1983 French Grand Prix

  1983 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 15 in the 1983 Formula One season
Date	April 17, 1983
Location	Paul Ricard Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.809 km (3.61 mi)
Distance	54 laps, 313.686 km (194.94 mi)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Alain Prost	Renault
Time	1:36.672
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	Renault
Time	1:42.695 on lap 34
Podium
First	Alain Prost	Renault
Second	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW
Third	Eddie Cheever	Renault

The 1983 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on April 17, 1983.

French driver Alain Prost won the race for the Renault team, and this was the French marque's 3rd French Grand Prix win in a row and the 4th in 5 seasons. Second was the Brabham-BMW of 1981 World Champion Nelson Piquet, with Prost's Renault team mate Eddie Cheever finishing third. Rounding out the points finishers were Patrick Tambay in his Ferrari, and the non-turbo Williams' of Keke Rosberg and Jacques Laffite.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	15	Alain Prost	Renault	1:38.358	1:36.672	—
2	16	Eddie Cheever	Renault	1:38.980	1:39.785	+2.308
3	6	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	1:41.095	1:39.104	+2.432
4	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	1:40.027	1:39.115	+2.443
5	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:39.512	1:39.312	+2.640
6	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:39.601	1:39.746	+2.929
7	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	1:38.099†	1:39.611	+2.939
8	23	Mauro Baldi	Alfa Romeo	1:41.215	1:39.618	+2.946
9	35	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	1:43.038	1:39.881	+3.209
10	9	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	1:40.233	1:44.997	+3.561
11	27	Patrick Tambay	Ferrari	1:40.393	1:40.488	+3.721
12	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	1:41.065	1:41.492	+4.393
13	36	Bruno Giacomelli	Toleman-Hart	1:42.219	1:41.775	+5.103
14	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1:41.838	1:42.448	+5.166
15	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1:42.177	1:43.317	+5.505
16	1	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	1:42.450	1:42.551	+5.778
17	34	Johnny Cecotto	Theodore-Ford	1:43.552	1:42.615	+5.943
18	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	1:43.320	1:42.650	+5.978
19	2	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	1:43.295	1:42.678	+6.006
20	25	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ligier-Ford	1:42.808	1:42.737	+6.065
21	29	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	1:42.962	1:44.346	+6.290
22	33	Roberto Guerrero	Theodore-Ford	1:43.367	1:43.602	+6.695
23	31	Corrado Fabi	Osella-Ford	1:45.638	1:43.411	+6.739
24	4	Danny Sullivan	Tyrrell-Ford	1:44.317	1:43.654	+6.982
25	26	Raul Boesel	Ligier-Ford	1:44.470	1:44.905	+7.798
26	30	Chico Serra	Arrows-Ford	1:44.778	1:45.859	+8.106
27	17	Eliseo Salazar	RAM-Ford	1:45.073	2:02.335	+8.401
28	32	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford	1:46.541	1:45.812	+9.140
28	18	Jean-Louis Schlesser	RAM-Ford	1:45.866	1:46.102	+9.194
Source:[1]

• † — Time disallowed

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	15	Alain Prost	Renault	54	1:34:13.913	1	9
2	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	54	+ 29.720	6	6
3	16	Eddie Cheever	Renault	54	+ 40.232	2	4
4	27	Patrick Tambay	Ferrari	54	+ 1:06.880	11	3
5	1	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	53	+ 1 Lap	16	2
6	2	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	53	+ 1 Lap	19	1
7	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	53	+ 1 Lap	4
8	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	53	+ 1 Lap	15
9	25	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ligier-Ford	53	+ 1 Lap	20
10	29	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	53	+ 1 Lap	21
11	34	Johnny Cecotto	Theodore-Ford	52	+ 2 Laps	17
12	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	50	+ 4 Laps	7
13	36	Bruno Giacomelli	Toleman-Hart	49	Gearbox	13
Ret	26	Raul Boesel	Ligier-Ford	47	Engine	25
Ret	31	Corrado Fabi	Osella-Ford	36	Engine	23
Ret	9	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	36	Turbo	10
Ret	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	29	Wheel bearing	12
Ret	23	Mauro Baldi	Alfa Romeo	28	Spun Off	8
Ret	30	Chico Serra	Arrows-Ford	26	Gearbox	26
Ret	33	Roberto Guerrero	Theodore-Ford	23	Engine	22
Ret	4	Danny Sullivan	Tyrrell-Ford	21	Clutch	24
Ret	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	20	Electrical	5
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	19	Water Leak	3
Ret	35	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	14	Engine	9
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	6	Physical	18
Ret	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	3	Engine	14
DNQ	17	Eliseo Salazar	RAM-Ford
DNQ	32	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford
DNQ	18	Jean-Louis Schlesser	RAM-Ford
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nelson Piquet 15 2 Niki Lauda 10 3 Alain Prost 9 4 John Watson 9 5 Jacques Laffite 7

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Ford 19 2 Brabham-BMW 15 3 Renault 13 4 Ferrari 9 5 Williams-Ford 9

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Trivia

• Pole sitter Alain Prost was more than 2 seconds faster in qualifying than second placed Eddie Cheever.
• The first Grand Prix front row start for Cheever
• Ferrari blew 8 engines in practice.^[3]

References

1. Hamilton, Maurice (ed.) (1983). AUTOCOURSE 1983–84. Hazleton Publishing Ltd. p. 116. ISBN 0-905138-25-2.
2. "1983 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
3. "Overtaking Maneuvers at France 83". YouTube. 2009-11-10. Retrieved 2012-06-17.