1986 Italian Grand Prix

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
7 September 1986

With a resurgent Alain Prost now threatening Mansell’s previously handy championship lead, the teams made the short jump from southern Austria to northern Italy as September arrived. McLaren designer John Barnard had announced his departure to the Ferrari team who must have hoped the news would cheer fans disappointed at the team’s season so far, and further depressed to hear that Michele Alboreto had hurt his arm in a motorcycle crash and, although he would be racing, he might well be off the pace.

Italian fans could be cheered, though, by two new faces on the grid: the Osella team gave a one-off debut to local driver Alex Caffi, while Ivan Capelli, who had driven two races for Tyrrell in 1985, was fronting the brand new AGS team, a French privateer outfit who would enter here and in Portugal pending a full-season entry for 1987.

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22. Alex Caffi

Young Alex Caffi caught the racing bug from his father, a small-time club racer, and raced Motocross before entering the junior single-seater formulae and going through them like a dose of salts while at the same time continuing to study as an accountant just in case. Runner-up in the Italian F3 series in 1984 and 1985, he could only manage third in a very strong field in 1986, a season also hampered by Caffi completing his military service. Nonetheless, sponsors got up the money to buy him a one-off race at home in Monza and he hoped he would be able to parlay this into a full-time drive for 1987.

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31. Ivan Capelli

Since making his Formula One debut for Tyrrell in the closing stages of the 1985 season, Ivan Capelli had returned to Formula 3000 and underlined his credentials as a potential star of the future by winning the European F3000 title with relative ease. With AGS looking for a driver for a short-term contract for the Italian and Portuguese races, Capelli was identified as a man who could get the most out of the car and lined up for the small French garage team.

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As in Austria, the Benetton-BMWs proved thunderously fast in a straight line – of which there were

plenty on the fast Monza circuit – and Teo Fabi took his career third pole position with Berger fourth despite being speed-trapped at 219mph (352kph), the fastest Formula One car ever. Between the two Benettons were the championship top two, with Prost second and Mansell third, with Brazilian rivals Senna and Piquet lining up on row three. Warwick, Rosberg, Alboreto and Patrese made up the top ten, with the two Brabhams having been second only to the Benettons through the speed traps. With one new car taking the entry to 27 for this race and the next only, FISA allowed all cars to start, and the beneficiary was Alex Caffi, starting 27th – Capelli in the new AGS was 25th, ahead of both Osellas.

The grid lined up for the parade lap, but the front row didn’t go anywhere: Prost’s car still had McLaren mechanics clustered around, while Fabi lurched forward briefly only to roll to a halt almost immediately. As the rest of the grid squeezed through, Fabi got his car going again and rejoined at the rear, while Prost abandoned his race car and nipped round to the pitlane, from where he would start in the spare.

All of this left Mansell and Berger at the effective front of the grid and it was the Austrian who got the better start as the field roared down to the first corner – or rather, most of them did: Senna’s Lotus suffered an immediate transmission failure and coasted to a halt before the first chicane. Berger led the two Williams cars, followed by a fast-starting Arnoux, Rosberg, a charging Alboreto and Alliot in the second Ligier. By the end of the lap, Berger was already pulling out a decent lead over Mansell, while Alboreto was up to fourth after disposing of Rosberg and Arnoux. At the back, Fabi and Prost were both charging and had already overtaken 8 cars, one of which – Rothengatter’s Zakspeed – soon dropped out with engine troubles. On the following lap, Tambay and Patrese had a coming-together which put both out.

Lap 7 saw the two Williams cars catch up to Berger and Mansell got past on the start-finish straight, with Piquet following through in a slightly hairy move a lap later. Alboreto went through in Piquet’s wake and Berger, having turned his boost down to conserve fuel, had gone from first to fourth within two laps. The Tifosi were enjoying Alboreto’s new-found speed for Ferrari, and now he was attacking Piquet’s Williams as the pair closed back up on Mansell, and set a new fastest lap in the process. His team-mate Johansson was also going well behind Berger in 5th place, while by lap 12 Fabi and Prost were up to 8th and 9th respectively as they charged back through the field.

Entertainment for the cameras was provided later that lap as Ghinzani’s rear suspension broke, spinning his Osella to a stop well off the racing line but giving the enthusiastic marshals no end of trouble in removing it. He seemed to set off a small wave of incidents, with Nannini’s Minardi out with a failed alternator, Warwick’s Brabham kicked into a spin by a brake fault and finally Alboreto had a sudden spin on lap 18, nudging a barrier and needing to stop for repairs. This promoted Berger back to third, with Johansson now fourth, Rosberg fifth and Prost back up into the points in sixth.

