1984 Austrian Grand Prix Explained

Type:F1
Country:Austria
Grand Prix:Austrian
Date:19 August
Year:1984
Official Name:XXII Holiday Großer Preis von Österreich
Race No:12
Season No:16
Location:Österreichring, Spielberg, Styria, Austria
Course:Permanent racing facility
Course Mi:3.692
Course Km:5.942
Distance Laps:51
Distance Mi:188.292
Distance Km:303.042
Weather:Dry
Pole Driver:Nelson Piquet
Pole Team:Brabham-BMW
Pole Time:1:26.173
Pole Country:Brazil
Pole Flag Suffix:1968
Fast Driver:Niki Lauda
Fast Team:McLaren-TAG
Fast Time:1:32.882
Fast Lap:23
Fast Country:Austria
First Driver:Niki Lauda
First Team:McLaren-TAG
First Country:Austria
Second Driver:Nelson Piquet
Second Team:Brabham-BMW
Second Country:Brazil
Second Flag Suffix:1968
Third Driver:Michele Alboreto
Third Team:Ferrari
Third Country:Italy

The 1984 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on 19 August 1984. It was the twelfth race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship, and the 400th Grand Prix held as part of the World Championship since it began in .

The 51-lap race was won by local driver Niki Lauda, driving a McLaren-TAG. Brazilian Nelson Piquet finished second in a Brabham-BMW, having started from pole position, with Italian Michele Alboreto third in a Ferrari. The win, Lauda's fourth of the season, gave him the lead of the Drivers' Championship by 4.5 points from his French teammate Alain Prost, who spun out shortly after half distance.

Report

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 qualifier Elio de Angelis to hesitate badly off the line and his Lotus-Renault was almost hit from behind by several cars and saw the Toleman-Hart of Ayrton 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 new Michelin 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 the Jochen Rindt Curve on lap 28, that came from the Lotus of Elio de Angelis when his Renault engine failed moments before Prost retired. 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, spinning off into retirement. Lauda moved into second and then passed Piquet for the lead, the Brazilian suffering tyre trouble. Despite a brief gearbox problem, Lauda went on to win his home race by 23 seconds.

Another Austrian driver Gerhard Berger, who would go on to win 10 Grands Prix before retiring at the end of the season, made his Formula One debut at the Österreichring, finishing 12th and last in his ATS-BMW. The third Austrian in the race, Jo Gartner, retired after only 6 laps with engine troubles in his Osella-Alfa Romeo.

Both Renaults retired with engine failures, Derek Warwick on lap 18 and Patrick Tambay on lap 43.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
11 Nelson PiquetBrabham-BMW1:26.9281:26.173
27 Alain ProstMcLaren-TAG1:26.2031:27.098+0.030
311 Elio de AngelisLotus-Renault1:27.5311:26.318+0.145
48 Niki LaudaMcLaren-TAG1:26.7151:27.312+0.542
515 Patrick TambayRenault1:27.7481:26.748+0.575
616 Derek WarwickRenault1:27.9281:27.123+0.950
72 Teo FabiBrabham-BMW1:29.8931:27.201+1.028
812 Nigel MansellLotus-Renault1:28.4301:27.558+1.385
96 Keke RosbergWilliams-Honda1:28.7601:29.012+2.587
1019 Ayrton SennaToleman-Hart1:29.4631:29.200+3.027
115 Jacques LaffiteWilliams-Honda1:29.2281:31.498+3.055
1227 Michele AlboretoFerrari1:29.6941:30.000+3.541
1322 Riccardo PatreseAlfa Romeo1:30.9661:30.736+4.563
1414 Manfred WinkelhockATS-BMW1:33.2761:30.853+4.680
1528 René ArnouxFerrari1:31.0031:31.313+4.830
1623 Eddie CheeverAlfa Romeo1:31.2501:31.045+4.872
1718 Thierry BoutsenArrows-BMW1:31.2551:31.189+5.016
1826 Andrea de CesarisLigier-Renault1:36.7711:31.588+5.415
1917 Marc SurerArrows-BMW1:31.7011:31.655+5.482
2031 Gerhard BergerATS-BMW1:31.904no time+5.731
2125 François HesnaultLigier-Renault1:32.5821:32.270+6.097
2230 Jo GartnerOsella-Alfa Romeo1:35.2121:33.019+6.846
2324 Piercarlo GhinzaniOsella-Alfa Romeo1:33.172no time+6.999
2410 Jonathan PalmerRAM-Hart1:34.6221:34.128+7.955
259 Philippe AlliotRAM-Hart1:34.4951:44.304+8.322
2621 Huub RothengatterSpirit-Hart1:00:43.9001:35.605+9.432
273 Stefan JohanssonTyrrell-Ford1:37.2921:36.282+10.109
284 Stefan BellofTyrrell-Ford1:37.5351:37.893+11.362
Source:[1] [2] [3]

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
18 Niki LaudaMcLaren-TAG511:21:12.85149
21 Nelson PiquetBrabham-BMW51+ 23.52516
327 Michele AlboretoFerrari51+ 48.998124
42 Teo FabiBrabham-BMW51+ 56.31273
518 Thierry BoutsenArrows-BMW50+ 1 Lap172
617 Marc SurerArrows-BMW50+ 1 Lap191
728 René ArnouxFerrari50+ 1 Lap15 
825 François HesnaultLigier-Renault49+ 2 Laps21 
910 Jonathan PalmerRAM-Hart49+ 2 Laps24 
1022 Riccardo PatreseAlfa Romeo48Out of Fuel13 
119 Philippe AlliotRAM-Hart48+ 3 Laps25 
1231 Gerhard BergerATS-BMW48Gearbox20 
Ret15 Patrick TambayRenault42Engine5 
Ret19 Ayrton SennaToleman-Hart35Oil Pressure10 
Ret12 Nigel MansellLotus-Renault32Engine8 
Ret7 Alain ProstMcLaren-TAG28Spun Off/Gearbox2 
Ret11 Elio de AngelisLotus-Renault28Engine3 
NC21 Huub RothengatterSpirit-Hart23+ 28 Laps26 
Ret23 Eddie CheeverAlfa Romeo18Engine16 
Ret16 Derek WarwickRenault17Engine6 
Ret26 Andrea de CesarisLigier-Renault15Injection18 
Ret6 Keke RosbergWilliams-Honda15Handling9 
Ret5 Jacques LaffiteWilliams-Honda12Engine11 
Ret30 Jo GartnerOsella-Alfa Romeo6Engine22 
Ret24 Piercarlo GhinzaniOsella-Alfa Romeo4Gearbox23 
DNS14 Manfred WinkelhockATS-BMW0Gearbox14 
DNQ3 Stefan JohanssonTyrrell-Ford    
EX4 Stefan BellofTyrrell-Ford 

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
1 Niki Lauda48
2 Alain Prost43.5
3 Elio de Angelis26.5
4 René Arnoux24.5
5 Nelson Piquet24
Source: [4]
Constructors' Championship standings
PosConstructorPoints
1 McLaren-TAG91.5
2 Ferrari39.5
3 Lotus-Renault35.5
4 Renault32
5 Brabham-BMW30
Source:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 22. Grosser Preis Von Oesterreich 1984 - QUALIFYING 1 . formula1.com . 11 May 2018.
  2. Web site: 22. Grosser Preis Von Oesterreich 1984 - QUALIFYING 2 . formula1.com . 11 May 2018.
  3. Web site: 22. Grosser Preis Von Oesterreich 1984 - OVERALL QUALIFYING . formula1.com . 11 May 2018.
  4. Web site: Austria 1984 - Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 7 March 2019.