| 1983 British Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 9 of 15 in the1983 Formula One World Championship | |||
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| Race details | |||
| Date | 16 July 1983 | ||
| Official name | XXXVI MarlboroBritish Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Silverstone Circuit,Northamptonshire,Great Britain | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.719 km (2.932 miles) | ||
| Distance | 67 laps, 316.173 km (196.461 miles) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||
| Time | 1:09.462[1] | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Alain Prost | Renault | |
| Time | 1:14.212[2] on lap 32 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Renault | ||
| Second | Brabham-BMW | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1983 British Grand Prix (formally theXXXVI Marlboro British Grand Prix) was aFormula Onemotor race held atSilverstone on 16 July 1983. It was the ninth race of the1983 Formula One World Championship.
The 67-lap race was won byAlain Prost, driving a factoryRenault, after he started from third position.Nelson Piquet finished second in aBrabham-BMW, withPatrick Tambay third in aFerrari. The win, Prost's third of the season, enabled him to extend his lead in the Drivers' Championship to six points.
The front row of the grid was filled by theFerraris ofRené Arnoux andPatrick Tambay, Arnoux over 0.6 seconds ahead. Arnoux created history with his lap as he was the first driver ever to lapSilverstone in under 70 seconds. Drivers' Championship leaderAlain Prost was third in hisRenault, withElio de Angelis in theLotus alongside him on the second row. The twoBrabhams made up the third row withRiccardo Patrese ahead ofNelson Piquet, while on the fourth row wereEddie Cheever in the second Renault andManfred Winkelhock in theATS. Completing the top ten wereAndrea de Cesaris in theAlfa Romeo andDerek Warwick in theToleman. Further down the grid, theSpirit team with itsHondaturbo engine made an impressive debut asStefan Johansson qualified 14th, ahead of bothMcLarens and just one place behind reigning World ChampionKeke Rosberg in theWilliams.
Reigning World Champion Rosberg, the fastest of the non-turbos, was some 4.293 seconds slower than Arnoux. Soon to be local heroNigel Mansell, having his first Grand Prix in theLotus Renault, qualified 18th after a troubled practice in sorting the new car. Mansell had raced in the non-championship1983 Race of Champions atBrands Hatch in the turbo poweredLotus 93T earlier in the season, but until Silverstone his only Grands Prix were in theFord powered cars.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 | René Arnoux | Ferrari | 1:10.436 | 1:09.462 | |
| 2 | 27 | Patrick Tambay | Ferrari | 1:10.874 | 1:10.104 | +0.642 |
| 3 | 15 | Alain Prost | Renault | 1:10.170 | 1:10.808 | +0.708 |
| 4 | 11 |  Elio de Angelis | Lotus-Renault | 1:10.771 | 1:11.114 | +1.309 |
| 5 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | 1:11.246 | 1:10.881 | +1.419 |
| 6 | 5 |  Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | 1:11.098 | 1:10.933 | +1.471 |
| 7 | 16 |  Eddie Cheever | Renault | 1:11.055 | 1:11.520 | +1.593 |
| 8 | 9 |  Manfred Winkelhock | ATS-BMW | 1:13.493 | 1:11.687 | +2.225 |
| 9 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Alfa Romeo | 1:13.163 | 1:12.150 | +2.688 |
| 10 | 35 |  Derek Warwick | Toleman-Hart | 1:12.528 | 1:12.541 | +3.066 |
| 11 | 23 | Mauro Baldi | Alfa Romeo | 1:14.006 | 1:12.860 | +3.398 |
| 12 | 36 | Bruno Giacomelli | Toleman-Hart | 1:13.792 | 1:13.422 | +3.960 |
| 13 | 1 |  Keke Rosberg | Williams-Ford | 1:13.755 | no time | +4.293 |
| 14 | 40 |  Stefan Johansson | Spirit-Honda | 1:15.535 | 1:13.962 | +4.500 |
| 15 | 8 |  Niki Lauda | McLaren-Ford | 1:14.267 | 1:15.118 | +4.805 |
| 16 | 3 | Michele Alboreto | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:14.651 | 1:14.970 | +5.189 |
| 17 | 30 |  Thierry Boutsen | Arrows-Ford | 1:14.964 | 1:15.686 | +5.502 |
| 18 | 12 | Nigel Mansell | Lotus-Renault | 1:16.377 | 1:15.133 | +5.671 |
| 19 | 29 |  Marc Surer | Arrows-Ford | 1:15.135 | 1:15.350 | +5.673 |
| 20 | 2 | Jacques Laffite | Williams-Ford | 1:15.234 | 1:16.762 | +5.772 |
| 21 | 33 |  Roberto Guerrero | Theodore-Ford | 1:15.441 | 1:15.317 | +5.855 |
| 22 | 26 | Raul Boesel | Ligier-Ford | 1:15.386 | 1:16.134 | +5.924 |
| 23 | 4 | Danny Sullivan | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:15.449 | 1:16.347 | +5.987 |
| 24 | 7 | John Watson | McLaren-Ford | 1:15.609 | 1:16.091 | +6.147 |
| 25 | 25 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | Ligier-Ford | 1:15.383† | 1:15.767 | +6.305 |
| 26 | 32 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:17.162 | 1:16.544 | +7.082 |
| 27 | 34 |  Johnny Cecotto | Theodore-Ford | 1:16.714 | 1:16.786 | +7.252 |
| 28 | 31 | Corrado Fabi | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:20.400 | 1:17.594 | +8.132 |
| 29 | 17 | Kenny Acheson | RAM-Ford | 1:19.267 | 1:18.103 | +8.641 |
| Source:[3][4][5][6] | ||||||
In the race morning warmup, Elio de Angelis showed he and hisLotus-Renault turbo would be one to watch, posting the fastest time of the session. At the start of the race, Tambay moved ahead of Arnoux, while de Angelis quickly went from hero to zero, retiring on just the second lap with turbo failure heading into Becketts. The somewhat angry Italian pulled off onto the infield, threw his belts off, got out of his car and stalked back to the Lotus pits. While they would ultimately win through Prost plus would gain 4th place withNigel Mansell's stirring drive in his first GP in the Lotus-Renault in front of the home crowd, early on things were turning a bit sour for Renault. First de Angelis was out, then the second factory car of Cheever retired when his engine failed on lap 4. Then Stefan Johansson joined the growing list of retirements on lap 6 with fuel system problems in the Spirit-Honda. When Patrese's turbo gave up on lap 10, Piquet moved up to fourth behind the Ferraris and Prost, with de Cesaris fifth and Winkelhock sixth. Prost overtook Arnoux on lap 14, followed by Piquet five laps later. Then, on lap 20, Prost passed Tambay for the lead, with Piquet moving into second on lap 31. In the later stages of the race, Winkelhock's engine failed and de Cesaris dropped behind teammateMauro Baldi, while Mansell, who had qualified a lowly 18th in the second Lotus (the slowest turbo qualifier), made a charge through the field that would become his signature over the coming years, finally passing Arnoux for fourth on lap 48. At the chequered flag, Prost was 19 seconds ahead of Piquet with Tambay, Mansell, Arnoux andNiki Lauda completing the top six. One lap down on Prost, Lauda was the onlyCosworth powered car to finish in the points on a track which clearly suited the more powerful turbos.
In the Drivers' Championship, Prost doubled his lead over Piquet to six points, with Tambay two points further back. Renault moved into the outright lead of the Constructors' Championship, three points ahead of Ferrari.
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