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  • 18/05/2025
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00:00:00Sixteen Grand Prix events make up the F1 World Championship season.
00:00:05And one of the most looked forward to is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
00:00:09This individual race meeting so well reflects what Formula One is all about.
00:00:15The excellence of a huge crowd watching the world's top race machinery and drivers
00:00:20compete on a super-fast, challenging circuit.
00:00:24But these same elements are present at the other 15 locations around the globe.
00:00:29So which one of them is pushed far beyond normal limits to produce the uniqueness of Monza?
00:00:35Unquestionably, it's the Italian race fans that descend upon this little community from all over the country.
00:00:43They are the most emotional, energetic, vibrant, and generally bizarre Grand Prix spectators
00:00:49to witness an event all year long.
00:00:52It is their overwhelming enthusiasm that switches on the high-voltage power
00:00:56around the Monza circuit and electrifies this three-day weekend.
00:01:02They arrive via every form of transportation from Maserati to Fiat 500,
00:01:08trained to hitchhiking.
00:01:10Literally hundreds of thousands of them use this event to release 12 months of Grand Prix anticipation.
00:01:18For they look forward to and plan their participation in the Italian GP all year long.
00:01:25Accurate numbers are difficult because so many find their own private entrance gate
00:01:30rather than purchase a ticket.
00:01:32But for sure, over 450,000 people will watch this Friday-to-Sunday show.
00:01:40The vantage points may vary from reserved seats in covered grandstands to atop towering track signs,
00:01:47to being a fourth-floor resident of your own private high-rise,
00:01:51to just seeking out the best place possible around this 3.6-mile course.
00:01:57Where the fans watch from may vary, but what they come to see is the same.
00:02:03Ferrari is the lifeblood of this huge motorsports-loving crowd.
00:02:08The prancing horse team is their 700-horsepower, 200-mile-an-hour representative
00:02:14that so well carries Italian pride and prestige around the world.
00:02:19This love affair is so intense it reaches deep into their hearts and minds.
00:02:24The ultimate fantasy of every Italian fan is to drive the red cars of Team Ferrari.
00:02:31The closest they can come to living their dream is to watch, hear, and maybe even touch
00:02:37one of these most coveted F1 automobiles.
00:02:41They eagerly offer every last ounce of emotion, hoping that somehow it will assist and contribute
00:02:47to what must be a Ferrari weekend.
00:02:51The response from Technical Director Mario Fogheri sums it up best.
00:02:57Monza is about Ferrari and its fans.
00:03:01This is our team's most important Grand Prix.
00:03:05So it is this overwhelming energy from nearly a half a million emotional people
00:03:11that generates the uniqueness of the Italian Grand Prix.
00:03:16This is John Bisignano about 10 miles north of Milano in Monza, Italy.
00:03:21I'll be your host along with Simon Taylor for this 90-minute ESPN coverage
00:03:26of the Italian Grand Prix for Formula One race cars.
00:03:30Simon and I will be presenting technical reports, driver interviews,
00:03:34all the latest F1 updates, plus the fantastic Grand Prix race action.
00:03:40So please join us after these short messages for the 14th Grand Prix of the 1984 season
00:03:46and a close look at the timing and qualifying technique of Formula One.
00:03:58Long gone from official timing and scoring are the hopefully accurate thumbs
00:04:03on mechanical stopwatches.
00:04:05Kasper Arnett, Manager of Longines Timing for Formula One,
00:04:10describes their complex Grand Prix operation.
00:04:14Today, we can say that we have the most sophisticated system
00:04:19which consists that each car has a little box.
00:04:24This box is called the sender, transmitter.
00:04:29Each transmitter works on its own frequency,
00:04:33can be mounted wherever it is on the car.
00:04:36We prefer far away from the engine in order not to interfere
00:04:42any technical or electronic interference.
00:04:48From this box out, as you can see, the wire goes down,
00:04:55comes out behind the dry angle,
00:04:58and as soon as it comes out from here, this cable is an antenna.
00:05:04And as soon as this cable crosses the start-finishing line,
00:05:10it gives out a signal to the ground, goes through the timing into the computer system,
00:05:16fully automatic, you don't have to do anything about it.
00:05:20At the end of a qualifying hour,
00:05:23what type of information is available to the teams from this system?
00:05:28Well, at the end of each practice, we print out a complete sheet
00:05:34which gives the position of the cars.
00:05:38All the teams and the press get the information
00:05:43where all the laps are registered, written on it the time, the individual time,
00:05:50immediately positioned where the fastest time on which lap has been proceeded,
00:05:55and at the same time, prints out the speeds, the top speed at the start-finishing line,
00:06:01printed out in kilometers and miles per hour.
00:06:05You have a tremendous amount of equipment in the pit area,
00:06:08television sets, almost miles of cables and computers.
00:06:13How many people work for you and what sort of logistic problems do you have in setting up?
00:06:18We're about 14 people setting that up.
00:06:22We have about 30 cases, one ton of material,
00:06:26and something of 50 TV monitors
00:06:31in order to set up the internal information set on the screen.
00:06:36How many days does it take to organize that?
00:06:38Because when everyone else arrives, it's all ready to go.
00:06:41I mean, it looks like it just happens so easily.
00:06:45Well, we arrive on Monday before the race day.
00:06:47Tuesday, Wednesday is, as a matter of fact, setting up.
00:06:51On Thursday is the day we build up the transmitters into the car,
00:06:56test in the afternoon, and Friday morning, we have to be ready for practice.
00:07:01What are some of the problems, though?
00:07:02I mean, every system still has its moments of problem.
00:07:09Yes, we have one problem, and it's because the transmitter works on a battery,
00:07:16and as you know, it is impossible to know in advance how long a battery lasts.
00:07:22You can only measure today if a battery is okay, if it's good or not,
00:07:28but you never know when it lasts.
00:07:31So it can happen that during practice time, the battery goes flat,
00:07:37but for that, we have the backup system, which is the well-known light beam
00:07:42and TV monitor system, which picks up 100 pictures a second as well.
00:07:51So we have altogether three timing systems,
00:07:55and with that, we never felt so far ahead in time.
00:08:00Teams must prepare their cars to maximum performance specifications
00:08:04for both race and qualifying conditions.
00:08:08We asked Gordon Murray, Chief Engineer Designer for the current world champions,
00:08:13Team Parmalat Robin, about his approach to the task.
00:08:17Gordon, how much difference is there between preparing a car for optimum performance
00:08:22for a race or for a qualifying session?
00:08:25A big difference, really, because it affects the chassis, the tyre choice,
00:08:30and the engine, and the driver, in fact.
00:08:33So really, the whole element changes.
00:08:35It's two completely different things, yeah.
00:08:38So how do you set up a car to go as fast as possible for one or two laps?
00:08:43Well, from the driver's point of view, it needs a completely different style of driving,
00:08:49which is important to us, too, because the way he drives the car
00:08:52dictates the way you have to set it up to handle.
00:08:56It has to be set up to do just a one-off quick lap,
00:09:01which is a completely different thing from setting a car up.
00:09:04So it's not very hard on its tyres for the length of a race.
00:09:08So we do make very different chassis and aerodynamic adjustments for a one-off lap.
00:09:15Are the rings more flat so they go fast on a straight line?
00:09:19It's very complex. That depends on how soft the qualifiers are,
00:09:23if it's a fast circuit, if it has a lot of chicanes,
00:09:26as to how much wing you run in qualifying.
00:09:28There's no simple answer to that, really, but the amount of wing is important.
00:09:32So you don't only have to tune for a qualifying session,
00:09:34but for a qualifying session at each particular track?
00:09:36Oh, absolutely. It's very different at different circuits.
00:09:40When you look at the car, you must see almost a time machine.
00:09:44Do you see things that you can say we go stiffer or harder here,
00:09:48that could be a half a second or a tenth of a second?
00:09:51We talk in time and you work in time all the time,
00:09:54because the only thing we have to judge is the car's performance again,
00:09:59whether it's qualifying or a race set-up, is time.
00:10:03So we know we can get... We talk in tenths or half-seconds,
00:10:07and we know we can get a tenth from the dampers
00:10:09or two-tenths from the suspension settings,
00:10:12or a half-second from the wing.
00:10:14We monitor the car's speed through speed traps all the time.
00:10:18And, yes, that's the language we use.
00:10:22You were fastest in this morning's practice session,
00:10:25but you're still looking for that extra tenth now.
00:10:29Yes, but the car is just about perfect at the moment.
00:10:33And when it comes down to that, the extra tenths comes from the driver,
00:10:39whether it gets a clear lap or not,
00:10:40and if you can squeeze a bit more out of the engine.
00:10:43So after all the intensive thought
00:10:45and hopefully quicker changes have been dialed into the machinery,
00:10:49it's down to the driver to extract the maximum performance possible
00:10:54from the car and himself.
00:10:57We talked to Tolman's new recruit, Stefan Johansson,
00:11:00about what it's like to lay it on the line
00:11:03while hunting for a tenth of a second.
