| 1984 Austrian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 12 of 16 in the1984 Formula One World Championship | |||
 The Österreichring(last modified in 1977) | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 19 August 1984 | ||
| Official name | XXII HolidayGroßer Preis von Österreich | ||
| Location | Österreichring,Spielberg,Styria,Austria | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.942 km (3.692 miles) | ||
| Distance | 51 laps, 303.042 km (188.292 miles) | ||
| Weather | Dry | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Brabham-BMW | ||
| Time | 1:26.173 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Niki Lauda | McLaren-TAG | |
| Time | 1:32.882 on lap 23 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-TAG | ||
| Second | Brabham-BMW | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1984 Austrian Grand Prix was aFormula Onemotor race held atÖsterreichring on 19 August 1984. It was the twelfth race of the1984 Formula One World Championship, and the 400th Grand Prix held as part of the World Championship since it began in1950.
The 51-lap race was won by local driverNiki Lauda, driving aMcLaren-TAG. BrazilianNelson Piquet finished second in aBrabham-BMW, having started frompole position, with ItalianMichele Alboreto third in aFerrari. The win, Lauda's fourth of the season, gave him the lead of the Drivers' Championship by 4.5 points from his French teammateAlain Prost, who spun out shortly after half distance.
The race had to be stopped soon after the first start, due to a problem with the starting lights which caused chaos among the drivers with Niki Lauda claiming that he saw "Red, green, yellow then red again". This caused 3rd fastest qualifierElio de Angelis to hesitate badly off the line and hisLotus-Renault was almost hit from behind by several cars and saw theToleman-Hart ofAyrton Senna in 4th place by the time they reached Hella-Licht after starting 10th. On the formation lap for the re-start, pole sitter Piquet, who had seen the McLarens change tyres on the grid, angered the other drivers when he led the field on an extremely slow lap in an effort to not allow Prost or Lauda to scrub in their newMichelin rubber.
Alain Prost, Lauda's team mate and the World Championship leader going into the race, failed to finish after spinning off on oil at theJochen Rindt Curve on lap 28, that came from the Lotus of Elio de Angelis when his Renault engine failed moments before Prost retired (de Angelis later received criticism for continuing to drive his car on the racing line while dropping oil). Prost had been running a close second behind Piquet at the time of his spin. Piquet came upon the oil of de Angelis first and managed to keep his car from sliding off despite a twitch on the oil. Prost however was having gear selection problems and hit the oil with one hand on his steering wheel and the other on his gear lever. This saw him spin off and clout the outside guardrail almost nose first, the resulting suspension damage causing his immediate retirement. Lauda moved into second and then passed Piquet for the lead, the Brazilian suffering tyre trouble. Despite a brief gearbox problem where for a few hundred metres he could not find a gear before eventually finding 4th coming out of the Texaco Schikane, Lauda went on to win his home race by 23 seconds largely only having 3rd and 5th gears left in hisMcLaren's gearbox.
Another Austrian driverGerhard Berger, who would go on to win 10 Grands Prix before retiring at the end of the1997 season, made his Formula One debut at the Österreichring, finishing 12th and last in hisATS-BMW. The third Austrian in the race,Jo Gartner, retired after only 6 laps with engine troubles in hisOsella-Alfa Romeo.
BothRenaults retired with engine failures, Derek Warwick on lap 18 andPatrick Tambay on lap 43.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | 1:26.928 | 1:26.173 | ||
| 2 | 7 |  Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 1:26.203 | 1:27.098 | +0.030 | |
| 3 | 11 |  Elio de Angelis | Lotus-Renault | 1:27.531 | 1:26.318 | +0.145 | |
| 4 | 8 | Niki Lauda | McLaren-TAG | 1:26.715 | 1:27.312 | +0.542 | |
| 5 | 15 | Patrick Tambay | Renault | 1:27.748 | 1:26.748 | +0.575 | |
| 6 | 16 |  Derek Warwick | Renault | 1:27.928 | 1:27.123 | +0.950 | |
| 7 | 2 | Teo Fabi | Brabham-BMW | 1:29.893 | 1:27.201 | +1.028 | |
| 8 | 12 | Nigel Mansell | Lotus-Renault | 1:28.430 | 1:27.558 | +1.385 | |
| 9 | 6 |  Keke Rosberg | Williams-Honda | 1:28.760 | 1:29.012 | +2.587 | |
| 10 | 19 | Ayrton Senna | Toleman-Hart | 1:29.463 | 1:29.200 | +3.027 | |
| 11 | 5 | Jacques Laffite | Williams-Honda | 1:29.228 | 1:31.498 | +3.055 | |
| 12 | 27 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 1:29.694 | 1:30.000 | +3.541 | |
| 13 | 22 | Riccardo Patrese | Alfa Romeo | 1:30.966 | 1:30.736 | +4.563 | |
| 14 | 14 |  Manfred Winkelhock | ATS-BMW | 1:33.276 | 1:30.853 | +4.680 | |
| 15 | 28 | René Arnoux | Ferrari | 1:31.003 | 1:31.313 | +4.830 | |
| 16 | 23 |  Eddie Cheever | Alfa Romeo | 1:31.250 | 1:31.045 | +4.872 | |
| 17 | 18 |  Thierry Boutsen | Arrows-BMW | 1:31.255 | 1:31.189 | +5.016 | |
| 18 | 26 | Andrea de Cesaris | Ligier-Renault | 1:36.771 | 1:31.588 | +5.415 | |
| 19 | 17 |  Marc Surer | Arrows-BMW | 1:31.701 | 1:31.655 | +5.482 | |
| 20 | 31 | Gerhard Berger | ATS-BMW | 1:31.904 | no time | +5.731 | |
| 21 | 25 | François Hesnault | Ligier-Renault | 1:32.582 | 1:32.270 | +6.097 | |
| 22 | 30 | Jo Gartner | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:35.212 | 1:33.019 | +6.846 | |
| 23 | 24 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:33.172 | no time | +6.999 | |
| 24 | 10 | Jonathan Palmer | RAM-Hart | 1:34.622 | 1:34.128 | +7.955 | |
| 25 | 9 | Philippe Alliot | RAM-Hart | 1:34.495 | 1:44.304 | +8.322 | |
| 26 | 21 |  Huub Rothengatter | Spirit-Hart | 1:00:43.900 | 1:35.605 | +9.432 | |
| 27 | 3 |  Stefan Johansson | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:37.292 | 1:36.282 | +10.109 | |
| 28 | 4 | Stefan Bellof | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:37.535 | 1:37.893 | +11.362 | |
| Source:[1][2][3] | |||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Previous race: 1984 German Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1984 season | Next race: 1984 Dutch Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1983 Austrian Grand Prix | Austrian Grand Prix | Next race: 1985 Austrian Grand Prix |
