1982 Austrian Grand Prix

1982 Austrian Grand Prix
Race 13 of 16 in the 1982 Formula One World Championship
The Österreichring (last modified in 1977)
Race details
Date	15 August 1982
Official name	XV Holiday Großer Preis von Osterreich
Location	Österreichring, Spielberg, Styria, Austria
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.942 km (3.692 miles)
Distance	53 laps, 314.926 km (195.686 miles)
Weather	Sunny, hot
Pole position
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW
Time	1:27.612
Fastest lap
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW
Time	1:33.699 on lap 5
Podium
First	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford
Second	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford
Third	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra

The 1982 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One World Championship motor race held on 15 August 1982 at the Österreichring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race was won by Lotus' Elio de Angelis, who held off Keke Rosberg's Williams to win by just 0.050 seconds, or less than half a car length.

Report

A chicane had been added at the entrance to the pits earlier in the year. Nelson Piquet's Brabham led into the first corner from pole position, while Renault's Alain Prost passed Piquet's team mate Riccardo Patrese for second. Further back, there was a collision which eliminated the two Alfa Romeos of Andrea de Cesaris and Bruno Giacomelli, as well as the Williams of Derek Daly. Prost's advantage over Patrese lasted only a few corners before the Italian re-passed him. On lap 2, Patrese took the lead from Piquet and the two Brabhams immediately began to pull away on their half-full tanks.

Shortly before half distance, Piquet made the first planned mid-race fuel and tyre pit stop in modern F1 history. He rejoined in 4th place, just ahead of Keke Rosberg, having lost position to Prost and Elio de Angelis. Several laps after Piquet, Patrese made his stop. In that time, he had built up a sufficient to lead to rejoin the race still in 1st, albeit now only a few seconds ahead of Prost. The Brabham and Renault appeared evenly matched after the stop, with the gap from Patrese to Prost remaining relatively stable. However, only a few laps after his stop, Patrese suffered an engine failure, causing him to spin off. Prost inherited a comfortable lead from de Angelis with Piquet promoted to 3rd.

However, the reigning world champion had struggled since his pit stop, unable to make any inroads into the leaders, he was instead struggling to stay ahead of Rosberg. Only a few laps after his team mate's exit, Piquet retired with an electrical failure. Free of the Brabham, Rosberg began closing in on de Angelis, slowling but surely reducing the 10 second gap. Prost, meanwhile, looked serene with his half-minute lead only to suffer a mechanical failure just 5 laps from the end.

This left de Angelis leading, poised for his maiden victory, but Rosberg, who by now had reduced de Angelis' advantage to only a few seconds, seemed to step up a gear now that his maiden win was in sight, and the Finn began closing more rapidly. By the last lap, Rosberg had reduced to the gap to just 1.6 seconds. He closed rapidly on the final tour, de Angelis apparently succumbing to the pressure, and was right on the Lotus' gearbox heading into the final corner. De Angelis calmly defended the inside line, and Rosberg was unable to go the long way round. His tight entry to the corner caused de Angelis to slide wide on the exit, allowing Rosberg to dive inside on the home straight, only to miss out by just 0.050 seconds, or less than half a car length.

De Angelis joyfully celebrated his maiden win, while Rosberg had boosted his championship chances despite missing out on his maiden win by such an agonizingly small margin, moving ahead of John Watson into second place in the championship, which was effectively the lead as the official championship leader Didier Pironi was out for the rest of the season with leg injuries. Ligier's Jacques Laffite completed the podium, coming home a distant third, while Ferrari's Patrick Tambay, who recovered from a puncture early in the race, McLaren's Niki Lauda and the Arrows of Mauro Baldi rounded off the points scorers.

The win by De Angelis was the last hailed by Colin Chapman's famous act of throwing his cloth cap into the air after a Lotus victory. It would also be the last win by a Chapman-built Lotus, and the last victory by a Lotus until the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:27.612	—
2	2	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	1:27.971	+0.359
3	15	Alain Prost	Renault	1:28.864	+1.252
4	27	Patrick Tambay	Ferrari	1:29.522	+1.910
5	16	René Arnoux	Renault	1:30.261	+2.649
6	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	1:30.300	+2.688
7	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	1:31.626	+4.014
8	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1:31.814	+4.202
9	5	Derek Daly	Williams-Ford	1:32.062	+4.450
10	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	1:32.131	+4.519
11	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	1:32.308	+4.696
12	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	1:32.881	+5.269
13	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1:32.950	+5.338
14	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1:32.957	+5.345
15	35	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	1:33.208	+5.596
16	14	Roberto Guerrero	Ensign-Ford	1:33.555	+5.943
17	36	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	1:33.971	+6.359
18	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1:34.164	+6.554
19	4	Brian Henton	Tyrrell-Ford	1:34.184	+6.572
20	20	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:34.187	+6.575
21	29	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	1:34.422	+6.810
22	25	Eddie Cheever	Ligier-Matra	1:34.620	+7.008
23	30	Mauro Baldi	Arrows-Ford	1:34.715	+7.103
24	17	Rupert Keegan	March-Ford	1:34.770	+7.158
25	9	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-Ford	1:34.984	+7.372
26	33	Tommy Byrne	Theodore-Ford	1:34.985	+7.373
27	18	Raul Boesel	March-Ford	1:35.149	+7.537
28	31	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	1:35.206	+7.594
29	10	Eliseo Salazar	ATS-Ford	1:35.271	+7.659

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	53	1:25:02.212	7	9
2	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	53	+ 0.050	6	6
3	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	52	+ 1 Lap	14	4
4	27	Patrick Tambay	Ferrari	52	+ 1 Lap	4	3
5	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	52	+1 Lap	10	2
6	30	Mauro Baldi	Arrows-Ford	52	+1 Lap	23	1
7	20	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	51	+2 Laps	20
8	15	Alain Prost	Renault	48	Injection	3
9	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	44	Engine	18
Ret	4	Brian Henton	Tyrrell-Ford	32	Engine	19
Ret	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	31	Electrical	1
Ret	33	Tommy Byrne	Theodore-Ford	28	Spun Off	26
Ret	29	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	28	Engine	21
Ret	2	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	27	Engine	2
Ret	25	Eddie Cheever	Ligier-Matra	22	Engine	22
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	17	Engine	12
Ret	16	René Arnoux	Renault	16	Injection	5
Ret	9	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-Ford	15	Spun Off	25
Ret	35	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	7	Suspension	15
Ret	36	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	7	Transmission	17
Ret	14	Roberto Guerrero	Ensign-Ford	6	Spun Off	16
Ret	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1	Spun Off	8
Ret	17	Rupert Keegan	March-Ford	1	Steering	24
Ret	5	Derek Daly	Williams-Ford	0	Collision	9
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	0	Collision	11
Ret	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	0	Collision	13
DNQ	18	Raul Boesel	March-Ford
DNQ	31	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford
DNQ	10	Eliseo Salazar	ATS-Ford
Source:

Notes

• Lap leaders: Nelson Piquet 1 (1), Riccardo Patrese 26 (2-27), Alain Prost 21 (28-48), Elio de Angelis 5 (49-53)
• First win for: Elio de Angelis

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Didier Pironi	39
2	Keke Rosberg	33
3	John Watson	30
4	Niki Lauda	26
5	Alain Prost	25

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	64
2	McLaren-Ford	56
3	Williams-Ford	46
4	Renault	44
5	Lotus-Ford	29

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