German GP 1984

German GP, 1984

In the fortnight between the British and German GPs there was a test at Zandvoort with ATS running a new rising star called Gerhard Berger. Tyrrell announced that it would be running Mike Thackwell in the German race at Stefan Bellof was committed to driving a sportscar race. Toleman decided not to replace the injured Johnny Cecotto as it had only two chassis left and preferred to make these available to Ayrton Senna.

Qualifying resulted in pole position for World Championship leader Alain Prost (who had 43.5 points to Niki Lauda's 39). Elio de Angelis was second fastest in his Lotus-Renault with Derek Warwick and Patrick Tambay next up in their factory Renaults. Then came Nelson Piquet (Brabham-BMW), Michele Alboreto's Ferrari, Lauda's McLaren, Teo Fabi (Brabham-BMW), Senna and Rene Arnoux Ferrari). Thackwell failed to qualify. At the start of the race de Angeles got ahead of Prost with Piquet blasting up to third place ahead of the two Renaults and Senna making a good start to run sixth. On the fifth lap the rear bodywork of Senna's Toleman blew off, tearing off the rear wing and the Brazilian had a high-speed accident. The impact, however, was not too acute and the Toleman clattered down the barriers. On lap eight the leader de Angelis disappeared with an engine failure but Prost's lead lasted only briefly as Piquet accelerated past him. Lauda was up to third with Keke Rosberg (Williams-Honda) having driven a remarkable early few laps to move from 19th on the grid to fourth place by lap nine. On the next lap he retired with electrical trouble and so Warwick was back in fourth. And so it remained until Piquet went out with gearbox failure on lap 23, leaving the two McLarens to run 1-2 all the way to the flag with Warwick third, Mansell fourth, Tambay fifth and Arnoux sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 7 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Porsche  44 1h24m43.210s  1 
2 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG Porsche  44 1h24m46.359s  7 
3 16 Derek Warwick Renault  44 1h25m19.633s  3 
4 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault  44 1h25m34.873s  16 
5 15 Patrick Tambay Renault  44 1h25m55.159s  4 
6 28 Rene Arnoux Ferrari  43  10 
7 26 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault  43  11 
8 25 Francois Hesnault Ligier-Renault  43  17 
dq 3 Stefan Johansson Tyrrell-Cosworth  42 (1) 26 
9 21 Huub Rothengatter Spirit-Hart  40  24 
r 14 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW  31 Turbo Boost Pressure/gearbox 13 
r 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo  29 Engine 18 
r 2 Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW  28 Turbo Boost Pressure 8 
r 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  23 Gearbox Pinion 5 
r 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo  16 Fuel Metering Unit 20 
r 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo  14 Electrics 21 
r 30 Jo Gartner Osella-Alfa Romeo  13 Turbo 23 
r 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  13 Misfire 6 
r 10 Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart  11 Turbo  25 
r 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda  10 Electrics 19 
r 5 Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda  10 Engine 12 
r 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Cosworth  8 Oil Pressure 15 
r 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault  8 Turbo 2 
r 9 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart  7 Engine Overheating 22 
r 19 Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart  4 Rear Wing Failure/accident 9 
r 17 Marc Surer Arrows-Cosworth  1 Turbo 14 
nq 4 Mike Thackwell Tyrrell-Cosworth    27