May 23, 2014

That year when almost nobody finished the Monaco GP

The Times

1982 was an odd year in F1,  Turbos were making their presence felt but the technology of the day was ground effect.

Cars had very short noses and long side pods.   One look at cars like the Renault RE30B or the Brabham BT49 and you can see the folly of putting a good portion of the driver's body ahead of the front axle.  Crazy and deadly.

The other requirement of ground effect cassis were incredibly stiff suspensions to keep the ride height as constant as possible.    In a bumpy and damp situation like developed in Monaco that year, those cars must have been close to un-drivable.

Towards the end of the race as rain began to fall, it was one leader after another falling victim of either evil handling or fuel consumption:  Arnoux, Prost, Pironi, de Cesaris, Daly.  Of the twenty starters only five crossed the finish line.

James Hunt commenting for the BBC at one point says:
"we've got this ridiculous situation where we're all sitting by the start-finish line waiting for a winner to come past and we don't seem to be getting one!"

The eventual winner was Riccardo Patrese in a Brabham, second was Pironi in the out of gas Ferrari and third deCesaris in the out of gas Alfa Romeo.

Not one of the best days for F1.






12Italy Riccardo PatreseBrabham-Ford761:54:11.25929
228France Didier PironiFerrari75Out of fuel56
322Italy Andrea de CesarisAlfa Romeo75Out of fuel74
412United Kingdom Nigel MansellLotus-Ford75+ 1 Lap113
511Italy Elio de AngelisLotus-Ford75+ 1 Lap152
65Republic of Ireland Derek DalyWilliams-Ford74Accident81
715France Alain ProstRenault73Accident4 
84United Kingdom Brian HentonTyrrell-Ford72+ 4 Laps17 
929Switzerland Marc SurerArrows-Ford70+ 6 Laps19 
103Italy Michele AlboretoTyrrell-Ford69Suspension9 
Ret6Finland Keke RosbergWilliams-Ford64Collision6 
Ret8Austria Niki LaudaMcLaren-Ford56Engine12 
Ret1Brazil Nelson PiquetBrabham-BMW49Turbo13 
Ret7United Kingdom John WatsonMcLaren-Ford35Electrical10 
Ret9Germany Manfred WinkelhockATS-Ford31Differential14 
Ret26France Jacques LaffiteLigier-Matra29Handling18 
Ret25United States Eddie CheeverLigier-Matra27Oil Leak16 
Ret10Chile Eliseo SalazarATS-Ford22Mechanical20 
Ret16France RenĂ© ArnouxRenault14Spun Off1 
Ret23Italy Bruno GiacomelliAlfa Romeo4Halfshaft3 
DNQ30Italy Mauro BaldiArrows-Ford  
DNQ33Netherlands Jan LammersTheodore-Ford  
DNQ17Germany Jochen MassMarch-Ford  
DNQ35United Kingdom Derek WarwickToleman-Hart  
DNQ31France Jean-Pierre JarierOsella-Ford  
DNQ14Colombia Roberto GuerreroEnsign-Ford  
DNPQ36Italy Teo FabiToleman-Hart  
DNPQ32Italy Riccardo PalettiOsella-Ford  
DNPQ18Brazil Raul BoeselMarch-Ford  
DNPQ20Brazil Chico SerraFittipaldi-Ford  
DNPQ19Spain Emilio de VillotaMarch-Ford  

1 comment:

  1. LIKE SPICOLI SAID IN FAST TIMES, "AWESOME TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!" Check out Nikki's foot control at 2:39!!!! And then, check out Prost's car control zipping past the casino at 2:41!!!!! Alain slides the car and puts that front left wheel right up just inches from the barrier!!!! GREAT VID!!!!

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