FIrst in for the pit stops was Piquet on lap 21, a slow stop of 17.68 seconds with a problem on the front-right. Prost took even longer, coming in on the same lap but taking 30 seconds while McLaren mechanics fussed around the front of the car. Rosberg’s stop, a lap later, went better at just 13 seconds but still wasn’t entirely trouble-free. Next of the front-runners in was Johansson, in and out in a good 9.68 seconds. On lap 24, Mansell, led Berger, Arnoux, Piquet, Johansson, Rosberg, Alboreto, Fabi and Prost, and it was time for his own stop. The Williams crew turned the number 5 car around in just 8.34 seconds and returning him in second place, while Alboreto had got past Rosberg so the Ferraris were running 5th and 6th. Berger was now back in the lead, 12 seconds ahead of Mansell, who was in turn 8 seconds ahead of Arnoux and Piquet. with the Ferraris another 15 seconds back.

On lap 26, the clerks of the course held out a black flag and a placard bearing the number 1 – Alain Prost had been, rather belatedly, disqualified for a breach of starting procedure in starting from the spare car. The Frenchman didn’t come in immediately while McLaren frantically protested, but it was all rendered moot when his TAG engine went phut half a lap later and he pulled over. Nelson Piquet, meanwhile, had passed Arnoux and was chasing Mansell, who was in turn closing on Berger and got past the Austrian on lap 28, just before he peeled into the pits anyway.

Once the pit stops had shaken out, therefore, Mansell led Piquet, with Arnoux third, Berger fourth, Johansson and Alboreto fifth and sixth. Arnoux was shortly to retire with a gearbox problem, though, and Capelli’s solid debut for AGS ended shortly afterwards when his left-rear tyre exploded. Two laps later, de Cesaris’ race was run with a blown Motori Moderni engine and on the same lap, the Tifosi were distraught to watch Alboreto pulling off with an engine failure of his own. Meanwhile at the front Piquet was putting in a series of Fastest Laps to catch Mansell, He caught up to his team-mate as the Englishman was lapping Philippe Streiff’s Tyrrell on lap 35. For two laps the Williamses duelled until Piquet elbowed his way through, banging wheels on the way, at the second chicane. Mansell immediately fought back, but the Brazilian wasn’t to be denied and soon began to pull away.

From there, the race settled down into its final third. Piquet pulled away from Mansell, while Fabi put on a late charge after having pitted for engine repairs, putting up a sequence of Fastest Laps before succumbing to a puncture on lap 44. Johansson got past Berger into third place but was unable to make much impression on the Williams cars, and that was how they finished. Nelson Piquet took a fine win on Brazilian national day to go second in the title race, with Mansell maintaining his lead in second place. Rosberg took fourth from Berger in the closing stages and Alan Jones pipped Thierry Boutsen to the final point. In the constructors’ race, Williams increased their lead and looked odds-on to take the title with just three races to go, while Ferrari finally overhauled Ligier to move up into fourth place.

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Drivers Championship
1	Nigel Mansell	61
2	Nelson Piquet	56
3	Alain Prost	53
4	Ayrton Senna	48
5	Keke Rosberg	22
6	Stefan Johansson	18
7=	Jacques Laffite	14
7=	René Arnoux	14
9	Michele Alboreto	12
10	Gerhard Berger	6
11	Martin Brundle	5
12	Alan Jones	4
13=	Teo Fabi	2
13=	Riccardo Patrese	2
13=	Johnny Dumfries	2
13=	Patrick Tambay	2
17=	Phillippe Streiff	1
17=	Christian Danner	1

Constructors Championship
1	Williams-Honda	117
2	McLaren-TAG	75
3	Lotus-Renault	50
4	Ferrari	30
5	Ligier-Renault	28
6	Benetton-BMW	10
7=	Tyrrell-Renault	6
7=	Haas Lola-Hart	6
9	Brabham-BMW	2
10	Arrows-BMW	1

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1985 Italian Grand Prix

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

8 September 1985

Just weeks after the death of Manfred Winkelhock in a touring car race, the F1 community was shocked again at the news that Stefan Bellof had also died in similar circumstances, driving a Porsche 956 at the Spa 1000km the weekend between races. To the already tragic death of a pleasant, popular young man, there was the sense that Bellof had been a potential star of the future – Ken Tyrrell reckoned he was the best natural talent he’d seen since Jackie Stewart – and that his promise had been cut short. Tyrrell elected to enter only Brundle in the race rather than replacing Bellof so quickly.

But the Silly Season was in full swing, with 1986 driver and engine deals rumoured and confirmed – Piquet to Williams was a done deal and the Ferrari drivers were under immense pressure to reclaim the momentum from the McLaren team. More immediately, Jonathan Palmer had also been injured in the fateful Spa 1000km and with no spare driver, Zakspeed withdrew from the event anyway. Ligier, meanwhile, replaced the sacked de Cesaris with Formula 3000 driver Phillippe Streiff. Between all the news and speculation, the Beatrice-Lola team made their low-key debut, with Alan Jones driving a Hart-powered car for the last few races of the season preparatory to a full campaign with Fort turbos in 1986.

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25. Phillippe Streiff

Streiff had driven for the AGS team in Formula 2 throughout 1984, while assisting the Renault team with development, and had been rewarded with a non-scoring third entry at the last race of the year in Estoril with La Regie. However, it was only ever intended as a one-off and he returned to the AGS team as they made the step up to Formula 3000 in 1985. Despite mediocre results in a difficult first season at the highest level, Streiff caught the eye of the French motoring press and of Guy Ligier who was looking for a French (or at least Francophone) driver to replace de Cesaris.

