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1984 Monaco Grand Prix

Coordinates: 43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333
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43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333

1984 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 6 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 3 June 1984
Location Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course Street circuit
Course length 3.312 km (2.057 miles)
Distance 31 laps, 102.672 km (63.737 miles)
Scheduled distance 76 laps, 251.712 km (156.406 miles)
Weather Heavy rain and spray
Pole position
Driver McLaren-TAG
Time 1:22.661
Fastest lap
Driver Brazil Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart
Time 1:54.334 on lap 24
Podium
First McLaren-TAG
Second Toleman-Hart
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1984 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 3 June 1984. It was race 6 of 16 in the 1984 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was the only race of the 1984 championship that was run in wet weather.

Alain Prost won the rain-curtailed race from pole position. Ayrton Senna was second in his first podium in Formula One. René Arnoux was later promoted to third after the disqualification of Stefan Bellof.

Practice

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During practice, Tyrrell's Martin Brundle had a huge crash at the Tabac corner. He landed upside down and was slightly injured, but it was enough to make him a non-qualifier for the race. Brundle later said that he ran back to the pits but was not allowed to get into the spare car as it was discovered he could not actually remember how he returned to the pits. Formula One medical chief Sid Watkins concluded Brundle was slightly concussed and the decision was made not to let him return to the track.

Qualifying

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Alain Prost took his first pole position for McLaren with a time of 1:22.661, just ahead of the Lotus-Renault of Nigel Mansell. Prost's pole was also the first pole for the McLaren MP4/2 as well as for the TAG-Porsche engine. Stefan Bellof was the only non-turbo qualifier in his Tyrrell-Cosworth. Bellof qualified 20th and last while Brundle's crash behind the pits at Tabac saw him as a spectator for the race. Bellof's time edged the Arrows-Ford of Marc Surer by just 0.156. The turbo cars of Eddie Cheever (Alfa Romeo) and Thierry Boutsen (Arrows-BMW) both failed to qualify.

BMW had built specially detuned engines for Brabham to use at Monaco. Instead of the normal 900 bhp (671 kW; 912 PS) engines, the Brabhams only had around 700 bhp (522 kW; 710 PS) to play with, the theory being that full power was not needed at Monaco and the detuned engines would be more drivable. It was also an attempt at better reliability as the team had yet to score a point for the year. Never at ease at Monaco, reigning World Champion Nelson Piquet qualified 9th. With Teo Fabi having commitments to race the US based IndyCars at Milwaukee on the same weekend his brother Corrado Fabi drove the second Brabham, qualifying 15th.

Race

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The race, held amidst heavy rain, was one of the most contentious in Formula One history, and announced the emergence of at least two new stars. Alain Prost took the first of his four victories at the circuit.[1]

The race start was delayed by 45 minutes due to the heavy rain. With the rain soaking the track, Niki Lauda sought out Bernie Ecclestone on the grid in a bid to have the tunnel flooded as well. The tunnel was dry but coated with oil from the previous days' use (as well as from the historic cars which were on the program that weekend) which Lauda explained had turned it into a fifth gear skid pad when the cars came racing in carrying the spray from their tyres in the morning warmup. Ecclestone used his power as the head of the Formula One Constructors Association to do exactly that, with a local fire truck called in to water down the only dry road on the track.[2]

Pole-sitter Prost led the race from the start, while first corner contact between Ferrari's René Arnoux and the Renault of Derek Warwick pitched Warwick's car into the fence on the outside of St. Devote and into the path of his team-mate Patrick Tambay. Both drivers suffered leg injuries; Warwick bruised his left leg while Tambay broke his leg after his car's suspension punched through the carbon fibre monocoque, causing him to miss the next round in Canada.

Prost was passed on lap nine by Nigel Mansell, to lead a Grand Prix for the first time, when Prost's TAG engine was misfiring and he was delayed by both Corrado Fabi's stalled Brabham and Michele Alboreto's about-to-be-lapped Ferrari just before the tunnel (Prost actually hit a marshal who was pushing Fabi's car away but with no serious injury).[citation needed] Mansell pulled away from Prost at around two seconds per lap, before going off six laps later on the run up to Casino Square after sliding on a painted white line, damaging his car and retiring from the race.

Lauda disposed of Arnoux but Prost assumed the lead again, only to have the Toleman-Hart of Ayrton Senna, who had also passed the Ferrari, quickly closing in. Senna had started thirteenth in the generally uncompetitive Toleman, in the first Formula One street race in his rookie season, and was showing his wet weather skills that would become legendary.[3] On lap 29, Prost waved to the stewards of the race to indicate that he felt the race should be stopped. He was also suffering from a major brake imbalance as his McLaren's carbon brakes were locking due to not generating enough heat in the conditions, the same problem that had caused Lauda to spin at Casino Square on lap 23, whereupon he stalled his engine and was out of the race. A slowing Prost waved again on lap 31 as he passed the start/finish line.

