1983 United States Grand Prix West

Formula One race February 2021 F1 United States United States Grand Prix West Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Long Beach 1983.jpg 1983 3 27 1983 2 15 Long Beach Street Circuit Temporary street course 2.034 3.275 75 152.55 245.625 Sunny and warm with temperatures reaching up to 65.8 F C; wind speeds approaching speeds up to 9.9 mph km/hhttp://www.almanac.com/weather/history/CA/Long%20Beach/1983-03-27 Weather information for the "1983 United States Grand Prix West" The Old Farmers' Almanac May 20, 2015 France Patrick Tambay Ferrari 1:26.117 Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford 1:28.330 42 UK John Watson McLaren-Ford Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford France René Arnoux Ferrari USW The 1983 United States Grand Prix West (officially the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach1983 Formula 1 World Championship Programmes https://www.progcovers.com/motor/f11983.html The Programme Covers Project) was a Formula One motor race held on March 27, 1983 at Long Beach Street Circuit. It was the second race of the 1983 Formula One World Championship. The 75-lap race was won by Northern Irishman John Watson, driving a McLaren-Ford. Watson took his fifth and final F1 victory having started from 22nd position, the lowest from which a driver has won an F1 race. Austrian teammate Niki Lauda finished second, having himself started 23rd, with Frenchman René Arnoux third in a Ferrari. It was also the last win for a Northern Irish driver until Eddie Irvine at the 1999 Australian Grand Prix. This was the final running of the Long Beach race as an F1 event, before organizer Chris Pook switched to the CART IndyCar series. Background March 2026 Qualifying Qualifying report Once again, the Long Beach circuit had been slightly modified, primarily to free up Ocean Boulevard, one of the city's main thoroughfares. Since the alternate route on Seaside Way included a tunnel under the Long Beach convention center, the pits were moved to the long, curving Shoreline Drive section, where the start and finish lines were reunited for the first time since 1977. As practice began on Friday, two bumps where the circuit rejoined the old layout at the end of the Seaside Way straight were causing problems. Some teams were concerned that the suspension on their cars would not last more than a few laps under race conditions. René Arnoux (Ferrari) was the first to go over the bumps flat out and his 1:26.935 led Alain Prost (Renault), Patrick Tambay (Ferrari) and Riccardo Patrese (Brabham) on the day's timing chart, while Nelson Piquet (Brabham), Lauda and Watson found their Michelin qualifying tires virtually useless and set poor times. Overnight repair work smoothed the problematic bumps. Tambay grabbed his first pole with a lap of 1:26.117, the only lap to beat teammate Arnoux's Friday time; Keke Rosberg (Williams) took third with 1:27.145, ahead of teammate Jacques Laffite. American Danny Sullivan (Tyrrell), in his only season of Formula One, managed ninth, while the other American in F1, Eddie Cheever (driving the older model Renault RE30C) was 15th, 7 places behind team mate Prost in the newer RE40 model. The McLarens of Watson and Lauda were never able to arrive at a balanced setup, and they would start in 22nd and 23rd position. Making what would be an abortive comeback to Formula One, Australia's 1980 World Champion Alan Jones took Chico Serra's drive in the No.30 Arrows-Ford. Still recovering from a broken hip requiring a pin, the result of falling off a horse on his farm north of Melbourne, Jones qualified in a creditable 12th place for his first F1 GP since winning the final race of the 1981 season at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 27 France Patrick Tambay Ferrari1:28.5981:26.117 2 28 France René Arnoux Ferrari1:26.9351:27.628 +0.818 3 1 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford1:29.5771:27.145 +1.028 4 2 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford1:30.5291:27.818 +1.701 5 11 ITA 1946 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault1:31.6241:27.982 +1.865 6 35 UK Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart no time1:28.130 +2.013 7 3 ITA 1946 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford1:29.0661:28.425 +2.308 8 15 France Alain Prost Renault1:28.5581:29.765 +2.441 9 4 USA Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford1:31.2711:28.833 +2.716 10 25 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford1:29.6001:28.913 +2.796 11 6 ITA 1946 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW1:28.9581:29.467 +2.841 12 30 Australia Alan Jones Arrows-Ford1:30.4511:29.112 +2.995 13 12 UK Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford1:31.7281:29.167 +3.050 14 36 ITA 1946 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart no time1:29.266 +3.149 15 16 USA Eddie Cheever Renault1:30.5971:29.422 +3.305 16 29 Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-Ford1:30.0671:29.521 +3.404 17 34 Venezuela 1930 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford1:29.5591:30.258 +3.442 18 33 Colombia Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford1:29.5851:28.528† +3.468 19 22 ITA 1946 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo1:33.3361:29.603 +3.486 20 5 Brazil 