Monaco GP 1983

Monaco GP, 1983

The field was as it had been at Imola a fortnight earlier. Qualifying resulted in pole position for Alain Prost (Renault) ahead of Rene Arnoux (Ferrari), Eddie Cheever (Renault), Patrick Tambay (Ferrari) and an inspired Keke Rosberg in the normally-aspirated Williams. Then came Nelson Piquet (Brabham-BMW), Andrea de Cesaris (Alfa Romeo) and Jacques Laffite in the second Williams. Jean-Pierre Jarier looked good in the Ligier with ninth place on the grid while the top 10 was completed by Derek Warwick in the Toleman-Hart. Incredibly both McLarens failed to qualify. They were running the new Cosworth DFY engines but this was not the problem, the cars not handling well on the Michelin tires they were given on Thursday. And it rained on Saturday.

At the start the track was wet and some teams decided to start on wet tires (notably Ferrari, Renault and Brabham). The Williams duo started on slicks as did Warwick. Prost took the lead from a very fast-starting Rosberg ahead of Cheever, Arnoux, Tambay and de Cesaris. In the course of the first lap there was the usual midfield shunt as Nigel Mansell (Lotus-Cosworth) and Michele Alboreto (Tyrrell) collided at the Swimming Pool. As it became clear that slicks were the correct choice. Rosberg took the lead and drove away from Prost. The turbo cars all into the pits for new tires (except Arnoux who had banged a barrier and drove in to retire) and so Laffite moved to second place ahead of Marc Surer (Arrows) and Warwick. Prost and Piquet were behind them chasing back up the order. But nothing changed until lap 49 when Surer was battling for third with Warwick and Piquet. Warwick tried to pass as they went into Ste Devote and the two cars collided, Surer hitting the barriers and Warwick limping round to retire soon afterwards. This enabled Piquet to take third and when Laffite went out a few laps later with a gearbox failure the Brazilian moved to second. Prost finished third with Tambay fourth. The remaining points went to Danny Sullivan, who was two laps behind in his Tyrrell and Mauro Baldi (Alfa Romeo).

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Keke Rosberg Williams-Cosworth  76 1h56m38.121s  
Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  76 1h56m56.596s  
15 Alain Prost Renault  76 1h57m09.487s  
27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari  76 1h57m42.418s  
Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Cosworth  74  20 
23 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo  74  13 
30 Chico Serra Arrows-Cosworth  74  15 
Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW  64 Electrics 17 
Jacques Laffite Williams-Cosworth  53 Gearbox 
29 Marc Surer Arrows-Cosworth  49 Accident 12 
35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart  49 Accident 10 
11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Cosworth  49 Drive Shaft 19 
25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Cosworth  32 Suspension Hydraulics 
16 Eddie Cheever Renault  30 Electrics 
22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo  13 Gearbox 
28 Rene Arnoux Ferrari  Accident 
26 Raul Boesel Ligier-Cosworth  Accident 18 
Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW  Accident 16 
Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Cosworth  Accident 11 
12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Cosworth  Accident 14 
nq 36 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart    21 
nq Niki Lauda McLaren-Cosworth    22 
nq John Watson McLaren-Cosworth    23 
nq 31 Corrado Fabi Osella-Cosworth    24 
nq 17 Eliseo Salazar RAM March-Cosworth    25 
nq 32 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Cosworth    26 
npq 34 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Cosworth    27 
npq 33 Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Cosworth    28