00:11:06You normally know fairly well if you do a good lap or not a good lap
00:11:10because you judge your speed by the revs you have
00:11:13when you come out of a corner,
00:11:15the time when you brake, you have marks.
00:11:17At least I have marks everywhere on the circuit,
00:11:19so I know if I pass this mark, I go a little bit faster.
00:11:22And, you know, the revs you have in every corner
00:11:24when you come out at a certain point.
00:11:26So you can fairly well tell within a tenth of a second
00:11:29what time you're doing.
00:11:30So all the way around the circuit,
00:11:32you have a clock going on inside your head that's saying,
00:11:35this is faster, this is quicker.
00:11:37More or less, yeah.
00:11:38Or slower. Yes, that's right.
00:11:39You hear drivers say, I found a tenth of a second,
00:11:43or there's another second out there,
00:11:45or I lost a tenth of a second.
00:11:46What does that mean?
00:11:48Well, if you lost a tenth of a second,
00:11:50that means you might have, you know,
00:11:52missed the brake into a corner,
00:11:53missed the turn into a corner a little bit,
00:11:55or gone a little bit too fast,
00:11:56so you had a moment coming out of the corner, maybe.
00:12:00Or if you find a second, well, you know that by, you know,
00:12:03you pick up 300 revs coming out of a fast corner,
00:12:05or you brake, you know, 20 yards later, or, you know, whatever.
00:12:10When you're out there in qualifying,
00:12:11you have to prepare yourself mentally to break new ground.
00:12:15I mean, each lap, you're trying to go into new territory
00:12:18where you've never been before with that car or yourself.
00:12:21That can be a bit dangerous.
00:12:25It says on the back of the ticket that motor racing is dangerous.
00:12:29Yeah, but drivers don't buy tickets, you know, I mean, that's true.
00:12:32No, I mean, you obviously push yourself and the car to,
00:12:36as you say, to find the new limit, you know.
00:12:39But, I mean, you know, or at least I know,
00:12:42you know fairly well where the limit is,
00:12:44and, you know, you don't sort of go from braking at 150 yards
00:12:48to braking at 75 yards.
00:12:49I mean, you do it progressively,
00:12:51because if you try to do that,
00:12:53then you should look for help, I think.
00:12:56So it is a very fine line between the maximum performance
00:13:00and going over the limit.
00:13:02Well, when you're close to the limit, it is, yes.
00:13:05So what we have here are all the numbers
00:13:07from an hour and a half of practice,
00:13:09an hour-long qualifying session,
00:13:12neatly compiled by Longines timing.
00:13:14And what never ceases to amaze me
00:13:16is that it shows six cars,
00:13:19all within a half a second of one another.
00:13:21That represents six different driving styles,
00:13:24five different chassis and four different types of motors.
00:13:27That's very competitive.
00:13:29And all throughout this paddock,
00:13:31every driver, team manager and crew chief,
00:13:34they're all trying to figure out
00:13:35how to lower these figures for tomorrow's performance,
00:13:39all trying to win the very serious game
00:13:42of timing and qualifying.
00:13:46Simon Taylor will return with the qualifying story
00:13:49right after this short message.
00:13:51Stay with us.
00:13:56Well, the two days of qualifying
00:13:58are just as important here at Monza
00:14:00as at any Grand Prix circuit.
00:14:02Monza is a fast track,
00:14:04and even though three chicanes have been introduced
00:14:07in recent years to slow down the speed of the cars
00:14:10going into the fast corners,
00:14:12it's still a circuit where high speed is paramount.
00:14:15The first of the tight chicanes
00:14:17comes right after the wide start-finish straight,
00:14:20and so on lap one, a good starting position
00:14:23can well mean a good position into that first chicane.
00:14:26As ever, everybody wants a good starting position.
00:14:30Niki Lauda and Alain Prost, the two McLaren drivers,
00:14:33now arguing between themselves
00:14:35over who will be this year's world champion,
00:14:38are quick as ever, Alain Prost particularly.
00:14:41But once again, the man who looks quickest
00:14:44all the way through qualifying
00:14:46is the reigning world champion from Brazil, Nelson Piquet.
00:14:50It's been a rotten year for him, reliability-wise.
00:14:53Frequently, the Brabham and Piquet have been fastest.
00:14:57Frequently, they've led a Grand Prix.
00:14:59Frequently, the car has broken.
00:15:01It happened most recently just two weeks ago at Zandvoort.
00:15:05But here at Monza, Gordon Murray,
00:15:07the Brabham team chief, and Nelson Piquet
00:15:10are determined to put it all together,
00:15:12and Nelson starts as he means to go on
00:15:14with his seventh pole position of the year.
00:15:17Nelson Piquet on pole position here at the Monza track.
00:15:21Nelson, you were faster today than you were yesterday,
00:15:24and you were the quickest yesterday.
00:15:26Where did the extra time come from today?
00:15:29Well, yesterday, when I did the time,
00:15:31the circuit was half wet, half dry,
00:15:33and I was not completely dry.
00:15:35The second set of tyres, they didn't blow up.
00:15:37I could not improve.
00:15:39Today, I did everything in the first set.
00:15:41It was not a very happy, not very perfect lap,
00:15:44but that was enough to do pole position.
00:15:47Every time your reliability has seen its way
00:15:50through to the finish of the race,
00:15:52you've been winning them, and you won here last year.
00:15:56What do you think your chances are tomorrow?
00:15:59Well, so far, everything went all right.
00:16:02I hope tomorrow we'll have a good chance.
00:16:05Who's going to be your biggest competition?
00:16:06Both Niki Lauda and Alain Prost want the points.
00:16:10Well, I think Alain and Prost will race each other.
00:16:14If they are very good and they start to push each other,
00:16:17for sure, both will be a big competition.
00:16:20Prost is more near me, and Lauda is more in the back.
00:16:24I think it will be a good race tomorrow.
00:16:27The championship is out of reach for you now.
00:16:30Does that slacken your enthusiasm
00:16:32to do as well as possible in a race?
00:16:36Do you take as many chances
00:16:37when you're not going for the world title
00:16:39like last year as you do now?
00:16:41Not chances, but I'm much more easy for me,
00:16:46because I have nothing to lose.
00:16:48I have only the race and no championship in game.
00:16:52So with less pressure, you sometimes perform a little better?
00:16:56Not perform, but feel much better,
00:16:58because you don't have the stress of the championship.
00:17:03Well, Alain Prost, the man who has led the world championship
00:17:07for so much of this season,
00:17:08may not have been able to get pole position,
00:17:10but he was less than a tenth of a second slower by the end
00:17:14than Nelson Piquet.
00:17:16And having lost that world championship lead
00:17:18to his own teammate, Niki Lauda,
00:17:20and being now just one and a half points behind,
00:17:23he's determined to have a good run here at Monza
00:17:26and get the championship lead back
00:17:28with only three races left in this year's title race.
00:17:32Third quickest behind Alain Prost,
00:17:34the fastest Italian in the race.
00:17:37He may not be driving a Ferrari,
00:17:39he's driving a Lotus with a Renault engine.
00:17:41Once again, Elio De Angelis is the fastest driver
00:17:45powered by Renault.
00:17:46De Angelis has had an extraordinarily consistent season.
00:17:50He's won no races, but he's scored in ten rounds,
00:17:53and that's put him third in the world championship,
00:17:56although his hopes of winning the title
00:17:58are now virtually completely gone.
00:18:01Fourth quickest on the grid, there he is, Niki Lauda.
00:18:05He of the cold, calculating eyes and the fierce intelligence,
00:18:09the wily old fox of Grand Prix racing,
00:18:12who's now got himself into the world championship lead.
00:18:15He's got two championship titles already behind him.
00:18:19In the old days, he used to drive for Ferrari.
00:18:21The Italian crowd fell out of love with him
00:18:23when he left Ferrari for Brabham.
00:18:26But now Niki Lauda's charismatic character has won through,
00:18:29and he gets as big a cheer from the Monza crowd
00:18:32as anybody who isn't actually driving a Ferrari.
00:18:35Here's another Italian, Teo Farbi.
00:18:38He drives for Brabham.
00:18:40He started the year trying to do American kart racing
00:18:43as well as Grand Prix racing,
00:18:45but now he's decided that his fortunes lie in Formula One.
00:18:50He's concentrating full-time on Grand Prix,
00:18:53and his results are starting to show it.
00:18:56And, of course, the incentive of driving in front of your home crowd
00:18:59is always an additional swell,
00:19:01and Farbi really wants to go well here on Sunday.
00:19:05Plenty more action throughout qualifying.
00:19:08We'll have the rest of the qualifying story for you
00:19:10after this short message.
00:19:18And where are the Ferraris?
00:19:20Michele Alboreto's is the faster of the two,
00:19:22and it's 11th on the grid.
00:19:26Michele Alboreto, the first Italian to be racing for Team Ferrari
00:19:30in many years.
00:19:31It has to be a very emotional thing for you to be an Italian
00:19:35in the Ferrari team here at the Monza track.
