1983 British Grand Prix
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The 1983 British Grand Prix (formally the XXXVI Marlboro British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 16 July 1983. It was the ninth race of the 1983 Formula One World Championship.
The 67-lap race was won by Alain Prost, driving a factory Renault, after he started from third position. Nelson Piquet finished second in a Brabham-BMW, with Patrick Tambay third in a Ferrari. The win, Prost's third of the season, enabled him to extend his lead in the Drivers' Championship to six points.
Qualifying
Qualifying report
The front row of the grid was filled by the Ferraris of René Arnoux and Patrick Tambay, Arnoux over 0.6 seconds ahead. Arnoux created history with his lap as he was the first driver ever to lap Silverstone in under 70 seconds. Drivers' Championship leader Alain Prost was third in his Renault, with Elio de Angelis in the Lotus alongside him on the second row. The two Brabhams made up the third row with Riccardo Patrese ahead of Nelson Piquet, while on the fourth row were Eddie Cheever in the second Renault and Manfred Winkelhock in the ATS. Completing the top ten were Andrea de Cesaris in the Alfa Romeo and Derek Warwick in the Toleman. Further down the grid, the Spirit team with its Honda turbo engine made an impressive debut as Stefan Johansson qualified 14th, ahead of both McLarens and just one place behind reigning World Champion Keke Rosberg in the Williams.
Reigning World Champion Rosberg, the fastest of the non-turbos, was some 4.293 seconds slower than Arnoux. Soon to be local hero Nigel Mansell, having his first Grand Prix in the Lotus Renault, qualified 18th after a troubled practice in sorting the new car. Mansell had raced in the non-championship 1983 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in the turbo powered Lotus 93T earlier in the season, but until Silverstone his only Grands Prix were in the Ford powered cars.
Qualifying classification
- † — Time disallowed.
Race
Race report
In the race morning warmup, Elio de Angelis showed he and his Lotus-Renault turbo would be one to watch, posting the fastest time of the session. At the start of the race, Tambay moved ahead of Arnoux, while de Angelis quickly went from hero to zero, retiring on just the second lap with turbo failure heading into Becketts. The somewhat angry Italian pulled off onto the infield, threw his belts off, got out of his car and stalked back to the Lotus pits. While they would ultimately win through Prost plus would gain 4th place with Nigel Mansell's stirring drive in his first GP in the Lotus-Renault in front of the home crowd, early on things were turning a bit sour for Renault. First de Angelis was out, then the second factory car of Cheever retired when his engine failed on lap 4. Then Stefan Johansson joined the growing list of retirements on lap 6 with fuel system problems in the Spirit-Honda. When Patrese's turbo gave up on lap 10, Piquet moved up to fourth behind the Ferraris and Prost, with de Cesaris fifth and Winkelhock sixth. Prost overtook Arnoux on lap 14, followed by Piquet five laps later. Then, on lap 20, Prost passed Tambay for the lead, with Piquet moving into second on lap 31. In the later stages of the race, Winkelhock's engine failed and de Cesaris dropped behind teammate Mauro Baldi, while Mansell, who had qualified a lowly 18th in the second Lotus (the slowest turbo qualifier), made a charge through the field that would become his signature over the coming years, finally passing Arnoux for fourth on lap 48. At the chequered flag, Prost was 19 seconds ahead of Piquet with Tambay, Mansell, Arnoux and Niki Lauda completing the top six. One lap down on Prost, Lauda was the only Cosworth powered car to finish in the points on a track which clearly suited the more powerful turbos.
In the Drivers' Championship, Prost doubled his lead over Piquet to six points, with Tambay two points further back. Renault moved into the outright lead of the Constructors' Championship, three points ahead of Ferrari.
Race classification
Championship standings after the race
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References
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