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Practice was sunny throughout for a change, and for a while it looked as if Williams would be the class of the field, until Senna – driving his first race at Monza after having been suspended by the Toleman team for the 1984 race – put in a scintillating lap to take pole, dropping Rosberg and Mansell to 2nd and 3rd respectively. Piquet’s Brabham was just behind his new team, and the fastest car on the track at the speed trap. Title challengers Prost and Alboreto were 5th and 7th, split by de Angelis in the second Lotus, with Lauda back in 16th after his Zandvoort win. Phillippe Streiff put his Ligier on the grid a creditable 19th, while Jones had two sessions dogged with engine problems and could only manage 25th. WIth just 26 entrants alll would start, and Pierluigi Martini had marked his home race by outqualifying former champion Jones and both RAMs to start 24th.

As usual, when the lights went out, it was a mad dash down to the first corner, and it was Rosberg that just about made it through first, Senna putting wheels on the grass but doing just enough to keep Mansell back in third with Prost up ahead of Piquet behind him. Mansell made his way past the Lotus by the second chicane and the two Williams cars began to pull away from the chasing pack. Senna, possibly affected by dirty tyres, was passed by Prost on the third lap, and de Angelis followed through soon after. A lap later, Mansell came in with a misfire – the Williams team quickly changed out the boost control unit and sent him on his way. Alboreto was thus promoted to 5th, but he had Piquet behind him and, the BMW engine on song, the Brazilian breezed past him on the main straight. Behind them, Lauda was on the move; up to 7th already, he passed Tambay for 6th on lap 5 and began attacking Alboreto soon after.

Lauda got past Alboreto on lap 10 to complete an action-packed first ten laps: aside from all the jockeying for position, there had been several retirements already. Ghinzani stalled his Toleman at the start, Martini’s Minardi expired on lap 1 with a fuel pump problem, and Acheson (clutch), Cheever (engine), Jones (distributor) and Warwick (transmission) had all joined him by lap 10. Two laps later, Nelson Piquet peeled in for a new set of tyres as his original set didn’t seem to be working for him, so Lauda was now attacking Senna. Rosberg was still some distance ahead, driving hard, and Mansell was putting up similar lap times down in 16th. Lauda had meanwhile got past Senna and set about de Angelis in third place, but the Austrian’s impressive charge was brought to an end when he scraped his nose on a high kerb and had to come in for a new nosecone. The team at least changed his tyres at the same time so he didn’t lose as much time as he could have, but he dropped back down the order and had it all to do again.

At this point, the scheduled tyre stops began – Rosberg came in from the lead, promoting Prost to the lead and rejoining in second. Senna was chasing, but the Brazilian’s hard Goodyears were hampering him from putting the hammer down as much as he wanted and he began to drift back into the clutches of Piquet, whose new rubber was doing better. Lauda’s engine expired a few laps after his stop, putting paid to any talk of a great comeback win, and Rosberg set about reeling in the 17 second gap to Prost, retaking the lead on lap 40 – but just 6 laps later the Honda curse struck again as a water leak sent him back into the pits to retire. Prost then had a massive lead over Piquet, who had taken third off Senna and the top three stayed that way until the end. Marc Surer had a great race with Brabham, finishing fourth and with a couple more laps would probably have taken third from the unhappy Lotus driver. Alboreto had been fifth five laps from the end when his engine blew, and his team-mate Johansson took the two points instead, despite running out of fuel on the last lap and hitching a lift back to the pits with the sixth-placed de Angelis. who had been cruising for the last part of the race with fuel consumption issues. In fact, as it turned out, the problem was with the indicator and he finished with twenty litres still on board, to his displeasure.

Prost thus won with Alboreto failing to score, to give himself a big boost towards becoming France’s first ever World Drivers’ Champion. Next up, the rescheduled Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

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Drivers Championship
1	Alain Prost	65
2	Michele Alboreto	53
3	Elio de Angelis	31
4	Ayrton Senna	23
5	Stefan Johansson	21
6	Nelson Piquet	19
7	Keke Rosberg	18
8	Niki Lauda	14
9	Patrick Tambay	11
10	Jacques Laffite	10
11	Thierry Boutsen	9
12	Nigel Mansell	7
13	Marc Surer	5
14=	Stefan Bellof	4
14=	Derek Warwick	4
16=	René Arnoux	3
16=	Andrea de Cesaris	3

Constructors Championship
1	Ferrari	83
2	McLaren-TAG	79
3	Lotus-Renault	54
4	Williams-Honda	25
5	Brabham-BMW	24
6	Renault	15
7	Ligier-Renault	13
8	Arrows-BMW	9
9	Tyrrell-Renault	4

