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 The XXII Grand Prix du Canada was the eighth meeting of the 1983 Formula One Season, hosted in Montreal at a circuit named for the Ferrari fighter whom lost his life over a year ago at Zolder.[1] In tribute to the Canadian hero, the Île Notre-Dame Circuit was renamed the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with the words Salut Gilles painted across the start finish line. His brother, Jacques, would also enter the 1983 Canadian Grand Prix for RAM Automotive, although he could not replicate his fallen brother's pace and hence failed to qualify.[2]

The race itself was won by Rene Arnoux for Ferrari, with team mate Patrick Tambay (using the number 27 which Villeneuve had made his own for the tifosi) taking third.[2] Eddie Cheever split the two Ferraris for Renault, while Alain Prost extended his championship lead to three points by taking fifth.[2]

Background[]

The circuit remained unchanged from a year before, with the death of Riccardo Paletti at the previous year's race seen as an unfortunate accident, rather than an inherent problem at the circuit.[3] The entry list, on the otherhand, had a surprise in store, with RAM returning to the grid despite missing out on Detroit the week before.[2] Although Eliseo Salazar had left, his seat had been filled (for one race only) by Jacques Villeneuve Sr., brother of Gilles and uncle and namesake of the future champion Jacques Jr.[2] No other changes were made to the entry list before the race.

In the championship, Alain Prost held a slender one point lead over Nelson Piquet, having failed to score at all in Detroit. Patrick Tambay still held third, although he was also losing his advantage over his nearest competitor, with Keke Rosberg's second place in the US putting his tally one behind Tambay's, while John Watson, and his McLaren team, remained outside contenders for both championships in fifth. Because Ferrari and Renault had both failed to score in Detroit, Williams were now up to second, just four points behind the French outfit. Brabham had also closed in to the top, coming into Canada four behind the tifosi in fourth.

Entry List[]


The full entry list for the 1983 Canadian Grand Prix is shown below:

No. Driver Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Model Tyre
1 Finland Keke Rosberg United Kingdom TAG Williams Racing Team Williams FW08C Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 G
2 France Jacques Laffite United Kingdom TAG Williams Racing Team Williams FW08C Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 G
3 Italy Michele Alboreto United Kingdom Benetton Tyrrell Team Tyrrell 011B Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 G
4 United States Danny Sullivan United Kingdom Benetton Tyrrell Team Tyrrell 011B Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 G
5 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Fila Sport Brabham BT52 BMW M12/13 L4t 1.5 M
6 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Fila Sport Brabham BT52 BMW M12/13 L4t 1.5 M
7 United Kingdom John Watson United Kingdom Marlboro McLaren International McLaren MP4/1C Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 M
8 Austria Niki Lauda United Kingdom Marlboro McLaren International McLaren MP4/1C Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 M
9 Germany Manfred Winkelhock Germany Team ATS ATS D6 BMW M12/13 L4t 1.5 G
11 Italy Elio de Angelis United Kingdom John Player Team Lotus Lotus 93T Renault EF1 V6t 1.5 P
12 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell United Kingdom John Player Team Lotus Lotus 92 Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 P
15 France Alain Prost France Equipe Renault Elf Renault RE40 Renault EF1 V6t 1.5 M
16 United States Eddie Cheever France Equipe Renault Elf Renault RE40 Renault EF1 V6t 1.5 M
17 Canada Jacques Villeneuve, Sr. United Kingdom RAM Racing Team March RAM 01 Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 P
22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Italy Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo 183T Alfa Romeo 890T V8t 1.5 M
23 Italy Mauro Baldi Italy Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo 183T Alfa Romeo 890T V8t 1.5 M
25 France Jean-Pierre Jarier France Equipe Ligier Gitanes Ligier JS21 Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 M
26 Brazil Raul Boesel France Equipe Ligier Gitanes Ligier JS21 Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 M
27 France Patrick Tambay Italy Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC Ferrari 126C2B Ferrari 021 V6t 1.5 G
28 France René Arnoux Italy Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC Ferrari 126C2B Ferrari 021 V6t 1.5 G
29 Switzerland Marc Surer United Kingdom Arrows Racing Team Arrows A6 Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 G
30 Belgium Thierry Boutsen United Kingdom Arrows Racing Team Arrows A6 Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 G
31 Italy Corrado Fabi Italy Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1D Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 M
32 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Italy Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1E Alfa Romeo 1260 V12 3.0 M
33 Colombia Roberto Guerrero United Kingdom Theodore Racing Team Theodore N183 Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 G
34 Venezuela Johnny Cecotto United Kingdom Theodore Racing Team Theodore N183 Ford Cosworth DFV V8 3.0 G
35 United Kingdom Derek Warwick United Kingdom Candy Toleman Motorsport Toleman TG183B Hart 415T L4t 1.5 P
36 Italy Bruno Giacomelli United Kingdom Candy Toleman Motorsport Toleman TG183B Hart 415T L4t 1.5 P

