The 1984 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 7 October 1984. It was the fifteenth race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship. It was also the first Formula One race to be held at the Nürburgring since 1976, and the first to be run on the new GP-Strecke circuit, rather than the historic Nordschleife, which after new pit facilities and layout modifications had been shortened so that both circuits could be used at the same time.
The 67-lap race was won by Frenchman Alain Prost, driving a McLaren-TAG. Italian Michele Alboreto finished second in a Ferrari, with Brazilian Nelson Piquet third in a Brabham-BMW, having started from pole position.
Prost's Austrian teammate Niki Lauda, who nearly lost his life in the last F1 race at the Nürburgring in 1976, finished fourth. With the reallocation of the disqualified Tyrrell team's points two days after the race and Prost thus gaining an extra point, Lauda's lead in the Drivers' Championship was reduced to 3.5 points with one race remaining.
Report During the race morning warm-up session, Alain Prost spun his McLaren-TAG and hit a course car parked at the side of the circuit.
Prior to the Grand Prix, young Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna had won a special Race of Champions event where all the competitors were driving the Mercedes-Benz 190E's against a host of former and current star drivers including Alain Prost, Carlos Reutemann, Denny Hulme, Phil Hill, Niki Lauda, Stirling Moss, James Hunt and Alan Jones. However, when the Grand Prix itself started, Senna had no such luck, triggering a first corner accident which took out the cars of Keke Rosberg, Marc Surer, Gerhard Berger, and Piercarlo Ghinzani. Senna's Toleman (which had started 12th) had run into the back of Rosberg's Williams under braking at the end of the main straight which caused the accident. Rosberg had started fourth (after blowing his Honda engine coming out of the final corner of his qualifying lap), but was slow off the line as his engine had suddenly developed a misfire.
After qualifying second on the grid, Alain Prost won the race in his McLaren from the Ferrari of Michele Alboreto and the Brabham-BMW of defending World Champion Nelson Piquet, with both the Ferrari and Brabham running out of fuel as they crossed the finish line. When they got out of their cars which stopped at the pit exit, Alboreto and Piquet raised their arms to each other in a gesture of frustration at FISA's 220 litre fuel limit for turbos which had reduced races to economy runs.
Niki Lauda, who had almost lost his life in a fiery crash during the 1976 German GP, started 15th and finished 4th in his McLaren. In stark contrast to the lack of safety of the Nordschleife, Lauda gave the new GP-Strecke the thumbs up as a very safe Grand Prix circuit, saying that it was "the perfect place to hold a Grand Prix".
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:18.871 1:43.988 2 7 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:19.175 1:40.693 +0.304 3 15 Patrick Tambay Renault 1:19.499 no time +0.628 4 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:20.652 1:43.619 +1.781 5 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:20.910 1:41.878 +2.039 6 28 René Arnoux Ferrari 1:21.180 1:42.457 +2.309 7 16 Derek Warwick Renault 1:21.571 1:44.289 +2.700 8 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 1:21.710 1:40.705 +2.839 9 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:21.937 1:41.724 +3.066 10 2 Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW 1:22.206 1:45.075 +3.335 11 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:22.248 1:44.642 +3.377 12 19 Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 1:22.439 1:43.747 +3.568 13 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:22.525 1:41.285 +3.654 14 5 Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 1:22.613 no time +3.742 15 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:22.643 1:40.392 +3.772 16 17 Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 1:22.708 1:45.319 +3.837 17 26 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 1:23.034 1:42.362 +4.163 18 31 Gerhard Berger ATS-BMW 1:23.116 1:44.899 +4.245 19 25 François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 1:23.322 1:44.420 +4.451 20 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:24.699 1:42.746 +5.828 21 10 Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 1:25.050 1:51.449 +6.179 22 30 Jo Gartner Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:26.156 1:48.214 +7.285 23 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:26.161 1:39.762 +7.290 24 21 Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart 1:28.137 1:45.814 +9.266 25 9 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:30.259 1:53.587 +11.388 26 20 Stefan Johansson Toleman-Hart 1:41.178 1:43.881 +22.307Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 7 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 67 1:35:13.284 2 9 2 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 67 + 23.911 5 6 3 1 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 67 + 24.922 1 4 4 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 67 + 43.086 15 3 5 28 René Arnoux Ferrari 67 + 1:01.430 6 2 6 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 66 + 1 Lap 9 1 7 26 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 65 + 2 Laps 17 8 21 Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart 65 + 2 Laps 24 9 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 64 Ignition 11 10 25 François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 64 + 3 Laps 19 11 16 Derek Warwick Renault 61 Overheating 7 30 Jo Gartner Osella-Alfa Romeo 60 Fuel System 22 2 Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW 57 Gearbox 10 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 51 Engine 8 15 Patrick Tambay Renault 47 Fuel System 3 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 37 Fuel System 13 9 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 37 Turbo 25 10 Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 35 Turbo 21 5 Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 27 Engine 14 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 25 Turbo 23 20 Stefan Johansson Toleman-Hart 17 Overheating 26 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 0 Collision 4 19 Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 0 Collision 12 17 Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 0 Collision 16 31 Gerhard Berger ATS-BMW 0 Collision 18 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 0 Collision 20
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Niki Lauda 66 2 Alain Prost 62.5 3 Elio de Angelis 32 4 Nelson Piquet 28 5 Michele Alboreto 27.5Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG 128.5 2 Ferrari 54.5 3 Lotus-Renault 45 4 Brabham-BMW 37 5 Renault 34Source:
References