1968 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW1:30.1731:30.034 +3.917 21 23 ITA 1946 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo1:31.9241:30.070 +3.953 22 7 UK John Watson McLaren-Ford1:32.4391:30.100 +3.983 23 8 Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford1:30.2621:30.188 +4.071 24 9 FRG Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW1:31.5991:30.220 +4.103 25 17 Chile Eliseo Salazar RAM-Ford1:32.5971:31.126 +5.009 26 26 Brazil 1968 Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford1:31.7591:31.765 +6.642 27 31 ITA 1946 Corrado Fabi Osella-Ford1:33.8961:31.901 +6.784 28 32 ITA 1946 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford no time 1:32.182 +7.065Source:https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1983/races/453/usa-west/qualifying-1.html Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach 1983 - QUALIFYING 1 formula1.com September 12, 2019https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1983/races/453/usa-west/qualifying-2.html Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach 1983 - QUALIFYING 2 formula1.com September 12, 2019https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1983/races/453/usa-west/qualifying-0.html Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach 1983 - OVERALL QUALIFYING formula1.com September 12, 2019Hamilton Maurice AUTOCOURSE 1983–84 Hazleton Publishing Ltd 1983 106 0-905138-25-2 † — time disallowed Race Race report The race took place in warm and sunny conditions and marked the 300th Grand Prix start for Lotus. Tambay held the lead at the first corner. Rosberg, immediately behind him, tried to squeeze through the middle of the all-Ferrari front row. He touched Arnoux's right front with his left rear as he swung wide, but both continued, with Rosberg in second, followed by Laffite and Arnoux. Rosberg spun later in the lap while attempting to overtake, but continued without damage. After one lap, Sullivan was up to sixth, behind Arnoux, and Cheever was ninth, immediately behind Prost. Sullivan was passed by Patrese on the second lap, and then by Prost and Cheever on lap three. Before long, however, Prost began dropping back with a misfire that had been plaguing him recurrently all weekend, and he finally pitted on lap 16. Cheever was able to get by Arnoux and Patrese when Arnoux began to lose grip from his Goodyears, and was up into fifth place. When Cheever entered the Renault pit for a new set of tires, however, he found the crew still working on Prost's car; he was forced to continue. Prost's problem was eventually solved and he continued, albeit three laps down. Meanwhile, Rosberg had regained second place behind Tambay and, by lap 20, was again looking for a way by. The top six cars were all running very close together, and Rosberg soon found himself under increasing pressure from Laffite, who was in turn being hounded by Jean-Pierre Jarier's Ligier and Patrese's Brabham. On lap 26, Rosberg attempted to take the lead again, but collided with Tambay, who spun and stalled. Rosberg continued again, driving around the outside of the disabled car. As he entered the chicane before the start/finish line, he found his teammate Laffite alongside and Jarier almost touching his gearbox behind. The two Williams cars touched briefly, and Jarier ran into the back of Rosberg, who hit the wall, bounced off, and hit it again before sliding to a stop. Jarier continued, but only briefly, as a damaged front wing had spoiled his handling, and he retired in the pits. Laffite was now in the lead, with Patrese in second. By lap 28, the McLarens were lying third and fourth, having passed Marc Surer, Sullivan and Johnny Cecotto. When Watson got by Lauda at the end of Shoreline Drive, he was 20 seconds behind the two leaders. With Watson closing the gap to the front and Laffite's tires going off quickly, Patrese challenged Laffite for the lead. He slid wide, and Watson and Lauda both passed before he rejoined the track. Soon after, the McLarens passed Laffite as well, and, from 22nd and 23rd on the grid, were now first and second. With Laffite still struggling with his tires, Patrese was able to catch him up again and took third on lap 52. Arnoux was coming back through the field after a second tire stop, and was waging battle with Cheever for fifth place when they came upon Laffite on lap 67, again at the end of Shoreline Drive. At the hairpin, the Williams and Ferrari swapped places around Cheever, as Arnoux went from sixth to fourth in one corner. On the next lap, however, Cheever lost fifth place when he pulled off with a broken gearbox. With just three laps to go, Patrese retired from third place when his distributor broke. Semi-retired 1980 World Champion, Australian Alan Jones replaced regular Arrows driver Chico Serra for the race in what was to prove to be a short-lived comeback to Formula One. After qualifying a credible 12th on the grid in the Cosworth powered Arrows A6, Jones ran in the top 10 until retiring on lap 58 with fatigue. Jones, who had only raced at home in Australia since retiring from F1 following the 1981 season, was still suffering the effects of a fall from a horse on his farm a couple of months earlier where he had broken his hip. Lauda, suffering from a worsening cramp in his right leg, could not challenge Watson in the