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).