San Marino GP 1984

San Marino GP, 1984

There was only a week between the Belgian and San Marino GPs so there was no time for any major changes. Marc Surer took over the Arrows A7 from Thierry Boutsen and Osella ran a second car (with an old Alfa Romeo V12 engine) for Austria's Jo Gartner. Otherwise there were no changes. Goodyear cars had dominated at Zolder but at Imola Michelin had the advantage and so pole position went to Nelson Piquet (Brabham-BMW) ahead of Alain Prost (McLaren-TAG). Keke Rosberg was the fastest Goodyear runner in his Williams-Honda but he was followed by two more Michelin men: Derek Warwick (Renault) and Niki Lauda (McLaren-TAG). Rene Arnoux (Ferrari) was ahead of Manfred Winkelhock (ATS-BMW) with the top 10 being completed by Eddie Cheever (Alfa Romeo), Teo Fabi (Brabham-BMW) and Riccardo Patrese (Alfa Romeo). The big surprise in qualifying was the failure of Ayrton Senna (Toleman) to qualify, this being the result of a dispute between the team and Pirelli over money. A misfire in the second session meant that Senna did not make it.

At the start Prost took the lead from Piquet. Rosberg was swallowed up by the field (as he had been in Belgium) and Lauda was also in trouble with a clutch problem. In the midfield Patrick Tambay (Renault) went out at Tosa when he collided with Cheever (who had to pit and change a punctured tire). Prost led Piquet, Warwick, Arnoux and Winkelhock although the ATS driver soon dropped behind Michele Alboreto's Ferrari and then behind the recovering Lauda. The Austrian then passed both Ferraris but on lap 16 he suffered an engine failure and retired. Six laps later Warwick moved ahead of Piquet to take second place. Prost was going for one-stop while Piquet and Warwick (who switched places again) were going all the way without stopping. This led Warwick to drop behind Arnoux (who had stopped). Piquet then disappeared with a turbo failure and so Arnoux moved to second behind Prost. Warwick faded towards the end but those who overtook him: Andrea de Cesaris (Ligier-Renault) and Elio de Angelis (Lotus-Renault) both ran out of fuel, the latter being credited with third place while Warwick was fourth. Cheever would have been fifth but ran out of gas and so the position went to Stefan Bellof (Tyrrell) with the final point going to Thierry Boutsen (Arrows)

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 7 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Porsche  60 1h36m53.679s  2 
2 28 Rene Arnoux Ferrari  60 1h37m07.095s  6 
3r 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault  59 Out Of Fuel 11 
4 16 Derek Warwick Renault  59  4 
 4 Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Cosworth  59 (1) 21 
 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Cosworth  59  20 
 26 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault  58 Out Of Fuel 12 
 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo  58 Out Of Fuel 8 
 21 Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart  58  24 
 10 Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart  57  25 
 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Cosworth  55 Fuel Injection/(1) 22 
 9 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart  53 Engine 23 
 20 Johnny Cecotto Toleman-Hart  52  19 
 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  48 Turbo 1 
 2 Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW  48 Turbo 9 
 30 Jo Gartner Osella-Alfa Romeo  46 Engine 26 
 17 Marc Surer Arrows-Cosworth  40 Turbo 16 
 14 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW  31 Turbo 7 
 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  23 Exhaust 13 
 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG Porsche  15 Engine 5 
 5 Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda  11 Engine 15 
 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo  6 Electrics 10 
 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault  2 Brakes/spin 18 
 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda  2 Electrics 3 
 15 Patrick Tambay Renault  0 Accident 14 
 25 Francois Hesnault Ligier-Renault  0 Accident 17 
 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo    27 
 19 Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart    28