Italian GP 1984

Italian GP, 1984

The fortnight between the Dutch and Italian GPs witnessed a meeting of the FIA Court of Appeal which confirmed the ban on the Tyrrell team and forbade it from taking part in the final races of the year. Monza would thus be the first all-turbo race in F1 history. Toleman decided that it would suspend Ayrton Senna (who had signed for Team Lotus despite being under contract for 1985 to Toleman) and so Stefan Johansson moved from Tyrrell to Toleman and was joined by new boy Pierluigi Martini. There were rumors that Lotus's Nigel Mansell would be moving to Williams to replace Jacques Laffite, who was expected to go back to Ligier. ATS designer Gustav Brunner was also on the move, joining RAM. The field was boosted once again by a second ATS with Gerhard Berger driving.

In qualifying Nelson Piquet was on pole in his Brabham-BMW with World Championship contender Alain Prost second in his McLaren. Third was Elio de Angelis (Lotus-Renault) with Prost's rival (and McLaren team mate) Niki Lauda fourth. Fifth was a good effort from Teo Fabi (Brabham-BMW) while the top 10 was completed by Keke Rosberg (Williams-Honda), Nigel Mansell (Lotus-Renault), Patrick Tambay (Renault) and the Euroracing Alfa Romeos of Riccardo Patrese and Eddie Cheever. The first Ferrari (Michele Alboreto) was 11th and there were rumors of big changes coming at Maranello.

Piquet took the lead from Prost at the start with de Angelis quickly falling behind a fast-starting Tambay then came Fabi and Lauda, although de Angelis soon fell behind both Teo and Niki. Prost disappeared with an engine failure on the fourth lap and Fabi then spun and dropped down the order. The retirements came thick and fast with Arnoux, Rosberg and Laffite all going out with mechanical trouble and Mansell spinning. De Angelis soon followed with gearbox trouble and then on lap 16 out went the leader Piquet with an engine failure. Tambay took the lead with the recovering Fabi second, Lauda third and Alboreto fourth. Warwick moved to fifth but soon disappeared with an engine failure and he was followed on lap 44 by Fabi and a lap later by the leader. Lauda was left to win with Alboreto second, Patrese third (albeit a lap down), Johansson fourth, Jo Gartner (Osella) fifth, although he ran out of fuel at the finish line, and Berger sixth after Cheever and Piercarlo Ghinzani (Alfa) ran out of fuel in the closing laps.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG Porsche  51 1h20m29.056s  
27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  51 1h20m53.314s  11 
22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo  50  
19 Stefan Johansson Toleman-Hart  49  17 
30 Jo Gartner Osella-Alfa Romeo  49  24 
31 Gerhard Berger ATS-BMW  49  20 
7r 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo  48 Out Of Fuel 22 
21 Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart  48  25 
9r 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo  45 Out Of Fuel 10 
10 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Cosworth  45  19 
15 Patrick Tambay Renault  43 Throttle Linkage 
Teo Fabi Brabham-BMW  43 Oil Union/engine 
17 Marc Surer Arrows-Cosworth  43 Engine 50 
16 Derek Warwick Renault  31 Oil Pressure 12 
10 Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart  20 Oil Pressure  26 
Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  15 Radiator/engine 
11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault  14 Gearbox 
12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault  13 Spin 
Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda  10 Turbo 13 
Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda  Engine 
26 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault  Engine 16 
25 Francois Hesnault Ligier-Renault  Spin 18 
Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart  Electrics 23 
28 Rene Arnoux Ferrari  Gearbox 14 
Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Porsche  Engine 
14 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW  -1 Gearbox 21 
nq 20 Pierluigi Martini Toleman-Hart    27