1983 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 6 of 15 in the 1983 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 22 May 1983
Official name XL Grote Prijs van Belgie
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium[1]
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 6.940 km (4.312[1] miles)
Distance 40 laps, 280.16 km (174.08 miles)
Pole position
Driver
Renault
Time 2:04.615
Fastest lap
Driver Italy Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo
Time 2:07.493 on lap 17
Podium
First
Renault
Second
Ferrari
Third
Renault
Lap leaders

The 1983 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 22 May 1983. It was the first Belgian Grand Prix to be held at Spa since 1970 and the first on the modern Spa circuit, and was also the sixth race of the 1983 FIA Formula One World Championship.

The 40-lap race was won from pole position by Alain Prost, driving a factory Renault. Patrick Tambay finished second in a Ferrari, with Eddie Cheever third in the other Renault. The race marked the debut of local driver and future race winner Thierry Boutsen.

The first attempt to start the race was waved off. The field drove around the circuit and lined up again for the second attempt, which was successful.

Report

Race report

Andrea de Cesaris jumped from third to first at the start, overtaking Alain Prost and Patrick Tambay, and de Cesaris began to build up a lead on Prost who faced pressure from the Ferraris behind him. After initially challenging Tambay for the last podium place, Rene Arnoux began to fall back and was caught by Nelson Piquet with Keke Rosberg following a short distance back in 6th. Piquet got a good exit out of La Source, and powered down the hill to overtake Arnoux before Eau Rouge, leaving him in the attention of the non-turbo powered Williams cars who don't get a chance to pass before Arnoux's turbo failed, putting an end to his race a few laps later. De Cesaris pitted from the lead, but it was a slow stop, over 25 seconds, and the second stint got going with Prost leading by almost 10 seconds. Prost's mechanics did a 14.4 second stop in an era when the record was around 13.

Meanwhile Piquet and Tambay switched positions after their stops. Piquet's pit crew managing a 15.2 second stop, refueling included, for an overcut. De Cesaris's sluggish pit stop would come to be the prologue for his retirement when injection problems made him pull up on the side of the road on lap 25. Piquet inherited second place, with Tambay close on his trails, less than 3 seconds behind. Eddie Cheever who climbed his way from 8th emerged behind them eager to attack the podium positions. The last two points places were with the underpowered Williams cars who were running a lonely and quiet race at significant distance from each other and also from the rest of the field. In the latter stages Piquet lost 5th (highest) gear and went dramatically slower on the straights as his Brabham could not reach top speed. Tambay and Cheever swiftly profited from this, dropping the 1981 champion to fourth. From here on the first six places remain unchanged. Prost won and built a 4 point lead over Piquet in the championship.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 15 France Alain Prost Renault 2:04.615 2:34.212 —
2 27 France Patrick Tambay Ferrari 2:04.626 2:35.036 +0.011
3 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 2:04.840 26:06.800 +0.225
4 5 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 2:05.628 3:01.465 +1.013
5 28 France René Arnoux Ferrari 2:05.737 2:30.961 +1.122
6 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 2:06.137 3:01.358 +1.522
7 9 West Germany Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 2:06.264 2:44.663 +1.649
8 16 United States Eddie Cheever Renault 2:07.294 2:25.700 +2.679
9 1 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford 2:07.975 2:30.151 +3.360
10 29 Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 2:08.587 2:35.016 +3.972
11 2 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 2:09.153 3:20.872 +4.538
12 23 Italy Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo 2:09.225 18:49.960 +4.610
13 11 Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 2:09.310 2:30.478 +4.695
14 33 Colombia Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford 2:09.322 2:31.077 +4.707
15 8 Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford 2:09.475 3:00.356 +4.860
16 36 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart 2:09.706 2:35.556 +5.091
17 3 Italy Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 2:09.739 2:31.533 +5.124
18 30 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford 2:09.876 2:35.832 +5.261
19 12 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 2:09.924 no time +5.309
20 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford 2:10.318 no time +5.703
21 25 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford 2:11.354 2:49.311 +6.739
22 35 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 2:11.474 2:30.477 +6.859
23 4 United States Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford 2:11.683 2:38.284 +7.068
24 31 Italy Corrado Fabi Osella-Ford 2:11.734 2:41.895 +7.119
25 34 Venezuela Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford 2:11.860 2:43.780 +7.245
26 26 Brazil Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford 2:12.310 2:34.659 +7.695
27 32 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 2:13.738 no time +9.123
28 17 Chile Eliseo Salazar RAM-Ford 2:18.696 no time +14.081
Source: [2][3][4][5]

Race

PosNoDriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 15 France Alain Prost Renault M 40 1:27:11.502 1 9
2 27 France Patrick Tambay Ferrari G 40 + 23.182 2 6
3 16 United States Eddie Cheever Renault M 40 + 39.869 8 4
4 5 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW M 40 + 42.295 4 3
5 1 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford G 40 + 50.480 9 2
6 2 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford G 40 + 1:33.107 11 1
7 35 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart P 40 + 1:58.539 22  
8 36 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart P 40 + 2:38.273 16  
9 11 Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault P 39 + 1 Lap 13  
10 34 Venezuela Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford G 39 + 1 Lap 25  
11 29 Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-Ford G 39 + 1 lap 10  
12 4 United States Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford G 39 + 1 Lap 23  
13 26 Brazil Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford M 39 + 1 Lap 26  
14 3 Italy Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford G 38 + 2 Laps 17  
Ret 8 Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford M 33 Gearbox 15  
Ret 12 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford P 30 Gearbox 19  
Ret 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo M 25 Injection 3  
Ret 33 Colombia Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford G 23 Engine 14  
Ret 28 France René Arnoux Ferrari G 22 Engine 5  
Ret 31 Italy Corrado Fabi Osella-Ford M 19 Wheel 24  
Ret 9 West Germany Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW G 18 Wheel[6] 7  
Ret 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford M 8 Collision 20  
Ret 25 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford M 8 Collision 21  
Ret 30 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford G 4 Suspension 18  
Ret 23 Italy Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo M 3 Throttle 12  
Ret 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW M 0 Engine 6  
DNQ 32 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo M    
DNQ 17 Chile Eliseo Salazar RAM-Ford P        
Source: [7][8]

Championship standings after the race

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

References

  1. 1 2 "1983 Belgian GP". Motor Sport. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  2. ↑ "Grand Prix of Belgium - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  3. ↑ "Grand Prix of Belgium - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  4. ↑ "Grand Prix of Belgium - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  5. ↑ Hamilton, Maurice, ed. (1983). AUTOCOURSE 1983–84. Hazleton Publishing Ltd. p. 146. ISBN 0-905138-25-2.
  6. ↑ In the downhill section, the rear right wheel came off, flying over the fence video
  7. ↑ "1983 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  8. ↑ "1983 Belgian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 22 May 1983. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  9. 1 2 "Belgium 1983 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
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