Practice Overview[]

Dry practice and qualifying sessions allowed the field to cover plenty of distance before the race, a luxury which had been missed at the last four Grand Prix.[1] Jacques Sr. was some way off the pace, two seconds away from the next slowest driver, while Ferrari and Renault proved the potence of turbo power, with the Ferraris in particular the only cars to dip into the 1:28.000s.[1]

Qualifying[]

A dry qualifying session. with no rain since practice, meant the track improved, meaning the majority set quicker times.[2] Yet, Arnoux still topped the timesheets, with Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet finding enough pace to split the two Ferraris (an issue for Tambay prevented him from setting a competitive time in qualifying).[2] Manfred Winkelhock impressed once again in the ATS, taking seventh ahead of Andrea de Cesaris, while Keke Rosberg claimed ninth (the best of the non-turbo cars).[2]

Back to form, Piercarlo Ghinzani dropped out of qualifying in the V12 Alfa Romeo powered Osella, being beaten by team mate Corrado Fabi by half a second.[1] He was joined by Jacques Sr., whom was half a second off the pace, despite finding almost two over night.[1] This was good news for Mauro Baldi, whom scraped through in 26th, six seconds off of Arnoux's pole time.[1]

Qualifying Results[]

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time[1]
Q1 Q2
1 28 FranceRené Arnoux Ferrari 1:28.984 1:28.729
2 15 France Alain Prost Renault 1:29.942 1:28.830
3 5 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:30.366 1:28.887
4 27 France Patrick Tambay Ferrari 1:28.992 1:46.258
5 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:31.227 1:29.549
6 16 United States Eddie Cheever Renault 1:30.225 1:29.863
7 9 Germany Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 1:31.756 1:30.966
8 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 1:31.813 1:31.173
9 1 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford Cosworth 1:31.583 1:31.480
10 36 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart 1:32.208 1:31.586
11 11 Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:33.231 1:31.822
12 35 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 1:32.351 1:32.116
13 2 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford Cosworth 1:32.185 1:32.632
14 29 Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-Ford Cosworth 1:32.931 1:32.540
15 30 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford Cosworth 1:32.643 1:32.576
16 25 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford Cosworth 1:34.403 1:32.642
17 3 Italy Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1:33.664 1:33.175
18 12 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford Cosworth 1:33.588 1:34.010
19 8 Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford Cosworth 1:34.452 1:33.671
20 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford Cosworth 1:34.008 1:33.705
21 33 Colombia Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford Cosworth 1:35.283 1:33.721
22 4 United States Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1:34.680 1:33.791
23 34 Venezuela Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford Cosworth 1:36.260 1:34.314
24 26 Brazil Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford Cosworth 1:34.967 1:34.486
25 31 Italy Corrado Fabi Osella-Ford Cosworth 1:35.554 1:34.544
26 23 Italy Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo 1:34.988 1:34.755
DNQ 17 Canada Jacques Villeneuve RAM-Ford Cosworth 1:37.858 1:35.133
DNQ 32 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:35.493 1:35.171
Bold indicates a driver's fastest lap.


