1984 Brazilian Grand Prix

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	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault
Time	1:28.392
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Time	1:36.499 on lap 42
Podium
First	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Second	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda
Third	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault
Lap leaders

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.

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

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

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

Qualifying

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:

Race

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:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alain Prost	9
2	Keke Rosberg	6
3	Elio de Angelis	4
4	Eddie Cheever	3
5	Martin Brundle	2
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	McLaren-TAG	9
2	Williams-Honda	6
3	Lotus-Renault	4
4	Alfa Romeo	3
5	Tyrrell-Ford	2
Source:

• 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.

External links

• Comments on Ayrton Senna @ 1984 Brazilian GP (archived)