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00:00:00San Marino, a tiny landlocked country in northern Italy, is the world's smallest
00:00:05independent Republic. It's too small to have its own racetrack, but it has its
00:00:09own Grand Prix, and to run it they go just up the Autostrada a few miles
00:00:14towards Bologna to Imola, and that's where we've come for round four of the
00:00:191984 Formula One World Championship. Nelson Piquet is on pole position with
00:00:25the Brabham, with Alain Prost in the McLaren alongside him. Row two, Kehi
00:00:29Rosberg for Williams, and Derek Warwick for Renault. And row three, Lauda's McLaren
00:00:34and Arnoux's Ferrari. Then Winkelhock and Cheever, Fabi and Patrese, de Angelis
00:00:40and de Cesaris, a little knot of Italians on rows five and six.
00:00:43Alboreto's Ferrari, well done, with Tombe on row seven. Lafitte and Sura, Hainault and
00:00:48Mansell on row nine. Then Ciacotto and Bootson, Beloff and Brundle in the
00:00:53Tyrrells, Aglio and Baldi, and at the back Jonathan Palmer's Ramhart and Joe
00:00:58Gartner having his first Grand Prix for Osella. Ghinzani in the Osella and Ayrton
00:01:05Senna in the Toleman haven't qualified. Much of practice was wet, but it was a
00:01:10dry final session which put Piquet on pole position, but Alain Prost in the
00:01:14McLaren, the current World Championship leader, is up there with him, and the very
00:01:18pro-Ferrari Italian crowd want to see another Ferrari victory, just like we had
00:01:24in Belgium a week ago when Michele Alboreto broke McLaren's run of luck. So
00:01:30off on the final warm-up lap for the Imola circuit, over three miles long,
00:01:35uphill, downhill, and there in the pit lane, a knot on the grid where he should
00:01:40be, it's Andrea de Cesaris with the Ligier. So once again de Cesaris, with
00:01:45some sort of mechanical problem, is going to have to start the race from the
00:01:48pit lane. This uphill tight left-hander is the Curva di Torsa. There goes
00:01:55Alboreto's number 27 Ferrari, and look at the Ferrari flags waving from the crowd.
00:02:00They're going to be willing, Alboreto, to come up from his 13th grid position. From
00:02:06the Piratella corner, it's downhill again to this tight double chicane at
00:02:11Acquaminerano. Very, very tight indeed. Second gear, bottom gear for some of the
00:02:16cars, and then on the power as they go on uphill again towards the very
00:02:21Anti-Alfa. And it's corners like this which make this circuit particularly
00:02:26hard on brakes. There's Jonathan Palmer in number 10, bringing up the rear on
00:02:30this warm-up lap. Then it's downhill through another tight double left-hander
00:02:36at Rivazza, and then this treadle corner that you see, which leads immediately to
00:02:42the start-finish straight. 60 laps of this tortuous three-mile circuit ahead
00:02:48of these cars, and a race that promises to be punishing on brakes and punishing
00:02:54on drivers. Piquet hanging back a little bit behind Prost, but it's Piquet who has
00:03:00the pole. Prost in the red and white McLaren taking his number two grid
00:03:04position. Behind Piquet on pole it's Keke Rosberg in the Williams, behind Prost
00:03:09the yellow car is the Renault of Derek Warwick, and now all those drivers are
00:03:15looking at the lights on the bridge across the track. There's the red light,
00:03:20there's the green. Oh, and Niki Lauda's left, and Keke Rosberg staggers away, so Lauda
00:03:27and Rosberg almost left for dead on the grid, but Prost storming up, past Nelson
00:03:33Piquet into the lead, Alain Prost goes straight into the lead. Out of Tamburello it's
00:03:38Prost, Piquet, Warwick challenging, Arnoux, Winkelhock, and then one of the Alphas
00:03:43as they come up now into Tossa for the first time. Hard on the apex, up the hill,
00:03:49Prost pulling away, oh and Tambay's in trouble, Cheever and Tambay have collided.
00:03:53Eddie Cheever's Alpha clouted Tambay's Renault, Tambay's in the barriers with a
00:03:59very dented front right-hand wheel, and Alain Prost is through the Piratella and
00:04:04on down towards Aqua Minerali. McLaren, Brabham, Renault, Ferrari, ATS, then it's
00:04:10Alboreto, goodness me what a start Alboreto has made.
00:04:13Alboreto's come storming up and look how close that traffic is, Eddie Cheever once
00:04:18again in the middle of it, with one of the Ram Hearts getting pushed onto the
00:04:22kerb. Keke Rosberg there in number six, the
00:04:25Saudia car, Keke Rosberg recovering from that disastrous start, and the car with a
00:04:30flat tyre there just going over the brow was Cheever, that's Tambay running away
00:04:34from his stricken Renault, and we've just seen Eddie Cheever with a flat rear tyre,
00:04:39so that was his penalty for that collision in the crowded first lap. At
00:04:43the end of the crowded first lap, Prost already has a considerable lead over the
00:04:48start-finish line, 59 laps to go, and it's Prost pulling away now from Piquet's
00:04:53Brabham, Derek Warwick is there in third place with the Renault, and fourth it's
00:04:58still René Arnoux, there he is in the red car, and fifth the ATS going once again
00:05:05of Finkelhock into the Tosa, and look at Prost pulling this lead out, but Derek
00:05:09Warwick challenges for second place. Arnoux, Finkelhock and Alboreto following,
00:05:15but it's a battle for second place, Nelson Piquet has a very determined
00:05:19Derek Warwick with him as they come over the brow of the hill, Prost going away
00:05:22down the hill through Piratella, and there is Cheever, Cheever having that rear
00:05:28tyre changed, it was indeed a flat rear tyre from the collision with Tambay, on
00:05:33goes the new rear tyre, out goes Cheever at the tail of the field, no doubt very
00:05:38anxious to make up for a disastrous handicap at the beginning, and another
00:05:42man with a handicap who's going well is Andrea de Cesaris, who did start from
00:05:47the pit lane as we suspected, and is already carving his way up through the
00:05:51field, so is Niki Lauda, whom you saw make a disastrous start, so indeed is
00:05:56Keke Rosberg, so Prost goes through, there's the Brabham, and there's the
00:06:01Renault of Piquet and Warwick, this is the downhill Rivazza before the start-finish
00:06:07line, and still Piquet has Warwick in his mirrors, still Arnoux is fourth with
00:06:12Finkelhock fifth, and it's Alboreto in the Ferrari sixth, so Ferrari's fourth
00:06:18and sixth, and the Ferrari flags waving in the crowd every time they come through,
00:06:22those Italians are desperate to see a good Ferrari performance here, they'll be
00:06:27cheering on Arnoux, they'll be cheering on Alboreto, they'll be booing everybody
00:06:32else, such is the magic that Ferrari holds here, they've built our Ferraris
00:06:36just up the road in Modena, and they had of course a wonderful run in Zolder just
00:06:42a week ago, but now it's Piquet in second place, Warwick in third, and Arnoux is
00:06:47not close enough to get on terms with them, but behind them I see Alboreto
00:06:51closing on Finkelhock, so Alboreto's march up the field from 13th place on
00:06:56the grid to what is now sixth place in the race, progresses further, and Prost is
00:07:03getting away, while Piquet has to keep a defensive second place, look how close
00:07:08Warwick is getting in the Aquaminerale, all the time Prost pulling away, up the
00:07:14hill out of the Aquaminerale goes the second place battle, over the bra of the
00:07:18hill, on down towards the Variante Alfa, Prost goes away from the Variante Alfa,
00:07:24and on his way down to Rivazza, and still Piquet has this second place, still
00:07:30Warwick is third, and Prost is pulling away, and while you see the battle for
00:07:35second, a storming drive we're seeing on the lap charts from Niki Lauda, there's
00:07:41Patrick Tommeray's car being moved to a position of safety by the marshals, as
00:07:46Prost complete three laps behind him that battle still progressing for second
00:07:52place between Piquet and Warwick, and still René Arnoux in fourth place leading the
00:07:58Ferrari Challenge, oh and that's Nigel Mansell in the dirt, Nigel Mansell who
00:08:02had a very unhappy practice, all sorts of problems for him in this morning, he
00:08:08started in his spare car, he was very unhappy about it, and now after only three
00:08:12laps his race has come to an end. Piquet now at Tossa, Warwick still keeping in
00:08:19contact with Piquet, still the Ferrari in fourth place of Arnoux, and it's a
00:08:24Ferrari in fifth place, a red car is fifth, that means that Michele Alboreto
00:08:29has got past Manfred Winkelhock into fifth place, Ferrari's four and five, and
00:08:34that will have elicited a big cheer from the Italian crowd, still Piquet holding
00:08:39off Warwick for second place at Aqua Minerale, both of them clipping the first
00:08:44two kerbs and just missing the third on this very very tight corner, then on up
00:08:49the hill and the Ferraris are pursuing, Arnoux fourth but Alboreto a closing fifth,
00:08:55there's Arnoux, but Alboreto it is who's come up from 13th starting position
00:09:02remember, now to fifth place, and I think he's going to go a lot further.