Pos. Pos.
Driver Driver
______________
Row 1 1 ______________
René Arnoux 2
______________ Alain Prost
Row 2 3 ______________
Nelson Piquet 4
______________ Patrick Tambay
Row 3 5 ______________
Riccardo Patrese 6
______________ Eddie Cheever
Row 4 7 ______________
Manfred Winkelhock 8
______________ Andrea de Cesaris
Row 5 9 ______________
Keke Rosberg 10
______________ Bruno Giacomelli
Row 6 11 ______________
Elio de Angelis 12
______________ Derek Warwick
Row 7 13 ______________
Jacques Laffite 14
______________ Marc Surer
Row 8 15 ______________
Thierry Boutsen 16
______________ Jean-Pierre Jarier
Row 9 17 ______________
Michele Alboreto 18
______________ Nigel Mansell
Row 10 19 ______________
Niki Lauda 20
______________ John Watson
Row 11 21 ______________
Roberto Guerrero 22
______________ Danny Sullivan
Row 12 23 ______________
Johnny Cecotto 24
______________ Raul Boesel
Row 13 25 ______________
Corrado Fabi 26
______________ Mauro Baldi

Race[]

The start was delayed for 40 minutes after a power failure causing the timing system to fail.[4] This problem was resolved, however, with the race starting as normal, with no changes to the grid order before the race.[4]

Report[]

It had been a faultless weekend for René Arnoux so far, and one that was to continue after a perfect start gave the Frenchman a huge advantage into the first corner.[4] Prost slipped into second, while the fast starting Riccardo Patrese leapt from fifth to third, beating PIquet and Patrick Tambay into the first corner.[2] Furtherdown Jean-Pierre Jarier and Marc Surer became the first retirements of the day, neither making it round the first lap with mechanical issues, while Elio de Angelis suffered a throttle linkage failure on the second.[2]

As Arnoux pulled ahead, Patrese dived up the inside of Prost, grabbing second in short order and setting off to try to challenge the Ferrari.[4] Piquet, Tambay and Eddie Cheever remained in touch of the pair, although that would soon change.[2] Piquet suffered a throttle linkage failure while defending from Tambay on lap sixteen, causing him to retire and allowing Tambay and Cheever past.[4] Tambay then picked up a misfire in his Ferrari engine, allowing Cheever to blast past on the straight and catch his team mate.[2]

Luckily for Tambay, the Ferrari engineers had fitted a switch in the cockpit to be used in the event of a vapour lock.[4] The device effectively bled the system automatically, removing the lock and (it was hoped) restoring the engine to full power.[4] Tambay was back up to speed, but the damage to his race had been done, with the Frenchman requiring some luck to get onto the podium.[4]

The race entered a stalemate after the pitstops, with Arnoux only losing the lead to Patrese (whom went further on his fuel and tyres) for three laps until the Italian stopped on lap 38.[2] Then, on lap 56, Patrese pulled into the pits with a gearbox failure, promoting Prost and Cheever into second and third.[4] As the American closed in on his team mate in the closing stages, the championship leader suffered a puncture, putting him into the pits for a late change.[2] Cheever was now second and Tambay, still wounded from the misfire, taking third.[2]

Arnoux, by this stage, was well out of sight and duly crossed the line to take victory by 42 seconds.[2] Cheever and Tambay held station in second and third, while Keke Rosberg claimed fourth, after an epic struggle to get past Andrea de Cesaris cost him a potential podium.[4] Prost glided home in fifth, with John Watson, after another drive from the lower leagues of the grid, claiming the final point in sixth.[2]

Results[]

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 28 France René Arnoux Ferrari 70 1:48:31.838 1 9
2 16 United States Eddie Cheever Renault 70 +42.089s 6 6
3 27 France Patrick Tambay Ferrari 70 +52.610s 4 4
4 1 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford Cosworth 70 +1:17.048 9 3
5 15 France Alain Prost Renault 69 +1 lap 2 2
6 7 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-Ford Cosworth 69 +1 lap 20 1
7 30 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford Cosworth 69 +1 lap 15
8 3 Italy Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 68 +2 laps 17
DSQ 4 United States Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 68 Underweight 22
9 9 Germany Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 67 +3 laps 7
10 23 Italy Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo 67 +3 laps 26
Ret 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 56 Gearbox 5
Ret 35 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 47 Turbo 12
Ret 36 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart 43 Engine 10
Ret 12 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford Cosworth 43 Handling 18
Ret 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 42 Engine 8
Ret 2 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford Cosworth 37 Gearbox 13
Ret 26 Brazil Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford Cosworth 32 Halfshaft 24
Ret 33 Colombia Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford Cosworth 27 Engine 21
Ret 31 Italy Corrado Fabi Osella-Ford Cosworth 26 Engine 25
Ret 34 Venezuela Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford Cosworth 17 Differential 23
Ret 5 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 15 Throttle 3
Ret 8 Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford Cosworth 11 Spin 19
Ret 11 Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1 Throttle 11
Ret 29 Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-Ford Cosworth 0 Transmission 14
Ret 25 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford Cosworth 0 Gearbox 16

Milestones[]

Standings after race[]

Alain Prost extended his championship lead to three points over Nelson Piquet by finishing fifth, but he was still under pressure from behind. Patrick Tambay was now level with Piquet on 27 points, with Keke Rosberg now only five behind on 25. René Arnoux's victory meant he entered the top five for the first time since the United States Grand Prix West, his tally of seventeen one more than that of John Watson.

