1984 British Grand Prix

  1984 British Grand Prix

Race details
Race 10 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One season
Date	July 22, 1984
Official name	XXXVII John Player British Grand Prix
Location	Brands Hatch, Kent, Great Britain
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.207 km (2.614 mi)
Distance	71 (aggregated: 11 + 60) laps, 298.697 km (185.602 mi)
Scheduled Distance	75 laps, 315.525 km (196.058 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW
Time	1:10.869
Fastest lap
Driver	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG
Time	1:13.191 on lap 57
Podium
First	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG
Second	Derek Warwick	Renault
Third	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart

The 1984 British Grand Prix (formally the XXXVII John Player British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 22 July 1984 at Brands Hatch near Swanley, Kent, England. It was the tenth round of the 1984 Formula One season. The 71-lap race was won by Niki Lauda for the McLaren team, after starting from third position. Derek Warwick finished second in a Renault, with Ayrton Senna third for the Toleman team.

Report

Background

The Grand Prix was contested by fourteen teams, each of two drivers. The teams, also known as constructors, were Brabham, McLaren, Lotus, Williams, Renault, Ferrari, ATS, Arrows, Alfa Romeo, Ligier, Osella, RAM, Spirit and Tyrrell.

Going to the race, McLaren driver Alain Prost led the Drivers' Championship with 34.5 points, ahead of team-mate Niki Lauda on 24 points and Elio de Angelis on 23.5. Rene Arnoux was fourth with 22.5 points while Keke Rosberg was fifth on 20 points. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren were leading with 58.5 points, Ferrari and Lotus were second and third with 31.5 and 29.5 points respectively, while Williams with 24 and Brabham on 21 points contended for fourth place.

Prior to the event, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) announced that Tyrrell would be disqualified from the World Championship for the illegal use of fuel and ballast on their cars. The ruiling resulted in all points scored by Tyrrell throughout the season would be removed.^[1] Tyrrell owner Ken Tyrrell was granted an High Court order to allow their cars to compete in the Friday Qualifying session.^[2] As a result of his crash in the previous race at Dallas in which he broke both of his ankles, Martin Brundle was replaced in the #4 Tyrrell by Swedish driver Stefan Johansson.

Qualifying

Johnny Cecotto broke both legs after a heavy crash during qualifying. He would never race in Formula One again. Nelson Piquet claimed pole position. Niki Lauda's win for McLaren saw him become the highest point scorer in Formula One history, passing Jackie Stewart's 390.

Renault driver Derek Warwick gave the British fans something to cheer when he finished 42 seconds behind Lauda in second place, while Cecotto's Toleman team mate Ayrton Senna finished 21 seconds behind Warwick in third. Lotus-Renault driver Elio de Angelis kept his championship hopes alive finishing a lap down in fourth place. He was followed by the two Ferraris of Michele Alboreto and René Arnoux in the final points positions.

Lauda's win saw him move to 33 points and cut team mate Alain Prost's championship lead to just 1.5 points. With 67.5 points, McLaren had scored almost double the amount of Constructors' points than second placed Ferrari who were on 34.5 points.

Eddie Cheever (Alfa Romeo), Philippe Alliot (RAM) and Jo Gartner (Osella) were all outed in a first lap crash which started when Riccardo Patrese lost his Alfa going into Graham Hill Bend. The race was stopped 11 laps in order to clear Jonathan Palmer's RAM, a move which many felt had more to do with the McLaren's having past pole sitter Nelson Piquet (who was headed to the pits to change tyres). Due to the rules, when the cars formed on the grid for the restart, Piquet's Brabham-BMW, complete with a change of tyres, was back on the pole, though it didn't do any good as he was soon passed by the superior handling McLarens.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	71	1:29:28.532	3	9
2	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	71	+ 42.123	6	6
3	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart	71	+ 1:03.328	7	4
4	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	70	+ 1 Lap	4	3
5	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	70	+ 1 Lap	9	2
6	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	70	+ 1 Lap	13	1
7	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	70	+ 1 Lap	1
8	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	69	Turbo	10
9	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	68	+ 3 Laps	21
10	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	68	+ 3 Laps	19
11	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-BMW	67	+ 4 Laps	15
12	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	66	+ 5 Laps	17
DSQ	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	68	Disqualified	26
NC	21	Huub Rothengatter	Spirit-Hart	62	Not Classified	22
Ret	25	François Hesnault	Ligier-Renault	43	Electrical	20
Ret	7	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	37	Gearbox	2
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault	24	Gearbox	8
Ret	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	24	Electrical	12
Ret	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	14	Water Pump	16
Ret	10	Jonathan Palmer	RAM-Hart	10	Accident	23
Ret	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham-BMW	9	Electrical	14
Ret	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	8	Spun Off	11
Ret	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	5	Engine	5
DSQ	3	Stefan Johansson	Tyrrell-Ford	1	Disqualified	25
Ret	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	0	Accident	18
Ret	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	0	Accident	24
Ret	30	Jo Gartner	Osella-Alfa Romeo	0	Accident	27
DNQ	20	Johnny Cecotto	Toleman-Hart
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 34.5 2 Niki Lauda 33 3 Elio de Angelis 26.5 4 René Arnoux 23.5 5 Keke Rosberg 20

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG 67.5 2 Ferrari 34.5 3 Lotus-Renault 32.5 4 Renault 26 5 Williams-Honda 24

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Points accurate at final declaration of results. Tyrrell's points were subsequently reallocated.

References

1. "Tyrrell are banned for rest of season". The Glasgow Herald. 19 July 1984. p. 16.
2. "Tyrrell wins ruiling, to be in British Grand Prix". The Tuscaloosa News. 20 July 1984. p. 15.
3. "1984 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.