Austrian GP 1983

Austrian GP, 1983

There was only a week between the German and Austrian GPs but Tyrrell found the time to finish off the first new 012 chassis for Michele Alboreto. As the Osterreichring is at altitude, however, there was little hope of success for the normally-aspirated runners as the turbocharged engines performed better in the thinner air. Ferrari once again dominated practice with Patrick Tambay on pole from Rene Arnoux. Nigel Mansell showed well in the Lotus-Renault to take third place ahead of Nelson Piquet (Brabham-BMW), Alain Prost (Renault), Riccardo Patrese (Brabham-BMW) and Bruno Giacomelli (Toleman-Hart). The top 10 was completed by Eddie Cheever (Renault), Mauro Baldi (Alfa Romeo) and Derek Warwick (Toleman-Hart). The first non-turbo on this occasion was local hero Niki Lauda but he was way down in 14th on the grid.

At the start Tambay took the lead from Arnoux with Piquet, Prost and Mansell chasing. In the midfield there was more than a little chaos when Elio de Angelis (Lotus) lost control and collided with Giacomelli. Further back Piercarlo Ghinzani's Osella punted Jacques Laffite's Williams into Marc Surer's Arrows. This spun the Swiss driver and he was hit by Danny Sullivan's Tyrrell. Behind them Corrado Fabi (Osella braked heavily) and was rammed from behind by John Watson (McLaren).

For the first 21 laps the Ferraris ran 1-2 with Piquet and Prost fighting a lively battle for third. When Tambay and Arnoux came up to lap Jean-Pierre Jarier's Ligier on lap 22 Tambay was badly held up and Arnoux got ahead. So too did Piquet and with the Brabham making a better mid-race stop he was in the lead after the refueling. Tambay had gone with an oil leak. Piquet's lead lasted only until lap 38 and then he dropped back as his engine lost power and so Arnoux went ahead with Prost second. Prost closed and on lap 48 he took the lead and went through to win. Arnoux was second, Prost third, Cheever fourth, Mansell fifth and Lauda sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
15 Alain Prost Renault  53 1h24m32.745s  
28 Rene Arnoux Ferrari  53 1h24m39.580s  
Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  53 1h25m00.404s  
16 Eddie Cheever Renault  53 1h25m01.140s  
12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Cosworth  52  
Niki Lauda McLaren-Cosworth  51  14 
25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Cosworth  51  20 
Keke Rosberg Williams-Cosworth  51  15 
John Watson McLaren-Cosworth  51  17 
10 31 Corrado Fabi Osella-Cosworth  50  26 
11 32 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Cosworth  49  25 
12 40 Stefan Johansson Spirit-Honda  48  16 
13 30 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Cosworth  48  19 
Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW  33 Engine Overheating 13 
22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo  31 Out Of Fuel 11 
27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari  30 Oil Union/engine 
Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW  29 Engine Overheating 
33 Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Cosworth  25 Gearbox 21 
Jacques Laffite Williams-Cosworth  21 Accident Damage/handling 24 
23 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo  13 Engine 
Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Cosworth  Accident 18 
35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart  Turbo 10 
36 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart  Accident 
Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Cosworth  Accident 23 
29 Marc Surer Arrows-Cosworth  Accident 22 
11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Cosworth  Accident 12 
nq 26 Raul Boesel Ligier-Cosworth     
nq 34 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Cosworth     
nq 17 Kenny Acheson RAM March-Cosworth