1984 Italian Grand Prix

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

9 September 1984

The Italian Grand Prix would be the last of the year’s races to take place at a known quantity of a circuit, with two new venues finishing off the season, and the high-speed circuit would mean there was a good prospect for more of the same – meaning Prost, Lauda or Piquet – barring reliability problems. The Tyrrell team, however, would not be joining the rest at the historic Monza circuit: having lost their appeal they had been ejected from the remainder of the championship and their cars retrospectively disqualified from the previous three races. Missing too was Ayrton Senna, in the doghouse after the debacle over his signing for Lotus. A seething Alex Penkridge had given him a one-race ban for not notifying him of the talks and instead Stefan Johansson – now not needed at Tyrrell – would drive the number 19 Toleman, with a second car being run once more, piloted by Italian F3 champion Pierluigi Martini, in deference to sponsor Candy’s wish for an Italian driver at Monza. Senna would spend the weekend back home driving a microphone for Brazilian TV. Returning to the grid too was Gerhard Berger, who had worked out a deal with ATS to drive the remaining three races of the season.

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20. Pierluigi Martini

Pint-sized Martini’s uncle, Giancarlo Martini, had raced intermittently in Formula 1 during the 1970s with the privateer Scuderia Everest team, owned by Giancarlo Minardi. Young Piero followed in his uncle’s footsteps, progressing through the junior categories until his progress caught the eye of sponsors Parmalat, who were looking for an Italian driver to partner Nelson Piquet at Brabham in 1984. Martini tested but lost out to the Fabi brothers, however he wasn’t to be put off and after winning the European Formula 3 championship he was placed in the second Toleman seat for his Grand Prix debut.

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Of course, what the loyal Tifosi had come to see were the Ferraris, but given the year so far, which was turning into Ferrari’s worst in some time, there was little prospect of any fireworks from the boys in red. In fact, anyone who wasn’t convinced of how dire things were at Maranello was left in no doubt when Enzo Ferrari himself held a press conference before the race to state his full confidence in everyone at the team. Ouch.

The fans had little to do then except boo Prost and Piquet and reluctantly applaud for Lauda – a double champion with Ferrari. They were given plenty to boo as Piquet took another pole position with Prost second, de Angelis a second behind the pair in third and Lauda another second adrift in fourth. Fabi would start a career-best fifth, alongside Rosberg, with Mansell, Tambay, Patrese and Cheever completing the top ten – the latter pair making the most of some new bodywork on their Alfa Romeos and hoping to score points for the first time since Rio. Alboreto was top Ferrari in 11th and Arnoux 14th; Stefan Johansson struggled a little after the stress and distraction of the Tyrrell case, putting the Toleman in 17th – though not as much as his new team-mate Martini, who hadn’t so much as sat in the car and was slowest of all, 27th and failing to qualify. The other new(ish) boy, Berger, did better, qualifying 20th and just ahead of Winkelhock.

Race day came and a smaller-than-usual and somewhat subdued crowd watched as Manfred Winkelhock’s ATS was once again unable to complete the formation lap with gearbox problems. The German seemed to have finally lost patience with his team’s inability to give him a working car, and stormed out of the circuit. When the grid finally got away it was Elio de Angelis’ Lotus that got away best, wriggling between the Brabham and the McLaren ahead of him to take the lead – but not for long, as Piquet turned on the BMW grunt and got back past again on the way into the first chicane, then Prost did the same thing at Parabolica, making a daring move around the outside. Meanwhile, Lauda had made a terrible getaway, dropping to 7th behind Tambay, Fabi and Mansell, and the Renault driver was closing on de Angelis too.

Piquet was confident in the lead and began to stretch out quite a cushion over Prost, while Tambay – perhaps energised by his good memories of his Ferrari days – got past de Angelis and set off in pursuit of second place. Alboreto was also keen to make a mark and was moving up rapidly , having got past both of the Alfas into 8th place. Under pressure from Tambay, Prost stepped on the loud pedal and began to close up on Piquet again – only for his TAG engine to expire in a cloud of smoke after just 3 laps, and for the third year in a row the Tifosi got to jeer Prost as he walked back to the pits. Their good humour dissipated just two laps later when Arnoux’s gearbox gave up.

So it was now Tambay and Fabi in pursuit of Piquet in the lead, but the second Brabham had a spin at the second chicane and dropped back to 8th, but kept running and set off to try and make his way back up the field. This left Lauda third, Alboreto fourth and Cheever fifth, the Alfa Romeo finally running well (but having run out of fuel frequently this year, nothing could be counted on). Fabi was on a charge, and was soon back up to fifth, past Cheever, and then on lap 12 he got past Alboreto into fourth. By this time the famous Monza circuit had done its work and there were only 15 cars running with plenty of laps still to run. Alliot’s electrics had gone, then they went in pairs: the Ligiers of Hesnault (spin) and de Cesaris (engine) on lap 8, the Williamses of Rosberg (turbo) and Rosberg (engine) on 9 and 11 respectively, and they were followed shortly after by the Lotus pairing of Mansell (spin, lap 14) and de Angelis (gearbox, lap 15).

