Grand Prix Insider

After all the excitement of the race at Spa the next stop on the championship trail was the favourite of most of the drivers - Monaco. And while cars with normally aspirated engines would be in good shape for the race, Derek Warwick would have to go through pre-qualifying to end up show of his best races ever.

However one of the big drawbacks of racing round the streets of the Principality is that places on the grid are limited and so the spectre of pre-qualifying once again reared its head. The Toleman, Theodore and RAM teams had to compete for the three remaining places on the grid. In the end the right to attempt to qualify proper was won by Warwick, Salazar and Giacomelli made it through, only for the latter pair to fall at ther next hurdle. Pole was claimed by Prost - again - despite the apparent unsuitabilty of the turbo cars to the twisting circuit. Best of the non-turbo machines was Rosberg back in fifth place alongside Piquet.

When the lights went out to start the race a light rain was falling. That didn’t stop Rosberg who got past Cheever with ease and slotted in behind race leader Prost who made on his usual fautless starts. Arnoux, who also started on the front row lost out to Tambay and de Cesaris and was almost taken by Jarier running into Ste Devote. For a change everyone got round the first corner intact although by the end of the first lap only 18 cars were still running. Alboreto had collided with Mansell at the Swimming Pool and both were out of the race.

At the front Rosberg waited for the start of the second lap before slipping past Prost with relative ease and was in the lead. Around the track the rain had eased off and the clever drivers were finding the dry side of the track easier to run on, even if it meant taking unusual lines through the bends. At the back of the field Boesel and Winkelhock had a coming together that saw both of take an early shower.

By lap 6 most of the drivers were coming in to lose their wet tyres, but it was too late for Arnoux who clipped the barrier heavily while avoiding Laffite who was on a charge by now. Arnoux made it back to the pits but even a wheel change didn’t help and was soon parking up. Laffite took advantage of the situation and was soon up to second place behind his team-mate who was streaking into the distance.

With the Williams running so far in front attention turned to the scrap between Warwick and Piquet and Prost. The Englishman was defending his fourth place magnificently in the dog of a Toleman although most expected that it would only be a matter of time before the turbo-cars got through. The problem was that no-one had told Derek and he continued to battle for over almost half the race. It was only when his machinery let him down that he was finally forced to retire.

On the very same lap Laffite was forced out with a busted gearbox leaving Rosberg up front with Piquet and Prost bearing down hard. In the end they failed to close the gap and the Finn - always a master in wet-dry races finished at the front of the field.

XLI Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco - 1983 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix, Monaco.

Pole Position: Alain Prost, Renault RE40, 1m 24.840s, 140.537 km/h (87.344 mph) average.

Race Result: Winner – Keke Rosberg, Williams FW08C-Ford, 76 laps x 3.312 km (2.058 miles) = 251.712 km (156.440 miles) total race distance in 1h 56m 38.121s, 129.487 km/h (80.477 mph) average.

2) Nelson Piquet, Brabham BT52-BMW + 18.475
3) Alain Prost, Renault RE40 + 31.366
4) Patrick Tambay, Ferrari 126C2B +1m 04.297s
5) Danny Sullivan, Tyrrell 011-Ford + 2 Laps
6) Mauro Baldi, Alfa Romeo 183T + 2 Laps

Fastest Lap: Nelson Piquet, Brabham BT52-BMW, 1m 27.283s on lap 69 = 136.604 km/h (84.900 mph) average.