In the Constructor's struggle, Ferrari and Renault left North America tied on 44 points, with the French outfit deemed ahead through Prost's lead in the Driver's Championship. Williams dropped back to third and were now nine points adrift, with Brabham and McLaren slowly slipping away in fourth and fifth respectively.

1983 Drivers' World Championship
Pos. Driver Pts
1 France Alain Prost 30
2 Brazil Nelson Piquet 27
3 France Patrick Tambay 27
4 Finland Keke Rosberg 25
5 France René Arnoux 17

Only the top 5 drivers are displayed.

1983 Constructors' World Championship
Pos. Team Pts
1 France Renault 44
2 Italy Ferrari 44
3 United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 35
4 United KingdomBrabham-BMW 27
5 United KingdomMcLaren-Ford Cosworth 26

Only the top 5 constructors are displayed.

References[]

V T E 1983 Formula One Season
Teams Williams • Tyrrell • Brabham • McLaren • ATS • Lotus • Renault • RAM • Alfa Romeo • Ligier • Ferrari • Arrows • Osella • Theodore • Toleman • Spirit
Engines Alfa Romeo • BMW • Ferrari • Ford • Hart • Honda • Renault • TAG
Drivers alphabetically Acheson • Alboreto • De Angelis • Arnoux • Baldi • Boesel • Boutsen • Cecotto • De Cesaris • Cheever • Fabi • Ghinzani • Giacomelli • Guerrero • Jarier • Johansson • Jones • Laffite • Lauda • Mansell • Palmer • Patrese • Piquet • Prost • Rosberg • Salazar • Schlesser • Serra • Sullivan • Surer • Tambay • Villeneuve • Warwick • Watson • Winkelhock
Drivers by number Rosberg • 2 Laffite • 42 Palmer • 3 Alboreto • 4 Sullivan • 5 Piquet • 6 Patrese • 7 Watson • 8 Lauda • 9 Winkelhock • 11 De Angelis • 12 Mansell • 15 Prost • 16 Cheever • 17 Salazar • 17 Villeneuve • 17 Acheson • 18 Schlesser • 22 De Cesaris • 23 Baldi • 25 Jarier • 26 Boesel • 27 Tambay • 28 Arnoux • 29 Surer • 30 Serra • 30 Jones • 30 Boutsen • 31 Fabi • 32 Ghinzani • 33 Guerrero • 34 Cecotto • 35 Warwick • 36 Giacomelli • 40 Johansson
Cars Ferrari 126C2B • Ferrari 126C3 • Renault RE30C • Renault RE40 • Brabham BT52 • Brabham BT52B • Williams FW08C • Williams FW09 • McLaren MP4/1C • McLaren MP4/1E • Alfa Romeo 183T • Tyrrell 011B • Tyrrell 012 • Lotus 92 • Lotus 93T • Lotus 94T • Toleman TG183 • Arrows A6 • Theodore N183 • Ligier JS21 • Spirit 201 • ATS D6 • Osella FA1D • Osella FA1E • RAM 01
Tyres Goodyear • Michelin • Pirelli
Races Brazil • U.S. West • France • San Marino • Monaco • Belgium • Detroit • Canada • Britain • Germany • Austria • Netherlands • Italy • Europe • South Africa
Non-championship races Race of Champions
See also 1982 Formula One Season • 1984 Formula One Season • Category
V T E Canada Canadian Grand Prix
Circuits Mosport Park (1967, 1969, 1971–1974, 1976–1977), Mont-Tremblant (1968, 1970), Montreal (1978–1986, 1988–2008, 2010–present)
CircuitGillesVilleneuve
Races 196719681969197019711972197319741976197719781979198019811982198319841985198619881989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
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