00:09:06Alboreto the man who won at Zolder a week ago, who has shown that he really is
00:09:11the true leader of the Ferrari team. End of lap four now.
00:09:19Prost and Piquet away from Warwick now, Piquet has definitely shaken Warwick off,
00:09:25there are the two Ferraris in the background, in sixth place it's still
00:09:29Winkelhock and Niki Lauda coming into the picture now, in seventh place,
00:09:35Niki Lauda is now seventh, ahead of the Alpha of Riccardo Patrese, who is eighth.
00:09:43Prost meanwhile, all on his own already, that's an indication of just how quick
00:09:49this McLaren is, it was easily fastest in race trim this morning, there is Nigel
00:09:54Mansell's car being moved also to a position of safety, and there we see the
00:10:00gap, 4.9 seconds already after four laps is Prost's lead over Piquet, Warwick a
00:10:06couple of seconds down now from Piquet, so Warwick has for the time being anyway
00:10:13let Piquet get away, and quite soon I think Warwick's mirrors are going to be
00:10:18full of Ferrari. This is lap five now, down the hill to Rivazza, there is Keke
00:10:25Rosberg walking home, Keke Rosberg left on the grid you'll remember, came through
00:10:30all that traffic, but he has now parked the Williams and he is walking back to
00:10:35the pits, and while Prost appears to be running away with this race, all sorts of
00:10:41splendid battles going on behind seventh man Niki Lauda, as we said eighth it's
00:10:46Patrese, ninth now Theo Fabi, Nelson Piquet's teammate in the Brabham team,
00:10:5010th is Elio de Angelis in the Lotus, and a strong 11th is the non-turbocharged
00:10:57Tyrrell with Martin Bundle at the wheel. Now what we don't know yet, as we never
00:11:02do in the early stages of the race, is who is trying to run the full distance
00:11:06on one set of tyres, who is going to stop for fresh rubber part the way through.
00:11:12Derek Warwick in third place, still keeping in contact with Nelson Piquet,
00:11:16there is Piquet, there is Warwick as they come through the Tossa corner, and Warwick
00:11:23now definitely under pressure from the two Ferraris. 28 leads 27, that's
00:11:28Arnoux leading Alboreto, and Warwick being reeled in steadily by these
00:11:34Ferraris. Interesting to ponder on which are the tyres which are most effective
00:11:40today, which make of tyres, because it's a Michelin car, a Michelin shod car
00:11:45leading, it's Michelin shod cars in second and third places, but the Ferraris
00:11:50are on good years and they're closing. Piquet, Warwick, and they're the Ferraris
00:11:57as we watch now Alain Prost through the downhill Rivazza section, empty road
00:12:03behind him before Piquet comes into sight, on the brakes through the first apex of
00:12:08Rivazza. Last time they passed our box, we put the watch on the gap between
00:12:14Warwick and the two Ferraris, we made it 2.4 seconds, but the waves from the
00:12:19Italian crowd are confirmation that that gap is getting closer. Back onto the
00:12:26start-finish section, and Alboreto very close to Arnoux now, is Arnoux going to
00:12:31fight off his own teammate, or is he going to make it easier for Alboreto to
00:12:35get by, because clearly Alboreto has closed on Arnoux, and it's Alboreto who
00:12:41is the faster of the two at the moment. Through Tamburello, up the newly named
00:12:49Villeneuve corner, that's that fast right-hand sweep there, and into Tosa.
00:12:58And seeing those two Ferraris together reminds us of the battle between the two
00:13:03Ferraris two years ago, when Villeneuve and Didier Pironi were wheel-to-wheel for
00:13:08almost the whole race. Pironi won the race even though the pit signals told
00:13:12him to let Villeneuve by, and Villeneuve wasn't a bit happy about it after the
00:13:16race. Sadly, a fortnight later he died in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, and
00:13:22his memory very much with us here at Imola. There are Villeneuve stickers, there
00:13:27are Villeneuve portraits almost everywhere you look. And that is Patrese,
00:13:35that's Patrese into the pits, coming slowly into the pits with the Alfa,
00:13:39getting out of the car indeed. That's a shame, because Patrese was running
00:13:44strongly in ninth place. And now look at the fourth car in this group, because
00:13:50Niki Lauda now is up with the Ferraris. While the Ferraris have closed on Derek
00:13:54Warwick, Niki Lauda has closed on the two of them. Lauda, who made a
00:13:58disastrously slow start, has come storming up through the field, and so we
00:14:02look now at the battle for third place. Nelson Piquet has pulled away in second,
00:14:07and it's Warwick third, Arnoux fourth, Alboreto fifth, and Lauda sixth, just as
00:14:12close as that. Manfred Winkelhock has fallen away, and it's now a four-car
00:14:18battle for third place, and Lauda is the one who's pushing hardest. Immediately
00:14:23Alboreto loses contact with Arnoux as he starts to drive defensively to hold
00:14:27Lauda off. Not defensively enough, Lauda is on the inside at Villeneuve.