00:19:38A lot of confusion here because, you know,
00:19:41the people want to watch the Ferrari in the Monza track.
00:19:45It's the event of the year,
00:19:48and especially now that I drive.
00:19:52So it's extra pressure,
00:19:53even beyond having to go faster than normal.
00:19:58You have extra pressure from the crowds and the fans
00:20:00and the press and everything?
00:20:02The pressure goes off when you come into the car, you know,
00:20:05and when you drive, you forget everything.
00:20:09It's a Grand Prix like all the others.
00:20:12But when you're going down that straightaway
00:20:14and you see the hundreds of thousands of people
00:20:16with the Ferrari flags,
00:20:18you can't tell me that it doesn't add
00:20:20an extra bit of difficulty for you.
00:20:23It's an extra motivation for the driver, yes, that's true,
00:20:27but I think, finally,
00:20:31you use the same concentration as the other Grand Prix.
00:20:35Michele, you've had some problems in today's qualifying.
00:20:38Yesterday, you were very thrilled to have a good fourth place,
00:20:42a good qualifying position here in Monza,
00:20:45but today, your time was actually slower.
00:20:48Yes, because we have a lot of problems with the new car,
00:20:51with the car with the new body.
00:20:53And we don't understand what is the problem.
00:20:56We change everything, engine, all the electrics,
00:20:59the batteries, everything, but the problem is still there.
00:21:03And I must use the spare car for this afternoon
00:21:09with one set of race tyres for balance a little bit
00:21:12and one qualifier.
00:21:15But in the lap with the qualifier,
00:21:17I have a little bit of traffic and it's not possible
00:21:19to make a better lap time than yesterday.
00:21:22So there's been a lot of effort going into getting the car right,
00:21:24but it still takes time, it takes miles and miles of testing
00:21:28to get it perfect.
00:21:29Yeah, but that's the Grand Prix, you know.
00:21:32You prepare very well the car before the race,
00:21:34but when you are here, you have, again, a lot of problems.
00:21:39Here's another man with a lot of problems,
00:21:40the brilliant young Brazilian Ayrton Senna,
00:21:43who's been driving for Toleman this year.
00:21:45He's signed to drive for Lotus next year,
00:21:48and Toleman say that by doing so, he's broken his contract.
00:21:52And for the remaining races of this season,
00:21:54they've suspended him.
00:21:56He's here just as a spectator.
00:21:58Alex Hawkbridge, the Toleman boss,
00:22:00has given the other drive to the young Italian
00:22:02Pierluigi Martini on the right here
00:22:05with Stefania Hansen in the blue.
00:22:08So two busy days of Monza qualifying
00:22:11have produced the grid for tomorrow's big race.
00:22:14And we'll be back with ESPN Autoracing 84
00:22:17after this short message with the full story
00:22:20of the 1984 Italian Grand Prix.
00:22:29Race day for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
00:22:32And since dawn, the huge traditional Monza crowd
00:22:35have been filing in to grab the best vantage points
00:22:39all the way round the circuit
00:22:41to watch the race, which starts in mid-afternoon.
00:22:44They've had supporting races this morning,
00:22:46they've cheered on demonstrations,
00:22:48but now the moment that they're really waiting for is coming.
00:22:51And the grid are starting to assemble.
00:22:53On pole position, Nelson Piquet,
00:22:56out of things as far as the World Championship is concerned,
00:22:59but determined to add to the two wins
00:23:02and one second place that he's had so far this year.
00:23:06Alongside him, Alain Prost,
00:23:08desperately keen to become France's first-ever World Champion.
00:23:12He got so tantalisingly near last year.
00:23:15Now he's just lost the World Championship lead
00:23:18to his team-mate, Niki Lauda.
00:23:19Today, he wants it back.
00:23:21Elio de Angelis, driving as ever for Lotus.
00:23:25A very consistent year, but he hasn't had a win
00:23:28since the Austrian Grand Prix two years ago.
00:23:32And fourth quickest on the grid, Niki Lauda,
00:23:35now in his 12th season of Grand Prix racing.
00:23:38Two World Championships behind him,
00:23:40and he's the current leader by one and a half points
00:23:43over Alain Prost.
00:23:45Fifth quickest, and second Italian on the grid,
00:23:48little Tao Fabi with the second bramble.
00:23:51Still looking for a Grand Prix win.
00:23:53His best-ever performance in Grand Prix racing
00:23:55has come just a couple of races ago, fourth in Austria.
00:23:59And Keke Rosberg, having a difficult season
00:24:02with the Williams Honda, but he showed that he could get it
00:24:05all together with that fine win in Dallas.
00:24:07The car is getting quicker all the time,
00:24:10and he's sixth on the grid.
00:24:12Missing from the entry list altogether are the Tyrrells.
00:24:16It's the first time for almost 15 years
00:24:19that there have been no Tyrrells in the programme.
00:24:21And that's because Ken Tyrrell has lost his appeal
00:24:25against the FISA's ban on his cars
00:24:28after alleged irregularities at the Dallas Grand Prix.
00:24:33And there'll be no more Tyrrells in Grand Prix racing this year.
00:24:36And somebody's in trouble on the warm-up lap.
00:24:38That's Marc Surer putting his arm up.
00:24:41The Swiss driver with the BMW-powered arrows.
00:24:45Puffs of smoke from the back.
00:24:47He seems almost to be coming to a halt.
00:24:48I think his engine has stalled.
00:24:50The rest of the field all going through.
00:24:52But in one of the chicanes,
00:24:54Marc Surer is coming almost to a complete halt.
00:24:57In fact, the marshal's going to his aid.
00:24:59Pushing him, that wouldn't be allowed during the race,
00:25:01but I think they'll probably let him take the start
00:25:03if he can get going again.
00:25:05And Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost
00:25:08leading the rest of the field round.
00:25:10There's Stephan Johansson weaving from side to side
00:25:13to warm up his car.
00:25:15That's the other arrows of Thierry Boutzen there.
00:25:18Everybody trying to get some heat into their tyres.
00:25:21And already the Ferrari flags waving
00:25:23and the crowded spectator enclosures
00:25:25down towards the Parabolica
00:25:27as the entire field comes weaving round,
00:25:30ready for the start of what will be a 51-lap race.
00:25:34There's René Arnoux in the Ferrari.
00:25:37Alboreto's Ferrari down in 11th place on the grid.
00:25:40René Arnoux even further down, 14th on the grid.
00:25:44And Manfred Winkelhock, the German in the ATS,
00:25:48has had gearbox trouble on the warm-up lap.
00:25:50He's not on the grid.
00:25:53Marc Surer has made it to the back of the grid,
00:25:55so you've got 25 cars lined up.
00:25:59You can see the enormous width of this start-finish straight
00:26:02here at Monza, and that wide road
00:26:05will funnel down into the very tight double chicane,
00:26:08the Variante del Rettifilo,
00:26:10which comes shortly after the start line.
00:26:14Brabham, McLaren, Lotus, McLaren.
00:26:18Brabham, Williams, Honda.
00:26:20The front three rows, the start, as always,
00:26:23with a red light and then a green,
00:26:25which actually starts the race.
00:26:27There's the red.
00:26:30There's the green.
00:26:31And both the Lotuses are the first to move.
00:26:33Nigel Mansell makes a quick start from well down the grid,
00:26:36but it's Elio De Angelis who takes the lead.
00:26:38It's De Angelis ahead, but the Brabham is coming through,
00:26:41and Nelson Piquet now leads a tremendous traffic jam of cars
00:26:46with blocking wheels and puffs of rubber smoke.
00:26:49This is this tight chicane.
00:26:51They're all funneling safely through, it seems,
00:26:53through the second part of the chicane
00:26:55and out through the Curva Grande that follows it.
00:26:58And it is indeed Nelson Piquet,
00:27:01who, after a slightly slower start than De Angelis,
00:27:04has established the Brabham in the lead.
00:27:06It's Piquet, De Angelis, Prost, Tombe.
00:27:11Then Nigel Mansell is well up after his very good start.
00:27:14The rest of the field coming through.
00:27:16Niki Lauda has not made a good start.
00:27:18I glimpsed Niki Lauda in eighth place there.
00:27:22So Lauda eighth, Prost third.
00:27:24That's the battle for the World Championship at the moment,
00:27:27but the battle for the race being very conclusively led
00:27:30by this man, Nelson Piquet.
00:27:32There he goes under the bridge,
00:27:34followed by Elio De Angelis, Prost in third place.
00:27:37Patrick Tombe in the Renault is fourth.
00:27:39Now they're coming down to the Curva del Vialone
00:27:42with Fabi, De Angelis, and coming up there,
00:27:46that's Alboreto in the Ferrari number 27,
00:27:48moving up from his lowly grid position.
00:27:51But look at this lead already for Piquet,
00:27:54and Prost is challenging.
00:27:55Prost is challenging De Angelis.
00:27:57Prost goes round the outside of De Angelis
00:27:59under braking for the Parabolica.
