1984 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix, officially known as the XIII Grande Prêmio Brasil de Fórmula 1 was a Formula One motor race held on 25 March 1984 in Rio de Janeiro. The race was contested over 61 laps of Jacarepaguá Circuit and was the first race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship. This race was the 13th edition of the Brazilian Grand Prix, the ninth time that the Jacarepaguá Circuit race held a Grand Prix, and marked the debut of Ayrton Senna in Formula One.

1984 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 1 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 25 March 1984
Official name XIII Grande Prêmio Brasil de Fórmula 1
Location Jacarepaguá Circuit
Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.031 km (3.126 miles)
Distance 61 laps, 306.891 km (190.693 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver Lotus-Renault
Time 1:28.392
Fastest lap
Driver France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG
Time 1:36.499 on lap 42
Podium
First McLaren-TAG
Second Williams-Honda
Third Lotus-Renault
Lap leaders

In qualifying, Italian driver, Elio de Angelis from Team Lotus claimed pole for the second time in his career as he finished ahead of fellow Italian driver, Michele Alboreto who was in the Ferrari. In the race it was Alain Prost in the McLaren car who would take out his second win in Brazil. He finished ahead of Keke Rosberg who was in the Williams with de Angelis finishing in third.

Qualifying

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Elio de Angelis claimed the first pole position of the season in his Lotus-Renault from the Ferrari of Michele Alboreto in his first race for the Prancing Horse. Derek Warwick, in his first race for Renault, was 3rd on the grid with the McLaren-TAG of Alain Prost 4th, Prost returning to the team he started his career with after three seasons with Renault. Reigning World Champion (and local favourite) Nelson Piquet qualified 7th in his Brabham-BMW, while another Brazilian, a Formula One rookie by the name of Ayrton Senna qualified 17th for his first ever Grand Prix in his Toleman-Hart.

Race

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With only 220 litres of fuel allowed, many teams on the grid tried various ways to save fuel from evaporating in the Rio heat. McLaren covered their cars in tin foil while others such as Lotus and Renault attempted to freeze their fuel in order to actually fit more in. The Renault team also had a sophisticated (for 1984) electronic fuel monitoring system which they hoped would give them an advantage over their rivals.

Alboreto got the jump at the start and led early from Warwick and de Angelis, with the McLarens of Niki Lauda 4th and Prost fighting back from a bad start. The Frenchman had bogged down at the green light with too few revs and was only 10th at the end of the first lap (Piquet also made a bad start after almost stalling at the green light and much to the agony of the crowd, was only in 23rd halfway through the first lap). Not having done a practice start in the car, during the warm-up Prost had asked Lauda what revs to use at the start. Lauda told him no less than 10,000 but on the grid Prost felt this was too high and dropped to 8,000 only to find Lauda had been correct. Despite this he was beginning to show the superior race speed which would become the story of the season. Lauda quickly passed de Angelis and when he passed Warwick for 2nd at the end of the back straight on lap 10, the McLaren's right rear hit the Renault's left front tyre. The hit damaged Warwick's suspension, leading to suspension failure for the Renault driver late in the race when running second.

Senna was the first retirement of the 1984 season with turbo failure on lap 8.

Alboreto's race was ruined by a loose bolt in his car's right front brake caliper which released all the brake fluid and caused the brake to overheat, resulting in a couple of spins and a pit stop where buckets of water were thrown over the brakes in a vain attempt at cooling it. Lauda was leading by some 40 seconds on lap 34 when the wires to his McLaren's battery came loose causing electrical failure. After almost stalling his Brabham-BMW at the start, Piquet finished an unhappy race on lap 32 when the BMW engine failed coming onto the pit straight.

After passing Warwick for the lead, Prost, who was in the pits for a tyre change when Lauda coasted in to retire, lost the lead back to the Englishman when he made his second stop for tyres. He regained the lead for good following Warwick's retirement and ran out the winner by 40 seconds from the Williams-Honda of Keke Rosberg and the Lotus of de Angelis. For Rosberg it was his third successive second place in the Brazilian Grand Prix, though it was the only one in which he was not disqualified. Eddie Cheever finish 4th in the Alfa Romeo, while Renault's Patrick Tambay was classified in 6th after running out of fuel on the last lap, losing 5th to another F1 rookie, Martin Brundle in his Tyrrell-Ford.

