The 1984 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Hockenheim on 5 August 1984. It was the eleventh race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship.
The 44-lap race was won by Alain Prost, who also took pole position and set the fastest lap, driving a McLaren-TAG. Teammate Niki Lauda finished second, completing McLaren's second 1-2 finish of the season, while Derek Warwick was third in a Renault. Nigel Mansell (Lotus-Renault), Patrick Tambay (Renault) and René Arnoux (Ferrari) rounded out the top six.
Race report De Angelis took the lead from Prost at the start overtaking on the inside of the first corner. Marc Surer's Arrows-BMW had a fuel injection problem and retired at the end of Lap 1. Rosberg was climbing up the order quickly at the start, moving from 19th to 7th across the opening 5 laps. On Lap 5, Senna had a spin on the fast outward leg before the East Curve Chicane and crashed into the wall due to his rear aerofoil having collapsed, having run in fifth in the Toleman.
On Lap 7, de Angelis' Renault engine in the Lotus blew up and Prost went into the lead, de Angelis trying to drive the car into the pits. Piquet soon overtook Prost and went into the lead. Lauda was following behind in third place, having started off carefully, and had passed Rosberg and Warwick as the race settled down. Within a lap the two Williams failed. Laffite came into the pits with smoke pouring from an exhaust pipe and signs of a disintegrated piston coming out of the pipe, and Rosberg coasted to a stop out on the circuit with an electrical fault.
Barely after the retirement of both Williams cars, the second RAM entry also withdrew from the race. Shortly thereafter, Piercarlo Ghinzani's Osella was forced into the pit lane due to a fire originating around the right-hand turbocharger of its Alfa Romeo V8 engine. Michele Alboreto retired with an electrical failure, while Riccardo Patrese exited the race as a result of a gearbox malfunction.
The high-speed nature of the circuit, combined with three chicanes that required repeated heavy braking and rapid acceleration, placed considerable mechanical strain on the field and contributed to the high rate of retirements. On lap 22, Nelson Piquet began experiencing difficulties with gear selection and was forced to slow significantly, allowing both Alain Prost and Niki Lauda to pass.
Piquet's Brabham was fitted with a special six-speed gearbox configuration, consisting of five conventional ratios and an overdrive top gear. Pqiuet encountered problems engaging second, fourth, and sixth gears. After completing one additional lap without resolving the issue, he entered the pit lane at the end of lap 23 and retired from the race.
The race having settled down, Prost and Lauda secured a 1-2 for the McLaren team. Derek Warwick came third, his final podium finish in Formula One. Prost extended his championship standings by three points to Lauda.
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 7 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:49.439 1:47.012 2 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:48.033 1:47.065 +0.053 3 16 Derek Warwick Renault 1:48.576 1:48.382 +1.370 4 15 Patrick Tambay Renault 1:51.414 1:48.425 +1.413 5 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:48.698 1:48.584 +1.572 6 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:49.782 1:48.847 +1.835 7 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:48.912 1:49.004 +1.900 8 2 Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW 1:51.693 1:49.302 +2.290 9 19 Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 1:49.395 1:49.831 +2.383 10 28 René Arnoux Ferrari 1:50.830 1:49.857 +2.845 11 26 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 1:50.338 1:50.117 +3.105 12 5 Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 1:51.428 1:50.511 +3.499 13 14 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 1:51.697 1:50.686 +3.674 14 17 Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 1:56.450 1:51.475 +4.463 15 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:52.144 1:51.551 +4.539 16 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 1:52.958 1:51.715 +4.703 17 25 François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 1:53.985 1:51.872 +4.860 18 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:54.802 1:51.950 +4.938 19 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 2:12.229 1:52.003 +4.991 20 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:52.769 1:54.665 +5.757 21 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:59.505 1:54.546 +7.534 22 9 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:55.505 1:55.795 +8.493 23 30 Jo Gartner Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:58.457 1:55.594 +8.582 24 21 Huub Rothengatter Spirit-Hart 1:56.112 2:00.118 +9.100 25 10 Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 1:56.797 46:43.220 +9.785 26 3 Stefan Johansson Tyrrell-Ford 2:00.268 1:59.461 +12.449 4 Mike Thackwell Tyrrell-Ford 2:01.320 1:59.516 +12.504Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 7 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 44 1:24:43.210 1 9 2 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 44 + 3.149 7 6 3 16 Derek Warwick Renault 44 + 36.423 3 4 4 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 44 + 51.663 16 3 5 15 Patrick Tambay Renault 44 + 1:11.949 4 2 6 28 René Arnoux Ferrari 43 + 1 Lap 10 1 7 26 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 43 + 1 Lap 11 8 25 François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 43 + 1 Lap 17 9 21 Huub Rothengatter Spirit-Hart 40 + 4 Laps 24 3 Stefan Johansson Tyrrell-Ford 42 Disqualified 26 14 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 31 Gearbox 13 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 29 Engine 18 2 Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW 28 Turbo 8 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 23 Gearbox 5 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 16 Fuel System 20 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 14 Electrical 21 30 Jo Gartner Osella-Alfa Romeo 13 Turbo 23 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 13 Engine 6 10 Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 11 Turbo 25 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 10 Electrical 19 5 Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 10 Engine 12 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 8 Engine 15 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 8 Turbo 2 9 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 7 Overheating 22 19 Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 4 Rear Wing 9 17 Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 1 Turbo 14 4 Mike Thackwell Tyrrell-Ford
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 43.5 2 Niki Lauda 39 3 Elio de Angelis 26.5 4 René Arnoux 24.5 5 Derek Warwick 23Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG 82.5 2 Lotus-Renault 35.5 3 Ferrari 35.5 4 Renault 32 5 Williams-Honda 24Source:
References