1983 Detroit Grand Prix

January 2025 October 2025 F1 United States Detroit 2nd Detroit Grand Prix Downtown Detroit Street Circuit.svg June 5 1983 7 15 Detroit Street CircuitDetroit, Michigan Temporary street course 2.56 4.120 60 153.60 247.195 Sunny and warm with temperatures reaching up to 76.8 F C; wind speeds up to 11.3 mph km/hhttps://www.almanac.com/weather/history/MI/Detroit/1983-06-05 1983 Detroit Grand Prix weather information Old Farmers' Almanac 2018-09-03 FRA 1974 René Arnoux Ferrari 1:44.734 UK John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:47.668 55 ITA 1946 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford FIN Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford UK John Watson McLaren-Ford DET The 1983 Detroit Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held in Detroit, Michigan on June 5, 1983. It was the seventh race of the 1983 Formula One World Championship, and the second Formula One race to be held in Detroit.Brodie Ian 27 March 1983 Motor Racing The Sunday Telegraph London 37 "The second Detroit street race will go ahead in June largely because Ford and other automotive firms have guaranteed CBS they will buy television commercials costing up to $1.5 million, considered by the network as an adequate return for two hours of air time regardless of the audience." Summary Circuit changes After the previous year's race had failed to come close to the typical Grand Prix distance of 305 km in the 2 hour time limit, the race distance was shortened to 61 laps (about 250 km). The circuit had been slightly modified from its original configuration the year before, with the pit lane extended to place the entrance before the final chicane, and a short new section of track eliminating the extremely tight hairpin at Turn Five. The new layout was faster and much preferred by the drivers. Friday's entire agenda was run in the rain, however, and it was left to a single hour on Saturday to decide the starting grid. Qualifying Contrary to the usual pattern, after the first fifteen minutes or so of qualifying, the track became slower as more rubber was laid down. This was apparently due to moisture still in the track being drawn out by the now-present sunshine. The pole-winning time of 1:44.734 was posted by René Arnoux on his Ferrari's first set of qualifying tires; on his second set, he was more than two seconds slower. Many who did not record a quick time early in the session were caught out by the changing conditions, and the grid held many surprises as a result. Defending Champion Keke Rosberg was twelfth, Alain Prost thirteenth and Niki Lauda eighteenth, while the non-turbocharged cars of Marc Surer and Alboreto were fifth and sixth. American Eddie Cheever, in the only competitive ride of his F1 career with Renault, was in seventh spot, six places ahead of his highly regarded teammate. Race Over 70,000 fans enjoyed beautiful weather for the race on Sunday. The boats on the Detroit River, the blaring music and the floods of people from the downtown hotels created quite an atmosphere, inevitably bringing comparisons to Monaco, as the Long Beach event often did. The first attempt at a start was halted just as the green light was about to come on, when Andrea de Cesaris signalled from the grid that his Alfa Romeo had stalled. The whole process was begun again, with another pace lap that reduced the race distance from 61 laps to 60, and this time the green light came on. This time, however, Patrick Tambay's Ferrari, in the second row, stalled on the grid. He held his breath while everyone made their way safely around him, and then, expecting a push-start, instead was removed from the circuit by tow truck. Piquet made an excellent start and beat Arnoux to Turn One. He led after the first lap, with Arnoux ahead of de Angelis, de Cesaris, Alboreto, Derek Warwick, Rosberg (already up from twelfth) and Cheever. The two leaders quickly began to separate themselves from the rest, while a four-way nose-to-tail battle raged for fourth. On lap five, Cheever retired with ignition failure, de Angelis forfeited third place with a broken gearbox and Piercarlo Ghinzani abandoned his Osella in the pits with an overheating engine. Arnoux, after steadily closing the gap to Piquet, overtook the Brabham into Turn One and gained the lead on lap 10. Piquet let him through without a fight, knowing that the Ferrari was planning a fuel and tire stop, while he was not. When Rosberg finally got by de Cesaris for third at the end of lap 11, he was almost 15 seconds behind Piquet, but clearly faster. Alboreto, in fifth place and also threatening de Cesaris, had started on full tanks and, like Piquet, was not planning a pit stop. By lap 20, Rosberg had caught up with Piquet's