Then, on lap 16, Piquet was cruising with a punctured radiator, reducing the field to twelve and promoting Tambay to the lead, with Lauda some distance behind being chased down by Fabi. The second Brabham driver sailed past the McLaren and began eating into Tambay’s seven-second lead, but Lauda sped up to keep in touch with him and by lap 27 the top three runners were together, Fabi snapping at Tambay’s gearbox while the wily Lauda kept a watching brief. On lap 39, Lauda took his chance and got past Fabi at Parabolica, before doing the same to Tambay three laps later to go into the lead. A lap later, Teo Fabi’s engine gave up the ghost followed minutes later by Tambay’s throttle cable; neither driver would have any points to show for their impressive drives today. This left Alboreto second, with Cheever third and Stefan Johansson in fourth – another driver having a good day at Monza. Behind the Toleman was Patrese, driving conservatively to save fuel. Eddie Cheever would wish he’d done the same, his tank running dry six laps from the end. Johansson looked like getting his first podium place until he had to slow down with a broken bearing, allowing Patrese and Ghinzani to get past, though the Osella driver almost immediately ran out of fuel himself and also pulled off.

Lauda cruised to a typical Lauda victory – he had done exactly what was needed and no more, and used his experience to simply outlast everyone else. The Tifosi, however, were more interested the fact that Ferrari were second and Alfa Romeo third, both with Italian drivers (Alboreto and Patrese), and there was satisfaction too for Stefan Johansson picking up three points for fourth place, Jo Gartner in fifth and Gerhard Berger sixth in only his second race. Austria’s joy at three drivers in the top six was slightly tempered by the fact that Gartner and Berger were both driving second cars and were ineligible for points, but Toleman were at least happy to show that they could do well without Senna. Niki Lauda now held a 9.5 point lead in the championship, which meant if he won the next race he would be crowned 1984 champion.

Perhaps fittingly, that race would be at the venue where he nearly lost his life in 1976…

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Drivers Championship
1	Niki Lauda	63
2	Alain Prost	52 ½
3	Elio de Angelis	29 ½
4	René Arnoux	24 ½
5	Nelson Piquet	24
6	Derek Warwick	23
7	Michele Alboreto	21
8	Keke Rosberg	20
9	Nigel Mansell	13
10	Patrick Tambay	10
11=	Ayrton Senna	8
11=	Teo Fabi	8
13	Riccardo Patrese	7
14	Jacques Laffite	4
15=	Eddie Cheever	3
15=	Thierry Boutsen	3
15=	Stefan Johansson	3
18	Andrea de Cesaris	2
18=	Piercarlo Ghinzani	2
20	Marc Surer	1

Constructors Championship
1	McLaren-TAG	114 ½
3	Ferrari	45 ½
3	Lotus-Renault	42 ½
4	Renault	33
5	Brabham-BMW	32
6	Williams-Honda	24
7=	Toleman-Hart	10
7=	Alfa Romeo	10
9=	Arrows-Ford	4
9=	Osella-Alfa Romeo	4
11	Ligier-Renault	2

1983 Italian Grand Prix

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

11 September 1983

The silly season rumour mill was in full swing as the teams arrived at the historic Monza circuit. Michele Alboreto was widely rumoured to be heading for Ferrari, which would mean one of Arnoux or Tambay would have to go. Riccardo Patrese’s time at Brabham was also considered to be running out, having only scored points once so far, Derek Warwick had put his name onto a few shortlists with his fine drives and first points in Holland, while drivers including Mansell, Watson and Cheever were still not confirmed with their teams for 1984.

McLaren had a second turbo car for Watson and Spirit arrived with their new car, the 101 – which wasn’t actually finished but was close enough that they wanted to work on it over the weekend. Ferrari arrived on a high after their unexpected 1-2 finish at Zandvoort and their fans crowded into Monza to see them do it again and take the box-seat in the championship.

The Tifosi were treated to a ding-dong battle in qualifying as the Brabhams, with new Hart turbo units, had found a lot of speed and Piquet, Patrese, Tambay and Arnoux swapped fastest laps while Alain Prost looked out of sorts and was almost two seconds down on the Brabhams and Ferraris, In the end the fans were disappointed with Piquet taking pole, followed by Tambay, Arnoux and Patrese. Prost took fifth ahead of de Cesaris, Cheever, de Angelis, Winkelhock and Baldi. The turbo McLarens were fast in a straight line but still couldn’t do better than 13th (Lauda) and 15th (Watson), with Rosberg in 16th, leading the ever-smaller group of non-turbo cars. Laffite, in the other Williams, had spent much of practice testing some new Goodyear tyres and couldn’t get his car set up right for qualifying and ended up failing to qualify – a first for a works Williams. He joined Raul Boesel and, as usual, Kenny Acheson on the pit wall for the race.

An estimated 200,000 packed into Monza for race day, and those there overnight had chalked messages of support on the Ferrari grid slots and abuse on Piquet’s and Prost’s (Patrese seemed to get a pass for being Italian), the latter of which were scrubbed off as the cars came out onto the grid. When the race began, to the dismay of the fans, the blue and white Brabhams got away like lightning, with Patrese streaking into the lead from fourth and being followed by Piquet, Tambay and Arnoux, while Prost got away badly and lost two places to Cheever and de Cesaris. By the end of the first lap, the Brabhams had pulled out a lead from the Ferraris, while Tambay seemed to be having some problems – Arnoux went past on the second lap and Cheever followed. De Cesaris fancied his chances as well, but Tambay held his line, causing the Alfa to swing wide and off into the sand-trap, which in turn caused Prost to brake hard to avoid him.

