German GP 1983

German GP, 1983

With a three-week gap between the British and German GPs, there was a lot of testing going on and some new faces appearing in the cars. Williams ran a youngster called Ayrton Senna while Brabham ran a test at Brands Hatch for Pierluigi Martini, Davy Jones, Ivan Capelli and Stirling Moss (!)

There were suggestions that Patrick Tambay would be dropped by Ferrari at the end of the year to make way for Michele Alboreto and hints that Arrows would be using BMW engines in 1984.

For all this the entry was unchanged and Tambay took pole position with Rene Arnoux second, making it a Ferrari 1-2. Andrea de Cesaris was third quickest in his Alfa Romeo ahead of Nelson Piquet's Brabham-BMW, Alain Prost's Renault (which was leading the championship), Eddie Cheever's Renault, Mauro Baldi's Alfa Romeo and Riccardo Patrese in the second Brabham-BMW. The top 10 was completed by the two Toleman-Harts of Derek Warwick and Bruno Giacomelli.

The race saw Tambay head off in the lead but he was soon overtaken by Arnoux and the Frenchman stayed ahead (apart from during the pit stops) for the rest of the afternoon. Tambay went out with engine trouble after 11 laps and so Piquet was second and he led after Arnoux stopped in the mid-race. He rejoined in second after his pit stop but on lap 43 he went out with a fuel leak which caused a fire. That meant that de Cesaris was able to claim third after Cheever went out with a broken throttle. Prost finished fourth and Niki Lauda (McLaren) fifth although the Austrian was later thrown out for having reversed in the pitlane during his pit stop.

This meant that fifth place went to John Watson (McLaren) and sixth to Jacques Laffite (Williams).

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
28 Rene Arnoux Ferrari  45 1h27m10.319s  
22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo  45 1h28m20.971s  
Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW  45 1h28m54.412s  
15 Alain Prost Renault  45 1h29m11.069s  
dq Niki Lauda McLaren-Cosworth  44 Reversed In Pits 18 
John Watson McLaren-Cosworth  44  23 
Jacques Laffite Williams-Cosworth  44  15 
29 Marc Surer Arrows-Cosworth  44  20 
25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Cosworth  44  19 
30 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Cosworth  44  14 
10 Keke Rosberg Williams-Cosworth  44  12 
11 34 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Cosworth  44  22 
12 Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Cosworth  43  21 
13r Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  42 Fuel Filter Leak/fire 
16 Eddie Cheever Renault  38 Fuel Injection Pump 
32 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Cosworth  34 Engine 26 
26 Raul Boesel Ligier-Cosworth  27 Engine 25 
23 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo  24 Engine 
36 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart  19 Turbo 10 
35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart  17 Engine 
40 Stefan Johansson Spirit-Honda  11 Engine 13 
27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari  11 Engine 
11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Cosworth  10 Engine Overheating 11 
Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Cosworth  Fuel Pump Drive 16 
12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Cosworth  Engine 17 
33 Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Cosworth  Engine 24 
nq 17 Eliseo Salazar RAM March-Cosworth    27 
nq 31 Corrado Fabi Osella-Cosworth    28 
nq Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW    29