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1984 South African Grand Prix
Race 2 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	7 April 1984
Official name	XVIII National Panasonic Grand Prix of South Africa
Location	Kyalami Midrand, Transvaal Province, South Africa
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.104 km (2.550 miles)
Distance	75 laps, 307.800 km (191.258 miles)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW
Time	1:04.871
Fastest lap
Driver	Patrick Tambay	Renault
Time	1:08.877 on lap 64
Podium
First	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG
Second	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Third	Derek Warwick	Renault
Lap leaders

The 1984 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 7 April 1984. It was race 2 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One World Championship. The 75-lap race was won by Niki Lauda, driving a McLaren-TAG, with teammate Alain Prost second and Derek Warwick third in a Renault.

Report

Qualifying

Qualifying saw reigning World Champion Nelson Piquet take the first of an eventual nine pole positions for 1984 in his Brabham-BMW, with Keke Rosberg alongside him on the front row in his Williams-Honda. On the second row were Nigel Mansell in the Lotus and Patrick Tambay in the factory Renault, while on the third row were Alain Prost in the McLaren and Teo Fabi in the second Brabham. The top ten was completed by Elio de Angelis in the second Lotus, Niki Lauda in the second McLaren, Derek Warwick in the second Renault and Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari. The Cosworth-powered Tyrrells and Arrows struggled, with Thierry Boutsen coming 27th and last in his Arrows and thus failing to qualify.

Race

In the Sunday morning warm-up session Piercarlo Ghinzani, who had qualified 20th in his Osella, crashed heavily at the fast left-hand Jukskei Sweep, the car bursting into flames. Ghinzani escaped with minor burns on his hands, and subsequently withdrew from the race, thus promoting Boutsen to the last grid spot.

Before the start of the race, Prost's McLaren refused to fire up, so he started from the pitlane in the spare car.

At the start, Piquet almost stalled on the grid and was passed by Rosberg and Mansell. The Lotus then faltered and Mansell fell down the order, putting Piquet back up to second by the first corner. At the end of lap 1, Piquet passed Rosberg for the lead, before teammate Fabi moved into second on lap 2. Lauda had made a good start to run fourth; he then overtook Rosberg on lap 4 and Fabi on lap 10. Both Brabhams then hit trouble, needing new tyres before retiring with turbo failures, Fabi on lap 19 and Piquet on lap 30.

From there, Lauda controlled the race and went on to win easily, with Prost over a minute behind in second and the only other driver on the lead lap. Warwick gained his first Formula One podium by finishing third, while completing the top six were Riccardo Patrese (Alfa Romeo), Andrea de Cesaris (Ligier-Renault) and, gaining his first ever World Championship point, Ayrton Senna in his Toleman-Hart.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:05.280	1:04.871	—
2	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:05.127	1:05.058	+0.187
3	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault	1:05.792	1:05.125	+0.254
4	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	1:05.588	1:05.339	+0.468
5	7	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:06.576	1:05.354	+0.483
6	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham-BMW	1:05.923	1:07.236	+1.052
7	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:06.305	1:05.953	+1.082
8	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	1:06.238	1:06.043	+1.172
9	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	1:06.056	1:06.491	+1.185
10	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:07.404	1:06.323	+1.452
11	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	1:07.142	1:06.762	+1.891
12	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	1:06.974	1:07.417	+2.103
13	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart	1:07.657	1:06.981	+2.110
14	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	1:09.132	1:07.245	+2.374
15	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	1:07.514	1:07.345	+2.474
16	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	1:07.704	1:07.993	+2.833
17	25	François Hesnault	Ligier-Renault	1:09.909	1:07.787	+2.916
18	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	1:08.399	1:08.042	+3.171
19	20	Johnny Cecotto	Toleman-Hart	1:09.892	1:08.298	+3.427
20	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:10.829	1:09.609	+4.738
21	21	Mauro Baldi	Spirit-Hart	1:10.450	1:09.923	+5.052
22	10	Jonathan Palmer	RAM-Hart	no time	1:10.383	+5.512
23	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	no time	1:10.619	+5.748
24	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	1:12.227	1:11.808	+6.937
25	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	1:12.322	1:12.022	+7.151
26	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	1:12.233	1:12.453	+7.362
27	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-Ford	1:12.326	1:12.274	+7.403
Source:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	75	1:29:23.430	8	9
2	7	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	75	+ 1:05.950	5	6
3	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	74	+ 1 Lap	9	4
4	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	73	+ 2 Laps	18	3
5	26	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	73	+ 2 Laps	14	2
6	19	Ayrton Senna	Toleman-Hart	72	+ 3 Laps	13	1
7	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	71	+ 4 Laps	7
8	21	Mauro Baldi	Spirit-Hart	71	+ 4 Laps	20
9	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	71	+ 4 Laps	23
10	25	François Hesnault	Ligier-Renault	71	+ 4 Laps	17
11	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	70	Ignition	10
12	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-Ford	70	+ 5 Laps	26
DSQ	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	71	Disqualified	25
Ret	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	66	Out of Fuel	4
DSQ	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	60	Disqualified	24
Ret	5	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Honda	60	Transmission	11
Ret	14	Manfred Winkelhock	ATS-BMW	53	Engine	12
Ret	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	51	Wheel	2
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Renault	51	Turbo	3
Ret	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	40	Injection	15
Ret	1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	29	Turbo	1
Ret	20	Johnny Cecotto	Toleman-Hart	26	Tyre	19
Ret	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	24	Engine	22
Ret	10	Jonathan Palmer	RAM-Hart	22	Gearbox	21
Ret	2	Teo Fabi	Brabham-BMW	18	Turbo	6
Ret	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	4	Radiator	16
DNS	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo		Practice Accident
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 15 2 Niki Lauda 9 3 Keke Rosberg 6 4 Elio de Angelis 4 5 Derek Warwick 4 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG 24 2 Williams-Honda 6 3 Alfa Romeo 6 4 Renault 5 5 Lotus-Renault 4 Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Points accurate at final declaration of results. Tyrrell and its drivers were subsequently disqualified and their points reallocated.

References

1. "South African GP, 1984". grandprix.com. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
2. "National Panasonic Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
3. "National Panasonic Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
4. "National Panasonic Grand Prix - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
5. "1984 South African Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
6. ^ "South Africa 1984 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.

• South African Grand Prix
• 1984 Formula One races
• 1984 in South African sport
• April 1984 sports events in Africa