Within seconds, Patrese’s rotten luck continued as his engine expired in an impressive cloud of smoke and he toured off, leaving Piquet in firm control of the race, with Arnoux vainly giving chase and Cheever staying in touch with the Ferrari but unable to make any inroads. Tambay and Prost (who had wrecked his tyres avoiding de Cesaris) continued dropping back, which allowed de Angelis in the Lotus to get up to fourth by lap 14. Watson had done another one of his charges from the back, reaching 7th before an electrical fault put him out. on the same lap, while Lauda had had to pit for repairs and was circulating near the back, stuck behind the Osellas.

By the time the pitstops began, ten laps later, Cheever had dropped back off Arnoux again, and when Prost came in for his stop his car just wasn’t sounding right, and half a lap after his stop, the turbo expired entirely and he pulled off – a second failure to finish in two races would not do his championship hopes any good at all. Piquet came in last of all, and still went out with a 25 second lead over Arnoux, though this dropped to 15 seconds as the Brazilian backed off a bit to preserve his engine and tyres but there was really no challenge to him taking his second win of the year in dominant style. Arnoux took second and Cheever third to salvage a few points for Renault. Tambay had got back ahead of de Angelis at the pitstops and with the Lotus’ tyres rapidly going off had been able to keep the place to the end. De Angelis was forced to settle for fifth and Warwick took sixth for Toleman.

Nigel Mansell had been running seventh with Giacomelli chasing in the other Toleman, but as they came round the final corner the customary track invasion was already underway. Mansell slowed right down, terrified of hitting a fan, while Giacomelli threaded his way through to take seventh. Peter Warr, Lotus’ manager, was not a fan of Mansell to start with and was publicly unimpressed with his driver’s attack of conscience costing the team thousands of dollars in prize money.

Despite the rather processional race, Prost’s two non-finishes and Piquet’s win blew the title race wide open once more with just two races to go…

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Drivers Championship
1	Alain Prost	51
2	René Arnoux	49
3	Nelson Piquet	43
4	Patrick Tambay	40
5	Keke Rosberg	25
6	John Watson	22
7	Eddie Cheever	21
8	Jacques Laffite	12
9	Niki Lauda	11
10	Michele Alboreto	10
11=	Andrea de Cesaris	6
11=	Nigel Mansell	6
13=	Marc Surer	4
13=	Riccardo Patrese	4
13=	Derek Warwick	4
16	Mauro Baldi	3
17=	Danny Sullivan	2
17=	Elio de Angelis	2
19	Johnny Cecotto	1

Constructors Championship
1	Ferrari	89
2	Renault	72
3	Brabham-BMW	50
4	McLaren-TAG	36
5	Williams-Ford	34
6	Tyrrell-Ford	12
7	Alfa-Romeo	9
8	Lotus-Renault	8
9=	Arrows-Ford	4
9=	Toleman-Hart	4
11	Theodore-Ford	1

1982 Italian Grand Prix

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

12 September 1982

Four drivers entered the Italian Grand Prix weekend with at least a mathematical chance of winning the championship: Keke Rosberg led the championship thanks essentially to being a reliable points-scorer while the turbo cars were either breaking down or taking points off each other. Pironi still held second place, but couldn’t overtake Rosberg from a hospital bed, so the other three drivers were Prost (11 points behind), and the McLaren boys, Lauda and Watson, both just a point behind Prost. Rosberg definitely held the advantage but it was still anybody’s season – particularly as the next race, Monza, was a turbo paradise.

Ferrari were running two cars again in their second home race – the Villeneuve-Pironi incident at Imola seemed so long ago now – with Mario Andretti jumping at the chance to live out every Italian kid’s dream and drive a Ferrari at Monza, alongside Patrick Tambay. Despite all their trials and tribulations, Ferrari still led the Constructors’ Championship and hoped to seal the deal on home tarmac. Arrows’ new A5 car would be used by Mauro Baldi for his home race, while other teams were also debuting their prospective 1983 challengers; Derek Warwick in the Toleman TG183, complete with new colour scheme and de Cesaris in the Alfa Romeo 182T, the first turbo-engined Alfa (though it was only there for testing and the atmo car would be raced). Tyrrell had attracted a new sponsor, the Denim cologne brand, and turned up with their cars painted green with the sponsors logos on monococque and sidepod.

Tyrrell’s new look

Ferrari fans worried that Mario Andretti might be out of practice with ground-effect cars needn’t have been – the Italian-American veteran took pole over a second ahead of second-placed Nelson Piquet, with Tambay in third and Patrese fourth. Row three was filled by the Renaults, with championship leader Rosberg only 7th alongside Giacomelli. Warwick’s new Toleman was 16th, ahead of both Loti which had fallen badly off the pace again, while just ahead of the new Toleman was Jarier, a great performance from the little Osella team. The unlucky four who would sit out the race were Tommy Byrne, Rupert Keegan, Raul Boesel and Manfred Winkelhock.

