	22nd	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo 183T	Alfa Romeo 890T 1.5 V8 t	M.
	23	Mauro Baldi
Équipe Ligier Gitanes	25th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ligier JS21	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	M.
	26th	Raul Boesel
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	27	Patrick Tambay	Ferrari 126C3	Ferrari 021 1.5 V6 t	G
	28	René Arnoux
Arrows Racing Team	29	Marc Surer	Arrows A6	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	30th	Thierry Boutsen
Osella Squadra Corse	31	Corrado Fabi	Osella FA1E	Alfa Romeo 1260 3.0 V12	M.
	32	Piercarlo Ghinzani
Candy Toleman Motorsport	35	Derek Warwick	Toleman TG183B	Hart 415T 1.5 L4 t	P
	36	Bruno Giacomelli

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Qualification training 1		Qualification training 2		begin
			time	Ø speed	time	Ø speed
01	Patrick Tambay	Ferrari	1: 06.554	221.991 km / h	1: 07.029	220.418 km / h	01
02	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1: 06.792	221.200 km / h	1: 06.821	221.104 km / h	02
03	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	1: 08.181	216.694 km / h	1: 07.001	220.510 km / h	03
04th	René Arnoux	Ferrari	1: 07.222	219.785 km / h	1: 07.105	220.168 km / h	04th
05	Alain Prost	Renault	1: 07.186	219.903 km / h	1: 08.136	216.837 km / h	05
06th	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1: 07.256	219.674 km / h	1: 07.344	219.387 km / h	06th
07th	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Renault	1: 09.443	212.756 km / h	1: 07.643	218.417 km / h	07th
08th	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	1: 07.726	218.150 km / h	1: 07.682	218.291 km / h	08th
09	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	1: 08.970	214.215 km / h	1: 07.759	218.043 km / h	09
10	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	1: 07.931	217.491 km / h	1: 08.652	215.207 km / h	10
11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Renault	1: 07.937	217.472 km / h	1: 07.980	217.335 km / h	11
12	Niki Lauda	McLaren TAG Porsche	1: 07.974	217.354 km / h	1: 08.587	215.411 km / h	12
13	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	1: 08.061	217.076 km / h	1: 08.301	216.313 km / h	13
14th	Eddie Cheever	Renault	1: 08.069	217.050 km / h	1: 08.360	216.126 km / h	14th
15th	John Watson	McLaren TAG Porsche	1: 08.328	216.228 km / h	1: 10.635	209.165 km / h	15th
16	Bruno Giacomelli	Toleman-Hart	1: 08.350	216.158 km / h	1: 08.439	215.877 km / h	16
17th	Mauro Baldi	Alfa Romeo	1: 09.364	212.998 km / h	1: 08.628	215.282 km / h	17th
18th	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 11.096	207.809 km / h	1: 11.284	207.261 km / h	18th
19th	Danny Sullivan	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 11.750	205.915 km / h	1: 11.382	206.977 km / h	19th
20th	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows Ford	1: 11.988	205.234 km / h	1: 11.658	206.179 km / h	20th
21st	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ligier-Ford	1: 12.017	205.152 km / h	1: 12.538	203.678 km / h	21st
22nd	Marc Surer	Arrows Ford	1: 12.309	204.323 km / h	1: 12.049	205.060 km / h	22nd
23	Raul Boesel	Ligier-Ford	1: 12.745	203.098 km / h	1: 13.330	201.478 km / h	23
24	Kenny Acheson	RAM Ford	1: 13.352	201.418 km / h	no time	-	24
25th	Corrado Fabi	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1: 14.483	198.359 km / h	1: 13.656	200.587 km / h	25th
26th	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1: 14.903	197.247 km / h	1: 15.503	195.680 km / h	26th

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	77	1	1: 33: 25.708	03	1: 10.848
02	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	77	1	+ 9.319	09	1: 11.401
03	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	77	1	+ 21.969	02	1: 09.948
04th	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	76	1	+ 1 lap	13	1: 12.102
05	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	76	1	+ 1 lap	06th	1: 11.656
06th	Eddie Cheever	Renault	76	1	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 11.953
07th	Danny Sullivan	Tyrrell-Ford	75	0	+ 2 rounds	19th	1: 13.494
08th	Marc Surer	Arrows Ford	75	0	+ 2 rounds	22nd	1: 14.489
09	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows Ford	74	0	+ 3 rounds	20th	1: 15,100
10	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ligier-Ford	73	0	+ 4 rounds	21st	1: 15.144
11	Niki Lauda	McLaren TAG Porsche	71	1	DNF	12	1: 10.634	Electrical damage
12	Kenny Acheson	RAM Ford	71	0	+ 6 rounds	24	1: 17.212
-	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Renault	68	2	NC	07th	1: 10.825	Unrated
-	Raul Boesel	Ligier-Ford	66	0	DNF	23	1: 15.886	Engine failure
-	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	60	0	DNF	18th	1: 13.507	Engine failure
-	Patrick Tambay	Ferrari	56	1	DNF	01	1: 11.267	Electrical damage
-	Bruno Giacomelli	Toleman-Hart	56	1	DNF	16	1: 12.058	Turbocharger damage
-	Alain Prost	Renault	35	0	DNF	05	1: 11.166	Turbocharger damage
-	Corrado Fabi	Osella-Alfa Romeo	28	0	DNF	25th	1: 17,153	Engine failure
-	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Renault	20th	0	DNF	11	1: 12.709	Electrical damage
-	John Watson	McLaren TAG Porsche	18th	0	DSQ	15th	1: 13.194	disqualified
-	René Arnoux	Ferrari	09	0	DNF	04th	1: 12.183	Engine failure
-	Mauro Baldi	Alfa Romeo	05	0	DNF	17th	1: 12.686	Engine failure
-	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	01	0	DNF	08th	1: 23.427	Turbocharger damage
-	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	01	0	DNF	10	1: 24.689	accident
-	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	01	0	DNF	26th	1: 29.776	Engine failure

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Nelson Piquet Brabham 59 02  Alain Prost Renault 57 03  René Arnoux Ferrari 49 04th  Patrick Tambay Ferrari 40 05  Keke Rosberg Williams 27 06th  Eddie Cheever Renault 22nd 07th  John Watson McLaren 22nd 08th  Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 15th 09  Riccardo Patrese Brabham 13 10  Niki Lauda McLaren 12

Item driver constructor Points 11  Jacques Laffite Williams 11 12  Michele Alboreto Tyrrell 10 13  Nigel Mansell lotus 10 14th  Derek Warwick Toleman 9 15th  Marc Surer Arrows 4th 16  Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo 3 17th  Elio de Angelis lotus 2 18th  Danny Sullivan Tyrrell 2 19th  Johnny Cecotto Theodore 1 20th  Bruno Giacomelli Toleman 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 89 02  Renault 79 03  Brabham 72 04th  Williams 38 05  McLaren 34 06th  Alfa Romeo 18th

Item constructor Points 07th  Tyrrell 12 08th  lotus 12 09  Toleman 10 10  Arrows 4th 11  Theodore 1

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Training" ( Memento from September 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on December 28, 2012)
2. ^ "Report" (accessed December 28, 2012)
3. ↑ Fight at the limit. The Formula 1 Chronicle 1950–2000 , ed. v. Willy Knupp, RTL book edition: Zeitgeist Verlag: Düsseldorf / Gütersloh 2000, ISBN 3-89748-277-0 , p. 240
4. ↑ "World Cup stands"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on December 28, 2012)  

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website