00:28:01That's the long, long right-hander,
00:28:04the semi-circular right-hander,
00:28:06which leads back onto the start finish straight here.
00:28:08Piquet leads.
00:28:09Prost is now second.
00:28:10De Angelis back to third,
00:28:12and De Angelis being challenged by the Renault
00:28:15of Patrick Tombe for third place.
00:28:18I think Tombe has gone through.
00:28:19He has down into the Retifiglio.
00:28:23Fourth is Fabi.
00:28:24Right up to fifth now has come Niki Lauda.
00:28:28So Lauda has come storming up from eighth place
00:28:32out of the first chicane.
00:28:33He's already fifth.
00:28:35Prost has moved up to second.
00:28:36The two McLarens are going well,
00:28:38but it's the Brabham that's going best of all.
00:28:41Nelson Piquet leads into the second chicane.
00:28:43There's Prost number seven, Tombe,
00:28:45De Angelis, Fabi, Lauda number eight,
00:28:48then Mansell.
00:28:49Once again, Alboreto makes up a place
00:28:51to split the two Alfa Romeos.
00:28:54And Piquet off!
00:28:55Piquet on the grass there at Lesbos.
00:28:58Piquet right off the road,
00:28:59but the leader is back on the road now.
00:29:01He seems to have gathered it all together.
00:29:03That looked like a very nasty moment indeed,
00:29:05but Nelson Piquet back in the lead from Prost.
00:29:08More Italian Grand Prix action here from Monza
00:29:11after this short message on ESPN Autoracing 84.
00:29:20Let's look again at that Nelson Piquet moment.
00:29:22The car right over the kerb
00:29:25coming out of the first half of the double Lesbos kerb.
00:29:28Piquet manages to get the car back onto the tarmac
00:29:32just before he clouts the second kerb on the outside,
00:29:36fighting for control at what must be over 145 miles an hour.
00:29:40And all of that has diminished his lead.
00:29:42We've now got two three-car gaggles at the front.
00:29:45Still Alboreto moving up.
00:29:47There's Alboreto taking another place in the Ferrari,
00:29:49twitching over the kerbs.
00:29:51But it's a three-car battle for the lead.
00:29:53It's a three-car battle for fourth place.
00:29:55Here's the leading trio,
00:29:57and it's Piquet with Prost now absolutely on his tail,
00:30:00and Patrick Tommes brought the Renault up with them.
00:30:02Brabham, McLaren and Renault.
00:30:04That's the battle for the lead.
00:30:06The battle for fourth place is Brabham, Lotus, McLaren,
00:30:10because it's Tao Fabi now fourth in the second Brabham.
00:30:14Elio de Angelis down to fifth.
00:30:16Niki Lauda is sixth.
00:30:19Well, we expected to see Piquet going for the lead.
00:30:24We expected to see Prost as the man who gave him pressure.
00:30:27We didn't expect Patrick Tommes to be quite so quick
00:30:30in the early stages,
00:30:31but Tommes is absolutely up there with them.
00:30:34Here comes the next battler.
00:30:35Look at Lauda trying to squeeze past de Angelis
00:30:38in the black Lotus number 11.
00:30:40Lauda on de Angelis' tail,
00:30:42but Lauda is still sixth as they go out of the retifilio,
00:30:45down the long back straight.
00:30:47And here are the leaders once more.
00:30:49Piquet, Prost and Tommes bouncing over the bumps,
00:30:52twitching under braking for the Parabolica.
00:30:54There's Fabi, and Lauda has done it.
00:30:56Lauda is fifth.
00:30:57Niki Lauda is fifth, so we've got Prost in second place.
00:31:01Lauda in fifth place.
00:31:02There's the leading trio coming over the start-finish line
00:31:05once more at 175 miles an hour.
00:31:08Down towards the first chicane.
00:31:11And the smoke from Prost.
00:31:13Prost is in trouble.
00:31:14Alain Prost, the man who wanted the championship points today,
00:31:18is in trouble.
00:31:20And I think his race is run.
00:31:22Yes, smoke pouring from the left-hand exhaust bank
00:31:25of the Tag Turbo engine,
00:31:27and the rest of the field goes storming by.
00:31:30And Alain Prost is parking.
00:31:32Alain Prost pulls over onto the right-hand side of the road.
00:31:37And suddenly, Nelson Piquet's mirrors are empty of McLaren.
00:31:40Patrick Tommes' mirrors are full of Brabham
00:31:43because Theo Fabi, the new third-place man
00:31:46with the departure of Alain Prost,
00:31:48is absolutely on Tommes' tail.
00:31:50So we've still got a three-car battle for the lead,
00:31:53and it's now Brabham, Renault, Brabham.
00:31:55And there is the smoking McLaren.
00:31:58A little glance from Alain Prost before he walks away,
00:32:03peeling his gloves off.
00:32:05Alain Prost out of the race,
00:32:07and that is a real blow for his championship hopes.
00:32:10And that must be good news for this man in the picture now,
00:32:12Niki Lauda, number eight.
00:32:14Niki Lauda now knows he's fourth.
00:32:16He will have noticed Prost pulling off.
00:32:18He will, no doubt, have given a little grin of satisfaction.
00:32:21But I should mention that Lauda himself
00:32:24has an additional problem here today to contend with,
00:32:26as well as the speed of Nelson Piquet's Brabham
00:32:29and Fabi's Brabham just ahead of him
00:32:32and Tommes' Renault ahead of that.
00:32:34And that problem is backache,
00:32:36but rather more severe than backache,
00:32:38a very sharp pain in his back,
00:32:41which emerged during practice yesterday.
00:32:44Niki Lauda has apparently displaced one of his vertebrae,
00:32:47and pulling the G-forces that he's pulling
00:32:50inside the tight little cockpit of the McLaren,
00:32:53he's no doubt going to be in considerable pain,
00:32:55as he was during practice yesterday,
00:32:57when he said he was finding it almost impossible to breathe
00:33:01down there in the cockpit,
00:33:03and his concentration was certainly being harmed
00:33:05by the back pain.
00:33:06His doctor, Wille Dungel, has worked on him.
00:33:09He's now in fourth place,
00:33:11but he's out of touch with this leading trio,
00:33:13and Tao Fabi it is who's putting the pressure on Tommes.
00:33:17There is Lauda in fourth place.
00:33:18He's shaken off de Angelis, who's fifth.
00:33:21Sixth man now is Alboreto, who's come up well.
00:33:24Then it's seventh, Cheever.
00:33:25Eighth, Mansell. Ninth, Derek Warwick.
00:33:29And there's the leader once more,
00:33:30and the cheers are because Alboreto is pushing hard.
00:33:34They're cheering on the Ferrari, this Monza crowd,
00:33:37as always they will.
00:33:39There's Lauda in fourth place,
00:33:41de Angelis fifth,
00:33:43and the red car over the brow there,
00:33:46that's Alboreto number 27 in the Ferrari.
00:33:49There's the American, Cheever, in the Alfa Romeo.
00:33:53Battles all the way down the field.
00:33:55Piquet still the leader from Tommes and Fabi.
00:33:57We'll have more news from the Italian Grand Prix
00:34:00after this short message.
00:34:02ALAN PROST OUT OF THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
00:34:06Alan Prost out of the Italian Grand Prix.
00:34:09Nelson Piquet still the leader.
00:34:11Theo Fabi in the Brabham in third place,
00:34:14putting the pressure on second man Patrick Tommes.
00:34:17That's the leading trio here at the Italian Grand Prix.
00:34:20We've got Niki Lauda now in fourth place.
00:34:24Elio de Angelis holding off Michele Alboreto,
00:34:27Lotus and Ferrari, respectively, in the battle for fifth.
00:34:31Eddie Cheever in the Alfa Romeo, now seventh.
00:34:34Eighth is Nigel Mansell.
00:34:36Ninth is Derek Warwick.
00:34:37That's Lotus and Renault, respectively.
00:34:40And in tenth place now,
00:34:42it's Keke Rosberg in the Williams Honda.
00:34:45And there's a groan from the Italian crowd
00:34:48because there's a Ferrari stopped on the back straight.
00:34:50It's René Arnoux in Ferrari number 28.
00:34:53So while Michele Alboreto battles for fifth place,
00:34:57René Arnoux out of the race, crashing it off.
00:34:59He's got to walk back past the crowds, back to the pits.
00:35:05And here's the leading trio once more.
00:35:07Piquet, Tombe and Fabi.
00:35:08Brabham, Renault and Brabham, almost equidistant now
00:35:11as they flash over the start-finish line,
00:35:14down towards the chicane.
00:35:17Piquet seeming to pull out on the straight
00:35:20and then inevitably they all close up under braking.
00:35:22But Fabi putting the pressure on and we've got a new fifth man
00:35:25because Elio de Angelis has been passed
00:35:28by the sole surviving Ferrari of Alboreto.
00:35:31Lauda's still fourth, Michele Alboreto the new fifth man.