The Tifosi as usual turned up in their droves, with estimates of 150,000 paying spectators and 50,000 more lining various vantage points, and great prospects for seeing a Ferrari win. When the lights went green, Andretti got a bit too much wheelspin and was tardy off the line, while the Renaults both got rocket starts, and Prost had to go on the grass to avoid the sluggish Andretti, dropping him back to twelfth. It was Piquet who went into the first corner in the lead, followed by Tambay and Arnoux. The two Frenchmen steamed past the Brazilian almost in formation half-way round lap one and it was quickly clear that something was wrong with the number 1 Brabham. Tambay came around to cross the line in first place – but as he went round the last corner, Parabolica, Arnoux got a tow and slingshotted past into the lead. Tambay fought back into the first chicane but Arnoux had the speed and began to pull away. Meanwhile at the back, Derek Daly had qualified poorly and was

Toleman’s new look

struck by Guerrero, damaging his suspension – the first he knew of the damage was when he braked for the chicane, his car snapped round and clobbered Henton’s Tyrrell, taking out Warwick in the process.

Piquet had dropped back behind Andretti and de Cesaris with a dodgy clutch by lap 4, but his team-mate Patrese was third and now put his foot down and started attacking Tambay. For three laps, he dodged and dived, looking for a way past, but at the end of lap seven he toured to a halt with a broken clutch of his own. With the leaders spread out and cruising, Prost provided the interest as he fought his way back up the field in his usual precise style. By the time Patrese dropped out, Prost was behind Andretti and got past on lap 7, before chasing down Tambay. On lap 19, he caught the Ferrari but Tambay made his car as wide as possible and Prost simply couldn’t get past. For another 9 laps he worried at the red car until he suddenly slowed down, arm raised, and peeled off into the pits, troubled with the same fuel injection problem that had stopped Arnoux at Dijon. Like Arnoux, he came in for repairs, was sent back out and ground to a halt half a lap later, to the delight of the crowd – his title challenge was over.

So Arnoux led Tambay and Andretti and all three looked fairly comfortable. Behind them, de Cesaris had to come in for a new ignition coil which dropped him right to the back while Giacomelli diced with Rosberg over fifth place – until the Williams’ rear wing fell off, that is. As he pulled past, Giacomelli took a moment to attract Rosberg’s attention and point backwards, so the FInn came in for what he thought was a tyre stop and confustion reigned in the Williams pit – Rosberg finally rejoined with a new rear wing but two laps down. Giacomelli himself damaged a side-pod and retired with an undriveable car on lap 32.

The rest of the race was a relatively dull affair, though the watching Tifosi were happy enough to see their 1983 driver Arnoux win the race with the Ferraris of Tambay and Andretti filling up the podium. John Watson had driven a fine race to come in fourth and keep his title hopes just about alive. Alboreto and Cheever were the final finishers, while Nigel Mansell had driven another robust race to finish seventh from 23rd on the grid (having gone from 26th to 8th in Dijon) and Rosberg trailed in 8th.

So with one race left, it would again be the bizarre, soulless car park of Caesar’s Palace that decided the season. Despite not scoring, Keke Rosberg looked in control, with a lead of 9 points over John Watson that meant the Ulsterman would need to win the race with the Finn not scoring (equal on points, Watson would win on number of races won), while Rosberg only needed a point to secure the title.

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Drivers Championship
1	Keke Rosberg	42
2	Didier Pironi	39
3	John Watson	33
4	Alain Prost	31
5	Niki Lauda	30
6	René Arnoux	28
7	Patrick Tambay	25
8	Elio de Angelis	23
9	Riccardo Patrese	21
10	Nelson Piquet	20
11	Michele Alboreto	16
12	Eddie Cheever	11
13=	Nigel Mansell	7
13=	Derek Daly	7
15=	Carlos Reutemann	6
15=	Gilles Villeneuve	6
17=	Andrea de Cesaris	5
17=	Jacques Laffite	5
17=	Mario Andretti	5
20=	Jean-Pierre Jarier	3
20=	Marc Surer	3
22=	Manfred Winkelhock	2
22=	Eliseo Salazar	2
22=	Bruno Giacomelli	2
22=	Mauro Baldi	2
26	Chico Serra	1

Constructors Championship
1	Ferrari	74
2	McLaren-Ford	63
3	Renault	59
4	Williams-Ford	55
5	Brabham-BMW	41
6	Lotus-Ford	30
7	Ligier-Matra	16
=	Tyrrell-Ford	16
9	Alfa Romeo	7
10	Arrows-Ford	5
11	ATS-Ford	4
12	Osella-Ford	3
13	Fittipaldi-Ford	1

1981 Italian Grand Prix

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
13 September 1981

After a politics-induced year at Imola, the Italian Grand Prix was back at Monza and fans packed the circuit for what promised to be an exciting and decisive race with an astonishing seven drivers still in with at least a mathematical chance of taking the title. With a maximum haul of 27 points available for winning the last three races, 24 points covered the table from Reutemann and Piquet tied on 45 points, via Laffite (34), Jones (31) and Prost (28) to Watson and Villeneuve tied on 21. McLaren had patched up their differences with de Cesaris, so the Italian was able to make his first appearance at Monza.

