| 1984 San Marino Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 4 of 16 in the1984 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 6 May 1984 | ||
| Official name | 4o Gran Premio di San Marino | ||
| Location | Autodromo Dino Ferrari Imola,Emilia-Romagna,Italy | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.040 km (3.132 miles) | ||
| Distance | 60 laps, 302.400 km (187.902 miles) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Brabham-BMW | ||
| Time | 1:28.517 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | |
| Time | 1:33.275 on lap 48 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-TAG | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | Lotus-Renault | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1984 San Marino Grand Prix was aFormula Onemotor race held atImola on 6 May 1984. It was the fourth race of the1984 Formula One World Championship.
A dispute between theToleman team and tyre suppliersPirelli lead toAyrton Senna missing out on Friday practice running for his first Grand Prix around Imola. On Saturday hisHart 415T engine developed a misfire leading to Senna failing to qualify, the only time this would happen in the Brazilian's F1 career.[1]
The 60-lap race was won byAlain Prost, driving aMcLaren-TAG.René Arnoux finished second in aFerrari, whileElio de Angelis was third in aLotus-Renault, despite running out of fuel on the last lap, andDerek Warwick finished fourth unable to unlap himself in the last lap largely because he was running dangerously low on fuel also and as such, followed Prost across the line so as not to have to do another lap (if he managed he would have completed more laps than de Angelis, promoting him onto the podium).Stefan Bellof finished fifth but was disqualified at the end of the season, soThierry Boutsen (Arrows-Ford) andAndrea de Cesaris (Ligier-Renault) rounded out the points finishers, despite the de Cesaris running out of fuel in the last lap.
Andrea de Cesaris running out of fuel was the third time in 1984 that a Renault had run out of fuel as the factoryRenault ofPatrick Tambay had also run out of fuel in the first two races of the season inBrazil andSouth Africa. It had become fairly obvious over the first four races that 220 litres of fuel was not enough for the Renault turbo to finish the races at a winning pace, especially compared to thePorsche built TAG turbo being used by McLaren's. After the race Warwick said"This isn't motor racing, its a bloody joke. How am I supposed to race when I know I'm going to run out of fuel?" The Englishman's big problem in the closing laps was that having to continually turn the boost down and cut his revs as he was in the negative on his fuel readout had caused his engine to misfire leaving him no choice but to follow Prost home and forget about trying to catch the Lotus of de Angelis.[2]
The race was not as straight forward for Prost as it seemed. During the race he was having a problem with his carbon brakes overheating, so much so that at one point mid-race it caused his McLaren to spin through the infield as he braked for Rivazza. The spin resolved the issue of whether or not the Frenchman would come in for tyres as it was now necessary as he had flat spotted his softMichelin 010's in the spin. However, the stop was a quick one and he retained a 20 second lead.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | 1:35.493 | 1:28.517 | |
| 2 | 7 |  Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 1:35.687 | 1:28.628 | +0.111 |
| 3 | 6 |  Keke Rosberg | Williams-Honda | 1:37.024 | 1:29.418 | +0.901 |
| 4 | 16 |  Derek Warwick | Renault | 1:36.706 | 1:29.682 | +1.165 |
| 5 | 8 |  Niki Lauda | McLaren-TAG | 1:38.021 | 1:30.325 | +1.808 |
| 6 | 28 | René Arnoux | Ferrari | 1:38.389 | 1:30.411 | +1.894 |
| 7 | 14 |  Manfred Winkelhock | ATS-BMW | 1:47.362 | 1:30.723 | +2.206 |
| 8 | 23 |  Eddie Cheever | Alfa Romeo | 1:42.731 | 1:30.843 | +2.326 |
| 9 | 2 |  Teo Fabi | Brabham-BMW | 1:37.594 | 1:30.950 | +2.433 |
| 10 | 22 | Riccardo Patrese | Alfa Romeo | 1:41.363 | 1:31.163 | +2.646 |
| 11 | 11 | Elio de Angelis | Lotus-Renault | 1:38.423 | 1:31.173 | +2.656 |
| 12 | 26 | Andrea de Cesaris | Ligier-Renault | 1:36.613 | 1:31.256 | +2.739 |
| 13 | 27 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 1:47.919 | 1:31.282 | +2.765 |
| 14 | 15 | Patrick Tambay | Renault | 1:36.250 | 1:31.633 | +3.146 |
| 15 | 5 | Jacques Laffite | Williams-Honda | 1:41.891 | 1:32.600 | +4.083 |
| 16 | 17 |  Marc Surer | Arrows-BMW | 1:42.046 | 1:33.063 | +4.546 |
| 17 | 25 | François Hesnault | Ligier-Renault | 1:40.356 | 1:33.186 | +4.669 |
| 18 | 12 | Nigel Mansell | Lotus-Renault | 1:38.363 | 1:34.477 | +5.960 |
| 19 | 20 |  Johnny Cecotto | Toleman-Hart | no time | 1:35.568 | +7.051 |
| 20 | 18 |  Thierry Boutsen | Arrows-Ford | 1:40.920 | 1:36.018 | +7.501 |
| 21 | 4 | Stefan Bellof | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:39.765 | 1:36.059 | +7.542 |
| 22 | 3 | Martin Brundle | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:41.123 | 1:36.531 | +8.014 |
| 23 | 9 | Philippe Alliot | RAM-Hart | 1:43.132 | 1:36.733 | +8.216 |
| 24 | 21 | Mauro Baldi | Spirit-Hart | 1:42.249 | 1:36.916 | +8.399 |
| 25 | 10 | Jonathan Palmer | RAM-Hart | 1:53.014 | 1:37.262 | +8.745 |
| 26 | 30 | Jo Gartner | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:50.979 | 1:38.948 | +10.431 |
| 27 | 24 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:40.790 | 2:05.421 | +12.273 |
| 28 | 19 | Ayrton Senna | Toleman-Hart | no time | 1:41.585 | +13.068 |
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| Previous race: 1984 Belgian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1984 season | Next race: 1984 French Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1983 San Marino Grand Prix | San Marino Grand Prix | Next race: 1985 San Marino Grand Prix |
