1983 Detroit Grand Prix

The 1983 Detroit Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 5, 1983, in Detroit, Michigan.

Summary

Circuit changes

The circuit had been slightly modified from its original configuration the year before, with the pit lane extended to place the entrance before the final chicane, and a short new section of track eliminating the extremely tight hairpin at Turn Five. The new layout was faster and much preferred by the drivers. Friday's entire agenda was run in the rain, however, and it was left to a single hour on Saturday to decide the starting grid.

Qualifying

Contrary to the usual pattern, after the first fifteen minutes or so of qualifying, the track became slower as more rubber was laid down. This was apparently due to moisture still in the track being drawn out by the now-present sunshine. The pole-winning time of 1:44.734 was posted by René Arnoux on his Ferrari's first set of qualifying tires; on his second set, he was more than two seconds slower. Many who did not record a quick time early in the session were caught out by the changing conditions, and the grid held many surprises as a result. Defending Champion Keke Rosberg was twelfth, Alain Prost thirteenth and Niki Lauda eighteenth, while the non-turbocharged cars of Marc Surer and Alboreto were fifth and sixth. American Eddie Cheever, in the only competitive ride of his F1 career with Renault, was in seventh spot, six places ahead of his highly regarded teammate.

Race

Over 70,000 fans enjoyed beautiful weather for the race on Sunday. The boats on the Detroit River, the blaring music and the floods of people from the downtown hotels created quite an atmosphere, inevitably bringing comparisons to Monaco, as the Long Beach event often did.

The first attempt at a start was halted just as the green light was about to come on, when Andrea de Cesaris signalled from the grid that his Alfa Romeo had stalled. The whole process was begun again, with another pace lap that reduced the race distance from 61 laps to 60, and this time the green light came on. This time, however, Patrick Tambay's Ferrari, in the second row, stalled on the grid. He held his breath while everyone made their way safely around him, and then, expecting a push-start, instead was removed from the circuit by tow truck.

Piquet made an excellent start and beat Arnoux to Turn One. He led after the first lap, with Arnoux ahead of de Angelis, de Cesaris, Alboreto, Derek Warwick, Rosberg (already up from twelfth) and Cheever. The two leaders quickly began to separate themselves from the rest, while a four-way nose-to-tail battle raged for fourth. On lap five, Cheever retired with ignition failure, de Angelis forfeited third place with a broken gearbox and Piercarlo Ghinzani abandoned his Osella in the pits with an overheating engine.

Arnoux, after steadily closing the gap to Piquet, overtook the Brabham into Turn One and gained the lead on lap 10. Piquet let him through without a fight, knowing that the Ferrari was planning a fuel and tire stop, while he was not. When Rosberg finally got by de Cesaris for third at the end of lap 11, he was almost 15 seconds behind Piquet, but clearly faster. Alboreto, in fifth place and also threatening de Cesaris, had started on full tanks and, like Piquet, was not planning a pit stop.

By lap 20, Rosberg had caught up with Piquet's Brabham and easily went by to take second, about twenty seconds behind Arnoux. On lap 29, the Ferrari's lead was up to almost 30 seconds when Arnoux came into the pits, as expected, followed soon after by Rosberg's Williams, whose intentions had been unclear. Arnoux rejoined after a stop of just 13.5 seconds, still barely in the lead; by the time Rosberg was able to get back on the track (his stop lasted 17.5 seconds), he was in fifth place behind Piquet, Alboreto and Jacques Laffite, none of whom had stopped. But just three laps after his pit stop, Arnoux suddenly coasted to a halt on the circuit with an electrical failure.

When Laffite pitted, Piquet was back in the lead, with Alboreto up to second and Rosberg third, 25 seconds back. John Watson, having started in 21st position on the grid, was now in fourth, making his regular charge through an American Grand Prix field. It looked as if Nelson Piquet and Brabham-BMW were on their way to victory as Alboreto was doing all he could to stay close. Suddenly, on lap 51, Piquet slowed with a punctured left rear tire, and as he made his way back to the pits, Alboreto and Rosberg went by. While he was in the pits, Watson also came through. All that was left was for Alboreto to bring the Tyrrell home over the final nine laps, taking it rather easy since he was too far in front for Rosberg to catch him. Watson, meanwhile, was doing anything but taking it easy, and he set the race's fastest lap (1.6 seconds faster than his qualifying time) while just failing to catch the Williams for second place. Piquet rejoined to finish in fourth, ahead of Laffite in the second Williams and Nigel Mansell's Lotus.

Alboreto's teammate, American Danny Sullivan, in his only season of Formula One, retired at the halfway point of the race when his engine failed. His only points for the season came from his fifth place at Monaco, though he did finish second at the non-Championship Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. When Sullivan could not secure a drive with turbo power for 1984, he saw the writing on the wall and returned to the US and the CART Indy Car series.