The Renaults were at the sharp end of qualifying again, with Arnoux on pole and Prost third, split by a determined Reutemann second. Laffite was fourth, Jones fifth, Piquet sixth, Watson seventh and then the Ferraris of Pironi and Villeneuve. All was set for a battle royale at the front with all seven championship contenders in the top nine. Celebrations at the back of the grid too as Brian Henton dragged his Toleman onto the grid for the first time, in 23rd place, just outqualifying Salazar. Joining Warwick on the pit wall would be Surer and Gabbiani, Both Fittipaldis, now deeply off the pace, and Siegfried Stohr who had had a dramatic accident in qualifying and was shaken but otherwise fine.

Pironi made a great start from 8th to go fourth at the first corner behind Prost, Reutemann and Arnoux, and by the end of the lap he was second. However, it wasn’t to last: Arnoux came back past into second on lap five, while Gilles Villeneuve’s engine let go and he retired from the race on the same lap, his slim championship hopes now over. A few laps later, Cheever spun out in the Tyrrell, leaving it by the side of the road, and Laffite began dropping back with a slow puncture which ended his race shortly afterwards as it began to rain.

The two Renaults led from the two Williams cars, but not for long; Arnoux got unsighted on Parabolica and went out after swerving to avoid Cheever’s abandoned Tyrrell, so Prost was left way out ahead on his own. As the pack chased, John Watson had a big shunt – clipping the kerb coming out of Lesmo 2, he did a neat pirouette and smacked into the Armco at over 100mph. The car broke in two in a burst of flame, with the rear wheels and gearbox skittering across the track and clipping Alboreto just hard enough to end his race. Watson emerged a little shaken but unhurt, the benefits of the McLaren’s revolutionary carbon-fibre chassis were demonstrated to all, and everyone else got through the debris – though Reutemann had to swerve across the grass and in doing so lost a place to Giacomelli in the Alfa Romeo, who was serenely rising through the places and was now third.

However, as if the racing gods had decided Monza hadn’t had enough drama yet, into the pits went Giacomelli with a jammed gearbox and up into third went Piquet, with Reutemann chasing. The Argentinian was steadily reeling in the Brazilian, but it looked impossible he could catch him in the last couple of laps – until Piquet’s engine blew on the very last lap. Reutemann lunged past, as did de Angelis and Pironi. Prost took the win with Jones second and Reutemann third, de Angelis fourth, Pironi fifth and Piquet a stunned sixth. De Cesaris rewarded McLaren’s faith by being classified seventh (which could have been sixth but for a last-lap puncture), a dejected Giacomelli 8th, Jarier 9th in the Osella and 10th and last but finishing nonetheless, Brian Henton in the Toleman.

So, with the European season done and two flyaway races in Canada and the US to go, the championship field was down to “only” five – Villeneuve and Watson’s challenges having ended in dramatic fashion. Prost’s third win of the season – more than anyone else so far – put him up to third, equal on points with Jones but getting the nod on race wins, while Laffite dropped to fifth and Reutemann eased back into a three-point lead over Piquet. Renault went up to third in the Constructors’ Championship, and with their ten-point haul Williams all but confirmed the title: Brabham would need to finish 1-2 in both remaining races with Williams not scoring to overtake them by one point.

In the days after the race, Italian driver Siegfried Stohr announced he was hanging up his helmet, mentally shattered by his horrific accident with Dave Luckett in Belgium, and his own crash at Monza. A pity for a driver in his first season of F1, but no-one could really blame him.

 

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Drivers Championship
1	Carlos Reutemann	49
2	Nelson Piquet	46
3	Alain Prost	37 (3 wins)
4	Alan Jones	37 (1 win)
5	Jacques Laffite	34
6=	Gilles Villeneuve	21
6=	John Watson	21
8	Elio de Angelis	13
9=	René Arnoux	11
9=	Hector Rebaque	11
11=	Riccardo Patrese	10
11=	Eddie Cheever	10
13	Didier Pironi	9
14	Nigel Mansell	5
15	Marc Surer	4
16	Mario Andretti	3
17=	Patrick Tambay	1
17=	Andrea de Cesaris	1
17=	Slim Borgudd	1
17=	Eliseo Salazar	1

Constructors Championship
1	Williams-Ford	86
2	Brabham-Ford	57
3	Renault	39
4	Talbot Ligier-Matra	34
5	Ferrari	29
6	McLaren-Ford	22
7	Lotus-Ford	18
8=	Arrows-Ford	10
8=	Tyrrell-Ford	10
10	Ensign-Ford	5
11	Alfa Romeo	3
12=	Theodore-Ford	1
12=	ATS-Ford	1