43°44′4.74″N7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E /43.7346500; 7.421333
| 1984 Monaco Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 6 of 16 in the1984 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 3 June 1984 | ||
| Location | Circuit de Monaco,Monte Carlo,Monaco | ||
| Course | Street circuit | ||
| Course length | 3.312 km (2.057 miles) | ||
| Distance | 31 laps, 102.672 km (63.737 miles) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 76 laps, 251.712 km (156.406 miles) | ||
| Weather | Heavy rain and spray | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-TAG | ||
| Time | 1:22.661 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Ayrton Senna | Toleman-Hart | |
| Time | 1:54.334 on lap 24 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-TAG | ||
| Second | Toleman-Hart | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1984 Monaco Grand Prix was aFormula Onemotor race held atMonaco on 3 June 1984. It was race 6 of 16 in the1984 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was the only race of the 1984 championship that was run in wet weather.
Alain Prost won the rain-curtailed race from pole position.Ayrton Senna was second in his first podium in Formula One.René Arnoux was later promoted to third after the disqualification ofStefan Bellof.
During practice,Tyrrell'sMartin Brundle had a huge crash at the Tabac corner. He landed upside down and was slightly injured, but it was enough to make him a non-qualifier for the race. Brundle later said that he ran back to the pits and had actually gotten into the spare car before team bossKen Tyrrell got on the radio and asked him if he was OK after the accident. It was then discovered that Brundle could not actually remember how he returned to the pits, so the boss wisely would not allow Brundle to go back onto the track and ordered him out of the car. He then took Brundle to see Formula One medical chiefSid Watkins, who after an examination concluded that the rookie driver was slightly concussed and the decision was made to withdraw him from the race weekend.
Alain Prost took his first pole position forMcLaren with a time of 1:22.661, just ahead of theLotus-Renault ofNigel Mansell. Prost's pole was also the first pole for theMcLaren MP4/2 as well as for theTAG-Porsche engine.Stefan Bellof was the only non-turbo qualifier in hisTyrrell-Cosworth. Bellof qualified 20th and last while Brundle's crash behind the pits at Tabac saw him as a spectator for the race. Bellof's time edged theArrows-Ford ofMarc Surer by just 0.156. The turbo cars ofEddie Cheever (Alfa Romeo) andThierry Boutsen (Arrows-BMW) both failed to qualify.
BMW had built specially detuned engines forBrabham to use at Monaco. Instead of the normal 900 bhp (671 kW; 912 PS) engines, theBrabhams only had around 700 bhp (522 kW; 710 PS) to play with, the theory being that full power was not needed at Monaco and the detuned engines would be more drivable. It was also an attempt at better reliability as the team had yet to score a point for the year. Never at ease at Monaco, reigning World ChampionNelson Piquet qualified 9th. WithTeo Fabi having commitments to race theUS basedIndyCars atMilwaukee on the same weekend his brotherCorrado Fabi drove the second Brabham, qualifying 15th.
The race, held amidst heavy rain, was one of the most contentious in Formula One history, and announced the emergence of at least two new stars.Alain Prost took the first of his four victories at the circuit.[1]
The race start was delayed by 45 minutes due to the heavy rain. With the rain soaking the track,Niki Lauda sought outBernie Ecclestone on the grid in a bid to have the tunnel flooded as well. The tunnel was dry but coated with oil from the previous days' use (as well as from the historic cars which were on the program that weekend) which Lauda explained had turned it into a fifth gear skid pad when the cars came racing in carrying the spray from their tyres in the morning warmup. Ecclestone used his power as the head of theFormula One Constructors Association to do exactly that, with a local fire truck called in to water down the only dry road on the track.[2]
Pole-sitter Prost led the race from the start, while first corner contact betweenFerrari'sRené Arnoux and theRenault ofDerek Warwick pitched Warwick's car into the fence on the outside of St. Devote and into the path of his team-matePatrick Tambay. Both drivers suffered leg injuries; Warwick bruised his left leg while Tambay broke his leg after his car's suspension punched through thecarbon fibremonocoque, causing him to miss the next round inCanada.
Prost was passed on lap nine byNigel Mansell, to lead a Grand Prix for the first time, when Prost's TAG engine was misfiring and he was delayed by bothCorrado Fabi's stalled Brabham andMichele Alboreto's about-to-be-lapped Ferrari just before the tunnel (Prost actually hit a marshal who was pushing Fabi's car away but with no serious injury).[citation needed] Mansell pulled away from Prost at around two seconds per lap, before going off six laps later on the run up to Casino Square after sliding on a painted white line, damaging his car and retiring from the race.
Lauda disposed of Arnoux but Prost assumed the lead again, only to have theToleman-Hart ofAyrton Senna, who had also passed the Ferrari, quickly closing in. Senna had started thirteenth in the generally uncompetitiveToleman, in the first Formula One street race in his rookie season, and was showing his wet weather skills that would become legendary.[3] On lap 29, Prost waved to the stewards of the race to indicate that he felt the race should be stopped. He was also suffering from a major brake imbalance as his McLaren's carbon brakes were locking due to not generating enough heat in the conditions, the same problem that had caused Lauda to spin at Casino Square on lap 23, whereupon he stalled his engine and was out of the race. A slowing Prost waved again on lap 31 as he passed the start/finish line.
