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| 1983 French Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 3 of 15 in the1983 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 17 April 1983 | ||
| Location | Paul Ricard Circuit | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.810[1] km (3.610 miles) | ||
| Distance | 54 laps, 313.740[1] km (194.949 miles) | ||
| Weather | Dry, grey and cool[1] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Renault | ||
| Time | 1:36.672 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Alain Prost | Renault | |
| Time | 1:42.695 on lap 34 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Renault | ||
| Second | Brabham-BMW | ||
| Third | Renault | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1983 French Grand Prix was aFormula Onemotor race held atPaul Ricard on 17 April 1983.
French driverAlain Prost won the race for theRenault team, and this was the French marque's 3rd French Grand Prix win in a row and the 4th in 5 seasons. Second was theBrabham-BMW of1981 World ChampionNelson Piquet, with Prost's Renault teammateEddie Cheever finishing third. Rounding out the points finishers werePatrick Tambay in hisFerrari, and the non-turboWilliamses ofKeke Rosberg andJacques Laffite. This was the final time that bothRenault cars started on the front row until the2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, when young SpaniardFernando Alonso andJarno Trulli started on the front row.
On home soil, Renault dominated the French Grand Prix. Alain Prost took pole position 2.3 seconds faster than second placed teammate Eddie Cheever. It would be Cheever's best ever qualifying position in Formula One. On the fast Circuit Paul Ricard with its 1.8 km long Mistral Straight, the turbo engines with their greater power had a large advantage. The fastest normally-aspirated car was the 12th placedMcLaren-Ford ofLong Beach runner upNiki Lauda, qualifying some 4.3 seconds slower than pole-sitter Prost. After occupying the front row of the grid at Long Beach, Ferrari had difficulty withRené Arnoux qualifying 4th and Tambay faring worse, only qualifying 11th.
Chico Serra returned to the grid in the No.30Arrows-Ford after the expected sponsorship that would have keptAustralia's1980 World ChampionAlan Jones in the seat for the remainder of the season fell through at the last minute. Serra, who qualified 26th in France, would only last this and the next two races inImola andMonaco before Arrows team bossJackie Oliver replaced him for good withBelgian rookieThierry Boutsen (who had finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the1981 and1982European Formula Two Championships) at theBelgian Grand Prix.
Failing to qualify for the race were theRAM-Fords ofEliseo Salazar and debutanteJean-Louis Schlesser, and theOsella ofPiercarlo Ghinzani.
As he had done in qualifying, Prost dominated the race for his first win in over 12 months, only losing the lead during the mid-race pit stops. Piquet finished second in the Brabham-BMW while Eddie Cheever finished 3rd in his Renault. Tambay managed to salvage what had been a tough weekend by finishing 4th with the Williams pair of Rosberg and Laffite finishing a lap down in 5th and 6th respectively.
Before the race,Lotus driverNigel Mansell had his toes accidentally run over by his own team pushing his car in the pits which caused him to need a pain killing injection. He started the race but retired after just 6 laps when the pain of pushing the pedals became unbearable. Long Beach winnerJohn Watson was the races first retirement on lap 3 with engine failure in his McLaren.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | Alain Prost | Renault | 1:38.358 | 1:36.672 | — |
| 2 | 16 |  Eddie Cheever | Renault | 1:38.980 | 1:39.785 | +2.308 |
| 3 | 6 |  Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | 1:41.095 | 1:39.104 | +2.432 |
| 4 | 28 | René Arnoux | Ferrari | 1:40.027 | 1:39.115 | +2.443 |
| 5 | 11 | Elio de Angelis | Lotus-Renault | 1:39.512 | 1:39.312 | +2.640 |
| 6 | 5 |  Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | 1:39.601 | 1:39.746 | +2.929 |
| 7 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Alfa Romeo | 1:38.099† | 1:39.611 | +2.939 |
| 8 | 23 | Mauro Baldi | Alfa Romeo | 1:41.215 | 1:39.618 | +2.946 |
| 9 | 35 |  Derek Warwick | Toleman-Hart | 1:43.038 | 1:39.881 | +3.209 |
| 10 | 9 |  Manfred Winkelhock | ATS-BMW | 1:40.233 | 1:44.997 | +3.561 |
| 11 | 27 | Patrick Tambay | Ferrari | 1:40.393 | 1:40.488 | +3.721 |
| 12 | 8 |  Niki Lauda | McLaren-Ford | 1:41.065 | 1:41.492 | +4.393 |
| 13 | 36 | Bruno Giacomelli | Toleman-Hart | 1:42.219 | 1:41.775 | +5.103 |
| 14 | 7 | John Watson | McLaren-Ford | 1:41.838 | 1:42.448 | +5.166 |
| 15 | 3 | Michele Alboreto | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:42.177 | 1:43.317 | +5.505 |
| 16 | 1 |  Keke Rosberg | Williams-Ford | 1:42.450 | 1:42.551 | +5.778 |
| 17 | 34 |  Johnny Cecotto | Theodore-Ford | 1:43.552 | 1:42.615 | +5.943 |
| 18 | 12 | Nigel Mansell | Lotus-Ford | 1:43.320 | 1:42.650 | +5.978 |
| 19 | 2 | Jacques Laffite | Williams-Ford | 1:43.295 | 1:42.678 | +6.006 |
| 20 | 25 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | Ligier-Ford | 1:42.808 | 1:42.737 | +6.065 |
| 21 | 29 |  Marc Surer | Arrows-Ford | 1:42.962 | 1:44.346 | +6.290 |
| 22 | 33 |  Roberto Guerrero | Theodore-Ford | 1:43.367 | 1:43.602 | +6.695 |
| 23 | 31 | Corrado Fabi | Osella-Ford | 1:45.638 | 1:43.411 | +6.739 |
| 24 | 4 | Danny Sullivan | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:44.317 | 1:43.654 | +6.982 |
| 25 | 26 | Raul Boesel | Ligier-Ford | 1:44.470 | 1:44.905 | +7.798 |
| 26 | 30 | Chico Serra | Arrows-Ford | 1:44.778 | 1:45.859 | +8.106 |
| 27 | 17 |  Eliseo Salazar | RAM-Ford | 1:45.073 | 2:02.335 | +8.401 |
| 28 | 32 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Osella-Ford | 1:46.541 | 1:45.812 | +9.140 |
| 29 | 18 | Jean-Louis Schlesser | RAM-Ford | 1:45.866 | 1:46.102 | +9.194 |
| Source:[2][3][4][5] | ||||||
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| Previous race: 1983 United States Grand Prix West | FIA Formula One World Championship 1983 season | Next race: 1983 San Marino Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1982 French Grand Prix | French Grand Prix | Next race: 1984 French Grand Prix |