00:14:32They're side-by-side as they go into Tossa, but Alboreto slams the door in
00:14:37Lauda's face. Lauda has to hang back. Lauda challenging again as they go up
00:14:40the hill. Arnoux moves across, but it's Alboreto and Lauda side-by-side. Lauda
00:14:46goes ahead at Piratella. Lauda is through, nothing Alboreto could do about that at
00:14:52all. Lauda is not to be denied, and immediately Lauda gets away from
00:14:57Alboreto, and in the Acquaminerale, Lauda is on his way to attacking his next
00:15:03victim, which is going to be René Arnoux. Now, Alboreto lost contact with Arnoux
00:15:09while he was trying to hold off Lauda. Can he make up that gap? Certainly Arnoux
00:15:15is not letting Nicky Lauda get that close to him on this lap, but as they
00:15:21come down the hill, two revats are now under braking. The McLaren closes on
00:15:26the Ferrari. Derek Rorick is ahead of them, still third. Arnoux still fourth as
00:15:31they pass the stricken Williams of Keke Rosberg, and Alboreto has fallen away
00:15:37now. Alboreto's charge up the field temporarily seems to have been checked.
00:15:42Back onto the start-finish section. Arnoux, Lauda, and Alboreto. Three red cars
00:15:50blasting over the start-finish line. The yellow car in front of them in third
00:15:54place is the Renault of Rorick, but Arnoux still has this fourth place, and this was
00:15:58where Lauda attacked last time. Lauda attacks the other side this time. He's on
00:16:02the outside at Villeneuve, and through sheer power he forces his way ahead as
00:16:07they come up into Tosa, and Arnoux is demoted as well. So Nicky Lauda
00:16:14absolutely storming through the field. We've just had confirmation from the
00:16:18timekeepers that Lauda has already set the fastest lap of the race, 1 minute 35
00:16:23point six five five seconds, and remember they're still pretty full of fuel, and
00:16:28how long is it going to take Nicky Lauda now to set about attacking Derek
00:16:33Rorick in third place? We've got a McLaren in the lead, we've got a McLaren
00:16:37in fourth place, and moving up. Remember that the McLarens dominated the
00:16:43proceedings first in Brazil, and then in South Africa where they were first and
00:16:46second. They had a bad race in round three in Belgium, but at the moment
00:16:51anyway the McLarens are making the running. Alain Prost the leader, Nelson
00:16:55Piquet in a lonely second place in the Brabham. This is the battle for third as
00:16:59Arnoux fights back.
00:17:03Rorick, Lauda, Arnoux and Alboreto, and there is the other Williams into the
00:17:13pits, that's Jacques Lafitte. Jacques Lafitte, they're jacking the car up and
00:17:18automatically setting about changing the tyres, but a gesture from Lafitte says
00:17:23don't bother, I'm getting out, my race is over. And Lauda's race is by no means
00:17:29over, he's right up with Rorick now. The tag turbo engine Porsche designed in the
00:17:36back of the McLaren has lots and lots of power, and Lauda is tucked into the slip
00:17:40stream of the Renault as they come over the bra of the hill. Lauda has a think
00:17:43about the inside, but hangs back at Piratella, and now down towards the
00:17:48impossibly tight Acquaminerale. Lauda decides to wait for a while, he closes
00:17:53right up under braking, but it's not a place where you can overtake. And so
00:17:57Lauda now hangs back briefly before the accelerative charge up the hill, and then
00:18:03over the hill towards the Variante Alta. And now Lauda is close once more through
00:18:09the Variante Alta, Rorick driving very coolly, very, very tidily, he's not being
00:18:15at all ruffled by Lauda, but he knows that Lauda is putting the pressure on.
00:18:19Down now into Rivazza, Nelson Piquet not very far ahead of this battle, still Piquet
00:18:24second, still Rorick third, still Lauda fourth, but not I think for long. Now at
00:18:31the Variante Bassa, which leads on to the start-finish section, Rorick, Lauda, and
00:18:36the two Ferraris. They've already got backmarkers to lap, and it's almost 15
00:18:42seconds Prost's lead to Piquet, Rorick just five seconds behind, and Rorick
00:18:47driving his heart out to keep Lauda away. The two backmarkers ahead of them,
00:18:51it's Gartner and Aglio to be passed, and that could change things somewhat,
00:18:55because both these cars have got to pick their way through, and the backmarkers
00:18:59certainly Gartner keeping out of the way, and Lauda charging one side than the
00:19:03other at Villeneuve, but Rorick isn't having any of that, on the brakes hard,
00:19:07Aglio keeps out of the way, Lauda briefly delayed there, but now both Lauda and
00:19:12Rorick are through. Up the hill once more, Lauda tucked under the rear wing of
00:19:17that Renault, the two Ferraris following their way through, Lauda challenges
00:19:21briefly at Piratella, Rorick's having none of that, on down towards Acqua
00:19:25Minerale, and once more Lauda will have to wait, because it's very tight and
00:19:29very narrow here, and once again he closes under braking, and gets ready for
00:19:34the charge up the hill towards the Verdi Antialta.