00:35:35Elio de Angelis pushed down to sixth,
00:35:37but here's the leading trio again
00:35:39and Fabi is close to Tombe now.
00:35:41Fabi has a little look at the inside as they go to the chicane.
00:35:44Fabi spins!
00:35:45Theo Fabi spins the Brabham.
00:35:48He's kept the engine running.
00:35:50Now, can he get the car under way again
00:35:52before everybody goes past?
00:35:53Lauda has gone by.
00:35:54He's crossed the road, he's on the other side
00:35:56and here come Alboreto,
00:35:59de Angelis, Cheever, Warwick, all pouring through.
00:36:03That's de Cesaris who's blown the engine of the Ligier
00:36:08and de Cesaris is trying to drive the Ligier back to the pits.
00:36:13No doubt coating the surface of the track with oil,
00:36:16but it's now a two-car battle for the lead.
00:36:19There goes de Cesaris,
00:36:20trailing his oily plume of smoke.
00:36:23But now with Fabi well down the field,
00:36:26it's a two-car battle for the lead.
00:36:27Patrick Tombe hanging on for dear life
00:36:30as he strives to stay with the Brabham.
00:36:33Oh, and Nelson Piquet, the leader.
00:36:35There's the yellow Renault of Frenchman Patrick Tombe
00:36:38in second place.
00:36:40And, of course, that means that the current World Championship leader,
00:36:43Niki Lauda, is now up to third.
00:36:45It's fourth Alboreto, fifth de Angelis,
00:36:47sixth Cheever, and already seventh is Theo Fabi.
00:36:51He's already managed to get by Derek Warwick,
00:36:55locking up a break there is the leader.
00:36:58Another little moment for him there.
00:36:59We've seen Nelson Piquet on the grass.
00:37:02We see him there locking up a wheel.
00:37:04So that shows that Patrick Tombe is applying the pressure
00:37:08because Nelson Piquet being pushed hard enough
00:37:12to look just a little bit untidy
00:37:13as he strives to stay ahead of the Renault.
00:37:15The Renault going strongly in second place,
00:37:17that's Patrick Tombe.
00:37:19Still the leader, Nelson Piquet in the Brabham BMW.
00:37:22The new third man now.
00:37:23Look at the oil flag being hung out by the marshal there.
00:37:27So oil at the chicane on the back straight.
00:37:29The new third man, Niki Lauda,
00:37:32fourth is the Ferrari of Michele Alboreto
00:37:38and Theo Fabi in the thick of the traffic is charging.
00:37:41Alboreto, de Angelis, Fabi, Cheever, Warwick.
00:37:45Then it's Jacques Lafitte ahead of Nigel Mansell.
00:37:49That's the Williams Honda ahead of the Lotus.
00:37:51But Fabi still making up places.
00:37:54There is Alain Prost with a police escort
00:37:58walking his lonely way back to the pits.
00:38:02And there you see the order at the end of lap nine
00:38:04with Piquet's number ahead.
00:38:06The number one, of course, of the reigning world champion
00:38:09ahead of Tombe, Lauda,
00:38:12Alboreto, de Angelis, Cheever, Fabi.
00:38:16But Fabi has already moved up from there
00:38:19and Fabi is now ahead of Cheever.
00:38:22And there is Fabi going ahead of de Angelis now.
00:38:24Fabi absolutely storming up after that spin.
00:38:27That mistake, which cost him so many places,
00:38:30doesn't seem to have cramped his style at all.
00:38:33Piquet, Tombe go through the chicane on the back straight.
00:38:38There they are.
00:38:40And the progress of Theo Fabi's Brabham
00:38:45is nothing short of sensational.
00:38:48And he is already now on the tail of the fourth-placed Ferrari.
00:38:53So, Alboreto still fourth.
00:38:55There, bouncing across the kerbs,
00:38:56was Derek Warwick in the second Renault.
00:38:58The first Renault, number 15,
00:38:59is, of course, Patrick Tombe's in second place.
00:39:02There's the leading Brabham.
00:39:04There's the second-place Renault.
00:39:06Empty road now behind Patrick Tombe
00:39:10because Niki Lauda is now a distant third place,
00:39:13no doubt nursing his painful back.
00:39:17We wait for Lauda.
00:39:19There he is.
00:39:21Where's the Ferrari?
00:39:23There is Alboreto's Ferrari.
00:39:24And Fabi is very close to him now.
00:39:26Fabi is tucked in behind Alboreto's Ferrari.
00:39:28That's the battle for fourth place.
00:39:30De Angelis is sixth.
00:39:31Cheever is seventh.
00:39:32Derek Warwick is there, eighth.
00:39:34The black car at the back of the queue,
00:39:36ninth, is Mansell.
00:39:38Tenth is Stefan Johansson.
00:39:40And that was a good performance by Johansson
00:39:42because he made a terrible start.
00:39:44He was almost the last man away in the Toleman.
00:39:46And he's worked his way up through the bottom half of the field
00:39:49very, very quickly indeed.
00:39:51That's Derek Warwick attacking Eddie Cheever.
00:39:55And Warwick and the Renault alongside Cheever.
00:39:58Meanwhile, we've got Fabi passing that Ferrari at last.
00:40:01Fabi goes ahead.
00:40:02We'll be back with more Italian Grand Prix action
00:40:05after this message.
00:40:07RENAULT-FERRARI
00:40:14Still this wonderful two-car battle for the lead
00:40:16in the Italian Grand Prix.
00:40:17Nelson Piquet's Brabham ahead of Patrick Tambay's Renault.
00:40:21It's one of the best races we've seen Tambay drive this year.
00:40:24But another Frenchman out of the race.
00:40:26That's Jacques Lafitte's Williams in the pits.
00:40:28We've already seen the retirement of his teammate, Keke Rosberg.
00:40:32Both the Williams Hondas out.
00:40:34And still Nelson Piquet having to drive very, very hard indeed
00:40:38to stay ahead of the fleet Patrick Tambay.
00:40:41Still Niki Lauda a distant third,
00:40:43but catching Niki Lauda very fast.
00:40:46The astonishing little Italian Teo Fabi.
00:40:50He's driving one of the best races we've ever seen him drive
00:40:53because having spun out of third place down to ninth place,
00:40:57he's already back up to fourth
00:41:00and challenging third man Niki Lauda.
00:41:02So, a Brabham being pushed by a Renault,
00:41:05a McLaren being pushed by a Brabham.
00:41:08And the Italian crowd are happy
00:41:10because in fifth place it's still Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari.
00:41:13And that's Nigel Mansell in the sand of the chicane
00:41:16and well and truly stuck in.
00:41:19Spinning his rear wheels,
00:41:20plumes of flame from the exhaust pipe of the car.
00:41:24The car is well and truly dug in and he's switched it off.
00:41:28He's getting out. Nigel Mansell, the Englishman,
00:41:31who's already signed for the Williams team for next year,
00:41:35out of the Italian Grand Prix.
00:41:38A little look over his shoulder of disgust.
00:41:41He spun the car coming into the Curva della Roggia
00:41:46and his race is run.
00:41:49The soft sand around these chicanes,
00:41:51very good at slowing the cars down when they go off the track,
00:41:54but very difficult to get out of.
00:41:56And Patrick Tambay still pursues.
00:41:59Nelson Piquet for the lead.
00:42:02The leading pair just coming up to the Curva della Roggia
00:42:06where Nigel Mansell's car is still parked.
00:42:08Mansell peeling off the neck brace and the balaclava
00:42:13and the brave marshals moving the Lotus
00:42:16as Piquet and Tambay go by.
00:42:20Into the first of the double right-handed Lesmo corner.
00:42:24That's where Piquet so nearly came to grief on the second lap.
00:42:27There's the second apex of Lesmo.
00:42:29Now the straight down under the Agip Bridge.
00:42:33On through Violone and into the Ascari chicane
00:42:36and the smoke from the Brabham.
00:42:39Just as we saw from Alain Prost,
00:42:41there is smoke from the back of the Brabham,
00:42:44but Piquet drives on.
00:42:46There was a definite puff of smoke there.
00:42:49Oh, and again, a big blast of smoke.
00:42:52In fact, the marshal nearly gets his yellow flag ready,
00:42:55but Piquet is not slowing.
00:42:57Piquet seems determined to drive on.
00:42:59The smoke, whatever it was,
00:43:01coming through the left-hand corner.
00:43:03Now he's going through the right-hand corner
00:43:05of the Parabolica,
00:43:07and the car doesn't seem to be smoking.
00:43:09For some reason, it was smoking on a left-hander,
00:43:11and Piquet is continuing at unabated pace.
00:43:15In fact, Tambay seems to have dropped back.
00:43:18Perhaps if that car is chucking out oil,
00:43:20Tambay doesn't want to be too close to it.
00:43:22Is Piquet in trouble or isn't he?
00:43:24Yes, Piquet now does slow,
00:43:25and Tambay goes through.
00:43:27Patrick Tambay's Renault takes the lead
00:43:30into the chicane.
