1983 Belgian Grand Prix

Report

Race report

Andrea de Cesaris jumped from third to first at the start, overtaking Alain Prost and Patrick Tambay, and de Cesaris began to build up a lead on Prost who faced pressure from the Ferraris behind him. After initially challenging Tambay for the last podium place, René Arnoux began to fall back and was caught by Nelson Piquet with Keke Rosberg following a short distance back in 6th. Piquet got a good exit out of La Source, and powered down the hill to overtake Arnoux before Eau Rouge, leaving him in the attention of the non-turbo powered Williams cars who don't get a chance to pass before Arnoux's turbo failed, putting an end to his race a few laps later. De Cesaris pitted from the lead, but it was a slow stop, over 25 seconds, and the second stint got going with Prost leading by almost 10 seconds. Prost's mechanics did a 14.4 second stop in an era when the record was around 13*.*

Meanwhile, Piquet and Tambay switched positions after their stops. Piquet's pit crew managing a 15.2 second stop, refueling included, for an overcut. De Cesaris's sluggish pit stop would come to be the prologue for his retirement when injection problems made him pull up on the side of the road on lap 25. Piquet inherited second place, with Tambay close on his trails, less than 3 seconds behind. Eddie Cheever who climbed his way from 8th emerged behind them eager to attack the podium positions. The last two points places were with the underpowered Williams cars who were running a lonely and quiet race at significant distance from each other and also from the rest of the field. In the latter stages Piquet lost 5th (highest) gear and went dramatically slower on the straights as his Brabham could not reach top speed. Tambay and Cheever swiftly profited from this, dropping the 1981 champion to fourth. From here on the first six places remain unchanged. Prost won and built a 4-point lead over Piquet in the championship.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

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

References

| Previous_year's_race = 1982 Belgian Grand Prix Previous race at Spa-Francorchamps: 1970 Belgian Grand Prix | Next_year's_race = 1984 Belgian Grand Prix

References

1. "1983 Belgian GP". [[Motor Sport (magazine).
2. "Grand Prix of Belgium - QUALIFYING 1".
3. "Grand Prix of Belgium - QUALIFYING 2".
4. "Grand Prix of Belgium - OVERALL QUALIFYING".
5. (1983). "[[AUTOCOURSE]] 1983–84". Hazleton Publishing Ltd.
6. In the downhill section, the rear right wheel came off, flying over the fence [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dzYFcSWWK8 video]
7. "1983 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com.
8. (22 May 1983). "1983 Belgian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive".
9. "Belgium 1983 - Championship • STATS F1".