1982 Belgian Grand Prix

1982 Belgian Grand Prix
1982 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 5 of 16 in the 1982 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	9 May 1982
Official name	XL Grote Prijs van België
Location	Circuit Zolder; Heusden-Zolder, Limburg, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.262 km (2.648 miles)
Distance	70 laps, 298.340 km (185.380 miles)
Weather	Cold with air temperatures reaching up to 13 °C (55 °F)
Pole position
Driver	Alain Prost;
Time	1:15.701
Fastest lap
Driver	John Watson
Time	1:20.214 on lap 67
Podium
First	John Watson;
Second	Keke Rosberg;
Third	Eddie Cheever;
	Lap leaders ;

The 1982 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 9 May 1982. It was the fifth round of the 1982 Formula One season.^[2]

Qualifying and death of Gilles Villeneuve

Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve was killed in an accident during the final qualifying session. At the time of the crash, his teammate Didier Pironi had set a time 0.1s faster than Villeneuve for sixth place. Contemporary and more recent writers say that he was attempting to improve his time on his final lap. Some suggest that he was specifically aiming to beat Pironi due to bitterness at being passed by him two weeks earlier in the closing stages of the San Marino Grand Prix, when Villeneuve believed Pironi had been ordered to remain behind him.^[3]^[4] Villeneuve's biographer Gerald Donaldson quotes Ferrari race engineer Mauro Forghieri as saying that the Canadian, although pressing on in his usual fashion, was returning to the pits on his last set of qualifying tyres when the accident occurred.^[5] If so, he would not have set a time on that lap.

With eight minutes of the session left, Villeneuve came over the rise after the first chicane and found Jochen Mass in the March travelling much more slowly through Butte, the left-handed bend before the Terlamenbocht corner. Mass saw Villeneuve approaching at high speed and moved to the right to let him through on the racing line. At the same instant Villeneuve also moved right to pass Mass. The Ferrari hit the back of the March and was launched into the air at a speed estimated at 200–225 km/h (120–140 mph). It was airborne for over 100 metres before nosediving into the ground and disintegrating as it somersaulted along the edge of the track. Villeneuve, still strapped to his seat but without his helmet, was thrown a further 50 metres from the wreckage into the catch fencing on the outside edge of Terlamenbocht.^[5]^[6]

Several drivers stopped and rushed to the scene. John Watson and Derek Warwick pulled Villeneuve, his face blue, from the catch fencing.^[7] The first doctor arrived on the scene within 35 seconds to find that Villeneuve was not breathing, although his pulse continued throughout; he was intubated and ventilated before being transferred to the circuit medical centre and then by helicopter to University St Raphael Hospital where a fatal fracture of the neck was diagnosed.^[8] Villeneuve was kept alive on life support while his wife travelled to the hospital and the doctors consulted with specialists worldwide. He died at 9:12 that evening.^[5]

The Ferrari team withdrew from the race after the accident and left the circuit. The final eight minutes of the qualifying were run after the crash debris had been removed. No drivers improved their times, leaving the Renaults of Alain Prost and René Arnoux on the front row of the grid.^[9]

Abbreviated race summary

John Watson won the race after taking the lead on the penultimate lap from Keke Rosberg, who was struggling on worn tires. Niki Lauda finished third on the road but was disqualified when his car was found to be underweight in post-race scrutineering,^[9] and so the final podium place went to Eddie Cheever.

Classification

Pre-Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time
1	18	Raul Boesel	March-Ford	1:18.333
2	31	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	1:19.999
3	35	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	1:20.847
4	36	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	1:21.499
5	32	Riccardo Paletti	Osella-Ford	1:21.784
6	19	Emilio de Villota	March-Ford	1:22.879

