[Race] The GROAT - Round 2 - 1983 Long Beach vs 1989 Suzuka

[crmalcolm]

1983 Long Beach
The race got under way with Rosberg immediately passing Arnoux off the line (sliding into the Frenchman through the torque of the Cosworth engine), before attempting to take Tambay later in the lap. Arnoux, meanwhile fell to fifth over the remainder of the lap, while Riccardo Patrese jumped to sixth off the line. By the second lap, however, Rosberg had a spin (fortunate not to tap the wall) and fell behind his team mate Jacques Laffite. It was not long, however, before Rosberg was back up to second.

Derek Warwick was the first of the leaders to fall, a spin causing too much damage to the cooling system of the Hart engined Toleman. At the front, meanwhile, Rosberg was all over the back of Tambay, the Williams not suffering from the turbo lag that plagued the Ferrari. Behind them, Jean-Pierre Jarier had climbed into the top six, taking Patrese quickly. Jarier then locked up going into the next corner, sliding into the front of Michele Alboreto, causing Alboreto to pit and allowing Patrese into fourth.

The battle for the lead was then decided by Rosberg, who had a forced his way up the inside of Tambay going into the hairpin. Rosberg slammed on the brakes in an attempt to make the corner, although Tambay drove across the front of the Finn, launching the Ferrari into the air. Tambay retired there and then, with Rosberg seemingly unaffected, until he pulled off with suspension damage. The lead was handed to Laffite, although the initative was with the charging McLarens.

Although they had qualified 22nd and 23rd, and shod with Michelin tyres, Niki Lauda and John Watson had worked together to get into the points, and by the time of the Tambay/Rosberg incident were only 20 seconds behind. Lauda had got the better start and led the pair through the field, until Watson used his skill in overtaking to take his Austrian team mate on lap 33. Lauda then stuck onto the wing of Watson, as they drew in the leaders. On lap 44, Watson and Lauda both slid past Patrese at the hairpin, and then were on the back of Laffite. A feint by Watson gave him the lead on the 45th lap at the hairpin, with Lauda soon battling past the Williams for second.

Watson and Lauda streaked away at the front, as Laffite fell away, falling behind Patrese soon after. Eddie Cheever and Arnoux had an exciting duel for a time, with Cheever giving room to Arnoux when needed. The pair came across the slowing Laffite, with Arnoux using the tow of both cars to take fourth, with Cheever also getting past the Williams for sixth. Cheever then gave Arnoux a taste of his own medicine by taking fourth from the Ferrari, before again defending from the Ferrari.

Cheever then suffered a gear box failure just 7 laps from the end, while Patrese developed a fault on his distributor, costing him a significant amount of time each lap. Their demise (although Patrese continued) promoted Laffite back to fourth, Marc Surer (whose team mate Jones retired with fatigue on lap 59) into fifth and the young Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto into sixth. At the front, however, Watson proved unstoppable, taking his fifth and final victory ahead of Lauda and Arnoux.


1989 Suzuka
Qualifying would see Senna claim his twelfth pole position of the season, while Prost secured second alongside. Behind them came the two Ferraris of Gerhard Berger and Nigel Mansell, while Riccardo Patrese and Alessandro Nannini shared the third row.

However, while Senna won the battle in qualifying, it was Prost who won the battle of the start, easing ahead of the Brazilian into the first corner. They both managed to pull clear of the Ferraris during the opening tour, with Berger and Mansell fighting with Nannini.

All of the attention would be on the battle of the McLarens out front, for Senna had to win the race just to keep his title hopes alive. At half-distance it seemed as if Prost was destined to win the battle, having established a five second lead, only for Senna to inch his way back towards him as the race wore on.

By lap 40 the Brazilian was right on the Frenchman's tail, but was unable to pull off a move, for Prost was quicker down the straights. Indeed, it was going to take a lunge from Senna to claim the lead, with the Brazilian making several sighting moves into the chicane.

At the end of lap 46 Senna finally made his move, slinging his McLaren inside Prost's car as they braked for the chicane. A huge smack between the two left Prost with suspension damage and a stalled engine, while Senna was left with wing damage and a stalled Honda unit.

However, while Prost abandoned his car, Senna would be able to bump start his car, having been pushed twice by the marshals. He subsequently cut across the chicane, entered the pits for a fresh front wing and rejoined, before hunting down Nannini in the closing stages.

With three laps to go the Brazilian scythed past the Benetton-Ford Cosworth to reclaim the lead, before sprinting away to claim victory. However, immediately after the race the officials opted to disqualify Senna for missing the chicane, with the Brazilian also hit with a six month ban (albeit suspended) and a $100,000 fine.

Nannini was hence declared the victor of the Japanese Grand Prix, while Prost was declared as the winner of the Championship with a race to spare. Elsewhere, Patrese beat Thierry Boutsen to second, while Nelson Piquet, Martin Brundle and Derek Warwick claimed the remaining points.