00:43:31Piquet is still there.
00:43:33Out of the chicane, Piquet is still there,
00:43:36but slowing,
00:43:37and Patrick Tambay is the new leader
00:43:40of the Italian Grand Prix on lap 16,
00:43:45and Piquet is definitely slowing,
00:43:47but he seems to be driving on.
00:43:49Ahead of Tambay.
00:43:51Back markers to be lapped.
00:43:52Piquet drives on,
00:43:54but whatever the problem is,
00:43:56he is definitely no longer on a par with the Renault.
00:44:00In fact, here comes the third-place battle,
00:44:02and it is a third-place battle
00:44:04because Fabi is right up to Niki Lauda now.
00:44:07Niki Lauda fighting to hold off Theo Fabi.
00:44:10Lauda now becoming the McLaren meat
00:44:13in a Brabham sandwich,
00:44:14but I think not for long,
00:44:15because as Tambay goes into Violone in the lead
00:44:19with a couple of back markers, as I say,
00:44:21ahead of him to be lapped,
00:44:23already Piquet has slowed sufficiently
00:44:25for both Lauda and his own teammate to go through,
00:44:29and Alboreto is catching fast as well,
00:44:31and I would guess that as we watch Elio de Angelis
00:44:35bring the Lotus into the pits,
00:44:37that we're going to be seeing Nelson Piquet
00:44:39coming into the pits also.
00:44:42Monza always seems to be a circuit
00:44:45that is hard on machinery.
00:44:46It's always hot here.
00:44:48There are long, fast straights
00:44:50with long periods of high revs,
00:44:52and Fabi goes through just as Brabham number one retires.
00:44:58Brabham number two establishes itself in second place,
00:45:02a chair from the crowd.
00:45:03He may be driving a Brabham, but he is an Italian,
00:45:06and as Jonathan Palmer is lapped in the ram by the leader,
00:45:11Hubert Ottengatter, the Dutchman in the spirit,
00:45:13has already been lapped, but here is the second man,
00:45:16Theo Fabi, Niki Lauda third.
00:45:18Niki Lauda was second for only such a short time,
00:45:22and he seems to be letting Theo Fabi go.
00:45:26So, Alain Prost out, Nelson Piquet out,
00:45:29because there he is in the pits, bodywork off,
00:45:32Piquet out of the car.
00:45:34Still lots of action to come in the Italian Grand Prix,
00:45:37and we'll be back here on ESPN after this short message.
00:45:45A Renault leads the Italian Grand Prix,
00:45:48Patrick Tambay of France at the wheel,
00:45:50and despite the fact that we've lost the early leader,
00:45:53Nelson Piquet, we've lost Alain Prost,
00:45:55his closest challenger,
00:45:57once more we've got a three-car battle for the lead.
00:46:00Just over half a second between Tambay and Theo Fabi
00:46:04in the Brabham in second place.
00:46:05Niki Lauda is up with them in third place.
00:46:08So, those three fighting for the lead.
00:46:10Niki Lauda, remember, the current World Championship leader,
00:46:14his closest protagonist in the championship table,
00:46:17Alain Prost, out of the race.
00:46:19Niki Lauda, very, very keen to increase his points tally here,
00:46:24but Tambay now is under as much pressure
00:46:27from Theo Fabi in Brabham number two
00:46:29as he was giving to Nelson Piquet in Brabham number one
00:46:34before Piquet retired.
00:46:35And don't forget, Theo Fabi spun when he was in third place,
00:46:39dropped down to ninth place,
00:46:41and has come absolutely charging up the field
00:46:45to this second place.
00:46:47Showers of sparks once again.
00:46:48That's from Fabi's Brabham under braking for the Parabolica.
00:46:52Out of the Parabolica, Tambay briefly getting away a little bit,
00:46:56and now it's Niki Lauda who's using the slipstream behind the Brabham
00:46:59to creep a little bit closer.
00:47:02Renault leads Brabham BMW,
00:47:05leads McLaren Tag Turbo.
00:47:08Out of the start-finish area,
00:47:10down into the first chicane,
00:47:12that tight double chicane with four apexes.
00:47:17Lauda follows Fabi through.
00:47:20Then it's the Curva Grandi,
00:47:22fourth gear accelerating up to 145 miles an hour
00:47:27out of that long right-hander
00:47:29before they brake and come down through the gearbox
00:47:32for this chicane where Theo Fabi spun earlier,
00:47:35Lauda taking a slightly more cautious line through there.
00:47:39We've been wondering here
00:47:40just how much Niki Lauda's back injury must be hurting him,
00:47:45but he's up there in third place,
00:47:47he's got Bach into contact with the leaders,
00:47:50and however much it's hurting him,
00:47:53the thought of the championship points this late in the season
00:47:56is an even stronger spur.
00:47:59Down towards Violone and the Ascari chicane.
00:48:02Tambay, Fabi, Lauda.
00:48:06And there's the fourth man, Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari.
00:48:10And every time he passes, the Ferrari flags wave in the crowd.
00:48:14Michele Alboreto, 11th on the grid at the start,
00:48:17not particularly confident about his chances,
00:48:21but he's there in fourth place,
00:48:22and we're once more back with the leading trio,
00:48:25which is coming through the Parabolica
00:48:27and about to lap the ATS of the German Gerhard Berger.
00:48:32Berger gets right out of the way,
00:48:34goes over the white line on the left-hand side of the road,
00:48:38but moves across again.
00:48:40Fabi goes through on the other side.
00:48:43Niki Lauda is still behind.
00:48:45Lauda, did he get through as they came into break for the chicane?
00:48:48Yes, he did. Gerhard Berger,
00:48:51driving in only his second Grand Prix,
00:48:53keeps out of the way,
00:48:54and the leading trio is through
00:48:56and now has the spirit heart of the Dutchman,
00:49:00Huub Rottengatter, to lap.
00:49:02Rottengatter keeps out of the way as well of Tambay.
00:49:06Tambay goes through, but Rottengatter has to take his line
00:49:09as they go into the second chicane.
00:49:11Fabi and Lauda follow through.
00:49:13Now, Fabi darts past Rottengatter.
00:49:16Lauda, not quite so quick past
00:49:19as they go through the first half of Lesmo.
00:49:23Now, Lauda is passing Rottengatter,
00:49:25the second part of Lesmo.
00:49:30And now, down towards Vialloni
00:49:33and the Ascari chicane once more.
00:49:35And that's Derek Warwick's car parked.
00:49:38You just had a quick glimpse of Derek Warwick's Renault.
00:49:41Parking, so while Tambay in Renault No. 15 leads the race,
00:49:45Derek Warwick in Renault No. 16 is out.
00:49:48He was running down in fifth place behind the Ferrari,
00:49:52so that's a blow for Renault Fortunes,
00:49:55but their man is still leading the race.
00:49:58And there you see the positions after 32 laps
00:50:01with Eddie Cheever, the American in the Alfa Romeo,
00:50:04now fifth.
00:50:05Stefania Hansen, the newcomer in the Toleman,
00:50:08is up to sixth place,
00:50:09and he's only 0.6 of a second behind Cheever,
00:50:12so that's another battle going on further down the field.
00:50:16There's Derek Warwick's car in the sand.
00:50:18Warwick has walked away.
00:50:19He's parked it well clear of the track,
00:50:22but the marshals now have the job
00:50:24of manhandling it out of the soft sand.
00:50:27And Lauda is up to Fabi now.
00:50:29Fabi, who got past Lauda,
00:50:31and apparently quite comfortably so,
00:50:34is now himself coming under pressure from Niki Lauda.
00:50:38Meanwhile, Tambay lines up to lap
00:50:40Piercarlo Ginzani in the Osella.
00:50:41Ginzani, didn't know he was there, I think,
00:50:44but now Ginzani sees the blue flag,
00:50:46and the rest of the battle trying to go past,
00:50:49and Ginzani goes right on the grass to keep out of the way.
00:50:52Lots of excitement still in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
00:50:56We'll be back with the next stage after this message.
00:51:03It's still Patrick Tambay's Renault
00:51:05in the lead in the Italian Grand Prix,
00:51:07but Niki Lauda has turned the tables on Tao Fabi.
00:51:11Fabi having got past Lauda into second place in the Brabham,
00:51:14it's now Lauda's turn to put the pressure on Fabi,
00:51:17and he's very close indeed.
00:51:19Fabi has lost contact with the Renault.
00:51:21There's the Renault.
00:51:22There is the Brabham,
00:51:24with Lauda swerving from side to side,
00:51:26trying to find a way by.
00:51:28The McLaren trampling all over the back of the Brabham,
00:51:32and Lauda having apparently been content
00:51:37with the four championship points that he would get for finishing third,
00:51:40now seems to be intent on increasing it
00:51:43to the six championship points he will get if he finishes second,
00:51:46or even more, the nine that he will get if he wins.
00:51:52Down towards Violone and the Ascari chicane,
00:51:55and Lauda is very close indeed now.