The red flag to stop the race was shown at the end of the 32nd lap after clerk of the course Jacky Ickx decided that conditions were too poor for the race to continue. Senna passed Prost's slowing McLaren before the finish line, but according to the rules, the positions counted are those from the last lap completed by every driver – lap 31, at which point Prost was still leading.[4] The stoppage was controversial, as it benefited Prost with a Porsche-designed engine, and was made by Ickx, the lead driver with the factory run Rothmans Porsche team in sports car racing. Ickx was suspended from his race control duties for not consulting with the stewards over his decision before making it.[5]

Stefan Bellof, running in the only naturally aspirated car in the race, finished third. Bellof had qualified 20th and last in his Tyrrell 012-Cosworth.[4] His drive from last to third was a stand-out achievement in his short career, although he was later disqualified due to weight restrictions broken by Tyrrell. His drive led to negotiations with Ferrari for a drive for 1986 alongside Michele Alboreto, as René Arnoux was under contract in 1985.[6] The Tyrrell team's results were erased later in the season due to weight infringements, meaning that Bellof was stripped of his podium finish, with his place being taken by René Arnoux. It would prove to be Bellof's only podium visit during his Formula One career.

This was the first time that Ayrton Senna had set a Formula One fastest lap. It was also Toleman's second and final fastest lap in Formula One (Derek Warwick had set the team's only other fastest lap during the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort).

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 7 France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:23.944 1:22.661
2 12 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 1:24.927 1:22.752 +0.091
3 28 France René Arnoux Ferrari 1:24.661 1:22.935 +0.274
4 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:23.581 1:22.937 +0.276
5 16 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Renault 1:23.726 1:23.237 +0.576
6 15 France Patrick Tambay Renault 1:24.828 1:23.414 +0.753
7 26 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 1:25.939 1:23.578 +0.917
8 8 Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:24.508 1:23.886 +1.225
9 1 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:24.139 1:23.918 +1.257
10 6 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:26.017 1:24.151 +1.490
11 11 Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:25.602 1:24.426 +1.765
12 14 West Germany Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 1:52.889 1:24.473 +1.812
13 19 Brazil Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 1:27.865 1:25.009 +2.348
14 22 Italy Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:28.072 1:25.101 +2.440
15 2 Italy Corrado Fabi Brabham-BMW 1:31.618 1:25.290 +2.629
16 5 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 1:27.356 1:25.719 +3.058
17 25 France François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 1:27.678 1:25.815 +3.154
18 20 Venezuela Johnny Cecotto Toleman-Hart 1:28.241 1:25.872 +3.211
19 24 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:27.723 1:25.877 +3.216
20 4 West Germany Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 1:27.834 1:26.117 +3.456
21 17 Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 1:27.919 1:26.273 +3.612
22 3 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford 1:27.891 1:26.373 +3.712
23 23 United States Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:28.961 1:26.471 +3.810
24 18 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:28.000 1:26.514 +3.853
25 10 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 1:29.778 1:27.458 +4.797
26 21 Italy Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart 1:28.360 1:30.146 +5.699
27 9 France Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:29.637 1:29.576 +6.915

*Positions with a pink background indicate drivers that failed to qualify

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 7 France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG M 31 1:01:07.740 1 4.5
2 19 Brazil Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart M 31 + 7.446 13 3
3 28 France René Arnoux Ferrari G 31 + 29.077 3 2
4 6 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda G 31 + 35.246 10 1.5
5 11 Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault G 31 + 44.439 11 1
6 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari G 30 + 1 Lap 4 0.5
7 24 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo P 30 + 1 Lap 19  
8 5 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda G 30 + 1 Lap 16  
DSQ 4 West Germany Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford G 31 Underweight car (+21.141) 20  
Ret 22 Italy Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo G 24 Steering 14  
Ret 8 Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG M 23 Spun Off 8  
Ret 14 West Germany Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW P 22 Spun Off 12  
Ret 12 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault G 15 Spun Off 2  
Ret 1 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW M 14 Electrical 9  
Ret 25 France François Hesnault Ligier-Renault M 12 Electrical 17  
Ret 2 Italy Corrado Fabi Brabham-BMW M 9 Electrical 15  
Ret 20 Venezuela Johnny Cecotto Toleman-Hart M 1 Spun Off 18  
Ret 16 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Renault M 0 Collision 5  
Ret 15 France Patrick Tambay Renault M 0 Collision 6  
Ret 26 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault M 0 Accident 7  
DNQ 17 Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-Ford G    
DNQ 3 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford G    
DNQ 23 United States Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo G    
DNQ 18 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW G    
DNQ 10 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart P    
DNQ 21 Italy Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart P    
DNQ 9 France Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart P        
Source:[7][8]
  • Stefan Bellof originally finished 3rd in his Tyrrell but was later disqualified due to weight restrictions broken by Tyrrell.

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Points accurate at final declaration of results. Tyrrell and its drivers were subsequently disqualified from 1984 results and their points reallocated.

References

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  1. ^ "F1 Monaco Grand Prix - Formula 1 Monaco GP". Formula1.india-server.com. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
  2. ^ Takle, Abhishek (23 May 2014). "Monaco Grand Prix 1984: They call it Ayrton Senna's arrival race". F. Sports. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ "Great Names of the Guia Circuit". Macau Grand Prix. Archived from the original on 18 February 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  4. ^ a b Hamilton, Maurice (1984) Autocourse 1984–85 p.141 Hazleton publishing ISBN 0-905138-32-5
  5. ^ Saward, Joe (27 May 2012). "The Team From Enstone" (PDF). Grand Prix Plus. p. 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-12-02. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  6. ^ "One move too many". Motor Sport. November 2000. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  7. ^ "1984 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  8. ^ "1984 Monaco Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 3 June 1984. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Monaco 1984 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.


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1984 French Grand Prix
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