Brazilian GP 1982

Brazilian GP, 1982

There was a two-month gap between the South African and Brazilian GPs because of the cancellation of the Argentine GP as a result of rampant inflation. When the field reassembled there were a variety of new cars, notably the new Williams FW08, Lotus 91, the Alfa Romeo 182, a new Ensign N182 and a new Theodore. Didier Pironi emerged unscathed from a huge crash at Paul Ricard which left his Ferrari in a spectator area.

Brabham took the curious decision to go back to Cosworth engines rather than racing the BMW turbos and there were rumors of problems between the team and the engine maker.

There was a full field of 31 cars and it was no surprise when Alain Prost put his turbocharged Renault on the pole ahead of Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari and Rosberg in an old Williams. Then came Rene Arnoux (Renault), Niki Lauda (McLaren), Carlos Reutemann (Williams) and Nelson Piquet (Brabham). The top 10 was completed by Riccardo Patrese's Brabham and Andrea de Cesaris's Alfa Romeo.

Villeneuve took the lead at the start with Prost and Arnoux following and Rosberg fourth ahead of Patrese, Pironi and Piquet. Patrese soon moved ahead of Rosberg and he was followed by Piquet, while Prost also dropped behind Patrese. On lap nine Piquet overtook Patrese. The order remained unchanged at the front until lap 17 when Piquet and Rosberg both breezed ahead of Arnoux (Keke also passing Patrese at the same time).

Prost's drift backwards continued as he fell behind Lauda. Soon afterwards the Austrian was punted off by Reutemann and so Prost was back in fifth.

Villeneuve continued to lead while Piquet and Rosberg fought over second with Patrese running behind them in fourth, followed by Prost and John Watson (McLaren). This remained unchanged until lap 30 when Villeneuve spun off. Within a matter of laps Patrese had also had a spin and the car came into the pits. Riccardo had blacked out because of the battering he was getting in the car. The order remained largely unchanged after that with Piquet leading home Rosberg, Prost, Watson and Mansell. Manfred Winkelhock looked to be on course for sixth place but in the closing laps Michele Alboreto grabbed the place for Tyrrell.

There were protests after the race and ultimately both Piquet and Rosberg were disqualified for illegal water tanks. This meant that Prost was declared to be the winner with Watson second, Mansell third and Alboreto fourth. Winkelhock was bumped to fifth and Pironi picked up a point for sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
dq Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  63 Car Under Weight 
dq Keke Rosberg Williams-Cosworth  63 Car Under Weight 
15 Alain Prost Renault  63 1h44m33.134s  
John Watson McLaren-Cosworth  63 1h44m36.124s  12 
12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Cosworth  63 1h45m09.993s  14 
Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Cosworth  63 1h45m23.895s  13 
Manfred Winkelhock ATS-Cosworth  62  15 
28 Didier Pironi Ferrari  62  
Slim Borgudd Tyrrell-Cosworth  61  21 
17 Jochen Mass March-Cosworth  61  22 
31 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Cosworth  60  23 
10 30 Mauro Baldi Arrows-Cosworth  57  19 
10 Eliseo Salazar ATS-Cosworth  38 Engine 18 
20 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Cosworth  36 Accident 25 
Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW  34 Driver Exhausted 
27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari  29 Accident 
Niki Lauda McLaren-Cosworth  22 Accident 
16 Rene Arnoux Renault  21 Accident 
Carlos Reutemann Williams-Cosworth  21 Accident 
11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Cosworth  21 Accident 11 
25 Eddie Cheever Talbot Ligier-Matra  19 Water Leak 26 
23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo  16 Engine 16 
26 Jacques Laffite Talbot Ligier-Matra  15 Misfire/handling 24 
22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo  14 Undertray 10 
33 Derek Daly Theodore-Cosworth  12 Puncture/spin 20 
18 Raul Boesel March-Cosworth  11 Puncture/spin 17 
nq 36 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart    27 
nq 14 Roberto Guerrero Ensign-Cosworth    28 
nq 29 Brian Henton Arrows-Cosworth    29 
nq 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart    30 
nq 32 Riccardo Paletti Osella-Cosworth    31