00:51:57Lauda looking for a way past all the time.
00:51:59He drops back as they go through the chicane,
00:52:02then out of the chicane, he's tucked in very close behind.
00:52:05Lauda is very close indeed behind Fabi,
00:52:08and Lauda takes the inside line.
00:52:11Lauda very close to the curve there,
00:52:13and chops back in front as they go into Parabolica under braking,
00:52:17a beautifully planned manoeuvre from Niki Lauda.
00:52:20The Austrian is in second place.
00:52:23There goes the Renault, the leader,
00:52:25and at once Niki Lauda pulls away from Fabi.
00:52:29Lauda is really pressing on.
00:52:32That is Riccardo Petrezzi's Alfa Romeo being lapped by Tambay,
00:52:37and there is Lauda clicking the kerbs.
00:52:41So he still is trying extremely hard,
00:52:44and Fabi is still there in second place,
00:52:47but apparently slipping back.
00:52:48Through the Curva Grande they go.
00:52:51Up towards the second chicane, the Curva della Roggia,
00:52:56and Riccardo Petrezzi in the green Alfa Romeo
00:52:59is ahead of Lauda to be lapped.
00:53:01Tambay has lapped him already.
00:53:04Up towards Lesmo.
00:53:08Through Lesmo.
00:53:11Here's the second Lesmo apex,
00:53:13and Fabi is really dropping back now.
00:53:15There's Michele Alboreto,
00:53:17who of course is in fourth place now in the Ferrari,
00:53:21and Alboreto, I'm sure, will get the news from his pit
00:53:25on the pit boards that he's now got Teo Fabi ahead of him,
00:53:31not Niki Lauda, and that the gap between himself and Teo Fabi
00:53:35is a lot less than the gap was between him and Niki Lauda
00:53:38last time he saw the pit signal.
00:53:40They're the positions at the end of 40 laps, 11 laps to go.
00:53:45Fabi 0.8 of a second behind Lauda, but it's already more,
00:53:49and it's 16 and a bit seconds from Fabi back to Alboreto.
00:53:53Cheever still in fifth place,
00:53:55Stephan Johansson sixth with the Toleman,
00:53:58and Lauda once more using the kerbs,
00:54:01trying to close on Tambay, and he is closing on Tambay.
00:54:04Niki Lauda is closing on Patrick Tambay very fast,
00:54:08and he's not going to be content with six championship points.
00:54:11He's going to have his eyes set on the nine
00:54:14that he will get for a win.
00:54:17Meanwhile, behind Teo Fabi hasn't even lapped Patrese yet,
00:54:23and Niki Lauda is closing, closing, closing on this Renault.
00:54:28It has been a fantastic season for McLaren.
00:54:31They've won the last four Grands Prixs consecutively,
00:54:34Alain Prost out of the race after only four laps with his McLaren,
00:54:39but all seems to be well at the moment with Niki Lauda,
00:54:42although one should remember that in this morning's warm-up,
00:54:45this morning's half-hour warm-up practice session,
00:54:48both the McLarens, both Prost's and Lauda's cars,
00:54:52gave trouble.
00:54:53Lauda's car had an engine change.
00:54:55Prost started the race with the spare car.
00:55:00And on the back straight,
00:55:02Tambay is still out of reach of Niki Lauda,
00:55:05but Lauda turning the McLaren into the Parabolica,
00:55:10that long, sweeping right-hander
00:55:12that seems to go on and on and on forever,
00:55:14and Tambay now passes the pit, glances across at his pit signal.
00:55:19There's Lauda, 170 miles an hour,
00:55:21and up to the first chicane, the Retrovillo,
00:55:27and Lauda is very visibly closer now.
00:55:31Lauda has the additional incentive of seeing his quarry get closer and closer,
00:55:35Tambay putting on all the pressure he can,
00:55:38but he doesn't need pit signals now to tell him
00:55:41that Lauda is creeping closer all the time.
00:55:43You can see him in his mirrors, and it's not creeping,
00:55:46it's faster than creeping.
00:55:47That gap is going down very fast.
00:55:49There's a new fastest lap for Niki Lauda.
00:55:52Lauda averaging 141 miles an hour, and Lauda takes the lead!
00:55:56Lauda has gone through!
00:55:57Niki Lauda in the McLaren takes the lead in the Italian Grand Prix,
00:56:02passes Patrick Tambay with absolute ease.
00:56:05He's the new leader, but the race isn't over yet.
00:56:09Lauda leads, Tambay second.
00:56:11Still more excitement to come in the Italian Grand Prix
00:56:14after this message.
00:56:20He's still there.
00:56:21As we enter the closing stages of the Italian Grand Prix here at Monza,
00:56:25Niki Lauda has the lead, and Teo Farbi is out.
00:56:30Teo Farbi, who's driven such a gallant race,
00:56:34up to second place despite that spin early on.
00:56:37He's parked the Brabham just past the pits down here
00:56:41on the start-finish straight.
00:56:43Teo Farbi walks away from his car,
00:56:45and meanwhile, Niki Lauda, the new leader,
00:56:48can't relax, because Patrick Tambay is still pursuing him in the Renault.
00:56:53And the retirement of Farbi will mean that Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari,
00:56:58who started 11th on the grid, is up to third,
00:57:02and that's a piece of news which has already been greeted
00:57:06with a great cheer all the way round the circuit,
00:57:09a great wave of Ferrari flags from the Italian crowd.
00:57:13They so love their Ferraris.
00:57:16Joe Gartner on the back straight in the Osella
00:57:19with the arrows of Marc Surer tucked in behind him.
00:57:23So Marc Surer, despite his start from the back of the grid,
00:57:27still in the race. That's Riccardo Petrezzi's Alfa Romeo,
00:57:30which is also coming up now because of the retirements in front of him.
00:57:36But the Ferrari of Michele Alboreto is the next car on the straight
00:57:41as Petrezzi goes into the Parabolica.
00:57:44An Italian in an Italian car.
00:57:46He's followed by the Ferrari of Alboreto,
00:57:49an Italian in a very special Italian car.
00:57:52And it's all over for Patrick Tambay.
00:57:55Patrick Tambay is parking the Renault on the wrong side of the Armco barrier.
00:57:59A glimpse of him in your picture there.
00:58:01Tambay out of the car.
00:58:03He's parked the car outside his pit,
00:58:06but on the wrong side of the Armco, he's hopped over the Armco barrier.
00:58:09And as we watch Riccardo Petrezzi's Alfa,
00:58:12out of the Renault and out of the race is Patrick Tambay.
00:58:17And that means that Niki Lauda can relax even more
00:58:21in McLaren number eight,
00:58:24because when he passes the start-finish line next time,
00:58:27the news will come that that Renault has been pushed away.
00:58:31Lauda will see it on his pit signals,
00:58:33and he will now get a gap of, I guess, about 25 seconds
00:58:38back to the new second man, which is, you've guessed it,
00:58:42the Ferrari of Michele Alboreto,
00:58:45gradually moving up, up the field.
00:58:48There is Lauda on the back straight,
00:58:50behind him, Marc Surer in the arrows.
00:58:51Behind Surer, it's Gartner in the Azella.
00:58:55And there is the new second man,
00:58:57Ferrari number 27, Michele Alboreto.
00:59:02And after 44 laps as the Ferrari flags wave,
00:59:06you see 19.8 seconds between Lauda and Alboreto.
00:59:10It's closer than I thought.
00:59:12Eddie Cheever's Alfa Romeo is now third.
00:59:14Forget Tambay, forget Fabi,
00:59:17because Stefania Hansen is running in fourth place.
00:59:20The Swede in the Toleman, one lap behind.
00:59:23Alboreto coming up now to lap Riccardo Petrezzi
00:59:27in the Alfa Romeo.
00:59:29Petrezzi now in fifth place.
00:59:31So the Italian Alfa Romeo team having a jolly good race here
00:59:35in their home Grand Prix.
00:59:36Their two cars both still running in third and fifth places.
00:59:40Cheever, the American, third.
00:59:41Petrezzi, the Italian, fifth.
00:59:43Between them, the Swede, Stefania Hansen,
00:59:46in the Toleman, Hart in fourth place.
00:59:50And still, Niki Lauda on his triumphant way.
00:59:52And there is a problem for somebody else.
00:59:54That is Marc Surer in the arrows.
00:59:56The telltale plume of smoke from the back of the car
01:00:00spells the end of the BMW engine in the back of the arrows.
01:00:03So Marc Surer, who had trouble even before the race began,
01:00:08is out of the race.
01:00:09He was running in tenth place at the back of the field.
01:00:16And here comes Lida Lauda once more.
01:00:18He's just lapped the Dutchman, Hugh Brottengatter,
01:00:21in the Spirit Hart for what must seem to be the umpteenth time.
01:00:25And now onto the long back straight.
01:00:27And somebody's parking there.
01:00:29It's a green car.
01:00:30I think that is Eddie Cheever.
01:00:32Eddie Cheever from Denver, Colorado, now living in Rome,
01:00:36running in a strong third place.