The red flag to stop the race was shown at the end of the 32nd lap after clerk of the courseJacky Ickx decided that conditions were too poor for the race to continue. Senna passed Prost's slowing McLaren before the finish line, but according to the rules, the positions counted are those from the last lap completed by every driver – lap 31, at which point Prost was still leading.[4] The stoppage was controversial, as it benefited Prost with aPorsche-designed engine, and was made by Ickx, the lead driver with the factory runRothmans Porsche team in sports car racing. Ickx was suspended from his race control duties for not consulting with the stewards over his decision before making it.[5]
Stefan Bellof, running in the only naturally aspirated car in the race, finished third. Bellof had qualified 20th and last in hisTyrrell 012-Cosworth.[4] His drive from last to third was a stand-out achievement in his short career, although he was later disqualified due to weight restrictions broken by Tyrrell. His drive led to negotiations with Ferrari for a drive for 1986 alongside Michele Alboreto, as René Arnoux was under contract in 1985.[6] TheTyrrell team's results were erased later in the season due to weight infringements, meaning that Bellof was stripped of his podium finish, with his place being taken byRené Arnoux. It would prove to be Bellof's only podium visit during his Formula One career.
This was the first time that Ayrton Senna had set a Formula One fastest lap. It was also Toleman's second and final fastest lap in Formula One (Derek Warwick had set the team's only other fastest lap during the1982 Dutch Grand Prix atZandvoort).
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |  Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 1:23.944 | 1:22.661 | |
| 2 | 12 |  Nigel Mansell | Lotus-Renault | 1:24.927 | 1:22.752 | +0.091 |
| 3 | 28 | René Arnoux | Ferrari | 1:24.661 | 1:22.935 | +0.274 |
| 4 | 27 |  Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 1:23.581 | 1:22.937 | +0.276 |
| 5 | 16 | Derek Warwick | Renault | 1:23.726 | 1:23.237 | +0.576 |
| 6 | 15 | Patrick Tambay | Renault | 1:24.828 | 1:23.414 | +0.753 |
| 7 | 26 | Andrea de Cesaris | Ligier-Renault | 1:25.939 | 1:23.578 | +0.917 |
| 8 | 8 |  Niki Lauda | McLaren-TAG | 1:24.508 | 1:23.886 | +1.225 |
| 9 | 1 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | 1:24.139 | 1:23.918 | +1.257 |
| 10 | 6 |  Keke Rosberg | Williams-Honda | 1:26.017 | 1:24.151 | +1.490 |
| 11 | 11 | Elio de Angelis | Lotus-Renault | 1:25.602 | 1:24.426 | +1.765 |
| 12 | 14 |  Manfred Winkelhock | ATS-BMW | 1:52.889 | 1:24.473 | +1.812 |
| 13 | 19 | Ayrton Senna | Toleman-Hart | 1:27.865 | 1:25.009 | +2.348 |
| 14 | 22 | Riccardo Patrese | Alfa Romeo | 1:28.072 | 1:25.101 | +2.440 |
| 15 | 2 | Corrado Fabi | Brabham-BMW | 1:31.618 | 1:25.290 | +2.629 |
| 16 | 5 | Jacques Laffite | Williams-Honda | 1:27.356 | 1:25.719 | +3.058 |
| 17 | 25 | François Hesnault | Ligier-Renault | 1:27.678 | 1:25.815 | +3.154 |
| 18 | 20 |  Johnny Cecotto | Toleman-Hart | 1:28.241 | 1:25.872 | +3.211 |
| 19 | 24 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:27.723 | 1:25.877 | +3.216 |
| 20 | 4 | Stefan Bellof | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:27.834 | 1:26.117 | +3.456 |
| 21 | 17 |  Marc Surer | Arrows-Ford | 1:27.919 | 1:26.273 | +3.612 |
| 22 | 3 | Martin Brundle | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:27.891 | 1:26.373 | +3.712 |
| 23 | 23 |  Eddie Cheever | Alfa Romeo | 1:28.961 | 1:26.471 | +3.810 |
| 24 | 18 |  Thierry Boutsen | Arrows-BMW | 1:28.000 | 1:26.514 | +3.853 |
| 25 | 10 | Jonathan Palmer | RAM-Hart | 1:29.778 | 1:27.458 | +4.797 |
| 26 | 21 | Mauro Baldi | Spirit-Hart | 1:28.360 | 1:30.146 | +5.699 |
| 27 | 9 | Philippe Alliot | RAM-Hart | 1:29.637 | 1:29.576 | +6.915 |
*Positions with a pink background indicate drivers that failed to qualify
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| Previous race: 1984 French Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1984 season | Next race: 1984 Canadian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1983 Monaco Grand Prix | Monaco Grand Prix | Next race: 1985 Monaco Grand Prix |
