San Marino GP 1982

San Marino GP, 1982

In the three weeks after the race at Long Beach the FIA ruled that Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg should be excluded from the results of the Brazilian GP because they had been running water tanks designed to allow them to run under the weight limit. There was an outcry from the FOCA teams and it was agreed that they would boycott the race at Imola.

While all this was going on Williams had decided to sign Derek Daly as replacement for Carlos Reutemann. as a result Theodore was looking for a driver and Geoff Lees stepped in. Marc Surer was due to be back in action for Arrows and so Brian Henton moved to Tyrrell to replace Slim Borgudd. In the end only seven teams appeared: Ferrari, Renault, Alfa Romeo, Tyrrell, ATS, Toleman and Osella. The others stayed away.

Qualifying resulted in pole position for Rene Arnoux with his Renault team mate Alain Prost alongside. Then came the Ferraris of Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi while Michele Alboreto was fifth ahead of the two Alfas of Bruno Giacomelli and Andrea de Cesaris. The top 10 was completed by Derek Warwick's Toleman, Jean-Pierre Jarier in the Osella and Teo Fabi's Toleman.

The race saw the two Renaults break down and left Villeneuve and Pironi running first and second for Ferrari - to the delight of the local fans. It was a very dull race but in the closing stages Pironi closed right up on Villeneuve and the Canadian - believing that victory was his as the Ferrari team orders meant that Pironi would sit behind him - thought that the Frenchman was not fighting for the lead but merely putting on a show for the fans. Pironi got ahead, Villeneuve overtook him again.

On the last lap Villeneuve was not expecting any more moves from his teammate. But at Tosa Corner Pironi outbraked him and took the lead. For the rest of the lap Villeneuve was stuck behind with Pironi not giving him the chance to pass. Pironi took the chequered flag. Villeneuve was furious. Alboreto took third place with Jarier fourth and Eliseo Salazar fifth. There were no other finishers.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
28 Didier Pironi Ferrari  60 1h36m38.887s  
27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari  60 1h36m39.253s  
Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Cosworth  60 1h37m46.571s  
31 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Cosworth  59  
10 Eliseo Salazar ATS-Cosworth  57  14 
dq Manfred Winkelhock ATS-Cosworth  54 Car Under Weight 12 
nc 36 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart  52  10 
16 Rene Arnoux Renault  44 Engine 
23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo  24 Engine 
32 Riccardo Paletti Osella-Cosworth  Suspension 13 
15 Alain Prost Renault  Engine 
22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo  Fuel Pump 
Brian Henton Tyrrell-Cosworth  Clutch 11 
35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart  -1 Electrics