Tyrrell's Michele Alboreto scored his second Grand Prix win and first points of the season. The tight downtown street course took away much of the advantage of the turbocharged cars, and Alboreto's win for Cosworth-Ford was the last of the season's three non-turbo victories. It was also the last for a normally aspirated engine until the turbos were outlawed after the 1988 season, and the last of a record 155 wins for the legendary Cosworth DFV and also the last victory for the Tyrrell team.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	28	Template:Flagicon René Arnoux	Ferrari	2:08.851	1:44.734	—
2	5	Template:Flagicon Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	2:11.506	1:44.933	+0.199
3	27	Template:Flagicon Patrick Tambay	Ferrari	2:10.994	1:45.991	+1.257
4	11	Template:Flagicon Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	2:09.601	1:46.258	+1.524
5	29	Template:Flagicon Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	2:09.292	1:46.745	+2.011
6	3	Template:Flagicon Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	2:08.198	1:47.013	+2.279
7	16	Template:Flagicon Eddie Cheever	Renault	2:08.418	1:47.334	+2.600
8	22	Template:Flagicon Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	2:08.034	1:47.453	+2.719
9	35	Template:Flagicon Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	no time	1:47.534	+2.800
10	30	Template:Flagicon Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-Ford	2:11.107	1:47.586	+2.852
11	33	Template:Flagicon Roberto Guerrero	Theodore-Ford	2:08.496	1:47.701	+2.967
12	1	Template:Flagicon Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	2:06.382	1:47.728	+2.994
13	15	Template:Flagicon Alain Prost	Renault	2:15.731	1:47.855	+3.121
14	12	Template:Flagicon Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	2:07.792	1:48.395	+3.661
15	6	Template:Flagicon Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	2:17.489	1:48.537	+3.803
16	4	Template:Flagicon Danny Sullivan	Tyrrell-Ford	2:18.758	1:48.648	+3.914
17	36	Template:Flagicon Bruno Giacomelli	Toleman-Hart	2:13.205	1:48.785	+4.051
18	8	Template:Flagicon Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	2:09.019	1:48.992	+4.258
19	25	Template:Flagicon Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ligier-Ford	2:07.652	1:48.994	+4.260
20	2	Template:Flagicon Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	2:13.080	1:49.245	+4.511
21	7	Template:Flagicon John Watson	McLaren-Ford	2:10.632	1:49.250	+4.516
22	9	Template:Flagicon Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	2:12.092	1:49.466	+4.732
23	26	Template:Flagicon Raul Boesel	Ligier-Ford	2:12.164	1:49.540	+4.806
24	32	Template:Flagicon Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	2:15.556	1:49.885	+5.151
25	23	Template:Flagicon Mauro Baldi	Alfa Romeo	2:11.169	1:49.916	+5.182
26	34	Template:Flagicon Johnny Cecotto	Theodore-Ford	2:14.547	1:51.709	+6.975
27Template:Double-dagger	31	Template:Flagicon Corrado Fabi	Osella-Ford	2:15.085	1:53.516	+8.782
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Template:Double-dagger - Driver failed to qualify for the race.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Template:Flagicon Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	Template:Goodyear	60	1:50:53.669	6	9
2	1	Template:Flagicon Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	Template:Goodyear	60	+ 7.702	12	6
3	7	Template:Flagicon John Watson	McLaren-Ford	Template:Michelin	60	+ 9.283	21	4
4	5	Template:Flagicon Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	Template:Michelin	60	+ 1:12.185	2	3
5	2	Template:Flagicon Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	Template:Goodyear	60	+ 1:32.603	20	2
6	12	Template:Flagicon Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	Template:Pirelli	59	+ 1 Lap	14	1
7	30	Template:Flagicon Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-Ford	Template:Goodyear	59	+ 1 Lap	10
8	15	Template:Flagicon Alain Prost	Renault	Template:Michelin	59	+ 1 Lap	13
9	36	Template:Flagicon Bruno Giacomelli	Toleman-Hart	Template:Pirelli	59	+ 1 Lap	17
10	26	Template:Flagicon Raul Boesel	Ligier-Ford	Template:Michelin	58	+ 2 Laps	23
11	29	Template:Flagicon Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	Template:Goodyear	58	+ 2 Laps	5
12	23	Template:Flagicon Mauro Baldi	Alfa Romeo	Template:Michelin	56	+ 4 Laps	25
Ret	8	Template:Flagicon Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	Template:Michelin	49	Suspension	18
NC	33	Template:Flagicon Roberto Guerrero	Theodore-Ford	Template:Goodyear	38	+ 22 Laps	11
Ret	34	Template:Flagicon Johnny Cecotto	Theodore-Ford	Template:Goodyear	34	Gearbox	26
Ret	22	Template:Flagicon Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	Template:Michelin	33	Turbo	8
Ret	28	Template:Flagicon René Arnoux	Ferrari	Template:Goodyear	31	Electrical	1
Ret	4	Template:Flagicon Danny Sullivan	Tyrrell-Ford	Template:Goodyear	30	Electrical	16
Ret	25	Template:Flagicon Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ligier-Ford	Template:Michelin	29	Wheel	19
Ret	9	Template:Flagicon Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	Template:Goodyear	26	Collision	22
Ret	35	Template:Flagicon Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	Template:Pirelli	25	Engine	9
Ret	6	Template:Flagicon Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	Template:Michelin	24	Brakes	15
Ret	11	Template:Flagicon Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	Template:Pirelli	5	Gearbox	4
Ret	16	Template:Flagicon Eddie Cheever	Renault	Template:Michelin	4	Distributor	7
Ret	32	Template:Flagicon Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	Template:Michelin	4	Overheating	24
Ret	27	Template:Flagicon Patrick Tambay	Ferrari	Template:Goodyear	0	Engine	3
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Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Alain Prost	28
2	Template:Flagicon Nelson Piquet	27
3	Template:Flagicon Patrick Tambay	23
4	Template:Flagicon Keke Rosberg	22
5	Template:Flagicon John Watson	15
Source:<ref name="champ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation				CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Renault	36
2	Template:Flagicon Williams-Ford	32
3	Template:Flagicon Ferrari	31
4	Template:Flagicon Brabham-BMW	27
5	Template:Flagicon McLaren-Ford	25
Source:<ref name="champ"/>

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

Further reading

• Innes Ireland (October, 1983). "2nd Detroit Grand Prix: Cosworth Counterattack". Road & Track, 162–166.
• Mike S. Lang (1992). Grand Prix!: Race-by-race account of Formula 1 World Championship motor racing. Volume 4: 1981 to 1984. Haynes Publishing Group. Template:ISBN

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