1984 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1984 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Zolder on 29 April 1984. It was the third race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship. It was the 42nd Belgian Grand Prix, and the tenth and last to be held at Zolder. The race was held over 70 laps of the 4.26-kilometre (2.65 mi) circuit for a race distance of 298.3 kilometres (185.4 mi).

1984 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 3 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 29 April 1984
Official name XL Grote Prijs van België
Location Circuit Zolder
Heusden-Zolder, Limburg, Belgium
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.262 km (2.648 miles)
Distance 70 laps, 298.34 km (185.38 miles)
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:14.846
Fastest lap
Driver France René Arnoux Ferrari
Time 1:19.294 on lap 64
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Renault
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The race was won from pole position by Italian driver Michele Alboreto, driving a Ferrari. It was the third Grand Prix victory for Alboreto, who also became the first Italian driver to win for Ferrari since Ludovico Scarfiotti at the 1966 Italian Grand Prix. British driver Derek Warwick finished second in a Renault, some 42 seconds behind, with Alboreto's French teammate René Arnoux third.

Warwick moved into second place in the Drivers' Championship, five points behind Frenchman Alain Prost, who failed to finish in his McLaren-TAG.

Report edit

Qualifying edit

Goodyear dominated qualifying filling six of the top seven places with Michele Alboreto securing his first career pole position. Ferrari Teammate René Arnoux was second, followed by Keke Rosberg in the Williams FW09-Honda. Derek Warwick, the first Michelin runner, was fourth ahead of Elio de Angelis in the Lotus 95T-Renault and the surprisingly fast ATS D7-BMW in Formula One of Manfred Winkelhock. The McLarens were off the pace with points leader Alain Prost in eighth and Niki Lauda in 14th. Reigning world champion Nelson Piquet qualified his Brabham BT53-BMW ninth. The best of the Pirelli runners was Johnny Cecotto in 16th in his Toleman TG183B-Hart. The only non-qualifier was Philippe Alliot in his RAM-Hart.

Race edit

Alboreto led all 70 laps and was even able to retain the lead during pit stops, despite Piquet pushing through without stopping. Warwick started well to run second for much of the race with Arnoux, Winkelhock and de Angelis pursuing. Prost and Riccardo Patrese were early retirements with Johnny Cecotto dropping out on lap 1 with a broken clutch.

Lauda's McLaren MP4/2 broke its water pump at half-distance, the second such failure for the TAG-Porsche engine after Prost suffered the same fate on the warm up lap in South Africa. Shortly afterwards Winkelhock stopped and Andrea de Cesaris crashed his Ligier JS23-Renault. Piquet found himself third after the stops, but faded as the race neared its conclusion. Arnoux moved into third until he was caught by Rosberg. Piquet's BMW engine blew and with a lap to go and Rosberg ran out of fuel, allowing Arnoux to join Alboreto and Warwick on the podium. Rosberg was classified fourth, with de Angelis fifth and Stefan Bellof completing the top six in his Tyrrell 012-Ford.

Aftermath edit

The results would change months later as the impact of Tyrrell Racing's disqualification from the 1984 season saw Stefan Bellof removed from sixth position, promoting Ayrton Senna's Toleman TG183B into the points.

The Belgian Grand Prix would return to traditional home at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in 1985. The shortened version of the home of Belgian motorsport had its Formula One debut the previous year and proven instantly popular as Gilles Villeneuve's death two years earlier at Zolder was still fresh.

Classification edit

Qualifying edit

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 27   Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:18.369 1:14.846
2 28   René Arnoux Ferrari 1:18.017 1:15.398 +0.552
3 6   Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:18.617 1:15.414 +0.568
4 16   Derek Warwick Renault 1:16.311 1:15.611 +0.765
5 11   Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:17.705 1:15.979 +1.133
6 14   Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 1:18.048 1:16.130 +1.284
7 22   Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:18.052 1:16.431 +1.585
8 7   Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:16.587 1:16.595 +1.741
9 1   Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:16.604 1:24.286 +1.758
10 12   Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 1:17.433 1:16.720 +1.874
11 23   Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:18.401 1:16.746 +1.900
12 15   Patrick Tambay Renault 1:18.753 1:17.171 +2.325
13 26   Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 1:18.239 1:17.471 +2.625
14 8   Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:18.831 1:18.071 +3.225
15 5   Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 1:19.230 1:18.125 +3.279
16 20   Johnny Cecotto Toleman-Hart 1:19.537 1:18.321 +3.475
17 18   Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:19.164 1:18.351 +3.505
18 2   Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW 1:20.193 1:18.848 +4.002
19 19   Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 1:18.914 1:18.876 +4.030
20 24   Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:21.432 1:19.734 +4.888
21 4   Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 1:21.003 1:19.811 +4.965
22 3   Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford 1:20.527 1:20.123 +5.277
23 25   François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 1:20.439 1:21.493 +5.593
24 17   Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 1:20.615 1:21.088 +5.769
25 21   Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart 1:23.462 1:20.644 +5.798
26 10   Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 1:25.647 1:20.793 +5.947
DNQ 9   Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:21.253 1:44.990 +6.407
Source: [1][2][3]

Race edit

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 27   Michele Alboreto Ferrari 70 1:36:32.048 1 9
2 16   Derek Warwick Renault 70 + 42.386 4 6
3 28   René Arnoux Ferrari 70 + 1:09.803 2 4
4 6   Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 69 Out of fuel 3 3
5 11   Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 69 + 1 lap 5 2
6 19   Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 68 + 2 laps 19 1
7 15   Patrick Tambay Renault 68 + 2 laps 12  
8 17   Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 68 + 2 laps 24  
9 1   Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 66 Engine 9  
10 10   Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 64 + 6 laps 26  
DSQ 4   Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 69 Disqualified 21  
Ret 21   Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart 53 Suspension 25  
DSQ 3   Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford 51 Disqualified 22  
Ret 26   Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 42 Accident 13  
Ret 2   Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW 42 Spun off 18  
Ret 14   Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 39 Exhaust 6  
Ret 8   Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 35 Water pump 14  
Ret 23   Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 28 Engine 11  
Ret 5   Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 15 Electrical 15  
Ret 25   François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 15 Radiator 23  
Ret 18   Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 15 Engine 17  
Ret 24   Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 14 Transmission 20  
Ret 12   Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 14 Clutch 10  
Ret 7   Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 5 Distributor 8  
Ret 22   Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 2 Ignition 7  
Ret 20   Johnny Cecotto Toleman-Hart 1 Clutch 16  
DNQ 9   Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart        
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race edit

  • 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 edit

  1. ^ "Belgian Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  2. ^ "Belgian Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  3. ^ "Belgian Grand Prix - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  4. ^ "1984 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Belgium 1984 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.


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1984 South African Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1984 season
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1984 San Marino Grand Prix
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1983 Belgian Grand Prix
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1985 Belgian Grand Prix