00:19:39Meanwhile, what the crowded grandstands want is not a battle between Lauda, who's
00:19:44not a man they love, because he drove for Ferrari and then turned his back on the
00:19:48Maranello team, they want to see the Ferraris closing up, but Lauda cares
00:19:52nothing of that, he only cares for the back of the Renault and getting a sight
00:19:56of the front of it. On the brakes now into Rivazza, Lauda couldn't be much
00:20:02closer, and of course when you're that close to a car with the aerofoils and
00:20:07the air tunnels underneath, the handling of your own car, the air over the front
00:20:12wings of your own car can be disturbed, it can be very difficult driving in the
00:20:16disturbed air behind the car in front, that doesn't help overtaking at all
00:20:20either, and under acceleration out of the Verdi Antibassa, the Renault now gets
00:20:27away from the McLaren, Warwick pulling away from Lauda, and indeed René Arnoux
00:20:32getting a little bit closer, and I think there's some smoke, I think there's some
00:20:36oily smoke coming out of the back of the McLaren, certainly the McLaren lost speed
00:20:40as they came out of the Verdi Antibassa, he's closing up again now, but I think
00:20:45that car is smoking, let's look, it is smoking, oh it's stopping, Lauda is
00:20:50stopping, Lauda is out, Lauda pulls the McLaren onto the grass, what a terrible
00:20:57shame, that wonderful storming drive up the field has come to an end, yes he's
00:21:02getting out of the car, Niki Lauda's race is run, and what a shame that the crowd
00:21:07are booing and whistling, as we said earlier they don't love Lauda because
00:21:11he's a man who turned his back on Ferrari, in fact some of them are
00:21:15clapping now as Lauda walks home, so one McLaren out, the other McLaren still in
00:21:21the lead, there it is, Alain Prost at the head of the field, coming up now to
00:21:26complete 16 of the 60 laps, let's run down the order, Prost's McLaren leads,
00:21:31Piquet's Brabham in second place, Derek Warwick breathing a little easier now
00:21:36that he's got no Niki Lauda in his mirrors, he's third, but he has got in
00:21:40his mirrors the two Ferraris of René Arnoux and in fifth place Michele
00:21:45Alboreto, a new sixth man now, Theo Fabi in the other Brabham has come past
00:21:50Manfred Winkelhock into sixth place, Winkelhock is still seventh, going well
00:21:55in eighth place, Elio de Angelis, and in a storming ninth place, Martin Brundle
00:22:00still going well with the Tyrrell, now Prost will have seen the McLaren of
00:22:07Lauda parked by the road as he went on his way out of Tosa, and he'll be no
00:22:12doubt looking even more carefully at the dials, listening even more carefully at
00:22:16the engine note, there's the gap, 20.69 seconds from Prost to Piquet, and
00:22:21Warwick is less than four seconds behind Piquet, and here are the two Ferraris, and
00:22:26Alboreto is back up with Arnoux again, when Lauda went past him he seemed to
00:22:31lose heart briefly, but he's got all his heart back again, the Ferrari flags
00:22:36waving every time the two Ferraris come round, Arnoux then in fourth place,
00:22:42Alboreto in fifth, and Warwick is still third, Aquaminerale, look at the Renault
00:22:49ahead of the two Ferraris, it's not very far away, and that's Prost going
00:22:54very slowly, Alain Prost going extremely slowly, what is his problem now? In fact
00:23:01he seems to have quickened up again, and we're getting news, we're getting news
00:23:05that Alain Prost spun on the downhill Rivazza corner, Alain Prost the leader
00:23:12spun the McLaren, but whatever the problem was, perhaps he made a most
00:23:17untypical mistake, oh yes we're seeing it now, this is a replay going into Rivazza,
00:23:24where he would be breaking, a little glance at the mirrors, and one of the
00:23:27arrows goes by, Marc Surer's arrows goes by, and the excitement continues, because
00:23:32here is René Arnoux in the pits, we're on lap 22, so this could be an early
00:23:39routine tyre stop, that's certainly what it looks like, we didn't put the watch on
00:23:42it, but the tyres all going clearly on, the mechanics waiting at the front to
00:23:46tell him when it's ready to go, off the jacks, away you go say the mechanics,
00:23:50spinning the rear wheels there, 13.4 seconds, we get the time from the
00:23:55officials, and he's come out in front of Winkelhock, that means that Arnoux has
00:24:01only dropped to sixth place, during that pit stop, his own teammate Alboreto
00:24:07went by of course, so did Teofabi in the Brabham, so they're now fourth and
00:24:11fifth, and we've got a new second man, Derek Warrick has gone through, as
00:24:16Alboreto comes in for his routine pit stop, Derek Warrick has taken second
00:24:21place from Nelson Piquet, so in the lead Prost, in second place now Warrick,
00:24:27there's Alboreto, a quick word, how are you getting on, says one of the
00:24:31technicians, and now Mauro Forgieri is talking to Alboreto, Alboreto shaking
00:24:37his head, there's a problem, they've got the tyres changed, but there's a problem
00:24:42with Alboreto's car, they're taking the engine cover off, and Alboreto talking
00:24:46there to the mechanics, shaking his head in despair, and he's still in the pits,
00:24:51and the rest of the field are streaming by, so Warrick now in second place as we
00:24:58said, Piquet now third, this will promote Teofabi to fourth place, there is Warrick
00:25:03and there is Piquet, so that's now the new second and third position, Arnoux will
00:25:10now come up into fifth place, and we're going to get Helio De Angelis now in
00:25:16sixth, because De Angelis has passed Winkelhock, yes, out of the car gets the
00:25:21Belgian Grand Prix winner, Michele Alboreto, he started from 13th place, he
00:25:26came up as far as fourth, but he walks away into the back of the pit, and one of
00:25:32the Ferraris is out, the Italian commentator has just broadcast that news
00:25:37to the crowd, a great groan from the crowd, and now all their Ferrari hopes are on
00:25:43the shoulders of René Arnoux, well René Arnoux's made his pit stop, and he's
00:25:47going pretty strongly now, he's behind Teofabi in fifth place, and he's looking
00:25:54good, and Nelson Piquet certainly isn't giving up on Derek Warrick, Warrick
00:25:59having got by him, we rather expected that he might pull away, because he
00:26:02caught him comparatively easily, we wonder whether Piquet had a problem, but
00:26:06now it's Piquet who's charging back, and Warrick's new second place looking in a
00:26:11lot of danger now, as they come down through the Verrianti Alta, on towards
00:26:16Rivazza, and Warrick now being challenged hard, he had that challenge
00:26:22from Niki Lauda, he fought it off, and Niki Lauda blew his engine in his efforts
00:26:26to stay with Warrick, and indeed to pass Warrick, but now Piquet is right on the
00:26:32Renault's tail as they come into our sight, here at the start-finish section
00:26:37through the Verrianti Basso, and Warrick turns on the power, Piquet turns on the
00:26:47power, these distinctive puffs of flame from the exhaust pipes of the
00:26:52turbocharged cars as they accelerate up through the gears, and Piquet tucked into
00:26:56the slipstream as they go through Tamburello, on towards Villeneuve, and
00:27:01Piquet had a little think about going on the outside, Warrick moves across to
00:27:05shut the door to take his line for Villeneuve, in now to Tossa, on the brakes
00:27:10hard, the two of them close up, the second apex of Tossa, on up the hill, which has
00:27:15the more acceleration, the Brabham, the Brabham gets right up with the Renault,
00:27:20the Brabham really going strongly and over the brow, Piquet retakes second
00:27:24place, what a splendid battle between these two, and no doubt at all about that
00:27:30Nelson Piquet simply had more horsepower, as they went up the hill out of Tossa
00:27:36towards Piratella, they're now out of Acquaminerale, and once again the Brabham
00:27:41moves away from the Renault, the Brabham going very strongly indeed, and perhaps
00:27:46the Renault has lost a little bit of power, and that's de Angelis' stop, the
00:27:51mechanics hurl away the used wheels and tires, on go the new ones, de Angelis in
00:27:56sixth place when he came in, and they finished three of them, they finished
00:28:01four of them now, and away he goes, it looked a little bit messy at the end, but
00:28:06de Angelis is away, back in the race, we look down now on the lap chart, and I
00:28:10reckon he will have come out in ninth place, having come in in sixth place, so
00:28:16the routine tire stops coming thick and fast, and we said René Arnoux was going
00:28:23strongly, René Arnoux is now right up with Teo Fabi, Arnoux with fresh tires on
00:28:28the Ferrari, has caught up with the number two Brabham of Teo Fabi, so this
00:28:33is the battle for fourth place, as they come down through Rivazza, René Arnoux
00:28:38with all the Ferrari hopes on his shoulders alone, after the retirement of
00:28:44Michele Alboreto, up to the very Antibassa, the Italian crowd cheering
00:28:49once more, they're not interested in the fact that Alain Prost is leading, and
00:28:53that Piquet is back in second place, or that Warrick is third, what they care
00:28:58about is that this fourth place may very soon belong to a Ferrari, into Tamburello,
00:29:04no, Arnoux can't do it there, and this Brabham very, very quick with its BMW
00:29:10power, what can the Ferrari do about it as they come up to Villeneuve, no, Arnoux
00:29:14isn't close enough this time, now as they go on to the brakes and Tossa, Arnoux
00:29:18goes up the inside, no, he's not close enough this time either, and Teo Fabi
00:29:22having, remember only, his fourth Grand Prix for Brabham, driving in a very
00:29:28mature way indeed, René Arnoux is a worrying man to have behind you, but Fabi,
00:29:34Teo Fabi, so quick in Indianapolis racing last year, so quick this year as a worthy
00:29:40number two to Nelson Piquet, and at Aqua Minerali the Ferrari is not as close as
00:29:46it was, on out of Aqua Minerali, up the hill, and now the Ferrari does catch, and
00:29:54the Ferrari attacks over the Braux, can't do it there either, this is the very
00:29:58anti-alta, now on down the hill towards Rivazza, and another punishing corner
00:30:04for brakes, Arnoux once again swings to the inside, can he get through, under
00:30:09braking, he looks at the inside, but it's not close enough, and Fabi holds the
00:30:15place once more. René Arnoux, a very determined man when his blood's up, he
00:30:22sits tucked down in the cockpit with his head thrust forward, a very distinctive
00:30:27profile in the cockpit, and out of the very anti-balsa, on the power once again,
00:30:33up through the gearbox, 650 horsepower going through the wheels of both cars,
00:30:38and now once again the Ferrari attacks, he looks at the outside briefly at
00:30:44Tamburello, can't do anything about that, up to Villeneuve once more, is he
00:30:48going to try the inside for Villeneuve, he does try the inside, and he's got it!
