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1982 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 5 of 16 in the 1982 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	9 May 1982
Official name	XL Grote Prijs van België
Location	Circuit Zolder Heusden-Zolder, Limburg, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.262 km (2.648 miles)
Distance	70 laps, 298.340 km (185.380 miles)
Weather	Cold with air temperatures reaching up to 13 °C (55 °F)
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
Lap leaders

The 1982 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 9 May 1982. It was the fifth round of the 1982 Formula One season. The race was heavily overshadowed by the death of Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve, who died shortly after a crash in qualifying.

Qualifying and death of Gilles Villeneuve

Gilles Villeneuve was killed in an accident during the final qualifying session. At the time of the crash, his teammate 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 the San Marino Grand Prix, when Villeneuve believed Pironi had been ordered to remain behind him. 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. 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 in the March 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 Mass. The Ferrari hit the back of the March and was launched into the air at a speed estimated at 200–225 km/h (120–140 mph). It was airborne for over 100 metres 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 metres from the wreckage into the catch fencing on the outside edge of Terlamenbocht.

Several drivers stopped and rushed to the scene. John Watson and Derek Warwick pulled Villeneuve, his face blue, from the catch fencing. 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. 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.

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 crash debris had been removed. No drivers improved their times, leaving the Renaults of Alain Prost and René Arnoux on the front row of the grid.

Abbreviated race summary

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, and so the final podium place went to Eddie Cheever.

Classification

Pre-Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	18	Raul Boesel	March-Ford	1:18.333	—
2	31	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	1:19.999	+1.666
3	35	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	1:20.847	+2.514
4	36	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	1:21.499	+3.166
5	32	Riccardo Paletti	Osella-Ford	1:21.784	+3.451
6	19	Emilio de Villota	March-Ford	1:22.879	+4.546

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	15	Alain Prost	Renault	1:15.962	1:15.701
2	16	René Arnoux	Renault	1:15.903	1:15.730	+0.029
3	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	1:17.654	1:15.847	+0.146
4	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	1:17.577	1:16:049	+0.348
5	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1:17.344	1:16:308	+0.607
6	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	1:18.796	1:16:501	+0.800
7	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	1:17.696	1:16:575	+0.874
8	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1:17.507	1:16:616	+0.915
9	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	1:17.614	1:16:944	+1.243
10	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:17.124	1:17.535	+1.423
11	2	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	1:18.366	1:17.126	+1.425
12	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1:18.639	1:17.144	+1.443
13	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	1:18.655	1:17.762	+2.061
14	9	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-Ford	1:19.430	1:17.879	+2.178
15	5	Derek Daly	Williams-Ford	1:18.194	1:18.591	+2.493
16	25	Eddie Cheever	Ligier-Matra	1:20.182	1:18.301	+2.600
17	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1:18.425	1:18.371	+2.670
18	31	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	1:20.056	1:18.403	+2.702
19	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1:19.403	1:18.565	+2.864
20	10	Eliseo Salazar	ATS-Ford	1:20.440	1:18.967	+3.266
21	35	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	1:20.594	1:18.985	+3.284
22	4	Brian Henton	Tyrrell-Ford	1:20.518	1:19.150	+3.449
23	36	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	1:20.541	1:19.300	+3.599
24	29	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	1:22.512	1:19.584	+3.883
25	20	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:21.775	1:19.598	+3.897
26	18	Raul Boesel	March-Ford	1:20.522	1:19.621	+3.920
27	17	Jochen Mass	March-Ford	1:20.552	1:19.777	+4.076
28	30	Mauro Baldi	Arrows-Ford	1:20.802	1:19.815	+4.114
29	14	Roberto Guerrero	Ensign-Ford	1:20.116	1:20.482	+4.415
30	33	Jan Lammers	Theodore-Ford	1:21.453	1:20.584	+4.883
Source:

Race

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

Notes

• This was the 200th Grand Prix in which a German driver participated. In those 200 races, German drivers won 3 Grands Prix, achieved 20 podium finishes, 1 pole position, and 4 fastest laps.
• This was the 25th Grand Prix start for Osella and the 5th Grand Prix start for Toleman.
• This was thee 5th Grand Prix start for Hart-powered car.
• This was the 9th Belgian Grand Prix win for a Ford-powered car, breaking the previous record set by Ferrari at the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix.
• This the second of only three races that the Ferrari team entered but did not start. The other two were the 1950 French Grand Prix and the 1982 Swiss Grand Prix.

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 Source:

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

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

References

1. Weather info for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix Archived 2015-02-14 at the Wayback Machine at Weather Underground
2. "1982 Belgian Grand Prix Entry list".
3. "Formula 1's greatest drivers. Number 12: Gilles Villeneuve". BBC Sport. 4 July 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
4. Bamsey (1983) p.50, Lang (1992) pp.96–97, Watkins (1997) p.98 and Fearnley (May 2007) all write that Villeneuve was attempting to beat Pironi. Jenkinson (June 1982) writes only that he "was in the middle of a last desperate bid to improve his grid position."
5. ^ Donaldson (2003) pp.296–298
6. Lang (1992) p.97
7. Fearnley (May 2007)
8. Watkins (1997) pp.96–98
9. ^ Lang (1992) pp.95 99
10. "05/09/1982 race: Grand Prix of Belgium (F1) qualifying results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
11. "1982 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
12. "1982 Belgian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 9 May 1982. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
13. ^ "Belgium 1982 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.

Further reading

Books

• Bamsey, Ian (1983). Automobile Sport 82-83. Yeovil, Somerset: Haynes Publications. ISBN 0-946321-01-9.
• Donaldson, Gerald (2003). Gilles Villeneuve: The Life of the Legendary Racing Driver. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 0-7535-0747-1.
• Lang, Mike (1992). Grand Prix! Volume 4: 1981 to 1984. Yeovil, Somerset: Foulis Haynes. ISBN 0-85429-733-2.
• Roebuck, Nigel (1986). Grand Prix Greats. Cambridge: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 0-85059-792-7.
• Roebuck, Nigel (1999). Chasing the Title. Yeovil, Somerset: Haynes Publications. ISBN 1-85960-604-0.
• Watkins, Sid (1997). Life at the Limit: Triumph and Tragedy in Formula One. London: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-35139-7.

Magazines

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

• 1982 Formula One races
• 1982 in Belgian motorsport
• Belgian Grand Prix
• Circuit Zolder
• May 1982 sports events in Europe