Brundle, and the Tyrrell team, would later be disqualified from the season for technical infringements. This promoted Tambay to 5th and the Arrows-Ford of Thierry Boutsen to 6th.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 11   Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:29.625 1:28.392
2 27   Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:29.950 1:28.898 +0.506
3 16   Derek Warwick Renault 1:30.945 1:29.025 +0.633
4 7   Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:29.823 1:29.330 +0.938
5 12   Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 1:29.364 1:30.182 +0.972
6 8   Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:29.951 1:29.854 +1.462
7 1   Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:31.068 1:30.149 +1.757
8 15   Patrick Tambay Renault 1:30.719 1:30.554 +2.162
9 6   Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:31.778 1:30.611 +2.219
10 28   René Arnoux Ferrari 1:30.832 1:30.695 +2.303
11 22   Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:30.973 1:31.679 +2.581
12 23   Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:33.115 1:31.282 +2.890
13 5   Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 1:32.032 1:31.548 +3.156
14 26   Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 1:34.622 1:32.895 +4.503
15 14   Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 1:35.395 1:32.997 +4.253
16 2   Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW 1:33.951 1:33.227 +4.835
17 19   Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 1:36.867 1:33.525 +5.133
18 20   Johnny Cecotto Toleman-Hart 1:35.980 1:35.300 +6.908
19 3   Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford 1:36.081 1:36.191 +7.689
20 25   François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 1:36.257 1:36.238 +7.846
21 18   Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford 1:36.737 1:36.312 +7.920
22 24   Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:40.431 1:36.434 +8.042
23 4   Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 1:36.957 1:36.609 +8.217
24 21   Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart 1:36.816 1:39.873 +8.424
25 17   Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 1:37.204 1:37.348 +8.812
26 9   Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:38.124 1:37.709 +9.317
DNQ 10   Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 1:39.840 1:37.919 +9.527
Source: [1][2][3]

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 7   Alain Prost McLaren-TAG M 61 1:42:34.492 4 9
2 6   Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda G 61 + 40.514 9 6
3 11   Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault G 61 + 59.128 1 4
4 23   Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo G 60 + 1 Lap 12 3
5 15   Patrick Tambay Renault M 59 Out of Fuel 8 2
6 18   Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford G 59 + 2 Laps 20 1
7 17   Marc Surer Arrows-Ford G 59 + 2 Laps 24  
8 10   Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart P 58 + 3 Laps 26  
DSQ 3   Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford G 60 Disqualified 18  
Ret 16   Derek Warwick Renault M 51 Suspension 3  
Ret 26   Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault M 42 Gearbox 14  
Ret 22   Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo G 41 Gearbox 11  
Ret 8   Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG M 38 Electrical 6  
Ret 12   Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault G 35 Accident 5  
Ret 1   Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW M 32 Engine 7  
Ret 2   Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW M 32 Turbo 15  
Ret 28   René Arnoux Ferrari G 30 Battery 10  
Ret 24   Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo P 28 Gearbox 21  
Ret 25   François Hesnault Ligier-Renault M 25 Overheating 19  
Ret 9   Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart P 24 Battery 25  
Ret 20   Johnny Cecotto Toleman-Hart P 18 Turbo 17  
Ret 5   Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda G 15 Electrical 13  
Ret 27   Michele Alboreto Ferrari G 14 Brakes 2  
Ret 21   Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart P 12 Distributor 23  
DSQ 4   Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford G 11 Disqualified 22  
Ret 19   Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart P 8 Turbo 16  
EX 14   Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW P 0 Excluded    
Source:[4][5]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Points accurate at final declaration of results. Tyrrell and its drivers were subsequently disqualified and their points reallocated.

References

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  1. ^ "Brazilian Grand Prix 1984 - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  2. ^ "Brazilian Grand Prix 1984 - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  3. ^ "Brazilian Grand Prix 1984 - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  4. ^ "1984 Brazilian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  5. ^ "1984 Brazilian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 25 March 1984. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Brazil 1984 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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