Qualifying


Pos	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	15	Alain Prost	Renault	1:15.962	1:15.701
2	16	René Arnoux	Renault	1:15.903	1:15.730	+0.029
3	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	1:17.654	1:15.847	+0.146
4	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	1:17.577	1:16:049	+0.348
5	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1:17.344	1:16:308	+0.607
6	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	1:18.796	1:16:501	+0.800
7	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	1:17.696	1:16:575	+0.874
8	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1:17.507	1:16:616	+0.915
9	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	1:17.614	1:16:944	+1.243
10	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:17.124	1:17.535	+1.423
11	2	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	1:18.366	1:17.126	+1.425
12	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1:18.639	1:17.144	+1.443
13	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	1:18.655	1:17.762	+2.061
14	9	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-Ford	1:19.430	1:17.879	+2.178
15	5	Derek Daly	Williams-Ford	1:18.194	1:18.591	+2.493
16	25	Eddie Cheever	Ligier-Matra	1:20.182	1:18.301	+2.600
17	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1:18.425	1:18.371	+2.670
18	31	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	1:20.056	1:18.403	+2.702
19	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1:19.403	1:18.565	+2.864
20	10	Eliseo Salazar	ATS-Ford	1:20.440	1:18.967	+3.266
21	35	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	1:20.594	1:18.985	+3.284
22	4	Brian Henton	Tyrrell-Ford	1:20.518	1:19.150	+3.449
23	36	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	1:20.541	1:19.300	+3.599
24	29	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	1:22.512	1:19.584	+3.883
25	20	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:21.775	1:19.598	+3.897
26	18	Raul Boesel	March-Ford	1:20.522	1:19.621	+3.920
27	17	Jochen Mass	March-Ford	1:20.552	1:19.777	+4.076
28	30	Mauro Baldi	Arrows-Ford	1:20.802	1:19.815	+4.114
29	14	Roberto Guerrero	Ensign-Ford	1:20.116	1:20.482	+4.415
30	33	Jan Lammers	Theodore-Ford	1:21.453	1:20.584	+4.883
Source: ^[10]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	M	70	1:35:41.995	10	9
2	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	G	70	+ 7.268	3	6
3	25	Eddie Cheever	Ligier-Matra	M	69	+ 1 Lap	14	4
4	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	G	68	+ 2 Laps	11	3
5	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	G	67	+ 3 Laps	8	2
6	20	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	P	67	+ 3 Laps	23	1
7	29	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	P	66	+ 4 Laps	22
8	18	Raul Boesel	March-Ford	P	66	+ 4 Laps	24
9	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	M	66	+ 4 Laps	17
DSQ	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	M	70	Underweight	4
Ret	5	Derek Daly	Williams-Ford	G	60	Spun Off	13
Ret	17	Jochen Mass	March-Ford	P	60	Engine	25
Ret	15	Alain Prost	Renault	M	59	Spun Off	1
Ret	2	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	G	52	Spun Off	9
Ret	30	Mauro Baldi	Arrows-Ford	P	51	Throttle	26
Ret	31	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	P	37	Broken Wing	16
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	M	34	Gearbox	6
Ret	4	Brian Henton	Tyrrell-Ford	G	33	Engine	20
Ret	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	G	29	Engine	5
Ret	35	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	P	29	Transmission	19
Ret	36	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	P	13	Brakes	21
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	G	9	Clutch	7
Ret	16	René Arnoux	Renault	M	7	Turbo	2
Ret	9	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-Ford	M	0	Clutch	12
Ret	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	M	0	Collision	15
Ret	10	Eliseo Salazar	ATS-Ford	M	0	Collision	18
DNS	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	G		Withdrew due to Villeneuve's death
DNS	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	G		Fatal accident during qualifying
DNQ	14	Roberto Guerrero	Ensign-Ford	A
DNQ	33	Jan Lammers	Theodore-Ford	A
DNPQ	32	Riccardo Paletti	Osella-Ford	P
DNPQ	19	Emilio de Villota	March-Ford	P
Source:^[11]^[12]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alain Prost	18
2	John Watson	17
3	Keke Rosberg	14
4	Niki Lauda	12
5	Didier Pironi	10
Source: ^[13]

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	McLaren-Ford	29
2	Renault	22
3	Williams-Ford	20
4	Ferrari	16
5	Tyrrell-Ford	10
Source: ^[13]

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

↑ Weather info for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix Archived 2015-02-14 at the Wayback Machine at Weather Underground
↑ "1982 Belgian Grand Prix Entry list".
↑ "Formula 1's greatest drivers. Number 12: Gilles Villeneuve". BBC Sport. 4 July 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
↑ Bamsey (1983) p.50, Lang (1992) pp.96–97, Watkins (1997) p.98 and Fearnley (May 2007) all write that Villeneuve was attempting to beat Pironi. Jenkinson (June 1982) writes only that he "was in the middle of a last desperate bid to improve his grid position."
1 2 3 Donaldson (2003) pp.296–298
↑ Lang (1992) p.97
↑ Fearnley (May 2007)
↑ Watkins (1997) pp.96–98
1 2 Lang (1992) pp.95 99
↑ "05/09/1982 race: Grand Prix of Belgium (F1) qualifying results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
↑ "1982 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
↑ "1982 Belgian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 9 May 1982. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
1 2 "Belgium 1982 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.

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