United States GP 1983

JUNE 5, 1983

United States GP, 1983

In the fortnight between the Belgian and Detroit races the big news was that Gerard Ducarouge had joined Team Lotus. He immediately began work to revamp the troublesome Lotus 93T, hoping to have a new version ready within six weeks. The field was smaller than usual because RAM Automotive decided not to make the trip, Eliseo Salazar having left the team.

Qualifying resulted in pole position for Rene Arnoux's Ferrari with Nelson Piquet second in his Brabham-BMW and Patrick Tambay third in the second Ferrari. Then came Elio de Angelis in the Lotus-Renault and the surprisingly quick Marc Surer (Arrows). Michele Alboreto was sixth in his Tyrrell, fitted with the new Cosworth DFY engine and then there were more turbos with Eddie Cheever (Renault), Andrea de Cesaris (Alfa Romeo) and Derek Warwick (Toleman-Hart). The top 10 was rounded off by rising star Thierry Boutsen in his Arrows.

Tambay stalled at the start and as Arnoux went away in the lead from Piquet, de Angelis, de Cesaris, Alboreto and Warwick. Surer was badly delayed and ended up in 10th place. The early laps saw Cheever and de Angelis both disappear with technical troubles, while Keke Rosberg made his way ahead of Warwick for sixth place. A few laps later he was ahead of Alboreto as well and on the 11th lap Rosberg took third from de Cesaris. On lap 20 he moved to second ahead of Piquet. While the major runners stopped for tires and fuel in the mid-race Piquet and Alboreto stayed out and with Arnoux disappearing with electrical trouble it was Piquet who ended up in the lead with Alboreto second and the recovering Rosberg third. John Watson (McLaren) had also decided to go nonstop and so was fourth with Jacques Laffite (Williams) fifth after his stop and the nonstop Boutsen in sixth place. In the closing laps the Belgian lost sixth place to Nigel Mansell in the old Lotus 92. The race was settled on lap 51 when Piquet had a puncture and had to pit. He dropped to fourth behind Alboreto, Rosberg and Watson but still ahead of Laffite and Mansell.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Cosworth  60 1h50m53.669s  6 
2 1 Keke Rosberg Williams-Cosworth  60 1h51m01.371s  12 
3 7 John Watson McLaren-Cosworth  60 1h51m02.952s  21 
4 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  60 1h52m05.854s  2 
5 2 Jacques Laffite Williams-Cosworth  60 1h52m26.272s  20 
6 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Cosworth  59  14 
7 30 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Cosworth  59  10 
8 15 Alain Prost Renault  59  13 
9 36 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart  59  17 
10 26 Raul Boesel Ligier-Cosworth  58  23 
11 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Cosworth  58  5 
12 23 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo  56  25 
r 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-Cosworth  49 Suspension 18 
nc 33 Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Cosworth  38  11 
r 34 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Cosworth  34 Gear Linkage 26 
r 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo  33 Turbo 8 
r 28 Rene Arnoux Ferrari  31 Electrics 1 
r 4 Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Cosworth  30 Electrics 16 
r 25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Cosworth  29 Wheel Nut 19 
r 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW  26 Accident 22 
r 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart  25 Water Leak/engine 9 
r 6 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW  24 Brakes 15 
r 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Cosworth  5 Transmission 4 
r 16 Eddie Cheever Renault  4 Distributor 7 
r 32 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Cosworth  4 Engine Overheating 24 
r 27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari  0 Stalled On Grid 3 
nq 31 Corrado Fabi Osella-Cosworth    27