1982 Belgian Grand Prix

  1982 Belgian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 5 of 16 in the 1982 Formula One season
Date	May 9, 1982
Official name	XL Grote Prijs van Belgie
Location	Circuit Zolder Heusden-Zolder, Limburg, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.262 km (2.648 mi)
Distance	70 laps, 298.340 km (185.380 mi)
Weather	Temperatures reaching up to 13 °C (55 °F)[1]
Pole position
Driver	Alain Prost	Renault
Time	1:15.701
Fastest lap
Driver	John Watson	McLaren-Ford
Time	1:20.214 on lap 67
Podium
First	John Watson	McLaren-Ford
Second	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford
Third	Eddie Cheever	Ligier-Matra

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

Qualifying

Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve was killed in an accident during the final qualifying session. At the time of the crash, his team-mate 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 San Marino, when Villeneuve believed Pironi had been ordered to remain behind him.^[2][3] 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.^[4] 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 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 the slower car. The Ferrari hit the back of Mass' car and was launched into the air at a speed estimated at 200–225 km/h (120–140 mph). It was airborne for over 100 m 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 m from the wreckage into the catch fencing on the outside edge of the Terlamenbocht corner.^[4][5]

Several drivers stopped and rushed to the scene. John Watson and Derek Warwick pulled Villeneuve, his face blue, from the catch fence.^[6] 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.^[7] 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.^[4]

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 debris from the accident had been cleaned up. No drivers improved their times, leaving the Renaults of Alain Prost and René Arnoux on the front row of the grid.^[8]

Race

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,^[8] and so the final podium place went to Eddie Cheever.

Classification

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

Notes

• Didier Pironi and the whole Ferrari team withdrew and did not compete in the race, the second of only three times Ferrari did not start a race in which they entered (see 1950 French Grand Prix and 1982 Swiss Grand Prix). Pironi would be the only Ferrari driver to take part in the subsequent Monaco, Detroit (USA) and Canada rounds.
• This race marked the first and only points finish for Chico Serra, and last points to Fittipaldi.

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

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Ford 29 2 Renault 22 3 Williams-Ford 20 4 Ferrari 16 5 Tyrrell-Ford 10

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

References

Further reading

Books

• Bamsey, Ian (1983). Automobile Sport 82-83. City: Haynes Manuals. ISBN 0-946321-01-9. 
• Donaldson, Gerald (2003). Gilles Villeneuve. London: Virgin. ISBN 0-7535-0747-1. 
• Lang, Mike (1992). Grand Prix! vol.4. Sparkford: Foulis. ISBN 0-85429-733-2. 
• Roebuck, Nigel (1986). Grand Prix Greats. Cambridge: P. Stephens. ISBN 0-85059-792-7. 
• Roebuck, Nigel (1999). Chasing the Title. City: Haynes Publications. ISBN 1-85960-604-0. 
• Watkins, Sid (1997). Life at the Limit: Triumph and Tragedy in Formula One. City: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-35139-7. 

Magazines

• Fearnley, Paul (May 2007). "It's war. Absolutely war". Motor Sport. Haymarket. pp. 52–61.