01:00:38But now the tall figure of Cheever walking away
01:00:42with a nonchalant wave to the crowd,
01:00:44hiding his disappointment,
01:00:45because so often Cheever's car has let him down
01:00:48in the closing stages.
01:00:50Cheever running in a superb third place,
01:00:53but now in the very closing stages,
01:00:56out of the Italian Grand Prix.
01:00:58And while all around him seem to have troubles,
01:01:01Niki Lauda goes on his triumphant way,
01:01:04but he's still using those kerbs.
01:01:05He's still trying hard.
01:01:07Patrick Tambay out.
01:01:10Lauda's closest rival, the Ferrari of Michele Alboreto,
01:01:15now by our unofficial hand timing,
01:01:17just over 20 seconds behind.
01:01:19So Lauda has to keep the car going to the flag.
01:01:23His reward is going to be nine points,
01:01:25but his own teammates had trouble.
01:01:27He had mechanical trouble this morning.
01:01:29Is it still going to keep going for Niki Lauda?
01:01:32Watch the closing stages of the Italian Grand Prix
01:01:35here on ESPN after this short message.
01:01:40Three laps left to run in the Italian Grand Prix,
01:01:42and we've had endless retirements in this race.
01:01:46Piquet, Prost, both the Williamses,
01:01:49Arnoux's Ferrari.
01:01:51But Niki Lauda carries on his way in the lead,
01:01:54and Michele Alboreto in second place,
01:01:57lapping the Austrian Joe Gartner there in the Azzella.
01:02:00He, too, seems to be going without problems.
01:02:03So a McLaren leaves.
01:02:05A Ferrari is in second place.
01:02:07We've just seen Eddie Cheever's Alfa Romeo
01:02:09drop out from third place.
01:02:11But the man who was fourth,
01:02:13Stefan Johansson, has also run into trouble.
01:02:16He's had a pit stop.
01:02:17The crew had a look at the car,
01:02:19didn't seem to be able to do anything with it,
01:02:21and they said, go back out and finish the race.
01:02:24So Stefan Johansson is going on his slow way
01:02:27but he has lost what would have become third place
01:02:30with the retirement of Eddie Cheever.
01:02:34He's lost that to Riccardo Petrezzi.
01:02:37Piercarlo Ginzani in the Azzella,
01:02:39also a lap behind, has gone into fourth place.
01:02:42Stefan Johansson is still running two laps behind fifth.
01:02:45And Joe Gartner in the other Azzella is in sixth place.
01:02:50Azzella's fourth and sixth.
01:02:53Ahead of Lauda now, Stefan Johansson,
01:02:55and Johansson is going very slowly.
01:02:57Stefan Johansson almost stopping completely in the Toleman.
01:03:02Whatever the trouble is,
01:03:03he decided to keep right out of the way of the race leader
01:03:07and not provide any embarrassment for him
01:03:09in this penultimate lap.
01:03:11Stefan Johansson crawling on his way then in the Toleman
01:03:15and Niki Lauda flying on his way in the McLaren.
01:03:18Remember that McLarens have won the last four Grands Prix.
01:03:22They've already won nine Grands Prix this year.
01:03:26It's a long time since we've seen this sort of domination
01:03:30in Grand Prix racing.
01:03:31There have been cars that have been quicker than the McLarens.
01:03:34There is the McLaren team watching from the pit lane.
01:03:38But there have been few cars that have been so fast
01:03:41and so reliable at one and the same time
01:03:43and apparently on almost every circuit.
01:03:46And that's another problem.
01:03:47That's one of the Azzellas.
01:03:48That is, in fact, Piercarlo Ginzani
01:03:51coming to a halt with barely a lap left to run
01:03:54because Niki Lauda now crosses the start-finish line
01:03:57to start his final lap,
01:03:59his 51st and final lap here at the Italian Grand Prix
01:04:03into the Ritofilio, the first chicane.
01:04:06Once more, flicking those kerbs,
01:04:07goes the Austrian Niki Lauda away from the Ritofilio
01:04:11down to the Curva Grande.
01:04:14And Ginzani has indeed stopped his Azzella
01:04:18right on the start-finish line here.
01:04:21And we're just trying to work out
01:04:23in this extraordinary race of attrition
01:04:24what that means to the positions.
01:04:26But there is the man who is third anyway,
01:04:29Riccardo Patrese, on his way on his final lap
01:04:33because although he's a lap behind,
01:04:35he's only going to have to do this last lap now
01:04:37with Niki Lauda already on his way to the chequered flag.
01:04:40Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari,
01:04:42the only other unlapped car,
01:04:44as Lauda now goes through the Ascari chicane at Fiolone
01:04:49onto that back straight that's played such a part
01:04:52in this fascinating and dramatic race.
01:04:54Yet another car ahead of him to lap.
01:04:56It's Berger's ATS.
01:04:59And Lauda isn't in a hurry now.
01:05:01He knows the chequered flag's waiting.
01:05:02He stays behind Berger's ATS.
01:05:04He goes into the Parabolica for the 51st and final time.
01:05:09The chequered flag is indeed waiting for Niki Lauda.
01:05:12It's going to be the 10th McLaren victory this year.
01:05:15It's going to be the 5th victory for Niki Lauda this year.
01:05:19Niki Lauda takes the flag,
01:05:21wins the 24th Grand Prix of his career,
01:05:25and consolidates his World Championship lead.
01:05:28And Alain Prost can only watch from the sidelines
01:05:32and know that Niki Lauda has gone clear
01:05:35in the 1984 World Championship with two races left to go.
01:05:38Here is Michele Alboreto.
01:05:40And the Italian crowd deserve their largest cheer
01:05:44for the Ferrari, which started 11th,
01:05:47which wasn't expected even to get into the points,
01:05:49which the quiet and plucky Italian Michele Alboreto
01:05:53has brought home in second place
01:05:56to salvage some of Ferrari's lost dignity in 1984.
01:05:59There is the green Alfa of Riccardo Petrezzi
01:06:02taking third place.
01:06:04And crawling to the flag,
01:06:06Stefan Johansson has brought the Toleman home fourth
01:06:09in his first outing for that team.
01:06:12Joe Gartner is fifth in the Osella.
01:06:14Gerhard Berger is sixth in the ATS.
01:06:16Both of those two scoring their first championship points.
01:06:20And the championship points table shows Niki Lauda
01:06:23with 11.5 points lead ahead of Alain Prost.
01:06:28Prost can still take the championship,
01:06:31but he'll have to beat Niki Lauda in the two remaining races to do it.
01:06:34McLaren's, of course, conclusively the Constructors' Champions already.
01:06:39And we'll be back with John Bisignano
01:06:41talking to the Italian Grand Prix winner Niki Lauda after this.
01:06:47An incredibly technical victory here for Niki Lauda in Monza.
01:06:52Niki, a great race. Everything working well?
01:06:54Yes, everything was OK, no problems.
01:06:56In the end, I could pass everybody,
01:06:58only my back hurt a little bit, but everything else was good.
01:07:01Niki, were you holding back, waiting to save your tyres
01:07:04or maybe the people in front of you make a mistake?
01:07:07I was holding back, because especially when Prost stopped,
01:07:09I wanted to make sure that I can finish.
01:07:11How much does that worry you when you see your team-mate
01:07:14in an identical car go out?
01:07:15Not at all, because it doesn't mean my guys go out.
01:07:18It doesn't mean you're going to go out.
01:07:20Niki, you're leading the World Championship now.
01:07:22The next two races, very important, right?
01:07:23Correct. You have to see, it's better to lead with 10.5 points
01:07:26than with 1.5 points.
01:07:28Michele Alvarado, having a great day here in Monza.
01:07:31A little bit better than yesterday, Michele.
01:07:33You must be very pleased with your second-place finish.
01:07:36Thank you. And I think before the race,
01:07:38it's very difficult to think in these good results.
01:07:42Yesterday, you were going to be happy to even score one point,
01:07:45and here you get six of them.
01:07:46Yes, it's five more.
01:07:48I think for the end of the season, I am happy now.
01:07:50Michele, at the beginning,
01:07:52you were passing two and three cars a lap.
01:07:54You must have gotten a fantastic start
01:07:55and everything working very well the first few laps.
01:07:58Yes, but I know very well Monza,
01:07:59and I remember when I drive my Formula 3 car here,
01:08:04and when I drive my Formula 3, it's normal, this overtaking.
01:08:09It's not normal to have thousands and thousands of people
01:08:12chanting your name.
01:08:13What does that do for you?
01:08:15Emotionally, it's very important for me,
01:08:19and I think this year, we have not a good result,
01:08:24but the support of the fans is the same, I think.
01:08:28Well, you've returned their enthusiasm and support
01:08:31very well, Michele. Congratulations.
01:08:32Thank you a lot.
01:08:34This has been John Bisignano and Simon Taylor.
01:08:37We've enjoyed bringing you this ESPN coverage
01:08:40of the Italian Grand Prix.