Results
Code: Select all
1983 Dutch Grand Prix (72 Laps)
1 John Watson (McLaren-TAG) 1:48:17.689
2 Riccardo Patrese (Brabham-BMW) 1:48:55.771
3 Alain Prost (Renault) 1:49:08.207
4 Jacques Laffite (Renault) 1:49:28.885
5 Derek Warwick (Arrows-Ford) 1:49:50.496
6 Eddie Cheever (Williams-Ford) -1 lap
7 Teo Fabi (Toleman-Hart) -1 lap
8 Michele Alboreto (Tyrell-Ford) -1 lap
9 Nigel Mansell (Lotus-Renault) -1 lap
10 Manfred Winklehock (ATS-BMW) -1 lap
Code: Select all
11 Marc Surer (Arrows-Ford) -1 lap
12 Keke Rosberg (Williams-Ford) -1 lap
13 Johnny Cecotto (Theodore-Ford) -1 lap
14 Stefan Johansson (Spirit-Honda) -1 lap
15 Patrick Tambay (Ferrari) -1 lap
16 Raul Boesel (Theodore-Ford) -2 laps
17 Danny Sullivan (Tyrell-Ford) -2 laps
18 Jean-Pierre Jarier (Ligier-Ford) -2 laps
Code: Select all
- Nelson Piquet (Brabham-BMW) DNF lap 71
Niki Lauda (McLaren-TAG) DNF lap 50
Derek Daly (Lotus-Renault) DNF lap 43
Rene Arnoux (Alfa Romeo) DNF lap 42
Martin Brundle (Empire-Hart) DNF lap 26
Mauro Baldi (Ligier-Ford) DNF lap 17
Elio de Angelis (Ferrari) DNF lap 2
Andrea de Cesaris (Alfa Romeo) DNF lap 2
Ferrari have a lot of explaining to do. And probably some couples therapy to go.
As usual,the Scuderia ran rampant at the start,quickly jumping Prost and Patrese to assume the lead of the race. Patrick Tambay was leading ahead of Elio de Angelis at that point. However,de Angelis sought to look for a way past. Going into Tarzan on the second lap,de Angelis peeked inside for a move on Tambay,but the Frenchman shut the door,tapping de Angelis and sending both for a spin,which neccesitated some avoiding action from the rest of the pack.Unfortunately,Andrea de Cesaris was unsighted,and when de Angelis' Ferrari came into view,it was too late. He pranged against de Angelis and hurtled into Tambay's car,sending the championship leader and de Cesaris out of the race,while Tambay had a long limp back into the pit lane.
The beneficiary of all this hoo-hah was John Watson,whose gutsy squeeze between de Angelis and the Grass moved him up to third,behind Patrese and Prost. If this race happened earlier in the year,Watson would have been gobbled up by the rest of the pack. Instead,he took full advantage of a brand spanking new TAG turbo and quickly found the lead of the race,from which there would be no looking back. Derek Daly assumed fourth with Jacques Laffite yipping and yapping behind Daly like a French Jack Russell. Michele Alboreto was sixth and Keke Rosberg was seventh with Derek Warwick in eigth and Manfred Winklehock ninth. Tenth,though,was Eddie Cheever,having got an amazaing leap on the start and the lap 2 spins. Mauro Baldi retired on lap 17 with a fried Ford following a rather clumsy gearshift. Michele Alboreto latched onto the Daly-Laffite battle,and soon was looking for opportunities to pass them both. Into Scheviak,Alboreto attempted a move around the outside of Laffite,where the Tyrell had much better grip,but spun a complete 360 set off again,despite completely shredded tyres that needed replacing.Keke Rosberg also spun trying to take avoiding action,and was lucky that the resulting impact with the fence only dented his steering a little.
Meanwhile,Watson was flying. He already started lapping the last place runner,Martin Brundle,on lap 27. Although,admittedly,Brundle was retreating back into the pitlane having lost 3rd and 5th gears,thus he was last. His teammate,Niki Lauda was also flying up the field,showing the power of the new TAG engine and cementing McLaren as an unstoppable force yet again.Meanwhile, Manfred Winklehock had a botched pitstop after accidentally knocking away one of his spare tyres entering the pits,leaving his tyre changer to chase the runaway wheel down the pitlane in a moment sure to go down in Formula One blooper reels in years to come. This,however,cost Winklehock a whole twenty seconds. Rene Arnoux's oil pipe came loose on lap 42,ending his race and Derek Daly's a lap later,when the Lotus spun on the spilt oil on the exit of Hugenholtz and spun into the inside barrier.
Niki Lauda's race came to a halt on lap 50,where the one weakness of the TAG engine was found: reliability. However,the main strength of the TAG was exhibited by John Watson,who crossed the line in dominating fashion,almost 40 seconds ahead of the next finisher,Riccardo Patrese in the Brabham-BMW.Alain Prost finished ahead of Jacques Laffite in fourth,boosting Laffite's chances of winning the championship overall. Fifth was Derek Warwick,scoring Arrows' first point since Monaco. Finally,sixth was Eddie Cheevr,also scoring his first point since Monaco. On the final lap,Nelson Piquet was running seventh,and was actually hunting Cheever down,until he overcorrected his car at the exit of Hondenvlak and speared into the wall,ending his race on his last lap.
--------------------------------------------------------
Driver's Championship(3 Races to Go)(Drivers in Championship contention are marked with a *)
1.Jacques Laffite--48*
2.Elio de Angelis--46*
3.Alain Prost--41*
4.Patrick Tambay--35*
5.Niki Lauda--24*
6.Michele Alboreto--21
7.John Watson--16(1 win)
8.Eddie Cheever--16(1 2nd)
9.Keke Rosberg--15
10.Nelson Piquet--12
11.Riccardo Patrese--10
12.Andrea de Cesaris--8(1 3rd)
13.Danny Sullivan--8(2 4ths)
14.Marc Surer--7(1 2nd)
15.Derek Daly--6
16.Nigel Mansell--5
17.Derek Warwick--4
18.Rene Arnoux--2 (1 5th,10 DNFs)
19.Thierry Boutsen--1
Constructor's Standings(3 Rounds Left)(Teams in Championship Contention are marked with a *0
1.Renault--89*
2.Ferrari--81*
3.McLaren-Ford--31(1 win,1 2nd,2 3rds)
4.Williams-Ford--31(1 win,1 2nd,1 3rd)
5.Tyrell-Ford--29
6.Brabham-BMW--22
7.Arrows-Ford--11(1 2nd)
8.Lotus-Renault--11 (1 3rd)
9.Alfa Romeo--10
10.Toleman-Hart--1
------------------------------------------------