1984 Belgian Grand Prix

  1984 Belgian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One season
Date	April 29, 1984
Official name	XL Grote Prijs van Belgie
Location	Circuit Zolder Heusden-Zolder, Limburg, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.262 km (2.648 mi)
Distance	70 laps, 298.340 km (185.380 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari
Time	1:14.846
Fastest lap
Driver	René Arnoux	Ferrari
Time	1:19.294 on lap 64
Podium
First	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari
Second	Derek Warwick	Renault
Third	René Arnoux	Ferrari

The 1984 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 April 1984. It was the third round of the 1984 Formula One season. The race was the 42nd Belgian Grand Prix and the tenth and last Grand Prix to be held at Circuit Zolder. The race was held over 70 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 298 kilometres.

The race was won by Italian driver Michele Alboreto driving a Ferrari 126C4. It was Alboreto's third Grand Prix victory and his first since joining Scuderia Ferrari for the 1984 season and became the first Italian to win for the Prancing Horse since Ludovico Scarfiotti won the 1966 Italian Grand Prix. Alboreto took a 42-second victory over British driver Derek Warwick driving a Renault RE50. It was Warwick's best ever Grand Prix result, improving on the third place he had achieved at the previous race in South Africa. Alboreto's French team mate René Arnoux was third.

Alboreto's win was the first and only win for Ferrari in 1984 and it confirmed Ferrari's faith in hiring the Italian away from Tyrrell. However Alboreto would not get another top three finish until the Austrian Grand Prix in August. With Alain Prost finishing outside the points his lead in the world championship tightened to five points with Warwick moving into second place ahead of Niki Lauda.

Summary

Goodyear dominated qualifying filling six of the top seven places with Michele Alboreto securing his first career pole position. Team mate René Arnoux qualified second in what would be the last all-Ferrari front row until the 1988 British Grand Prix. 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg qualified third in his Williams FW09, demonstrating the growing speed of the Williams-Honda combination. Derek Warwick (Michelin) was fourth ahead of Elio de Angelis (Lotus 95T) and the surprising fast ATS D7 of emerging star Manfred Winkelhock. The McLarens were off the pace with points leader Alain Prost in eighth and Niki Lauda in 14th. Reigning world champion Nelson Piquet qualified his Brabham BT53 ninth. The best of the Pirelli runners was Johnny Cecotto in 16th in his Toleman TG183B. The only non-qualifier was Philippe Alliot in his RAM.

Alboreto led all 70 laps and was even able to retain the lead during pitstops, despite Piquet pushing through without stopping. Warwick started well to run second for much of the race with Arnoux, Winkelhock and de Angelis pursuing. Prost and Riccardo Patrese (Alfa Romeo 184T) were early retirements with Cecotto dropping out on lap 1 with a broken clutch.

Lauda's McLaren MP4/2 broke its water pump at half-distance. Shortly afterwards Winkelhock stopped and Andrea de Cesaris crashed his Ligier JS23. Piquet found himself third behind after the stops but faded as the race neared its conclusion. Arnoux moved into third until he was caught by Rosberg. Piquet's BMW engine blew and with a lap to go Rosberg ran out of fuel, allowing Arnoux to join Alboreto and Warwick on the podium. Alboreto had given Goodyear its first win in Formula One. Rosberg was classified fourth. De Angelis finished fifth in his Lotus with Stefan Bellof completing the points finishers in his Tyrrell 012. Just nine cars finished although eleven were classified including the late retirements of Rosberg and Piquet.

The 1984 Belgian Grand Prix would prove to be the last race in which actual factory backed teams and not de facto factory teams (such as Euroracing who ran the Alfa Romeo team) filled the podium until the 2003 Spanish Grand Prix where the podium was again filled with Ferrari, Renault and Ferrari.

Aftermath

The results would change months later as the impact of Tyrrell Racing's disqualification from the 1984 season saw Stefan Bellof removed from sixth position, promoting Ayrton Senna (Toleman TG183B) into the points.

The Belgian Grand Prix would return to traditional home at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in 1985. The shortened version of the home of Belgian motorsport had its Formula One debut the previous year and proven instantly popular and Gilles Villeneuve's death two years earlier at Zolder was still fresh.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Qual	Gap
1	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:14.846	—
2	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	1:15.398	+0.552
3	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:15.414	+0.568
4	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	1:15.611	+0.765
5	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:15.979	+1.133
6	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	1:16.130	+1.284
7	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	1:16.431	+1.585
8	7	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:16.587	+1.741
9	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:16.604	+1.758
10	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault	1:16.720	+1.874
11	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	1:16.746	+1.900
12	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	1:17.171	+2.325
13	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	1:17.471	+2.625
14	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	1:18.071	+3.225
15	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	1:18.125	+3.279
16	20	Johnny Cecotto	Toleman-Hart	1:18.321	+3.475
17	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:18.351	+3.505
18	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham-BMW	1:18.848	+4.002
19	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart	1:18.876	+4.030
20	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:19.734	+4.888
21	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	1:19.811	+4.965
22	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	1:20.123	+5.277
23	25	François Hesnault	Ligier-Renault	1:20.439	+5.593
24	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	1:20.615	+5.769
25	21	Mauro Baldi	Spirit-Hart	1:20.644	+5.798
26	10	Jonathan Palmer	RAM-Hart	1:20.793	+5.947
DNQ	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	1:21.253	+6.407

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	70	1:36:32.048	1	9
2	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	70	+ 42.386	4	6
3	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	70	+ 1:09.803	2	4
4	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	69	Out of Fuel	3	3
5	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	69	+ 1 Lap	5	2
6	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart	68	+ 2 Laps	19	1
7	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	68	+ 2 Laps	12
8	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	68	+ 2 Laps	24
9	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	66	Engine	9
10	10	Jonathan Palmer	RAM-Hart	64	+ 6 Laps	26
DSQ	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	69	Disqualified	21
Ret	21	Mauro Baldi	Spirit-Hart	53	Suspension	25
DSQ	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	51	Disqualified	22
Ret	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	42	Accident	13
Ret	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham-BMW	42	Spun off	18
Ret	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	39	Exhaust	6
Ret	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	35	Water Pump	14
Ret	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	28	Engine	11
Ret	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	15	Electrical	15
Ret	25	François Hesnault	Ligier-Renault	15	Radiator	23
Ret	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	15	Engine	17
Ret	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	14	Transmission	20
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault	14	Clutch	10
Ret	7	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	5	Distributor	8
Ret	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	2	Ignition	7
Ret	20	Johnny Cecotto	Toleman-Hart	1	Clutch	16
DNQ	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart
Source:[1]

Lap leaders

• Michele Alboreto 1-70

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 15 2 Derek Warwick 10 3 Michele Alboreto 9 4 Niki Lauda 9 5 Keke Rosberg 9

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG 24 2 Ferrari 13 3 Renault 11 4 Williams-Honda 9 5 Lotus-Renault 6

• 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 from 1984 results and their points reallocated.

References