00:30:52Now the Brabham is close in, and the Brabham bottoms, under braking, did you
00:30:59see the shower of sparks, and Fabi has caught the second place back, but he was
00:31:04offline there, and the Ferrari almost goes on the grass as Fabi shuts the door
00:31:10over the Brabham, Tao Fabi driving very, very hard indeed, and Arnoux after that
00:31:17little moment of grass cutting over the top of the hill, Arnoux loses a little
00:31:21bit of ground there, and the leaders in the pits, this is the leaders pit stop,
00:31:25this is a routine tyre stop, we believe it is indeed, the tyres go on, the
00:31:30whistles blowing from the marshals to clear the pit lane, and away goes Prost, a
00:31:36very clean, clear stop indeed, 11.37 seconds was the time, and that means that
00:31:43Alain Prost has come back out in front, in the lead still, so a perfect pit stop
00:31:49for Alain Prost, just as Alboreto had in Belgium last week, Prost has been able to
00:31:55come into the pits, and with the slowing down, the stopping, and the starting up
00:31:59again, he's out again, and still in the lead, and still in fourth place is Tao
00:32:04Fabi, despite all of René Arnoux's efforts, Tao Fabi, the little Italian in the
00:32:11British Brabham with the German BMW engine, staying ahead of the little
00:32:15Frenchman in the all-Italian Ferrari. Out of Tamburello, the Ferrari closes on
00:32:21the Brabham, into Villeneuve now, and Arnoux is pulling up alongside, he's on
00:32:25the left for his right-hand corner, but the next corner is a left-hander, Fabi
00:32:29almost forced onto the grass there, but Arnoux has the inside line, and as they
00:32:34come out of Tosa, the Ferrari is through at last, Fabi tries to fight back, but the
00:32:40Ferrari is away now, but indeed Fabi does attack once more at Piratella, down to
00:32:48the Acquaminerale, the Ferrari has the line, and through Acquaminerale surely
00:32:52there's nothing that Fabi can do about that. Up, out of Acquaminerale, on up the
00:32:59hill, and René Arnoux is pulling away, the waved Ferrari flags in the crowd show
00:33:03the delight that René Arnoux has made up a place for the prancing horse, and now
00:33:09at Verrianti Alta, Fabi seems to have given up that particular battle, he has
00:33:15slipped right back, and Arnoux is pulling well away, look at those waving flags.
00:33:20On now down to Rivazza, this is lap 32 of the 60s, so we're more than half
00:33:27distance, and that's Manfred Winkelhock parked! Manfred Winkelhock with the ATS,
00:33:32with the BMW engine, has stopped on the grass, he has obviously been in trouble
00:33:37for a while, because he was running in seventh position, he'd slipped down to
00:33:4211th, and now it seems he's irrevocably out of the race. Meanwhile, Alain Prost
00:33:47with his pitstop safely through, is comfortably out in front, and his nearest
00:33:53challenger, Nelson Piquet, hasn't made a pitstop yet, and we guess that he will
00:33:58not do so. We guess that Nelson Piquet is going to try and do the full distance
00:34:03on one set of tyres, as indeed he did in Belgium a week ago, before blowing his
00:34:10engine comprehensively right at the end. The Marshalls trying to remove
00:34:13Winkelhock's ATS, they're going to lift it with a crane, I think, hence the loop
00:34:18through the rollover bar, as Alain Prost goes on his now lonely way. We were just
00:34:25talking here about that spin that we saw him have earlier, and the fact that he
00:34:29had it going into a corner, going into Ravazza, may well mean that on this
00:34:34circuit, which is so punishing on brakes, that the leading McLaren may be having
00:34:39braking problems. That is a spin for the Toleman, that's Johnny Ciacotto's
00:34:44Toleman putting down great black rubber lines, as he accelerates away after a
00:34:49spin right in the middle of Acquaminerale. He could easily have got in
00:34:54somebody's way, but didn't. 18.8 seconds is Prost's lead over Piquet, and still
00:35:00Warwick close to Piquet, about one and a half seconds gap there, and seven and a
00:35:04half seconds behind Warwick is Sir René Arnoux. So René Arnoux, as quick as
00:35:08anybody on the circuit now, remember that he is on fresh tyres, as indeed is Alain
00:35:14Prost, but the other runners in the first six have not made pit stops for new
00:35:19tyres. The arrows there of Thierry Bootsen, lapped by René Arnoux. Thierry Bootsen
00:35:26using the Cosworth engine this week, it was Marc Surer's turn to use the BMW, and
00:35:30Alain Prost storming his way on down the hill into now Acquaminerale. So tidy, so
00:35:40smooth Alain Prost. So perhaps the braking problem that we were guessing at is not
00:35:46that serious, because certainly his lap times remain consistent. Perhaps indeed
00:35:52it was simply a mistake. And that's Ciacotto's Toleman coming in for fresh
00:35:57tyres after its spin. Johnny Ciacotto the only Toleman in the race, because Ayrton
00:36:02Senna didn't qualify, and quite a row surrounding the Tolemans in qualifying.
