Date September 25, 1983 Weather Dry | Course length 4.206 km (2.613 mi) | |
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Location Brands Hatch, Kent, England Course Permanent racing facility Distance 76 laps, 319.656 km (198.588 mi) | ||
The 1983 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on September 25, 1983. This race saw Bruno Giacomelli score his final championship point, and was the first race for qualified doctor and current circuit owner Jonathan Palmer. It also took place exactly 22 years before the inaugural A1 Grand Prix event at Brands Hatch, September 25, 2005. It was the only race in F1 history that both Toleman cars finished in the points.
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Palmer debuted in a third car for Williams as a one-off appearance. He was Williams' test driver and a works Honda driver that year and the race was his reward from Frank Williams for his hard work.
It also was the last appearance of the Theodore Racing team, which left F1 before the next race in South Africa.
Qualifying
Elio de Angelis qualified on pole with a time that was 2.8 seconds slower than the pole time for the 1982 British Grand Prix at Brands set by Keke Rosberg in the Ground effect Williams FW08. De Angelis' time was also 3.6 seconds faster than Rosberg's pole time for the non-championship Race of Champions held at the circuit earlier in the year.
Lotus and Brabham dominated qualifying, with de Angelis' team mate Nigel Mansell qualifying 3rd and the BMW powered Brabhams of Riccardo Patrese 2nd on the grid and Nelson Piquet 4th. Lotus and Brabham were the only teams to get their cars under 1:13.0 during qualifying. World Championship leader Alain Prost qualified 8th in his Renault RE40, one place behind team mate Eddie Cheever, while separating the top four and Cheever in 7th were the Ferraris of René Arnoux (5th) and Patrick Tambay (6th).
Keke Rosberg, the fastest of the non-turbos in his Ford powered Williams, was back in 16th place on the grid almost 3 seconds slower than the Renault turbo powered Lotus of de Angelis. Rosberg's time was 0.8 seconds faster than his Race of Champions pole time set almost 5 months earlier (Rosberg's helmet also sported an "I love turbo" sticker, pointing to Williams needing the Honda turbo they would use from the next race to be competitive). Kenny Acheson (RAM-Ford), Corrado Fabi (Osella-Alfa Romeo) and Jacques Laffite (Williams-Ford) all failed to qualify while the Theodore-Ford of Johnny Cecotto was withdrawn before the start of the weekend. It was Laffite's second non-qualification in a row after having failed to qualify at the previous race in Italy, and only the third (and last) of his long career. His previous failure to qualify having been in 1975 when he failed to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix.