The 1983 French Grand Prix was a Formula One

motor race Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of ...

held at

Paul Ricard Paul Louis Marius Ricard (; July 9, 1909 – November 7, 1997) was a French industrialist and creator of an eponymous pastis brand which merged in 1975 with its competitor Pernod to create Pernod Ricard. Ricard was also an environmentalist and t ...

on April 17, 1983. French driver

Alain Prost Alain Marie Pascal Prost (; born 24 February 1955) is a French retired racing driver and Formula One team owner. A four-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, from 1987 until 2001 he held the record for most Grand Prix victories until Micha ...

won the race for the Renault team, and this was the French marque's 3rd French Grand Prix win in a row and the 4th in 5 seasons. Second was the

Brabham Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four ...

- BMW of World Champion Nelson Piquet, with Prost's Renault teammate

Eddie Cheever Edward McKay "Eddie" Cheever Jr. (born January 10, 1958) is an American former racing driver who raced for almost 30 years in Formula One, Sports car racing, sports cars, Champ Car, CART, and the Indy Racing League. Cheever participated in 143 F ...

finishing third. Rounding out the points finishers were

Patrick Tambay Patrick Daniel Tambay (25 June 1949 – 4 December 2022) was a French racing driver, commentator, and politician, who competed in 123 Formula One races between 1977 and 1986, securing five pole positions and winning twice. Between 1977 and 1981 ...

in his Ferrari, and the non-turbo Williamses of

Keke Rosberg Keijo Erik Rosberg (born 6 December 1948), known as "Keke" (), is a Finnish former racing driver and winner of the Formula One World Championship. He was the first Finnish driver to compete regularly in the series, as well as the first Finnish ...

and

Jacques Laffite Jacques-Henri Laffite (; born 21 November 1943) is a French former racing driver who competed in Formula One from to . He achieved six Grand Prix wins, all while driving for the Ligier team. From 1997 to 2013, Laffite was a presenter for TF1. ...

. This was the final time that both Renault cars started on the front row until the

2003 Malaysian Grand Prix The 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix (officially the 2003 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 23 March 2003 at the Sepang International Circuit. It was the second race of the 2003 Formula One season, and it was won by Kim ...

, when young Spaniard

Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and M ...

and Jarno Trulli started on the front row.

Summary

Qualifying

On home soil, Renault dominated the French Grand Prix. Alain Prost took pole position 2.3 seconds faster than second placed teammate Eddie Cheever. On the fast Circuit Paul Ricard with its 1.8 km long Mistral Straight, turbo engines had a large advantage. The fastest normally-aspirated car was the 12th placed

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formu ...

- Ford of

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...

runner up Niki Lauda, qualifying some 4.3 seconds slower than pole-sitter Prost. After occupying the front row of the grid at Long Beach, Ferrari had difficulty with

René Arnoux René Alexandre Arnoux (; born 4 July 1948) is a French former racing driver who competed in 12 Formula One seasons (1978 to 1989). He participated in 165 World Championship Grands Prix (149 starts) winning seven of them, achieving 22 podium fin ...

qualifying 4th and Tambay qualifying 11th. Failing to qualify for the race were the RAM-Fords of Eliseo Salazar and debutante Jean-Louis Schlesser and the Osella of

Piercarlo Ghinzani Piercarlo Ghinzani (born 16 January 1952) is a former racing driver from Italy. He currently manages his own racing team, Team Ghinzani, which was created in 1992 and is currently involved in several Formula Three championships. Early career B ...

Race

As he had done in qualifying, Prost dominated the race for his first win in over 12 months, only losing the lead during the mid-race pit stops. Piquet finished second in the Brabham-BMW while Eddie Cheever finished 3rd in his Renault. Tambay managed to salvage what had been a tough weekend by finishing 4th with the Williams pair of Rosberg and Laffite finishing a lap down in 5th and 6th respectively. Before the race, Lotus driver

Nigel Mansell Nigel Ernest James Mansell, (; born 8 August 1953) is a British retired racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship ( 1992) and the CART Indy Car World Series (1993 CART World Series Season, 1993). Mansell was the reigning ...

had his toes accidentally run over by his own team pushing his car in the pits which caused him to need a pain killing injection. He started the race but retired after just 6 laps when the pain of pushing the pedals became unbearable. Long Beach winner John Watson was the races first retirement on lap 3 with engine failure in his McLaren.

Classification

Qualifying

*† — Time disallowed

Race

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings *Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

{{F1GP 80-89 French Grand Prix French Grand Prix

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...