1984 South African Grand Prix

  1984 South African Grand Prix

Race details
Race 2 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One season
Date	7 April 1984
Official name	XVIII National Panasonic Grand Prix of South Africa
Location	Kyalami Transvaal Province, South Africa
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.104 km (2.55 mi)
Distance	75 laps, 308.8 km (191.248 mi)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW
Time	1:04.871
Fastest lap
Driver	Patrick Tambay	Renault
Time	1:08.877 on lap 64
Podium
First	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG
Second	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Third	Derek Warwick	Renault

The 1984 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 7 April 1984. The race, contested over 75 laps, was the second race of the 1984 Formula One season and was won by Niki Lauda, driving a McLaren-TAG, with team-mate Alain Prost second and Derek Warwick third in a Renault.

Qualifying

Nelson Piquet confirmed what most already knew, that the combination of himself and the Gordon Murray designed Brabham-BMW was the fastest when he took pole position. On the long front straight, the Brabhams were easily the fastest clocking 325 km/h (202 mph), compared to the 2nd placed Williams-Honda of Keke Rosberg who topped out at just 310 km/h (193 mph) and the McLarens at 305 km/h (190 mph). The top 5 drivers on the grid were covered by less than half a second.

Ferrari were in trouble during qualifying. Both Michele Alboreto and René Arnoux were forced to run a lot of wing on their cars due to a lack of grip and aerodynamics that saw the 126C4's want to lift at high speed. The amount of wing they were forced to run just to keep the scarlet cars on the road limited them to just 300 km/h (186 mph) on the straights.

Race

In the Sunday morning warm-up session Piercarlo Ghinzani, who had qualified 20th in his Osella, crashed heavily at the fast left-hand Jukskei Sweep, the car bursting into flames. Ghinzani escaped with minor burns on his hands, and subsequently withdrew from the race.

Ghinzani's crash actually helped McLaren. Just before the crash, Niki Lauda suffered ignition failure in his McLaren's TAG-Porsche engine. The extra time it took for the Osella to be removed and the track cleaned saw to it that McLaren were able to fix Lauda's problem. This was a lucky break for team mate Alain Prost who's car suffered fuel pump failure on the warm up lap. With Lauda able to drive his own car, that gave Prost the spare for the race which he started from pit lane. Had there not been extra time to fix his car, Lauda would have raced the spare MP4/2 and Prost would have been a spectator.

Rosberg won the start while Piquet almost stalled on the grid for the second race in a row and was passed by about 6 cars, though such was the speed of the Brabham that by the time they got to Crowthorne Corner (turn 1) he was back in second place. It mattered little though as both Piquet and team mate Teo Fabi would suffer turbo failure in what would become a recurring nightmare for Brabham in the first half of the season.

From there, Lauda controlled the race and went on to win easily, with Prost over a minute behind in second and the only other driver on the lead lap. Derek Warwick gained his first Formula One podium by finishing third in his Renault, while completing the top six were Riccardo Patrese (Alfa Romeo), Andrea de Cesaris (Ligier-Renault) and, gaining his first ever World Championship point, Ayrton Senna in his Toleman-Hart.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Qual	Gap
1	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:04.871	—
2	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:05.058	+0.187
3	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault	1:05.125	+0.254
4	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	1:05.339	+0.468
5	7	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:05.354	+0.483
6	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham-BMW	1:05.923	+1.052
7	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:05.953	+1.082
8	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	1:06.043	+1.172
9	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	1:06.056	+1.185
10	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:06.323	+1.452
11	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	1:06.762	+1.891
12	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	1:06.974	+2.103
13	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart	1:06.981	+2.110
14	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	1:07.245	+2.374
15	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	1:07.345	+2.474
16	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	1:07.704	+2.833
17	25	François Hesnault	Ligier-Renault	1:07.787	+2.916
18	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	1:08.042	+3.171
19	20	Johnny Cecotto	Toleman-Hart	1:08.298	+3.427
20	21	Mauro Baldi	Spirit-Hart	1:09.923	+5.052
21	10	Jonathan Palmer	RAM-Hart	1:10.383	+5.512
22	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	1:10.619	+5.748
23	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	1:11.808	+6.937
24	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	1:12.022	+7.151
25	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	1:12.233	+7.362
26	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-Ford	1:12.274	+7.403
DNS	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:09.609	+4.738

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	75	1:29:23.430	8	9
2	7	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	75	+ 1:05.950	5	6
3	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	74	+ 1 Lap	9	4
4	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	73	+ 2 Laps	18	3
5	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	73	+ 2 Laps	14	2
6	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart	72	+ 3 Laps	13	1
7	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	71	+ 4 Laps	7
8	21	Mauro Baldi	Spirit-Hart	71	+ 4 Laps	20
9	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	71	+ 4 Laps	23
10	25	François Hesnault	Ligier-Renault	71	+ 4 Laps	17
11	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	70	Ignition	10
12	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-Ford	70	+ 5 Laps	26
DSQ	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	71	Disqualified	25
Ret	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	66	Out of Fuel	4
DSQ	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	60	Disqualified	24
Ret	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	60	Transmission	11
Ret	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	53	Engine	12
Ret	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	51	Wheel	2
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault	51	Turbo	3
Ret	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	40	Injection	15
Ret	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	29	Turbo	1
Ret	20	Johnny Cecotto	Toleman-Hart	26	Tyre	19
Ret	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	24	Engine	22
Ret	10	Jonathan Palmer	RAM-Hart	22	Gearbox	21
Ret	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham-BMW	18	Turbo	6
Ret	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	4	Radiator	16
DNS	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo		Accident in practice
Source:[1]

Lap leaders

• Keke Rosberg 1 (1), Nelson Piquet 19 (2–20), Niki Lauda 55 (21–75)

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 15 2 Niki Lauda 9 3 Keke Rosberg 6 4 Elio de Angelis 4 5 Derek Warwick 4

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG 24 2 Williams-Honda 6 3 Alfa Romeo 6 4 Renault 5 5 Lotus-Renault 4

• 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.

References