Brabham and easily went by to take second, about twenty seconds behind Arnoux. On lap 29, the Ferrari's lead was up to almost 30 seconds when Arnoux came into the pits, as expected, followed soon after by Rosberg's Williams, whose intentions had been unclear. Arnoux rejoined after a stop of just 13.5 seconds, still barely in the lead; by the time Rosberg was able to get back on the track (his stop lasted 17.5 seconds), he was in fifth place behind Piquet, Alboreto and Jacques Laffite, none of whom had stopped. But just three laps after his pit stop, Arnoux suddenly coasted to a halt on the circuit with an electrical failure. When Laffite pitted, Piquet was back in the lead, with Alboreto up to second and Rosberg third, 25 seconds back. John Watson, having started in 21st position on the grid, was now in fourth, making his regular charge through an American Grand Prix field. It looked as if Nelson Piquet and Brabham-BMW were on their way to victory as Alboreto was doing all he could to stay close. Suddenly, on lap 51, Piquet slowed with a punctured left rear tire, and as he made his way back to the pits, Alboreto and Rosberg went by. While he was in the pits, Watson also came through. All that was left was for Alboreto to bring the Tyrrell home over the final nine laps, taking it rather easy since he was too far in front for Rosberg to catch him. Watson, meanwhile, was doing anything but taking it easy, and he set the race's fastest lap (1.6 seconds faster than his qualifying time) while just failing to catch the Williams for second place. Piquet rejoined to finish in fourth, ahead of Laffite in the second Williams and Nigel Mansell's Lotus. Alboreto's teammate, American Danny Sullivan, in his only season of Formula One, retired at the halfway point of the race when his engine failed. His only points for the season came from his fifth place at Monaco, though he did finish second at the non-Championship Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. When Sullivan could not secure a drive with turbo power for 1984, he saw the writing on the wall and returned to the US and the CART Indy Car series. Tyrrell's Michele Alboreto scored his second Grand Prix win and first points of the season. The tight downtown street course took away much of the advantage of the turbocharged cars, and Alboreto's win for Cosworth-Ford was the last of the season's three non-turbo victories. It was also the last for a normally aspirated engine until the turbos were outlawed after the 1988 season, and the last of a record 155 wins for the legendary Cosworth DFV and also the last victory for the Tyrrell team. Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 28 FRA 1974 René Arnoux Ferrari2:08.8511:44.734 — 2 5 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW2:11.5061:44.933 +0.199 3 27 FRA 1974 Patrick Tambay Ferrari2:10.9941:45.991 +1.257 4 11 ITA 1946 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault2:09.6011:46.258 +1.524 5 29 Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-Ford2:09.2921:46.745 +2.011 6 3 ITA 1946 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford2:08.1981:47.013 +2.279 7 16 USA Eddie Cheever Renault2:08.4181:47.334 +2.600 8 22 ITA 1946 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo2:08.0341:47.453 +2.719 9 35 UK Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart no time 1:47.534 +2.800 10 30 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford2:11.1071:47.586 +2.852 11 33 Colombia Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford2:08.4961:47.701 +2.967 12 1 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford2:06.3821:47.728 +2.994 13 15 FRA 1974 Alain Prost Renault2:15.7311:47.855 +3.121 14 12 UK Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford2:07.7921:48.395 +3.661 15 6 ITA 1946 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW2:17.4891:48.537 +3.803 16 4 USA Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford2:18.7581:48.648 +3.914 17 36 ITA 1946 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart2:13.2051:48.785 +4.051 18 8 Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford2:09.0191:48.992 +4.258 19 25 FRA 1974 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford2:07.6521:48.994 +4.260 20 2 FRA 1974 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford2:13.0801:49.245 +4.511 21 7 UK John Watson McLaren-Ford2:10.6321:49.250 +4.516 22 9 FRG Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW2:12.0921:49.466 +4.732 23 26 BRA 1968 Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford2:12.1641:49.540 +4.806 24 32 ITA 1946 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo2:15.5561:49.885 +5.151 25 23 ITA 1946 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo2:11.1691:49.916 +5.182 26 34 Venezuela 1930 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford2:14.5471:51.709 +6.975 27 31 ITA 1946 Corrado Fabi Osella-Ford2:15.0851:53.516 +8.782Source:https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1983/races/8/detroit/qualifying-1.html 1983 Detroit Grand Prix II - QUALIFYING 1 formula1.com 12 September 2019https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1983/races/8/detroit/qualifying-2.html 1983 Detroit Grand Prix II - QUALIFYING 2 formula1.com 12 September 2019https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1983/races/8/detroit/qualifying-0.html 1983 Detroit Grand Prix II - OVERALL QUALIFYING formula1.com 12 September 2019Hamilton Maurice AUTOCOURSE 1983–84 Hazleton Publishing Ltd 1983 154 0-905138-25-2 - Driver failed to qualify for the race. Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 ITA 1946 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 60 1:50:53.669 6 9 2 1 FIN Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford Goodyear 60 + 7.702 12 6 3 7 UK John Watson McLaren-Ford Michelin 60 + 9.283 21 4 4 5 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW Michelin 60 + 1:12.185 2 3 5 2 FRA 1974 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford Goodyear 60 + 1:32.603 20 2 6 12 UK Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford Pirelli 59 + 1 Lap 14 1 7 30 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford Goodyear 59 + 1 Lap 10   8 15 FRA 1974 Alain Prost Renault Michelin 59 + 1 Lap 13   9 36 ITA 1946 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart Pirelli 59 + 1 Lap 17   10 26 BRA 1968 Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford Michelin 58 + 2 Laps 23   11 29 Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-Ford Goodyear 58 + 2 Laps 5   12 23 ITA 1946 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo Michelin 56 + 4 Laps 25   Ret Retired 8 Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford Michelin 49 Suspension 18   NC Not classified 33 Colombia Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford Goodyear 38 + 22 Laps 11   Ret Retired 34 Venezuela 1930 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford Goodyear 34 Gearbox 26   Ret Retired 22 ITA 1946 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo Michelin 33 Turbo 8   Ret Retired 28 FRA 1974 René Arnoux Ferrari Goodyear 31 Electrical 1   Ret Retired 4 USA Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 30 Electrical 16   Ret Retired 25 FRA 1974 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford Michelin 29 Wheel 19   Ret Retired 9 FRG Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW Goodyear 26 Collision 22   Ret Retired 35 UK Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart Pirelli 25 Engine 9   Ret Retired 6 ITA 1946 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW Michelin 24 Brakes 15   Ret Retired 11 ITA 1946 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault Pirelli 5 Gearbox 4   Ret Retired 16 USA Eddie Cheever Renault Michelin 4 Distributor 7   Ret Retired 32 ITA 1946 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo Michelin 4 Overheating 24   Ret Retired 27 FRA 1974 Patrick Tambay Ferrari Goodyear 0 Engine 3  Source:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1983/333/ 1983 United States Grand Prix formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20141021051053/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1983/333/ 21 October 2014https://gparchive.com/formula-1/1983-detroit-grand-prix/ 1983 Detroit Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive GPArchive.com 5 June 1983 3 November 2021 Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 FRA 1974 Alain Prost 28 2 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet 27 3 FRA 1974 Patrick Tambay 23 4 FIN Keke Rosberg 22 5 UK John Watson 15Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1983/etats-unis-est/championnat.aspx USA East 1983 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 15 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 FRA 1974 Renault 36 2 UK Williams-Ford 32 3 ITA 1946 Ferrari 31 4 UK Brabham-BMW 27 5 UK McLaren-Ford 25Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References Further reading Innes Ireland (October, 1983). "2nd Detroit Grand Prix: Cosworth Counterattack". Road & Track, 162–166. Mike S. Lang (1992). Grand Prix!: Race-by-race account of Formula 1 World Championship motor racing. Volume 4: 1981 to 1984. Haynes Publishing Group. 0-85429-733-2 Detroit Grand Prix 1983 1983 Belgian Grand Prix 1983 Canadian Grand Prix 1982 Detroit Grand Prix 1984 Detroit Grand Prix Detroit Grand Prix Category:Detroit Grand Prix (Formula One) Detroit Grand Prix Detroit Grand Prix Detroit Grand Prix