00:36:08They very nearly didn't run in the race at all, due to a dispute with Pirelli,
00:36:12their tyre company. Michelin tyres, Tag Turbo engine, McLaren chassis designed of
00:36:19course by Jean Barnard, the Ron Dennis run team, with Alain Prost at the
00:36:24wheel. Alain Prost the current World Championship leader before the start of
00:36:29this race, and if he can keep going he's going to add even more points to his
00:36:33tally. Niki Lauda of course out with a blown engine, but while Alain Prost is
00:36:41comfortably out in front, we've got a real battle suddenly for second, third
00:36:45and fourth places, because Piquet, the first of those three cars, is second. But
00:36:50the real battle for third and fourth between Warwick and René Arnoux. René
00:36:54Arnoux's progress on fresh tyres has brought him right up now to third man
00:36:59Derek Warwick, and he is challenging. So Warwick, who had to fight off first
00:37:05Niki Lauda, then Nelson Piquet, only to see Piquet go past, has now got a Ferrari
00:37:10to fight off, and as they go up out of Aquaminerale, the Renault, still with
00:37:16plenty of power, manages to pull out just a little bit from the Ferrari. You see
00:37:21the gaps there, 20 and a half seconds between Prost and Piquet, but then
00:37:24they're very close. Less than two seconds Piquet to Warwick, and very much less
00:37:29than that, Warwick to Arnoux. Through the Rivazza, and under braking the Ferrari
00:37:38seems to close. On the straight bits, the Renault seems to pull away just a little
00:37:42bit. The Variante Vassa, and on the power once more, away from the start-finish
00:37:51line. Arnoux pursuing, oh and Arnoux very close, Arnoux alongside, and this is
00:37:59under sheer power. Arnoux just walks past the Renault. As they go through Tamburello,
00:38:04Arnoux just stormed by the Renault, and although Warwick tucks in behind, I don't
00:38:10think there's very much that Warwick can do about that. Suddenly the Ferrari
00:38:14seemed to get some extra power from somewhere, or perhaps the Renault faltered
00:38:18a little, and the Ferrari is back into third place, and once again the Ferrari
00:38:23flags wave in the crowd, and Arnoux pulling well away there from Warwick.
00:38:30Now, can Arnoux perform a similar closing act on the second man, Nelson
00:38:36Piquet?
00:38:39It may well be that to have changed tyres, as did the Michelin-shod Alain
00:38:46Prost, and the Goodyear-shod René Arnoux, it could well be that that was the right
00:38:51thing to do. Certainly Jonathan Palmer thinks it may be the right thing to do,
00:38:55because he's in for his pit stop now, and that's an Arrows parking. That is the
00:39:00BMW-powered Arrows of Mark Suhrer, and he is out. So, two BMW-powered cars have
00:39:09retired in the last few laps. We've seen the departure of Winkelhock, and then
00:39:13the departure of Mark Suhrer. That's Suhrer's first drive with turbo power,
00:39:17incidentally, and as we said, this week it was Thierry Bootsen's turn to drive the
00:39:22Cosworth-powered car, and Bootsen is in the race and still going. Mark Suhrer out
00:39:27of the car, taking his gloves off, opening his visor, and the marshals push
00:39:32the car to a safer position. And look how close René Arnoux's now got to
00:39:38Nelson Piquet. 18 laps left to run, and that second place really being
00:39:43threatened by the Ferrari now. Down the hill to the Rivazza. Let's watch and see
00:39:49where the Ferrari makes up. Certainly under braking, there doesn't seem to be
00:39:54anything wrong with the Brabham as they come out of Rivazza now, and into the
00:39:58Variante Bassa. Out of the Variante Bassa, back onto the start-finish straight.
00:40:06It's here that the power tells, and both engines sounding as crisp and as
00:40:13healthy as they did right at the start. There the gap, 20.3 seconds still
00:40:21between Prost and Piquet, but Arnoux was one second behind at the end of lap 42.
00:40:27I would think it's rather less now. This is Tossa, and Derek Warwick already left
00:40:35over seven seconds behind the flying Ferrari, and indeed Warwick's engine not
00:40:42sounding particularly happy when he passed us here on the start-finish
00:40:45straight last time through. Definitely a sort of spluttery misfire from the
00:40:50Renault, but these two cars healthy, the two drivers giving their all. Arnoux,
00:40:58who's made a pit stop for fresh tyres, and Piquet, who's on the rubber that he
00:41:03started the race with. And the Ferrari not getting any closer now, so Piquet
00:41:08seems to have responded to the challenge, and the Ferrari is nowhere on the
00:41:13circuit close enough to put in a real attack on the Brabham. Down the hill once
00:41:20more to Rivazza, and perhaps the Ferrari is a mite closer than they were a lap
00:41:25ago, but it's only just a tiny fraction. You need a stopwatch to tell the
00:41:29difference. Both drivers using every inch of the road, and occasionally using a
00:41:35little bit of the kerb. Out of the very Antibassa, and again under acceleration
00:41:46the Ferrari doesn't get any closer to the Brabham. Looking down the order then,
00:41:51still across McLaren-Leeds. Still Piquet has the second place, as you see, with Arnoux
00:41:58in third place and challenging. Derek Warwick a slowing fourth. We've got
00:42:02another theory about his problem. We reckon hearing him accelerate out of the
00:42:08very Antibassa and down the start-finish straight, that he's changing from third
00:42:12gear into fifth. We think he's missing out fourth, so there could well be a
00:42:16gearbox problem to add to that apparent misfire for the Renault. Teo Fabi in the
00:42:22second Brabham still fifth, and in sixth place now we've got Andrea de Cesaris.
00:42:27Remember he started from the pit lane after the whole of the rest of the
00:42:31field had got away in the Ligier, and he's put in a really stirring drive up
00:42:35the field. We haven't seen any of it on the screen, but believe me, de Cesaris is
00:42:40driving the race of his life, and he is up in sixth place with the Renault-powered
00:42:44Ligier. In seventh place, it's Elio de Angelis. He had a stop for TARS, remember.
