| 1983 Belgian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 6 of 15 in the1983 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 22 May 1983 | ||
| Official name | XLGrote Prijs van Belgie | ||
| Location | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Francorchamps,Wallonia,Belgium[1] | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 6.940 km (4.312[1] miles) | ||
| Distance | 40 laps, 280.16 km (174.08 miles) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Renault | ||
| Time | 2:04.615 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Andrea de Cesaris | Alfa Romeo | |
| Time | 2:07.493 on lap 17 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Renault | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | Renault | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1983 Belgian Grand Prix was aFormula Onemotor race held atSpa-Francorchamps on 22 May 1983. It was the first Belgian Grand Prix to be held at Spa since1970 and the first on the modern Spa circuit, and was also the sixth race of the1983 FIA Formula One World Championship.
The 40-lap race was won frompole position byAlain Prost, driving a factoryRenault.Patrick Tambay finished second in aFerrari, withEddie Cheever third in the other Renault. The race marked the debut of local driver and future race winnerThierry Boutsen.
The first attempt to start the race was waved off. The field drove around the circuit and lined up again for the second attempt, which was successful.
Andrea de Cesaris jumped from third to first at the start, overtakingAlain Prost andPatrick Tambay, and de Cesaris began to build up a lead on Prost who faced pressure from theFerraris behind him. After initially challenging Tambay for the last podium place,René Arnoux began to fall back and was caught byNelson Piquet withKeke Rosberg following a short distance back in 6th. Piquet got a good exit out of La Source, and powered down the hill to overtake Arnoux before Eau Rouge, leaving him in the attention of the non-turbo poweredWilliams cars who don't get a chance to pass before Arnoux's turbo failed, putting an end to his race a few laps later. De Cesaris pitted from the lead, but it was a slow stop, over 25 seconds, and the second stint got going with Prost leading by almost 10 seconds. Prost's mechanics did a 14.4 second stop in an era when the record was around 13.
Meanwhile, Piquet and Tambay switched positions after their stops. Piquet's pit crew managing a 15.2 second stop, refueling included, for anovercut. De Cesaris's sluggish pit stop would come to be the prologue for his retirement when injection problems made him pull up on the side of the road on lap 25. Piquet inherited second place, with Tambay close on his trails, less than 3 seconds behind.Eddie Cheever who climbed his way from 8th emerged behind them eager to attack the podium positions. The last two points places were with the underpoweredWilliams cars who were running a lonely and quiet race at significant distance from each other and also from the rest of the field. In the latter stages Piquet lost 5th (highest) gear and went dramatically slower on the straights as his Brabham could not reach top speed. Tambay and Cheever swiftly profited from this, dropping the 1981 champion to fourth. From here on the first six places remain unchanged. Prost won and built a 4-point lead over Piquet in the championship.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 |  Alain Prost | Renault | 2:04.615 | 2:34.212 | — |
| 2 | 27 | Patrick Tambay | Ferrari | 2:04.626 | 2:35.036 | +0.011 |
| 3 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Alfa Romeo | 2:04.840 | 26:06.800 | +0.225 |
| 4 | 5 |  Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | 2:05.628 | 3:01.465 | +1.013 |
| 5 | 28 | René Arnoux | Ferrari | 2:05.737 | 2:30.961 | +1.122 |
| 6 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | 2:06.137 | 3:01.358 | +1.522 |
| 7 | 9 |  Manfred Winkelhock | ATS-BMW | 2:06.264 | 2:44.663 | +1.649 |
| 8 | 16 |  Eddie Cheever | Renault | 2:07.294 | 2:25.700 | +2.679 |
| 9 | 1 |  Keke Rosberg | Williams-Ford | 2:07.975 | 2:30.151 | +3.360 |
| 10 | 29 |  Marc Surer | Arrows-Ford | 2:08.587 | 2:35.016 | +3.972 |
| 11 | 2 | Jacques Laffite | Williams-Ford | 2:09.153 | 3:20.872 | +4.538 |
| 12 | 23 | Mauro Baldi | Alfa Romeo | 2:09.225 | 18:49.960 | +4.610 |
| 13 | 11 | Elio de Angelis | Lotus-Renault | 2:09.310 | 2:30.478 | +4.695 |
| 14 | 33 |  Roberto Guerrero | Theodore-Ford | 2:09.322 | 2:31.077 | +4.707 |
| 15 | 8 |  Niki Lauda | McLaren-Ford | 2:09.475 | 3:00.356 | +4.860 |
| 16 | 36 | Bruno Giacomelli | Toleman-Hart | 2:09.706 | 2:35.556 | +5.091 |
| 17 | 3 | Michele Alboreto | Tyrrell-Ford | 2:09.739 | 2:31.533 | +5.124 |
| 18 | 30 |  Thierry Boutsen | Arrows-Ford | 2:09.876 | 2:35.832 | +5.261 |
| 19 | 12 |  Nigel Mansell | Lotus-Ford | 2:09.924 | no time | +5.309 |
| 20 | 7 | John Watson | McLaren-Ford | 2:10.318 | no time | +5.703 |
| 21 | 25 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | Ligier-Ford | 2:11.354 | 2:49.311 | +6.739 |
| 22 | 35 | Derek Warwick | Toleman-Hart | 2:11.474 | 2:30.477 | +6.859 |
| 23 | 4 | Danny Sullivan | Tyrrell-Ford | 2:11.683 | 2:38.284 | +7.068 |
| 24 | 31 | Corrado Fabi | Osella-Ford | 2:11.734 | 2:41.895 | +7.119 |
| 25 | 34 |  Johnny Cecotto | Theodore-Ford | 2:11.860 | 2:43.780 | +7.245 |
| 26 | 26 | Raul Boesel | Ligier-Ford | 2:12.310 | 2:34.659 | +7.695 |
| 27 | 32 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 2:13.738 | no time | +9.123 |
| 28 | 17 |  Eliseo Salazar | RAM-Ford | 2:18.696 | no time | +14.081 |
| Source:[2][3][4][5] | ||||||
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| Previous race: 1983 Monaco Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1983 season | Next race: 1983 Detroit Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1982 Belgian Grand Prix Previous race at Spa-Francorchamps:1970 Belgian Grand Prix | Belgian Grand Prix | Next race: 1984 Belgian Grand Prix |