later stages, and the Ulsterman came home nearly half a minute ahead for his fifth victory. It was the farthest back from which a modern Grand Prix driver had ever come to win a race, and 2024, it remains the only time in F1 history a driver has won who qualified 20th or worst. Arnoux came through for third, and Laffite hung on for fourth, ahead of Surer and Cecotto, who scored a point in his second F1 race. It was the first ever points for a Venezuelan driver, and the last until Pastor Maldonado finished tenth in the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix. Rumors persisted all weekend that race organizer Chris Pook, the main figure in the attempt to create a "Monte Carlo of the United States" in Long Beach, had decided that Formula One was too expensive and risky, and, indeed, after the race, he announced that he planned to run a CART race at Long Beach in 1984 instead of F1. Despite tremendous success since the race's inception in 1976, and the observable impact of the global exposure it brought to the city and to the Los Angeles area in general, the organizers believed that the less expensive and more popular (in the United States at least) CART championship, dominated by American drivers, would be a more promising investment. Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 7 UK John Watson McLaren-Ford Michelin 75 1:53:34.889 22 9 2 8 Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford Michelin 75 + 27.993 23 6 3 28 France René Arnoux Ferrari Goodyear 75 + 1:13.638 2 4 4 2 France Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford Goodyear 74 + 1 Lap 4 3 5 29 Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-Ford Goodyear 74 + 1 Lap 16 2 6 34 Venezuela 1930 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford Goodyear 74 + 1 Lap 17 1 7 26 Brazil 1968 Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford Michelin 73 + 2 Laps 26   8 4 USA Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 73 + 2 Laps 9   9 3 ITA 1946 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 73 + 2 Laps 7   10 6 ITA 1946 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW Michelin 72 Distributor 11   11 15 France Alain Prost Renault Michelin 72 + 3 Laps 8   12 12 UK Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford Pirelli 72 + 3 Laps 13   13 16 USA Eddie Cheever Renault Michelin 67 Gearbox 15   Ret Retired 30 Australia Alan Jones Arrows-Ford Goodyear 58 Driver unwell 12   Ret Retired 5 Brazil 1968 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW Michelin 51 Throttle 20   Ret Retired 22 ITA 1946 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo Michelin 48 Gearbox 19   Ret Retired 11 ITA 1946 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault Pirelli 29 Handling 5   Ret Retired 33 Colombia Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford Goodyear 27 Gearbox 18   Ret Retired 25 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford Michelin 26 Collision 10   Ret Retired 36 ITA 1946 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart Pirelli 26 Battery 14   Ret Retired 23 ITA 1946 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo Michelin 26 Spun off 21   Ret Retired 27 France Patrick Tambay Ferrari Goodyear 25 Collision 1   Ret Retired 1 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford Goodyear 25 Collision 3   Ret Retired 17 Chile Eliseo Salazar RAM-Ford Pirelli 25 Gearbox 25   Ret Retired 35 UK Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart Pirelli 11 Spun off 6   Ret Retired 9 FRG Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW Goodyear 3 Spun off 24   DNQ Did not qualify 31 ITA 1946 Corrado Fabi Osella-Ford Michelin       DNQ Did not qualify 32 ITA 1946 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford Michelin      Source:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1983/328/ 1983 USA West Grand Prix formula1.com December 23, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20141021051047/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1983/328/ October 21, 2014https://gparchive.com/formula-1/1983-united-states-grand-prix-west/ 1983 United States Grand Prix West - Race Results & History - GP Archive GPArchive.com 23 October 2021June 2023 InternetArchiveBot yes Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 AUT Niki Lauda 10 2 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet 9 3 UK John Watson 9 4 FRA Jacques Laffite 6 5 FRA René Arnoux 4Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1983/etats-unis-ouest/championnat.aspx United States West 1983 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com March 21, 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 UK McLaren-Ford 19 2 UK Brabham-BMW 9 3 ITA 1946 Ferrari 6 4 UK Williams-Ford 6 5 UK Arrows-Ford 3Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References 30em Further reading Rob Walker (July 1983). "8th United States Grand Prix West: Whiz Kids". Road & Track, 144–149. 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 United States Grand Prix West 1983 1983 Brazilian Grand Prix 1983 French Grand Prix 1982 United States Grand Prix West N/A 1982 United States Grand Prix West 1984 Long Beach Grand Prix Grand Prix of Long Beach United States Grand Prix West United States Grand Prix West United States Grand Prix West Category:United States Grand Prix West