00:42:49In eighth place, Eddie Cheever, who had a stop right at the beginning to mend the
00:42:54puncture that he got when he collided with Patrick Tambay, so he's put in a
00:42:58good drive as well. And in ninth and tenth places, the two non-turbocharged
00:43:03Cosworth-powered Tyrrells of Martin Brundle and Stefan Beloff. The Tyrells
00:43:08ninth and tenth, and they haven't yet been lapped. Once more in the Variante
00:43:17Basso and out of it, and Nelson Piquet by my stopwatch that time actually pulled
00:43:22back a little tiny fraction from the Ferrari. Perhaps Nelson Piquet has turned
00:43:29up the turbocharger boost a little bit. He'll have a readout in the cockpit
00:43:33which will tell him exactly how much fuel he's got left, and of course he
00:43:36mustn't turn the boost up too much, or he'll use too much fuel. They've now got
00:43:40Philippe Alliot's Ram March to lap, and that could be a factor as they work
00:43:45their way past the slower cars. Alliot pulling across to the left-hand side of
00:43:49the road, but he doesn't let Piquet by, and Piquet has to lift off then. Arnoux
00:43:54posts fastest lap of the race. The blue flag for Alliot. Now Alliot moves, and
00:44:00Piquet goes through and splits the two of them at Acquaminerale. So a back
00:44:08marker has played a role, and it's going to be interesting to see how quickly
00:44:11Arnoux can get past Alliot. He does it now on the straight section, the Ferrari
00:44:16flags waving again, and immediately he's back with Piquet. So that little delay
00:44:22doesn't seem to have made very much difference to the battle for second
00:44:25place, because once again the Ferrari closes right up. In fact, under braking,
00:44:31look at that Ferrari get yards off the Brabham. So Arnoux is now really putting
00:44:36on the pressure, and this time, despite the business with the back marker, the
00:44:41Ferrari is visibly closer as they come into the Variante Bassa, and that Ferrari
00:44:47is very much closer. Now what's going to happen under power out of the Variante,
00:44:52onto the start-finish straight, up through the gearbox, and Piquet pulls away,
00:44:56just a fraction, but the Ferrari is there with him. 0.62 of a second on the
00:45:02computer. Warwick 25, 24, almost 25 seconds further back. Fab is still there in fifth
00:45:08place, and de Cesaris sixth, and Prost 20 seconds in hand. We look down now the
00:45:14lower orders with Cheever eighth, Brundle and Beloff ninth and tenth, Thierry
00:45:19Bootsen in the non-turbocharged Arrows is eleventh, and Johnny Ciacotto after
00:45:24that spin and stop for extra tyres is a further two laps down, with Baldi and
00:45:29Palmer and Gartner still running. 13 laps still to go, and this Ferrari-Brabham
00:45:37battle continues. Acquaminerale, the Brabhams pulled away just a little bit
00:45:41again. Arnoux seems to make it up here and there, and then lose it, and one
00:45:47wonders whether Piquet is playing with the boost, playing with the power, and
00:45:51just pulling an extra little bit out of the bag when he needs to. He doesn't want
00:45:56to go any faster than he has to, he wants to preserve his fuel, he knows that Alain
00:46:01Prost is completely uncatchable, but he wants to drive just fast enough to keep
00:46:06this second place and keep the Ferrari behind. Out of Rivazza, once more into
00:46:13the Ferrari Antibassa, and the gap, as you can see, is a lot bigger than it was
00:46:20last time round, and it must be very frustrating for René Arnoux. Whatever he
00:46:24does, he just doesn't seem to be able to get closer, and he too, of course, will
00:46:29have a readout in the cockpit of exactly how much fuel he's got left. There you
00:46:33see a glimpse of Martin Brundle briefly ahead of them. The Osella is Gartner,
00:46:38who's being lapped, he's well down the order, but Martin Brundle at the back of
00:46:43the picture there, still going well in ninth place. Gartner is lapped by Piquet,
00:46:48and still has to be lapped by Arnoux as they go through Tossa, and up the hill,
00:46:54plenty more power in the Ferrari than in the Alfa-powered Osella. That's the
00:47:00old V12 Alfa in that car, non-turbocharged, and it gives René Arnoux's
00:47:06Ferrari no trouble at all to go storming by.
00:47:11Piquet is out of Aquaminerale as Arnoux goes into it, and still Arnoux just
00:47:17doesn't seem to be able to close. And the crowd a little bit subdued now, as we see
00:47:23the leader lapping Eddie Cheever. Eddie Cheever still going well, he's in eighth
00:47:29place behind Elio de Angelis, but Alain Prost, whom we haven't seen for a while,
00:47:35still out there with that 22nd lead. And I was just saying the crowd a little bit
00:47:39subdued, because having lost Alboreto, they can't quite understand why their
00:47:46beloved Ferrari No. 28 in the hands of René Arnoux isn't able to dispose of the
00:47:51world champion Nelson Piquet. There Cheever with immediately behind him the
00:47:55black car, that's the Tyrrell No. 4 of Stefan Belov, who's in 10th place.
00:48:01And Piquet in the pits with smoke behind him! Piquet out of the race, surely!
00:48:08Telltale smoke, Nelson Piquet drives into the pits, and indeed off come the seat
00:48:16belts, out comes Nelson Piquet. So yet again Nelson Piquet's engine has blown,
00:48:23yet again the Brabham has stopped before the end of the race, and Nelson Piquet,
00:48:29the reigning world champion, has yet to score a single championship point this
00:48:34year. So Piquet out, that's cruel luck for him again, 18 seconds, all but a
00:48:41hundredth is the gap between Prost and Arnoux, so Arnoux has closed on Prost, it
00:48:47was 20 seconds between Prost and Piquet before Piquet's retirement, and Alain
00:48:53Prost now with a dozen laps left to run, Alain Prost will have that gap on his
00:49:00pit signals, and I think he's going to be able to maintain that gap, is he not? He
00:49:07too, wanting to preserve his fuel, that's Farby slowing, that's Farby as the leader
00:49:12goes by, the Brabham No. 2, we've just seen Brabham No. 1 come into the
00:49:18pits, and now Brabham No. 2 of Tao Farby running in fifth place behind Derek
00:49:24Warwick, and indeed closing on Derek Warwick. Farby, it looks, is also out of
00:49:30the race, so a miserable moment that lap for Brabham, indeed Farby brings Brabham
00:49:37No. 2 into the pits, the No. 1 Brabham has already been wheeled away into
00:49:44the back of the pit, the mechanics cluster round, and Farby is out of the
00:49:50race. So now with six laps left to run, with both the Brabhams out, and with
00:49:55Derek Warwick slipping down the field to fifth, what we're now watching is a
00:50:00superb late battle for third place between the astonishing André de
00:50:05Cesaris, the man who started his Ligier from the pit lane after everybody else
00:50:10had stopped, he has come through to a magnificent third place, he's got Elio
00:50:15de Angelis on his tail, who is fourth, and these two are battling over four
00:50:19points in the World Championship. Yes, there's the confirmation, six laps to go,
00:50:26and as they go up over the Braux into the Variante Alta, the Ligier with a
00:50:33Renault engine, the Lotus also with a Renault engine, both of them with Italian
00:50:38drivers, de Cesaris and de Angelis seem extremely evenly matched through
00:50:44Rivazza for the 44th time. Now, ooh, and de Cesaris a little bit untidy coming
00:50:53into the Variante Bassa with one wheel right up the kerb there, and de Angelis
00:50:59using that little mistake by de Cesaris to close right up, the Ligier, the Lotus
00:51:04about two lengths, three lengths apart now as they go down the straight, the
00:51:08Ligier pulls away a little bit, de Angelis closes up as they go into
00:51:12Tamburello. De Angelis, remember, did have a pit stop for tyres, de Cesaris has
00:51:19done the whole distance on his one set, and now into Tossa, under braking, the
00:51:26Lotus closes again, but the Ligier looking quite steady up the hill, both of
00:51:31them using a little bit of the kerb as they come out, de Angelis doesn't get
00:51:36close enough as they go over the Brau, and they come now down into Piratella
00:51:40and on to Acquaminerale. Yes, more kerb there from de Cesaris, de Cesaris looking
00:51:46a little bit wild now, using every inch of the road and quite a bit that isn't
00:51:50there at all. Out of Acquaminerale, de Angelis once again close up the hill, the
00:51:56Ligier pulls away a little bit, and a fascinating battle because, as I said,
00:52:03both of them with identical engines. Cheever is sixth a lap behind, 26.2
00:52:10seconds the gap between Prost and Arnoux, so Prost has pulled out a little bit,
00:52:14Arnoux I think has decided to settle for second place and preserve his fuel.
00:52:21Beloff has gone ahead of Brundle now, that happened in an interesting little
00:52:26moment lapping Jonathan Palmer, and Brundle was held up briefly and Beloff
00:52:33was able to go ahead. Sliding the Ligier out of the Variante Basso goes to
00:52:41Cesaris, and we see the leader once more quite comfortably on his own in these
00:52:50closing stages, and he has just lapped Derek Warwick. The car behind him, Derek
00:52:55Warwick, whose car sounds very splattery indeed, and still he seems to be changing
00:53:01from third to fifth gear as he passes us anyway, so obviously an unhappy man,
00:53:06Derek Warwick, who has seen his second place now become fifth. Warwick currently
00:53:13second in the World Championship, Prost currently the leader, so both of them
00:53:17extremely aware of their respective points positions, and Prost must be
00:53:21rather pleased to see himself lap Derek Warwick. Through the Rivazza once more,
00:53:29Warwick following but slipping back. They pass the still-abandoned Williams
00:53:34of Keke Rosberg, and that's Beloff having made a pit stop. Stefan Beloff has made a
00:53:41very quick pit stop. That will have been for water, because the Tyrrells use water
00:53:47injection, and it's also to help make sure that there's enough water in the
00:53:51car to bring it up to the minimum weight limit for post-race weighing. But the
00:53:55other Tyrrell has stopped. There it is parked on the left of the picture, that's
00:53:59Martin Brundle's Tyrrell, which has come to a halt with just two laps to go. That's
00:54:04very bad luck for the English driver, so as Prost goes on his way, Brundle is out
00:54:09of the race. Arnoux still second in the Ferrari, so the crowd has still got a red
00:54:16car to chair on, and it's in second place, but they would be much happier if it was
00:54:21ahead of this red car, the red-and-white Marlboro McLeod.
00:54:27Up to Barianti Alta. Warwick, in fact, not losing any ground now to Alain Prost.
00:54:34This shows that Prost really is just driving home to finish. He doesn't want
00:54:39any irony to spoil this wonderful race that he's had. He certainly doesn't want
00:54:44the indignity of running out of petrol, and so he is literally cruising to
00:54:48finish, but let's remember he made a wonderful start from second position on
00:54:53the grid, he went straight into the lead, he built up this wonderful lead, he made
00:54:57his pit stop without losing the lead, and now he comes through the Barianti Bassa
00:55:03to start his 60th and final lap. Warwick still following him, in fact, Warwick
00:55:12closer to him now even, and I think that Prost is not in trouble, I think that
00:55:18was a car parked there, that was somebody's car parked there. I have a
00:55:23suspicion that could have been de Cesaris. Warwick almost unlapping
00:55:27himself on Prost there. I think we've just seen de Cesaris's car parked.
00:55:31Andrea de Cesaris, there he is! He was third, he's out of the car, it's smoking
00:55:37quietly, he's out of the race. That is very, very cruel luck indeed for Andrea
00:55:43de Cesaris. That wonderful drive from the pit lane to third place has come to an
00:55:48end and de Cesaris is out. Now that will have promoted Elio de Angelis to third
00:55:53place and indeed it will have promoted Derek Warwick, following Prost in the
00:55:57picture now, to fourth place. So despite all Warwick's problems, he's now fourth
00:56:02but Alain Prost goes out of Acquaminerale for the final time, on up the hill
00:56:08towards the Barianti Alta. And a little wave from the Ferrari flag, so they're
00:56:15not totally chauvinistic, these Ferrari fans in the crowd. They have given Alain
00:56:22Prost a little wave but they're really waiting, in fact they're killing him
00:56:25quite a big wave now, knowing it's his final lap, but I still think they're
00:56:29going to reserve their biggest wave for René Arnoux, who's going to finish
00:56:32second. Rivazza for the last time. Alain Prost is going to go into an 11-point
00:56:40lead by our calculations in the World Championship. If nothing goes wrong
00:56:44between this final Barianti and the chequered flag, Warwick follows him home
00:56:50in fourth place. The chequered flag now is waiting. Alain Prost comes up to the
00:56:55line. The McLaren mechanics are delighted. There is the chequered flag.
00:57:00Alain Prost wins his second Grand Prix of 1984. Here's René Arnoux to finish
00:57:05second for Ferrari. Stefan Beloff follows him home in the Tyrrell in fifth
00:57:10place. And that's Elio De Angelis! Third man Elio De Angelis has come to a stop
00:57:14completely, having completed 59 laps. He is stopped, we guess, out of petrol, out
00:57:21on the circuit, but now that's not going to lose him his third place because
00:57:24fourth man Derek Warwick has himself only completed 59 laps. So Elio De Angelis
00:57:30finishes third despite being stuck out on the circuit. Warwick is fourth, Beloff
00:57:35fifth, and Bootsen sixth. And look at the crowd, they're already right on the
00:57:40track. Alain Prost going from his second qualifying position to a flag-to-flag
00:57:45finish here at the San Marino Grand Prix. Alain, you got a clean break in the
00:57:51beginning of the race and it was fairly easy for you in the opening laps, is that
00:57:56correct? Yes, it was correct. I did a good start. It was very important for me
00:57:59because, you know, the Brabham is very difficult to pass in each track. And
00:58:04after my good start, I only controlled the rest and it was easy for me. The only
00:58:11problem was in the middle of the race I spun because the brake pedal was going
00:58:16down completely because I think my carbon brakes, carbon fiber brakes were
00:58:21a bit too hot. Now when you spun, you managed to keep the engine running. If
00:58:25you would have killed your engine, you would have never started it again. How
00:58:28did you keep your motor running during a 360-degree spin? You know, I practiced
00:58:33last week in Zolder. I did exactly the same. Now listen, once you made your pit
00:58:38stop, a very quick pit stop. I don't know, it's difficult to know in the car. It was a
00:58:43very quick pit stop. Then did the brakes come back after you had time to cool
00:58:47down? No, because, you know, when I spun, the brakes were, the tires
00:58:53were almost finished, you know, because... And after, my car was very quick anyway.
00:59:00Even at the beginning, I was just a bit more slow, but only hard on brakes. And I
00:59:05tried to be a bit less hard on brakes and it was okay. It was fantastic. So you
00:59:09kept everything cool the second half of the race, the tires, brakes, and yourself?
00:59:13Only brakes because the engine and tires and myself were okay. 24 points in the
00:59:18championship now, Elaine. You must feel good about that. I am good because I
00:59:22think we must do a very good race in Dijon in two weeks because I like this
00:59:27track and I would like to win in front of the French public. What Monsieur Prost
00:59:34really means is he wants to beat the Renaults, his old team on their home
00:59:38ground, and Renault man Derek Warrick is still in second place in the World
00:59:42Championship, but Prost has an 11-point lead. René Arnoux and Elio de Angelis now
00:59:47joint third and McLaren an enormous lead in the Constructors' Championship. Two
00:59:52weeks hence, it all starts again at Dijon. We'll be there, so join us!