How Elio de Angelis won the '82 Austrian GP 'by a foot'

F1

On this day in 1982, Elio de Angelis won the Austrian GP by 0.050 seconds ahead of a charging Keke Rosberg

Elio de Angelis, Lotus-Ford 91, Grand Prix of Austria, Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria, August 15, 1982. (Photo by Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images)

De Angelis en route to first F1 win in Austria

Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images

Author

Edward Hardy

On this day 40 years ago, Formula 1 had one of its tightest ever finishes, as Elio de Angelis won a 1982 Austrian Grand Prix which, in hindsight, was poignant on many levels.

The victory, claimed at the fearsome Österreichring, was the last for Lotus when run by its force-of-nature founder Colin Chapman; it was a debut win for de Angelis, who would die four years later in a testing crash and it was a race which typified the brilliant and tragic ’82 championship, won with a single race victory by the fearless Keke Rosberg in a year which saw the deaths of Gilles Villeneuve and Ricardo Palletti and a career-ending crash for Didier Pironi.

Ranking fourth at the time of writing on the all-time closest finishes list, the win gave the de Angelis the first of two career grand prix victories after he managed to hold off a charging champion-to-be Rosberg.

It was a race which had drama in spades, with numerous leaderboard changes and 19 retirements helping de Angelis win from seventh on the grid.

Initially it looked to be a routine victory for Brabham, which had managed to take a dominant 1-2 in qualifying. The reigning world champion at the time Nelson Piquet had claimed pole by 0.359 sec ahead of team-mate Riccardo Patrese, with Alain Prost in third over a second behind the Brazilian.

The next day, however, Prost split the team-mates off the line, before Patrese regained the place later in the lap. The front-runners still got away unscathed as drama unfolded behind.

The Alfa Romeo cars starting P11 and P13 collided off the starting grid, with the Williams of Derek Daly also getting caught up in an incident which eliminated all three drivers before Turn 1.

The drama continued on lap 2: Patrick Tambay suffered a puncture which put him out of contention, Michele Alboreto crashed his Tyrrell on the Bosche curve, and Patrese snatched the lead from his team-mate, before Arnoux retired on lap 17.

Shortly before half distance, de Angelis was in fourth.

ACT

Tambay [right] recovered well from his puncture to finish the race where he started

Piquet pitted on the same lap as Arnoux’s retirement – for the first mid-race fuel and tyre stop in modern F1 – rejoining in fourth, but struggled for pace in his second stint, while Patrese then suffered an engine failure ten laps later.

Piquet’s Brabham then came to a stop four laps later with an electrical issue as the team’s day ended in disaster.

However, even at this point a race win wasn’t really on the cards for de Angelis – new race leader Alain Prost was half a minute down the road – it was the Frenchman’s race to lose the race was his to lose.

From the archive

In fact, the biggest worry for the de Angelis at this point was Rosberg behind, who was rapidly reducing a 10-second deficit after being free of Piquet’s Brabham. Prost who was on for a simple victory, but then it all went wrong with five laps to go after his Renault‘s turbos failed and ignited.

Now the win was truly on for new leader de Angelis, but the Italian had a very fast Rosberg on his tail, who was also chasing a maiden grand prix victory at the time. At the start of the final lap, just 1.6 seconds separated the pair.

Rosberg put in a blistering last tour, and was right on the race leader’s gearbox heading into the last turn, as de Angelis defended the inside line but slid wide on the exit of the corner, allowing the Finnish driver to dive down the inside.

However, it wasn’t enough – the Lotus man claimed the win by 0.05secs.

De Angelis emphasised just how tight it was: “Unfortunately Keke was very, very quick,” he told Murray Walker after the race. “I couldn’t push more because I was worried about my tyres.”

ACT

Despite how close it was at the front, over a lap then separated them to the rest of the field with Jacques Laffite [pictured] in third

“Oh yes of course,” said team boss Colin Chapman when he was asked if he had any doubts in the closing laps. “But Elio was driving such a well-judged race, he was losing half a second and he just had enough in hand. I think he showed a marvelous maturity that many drivers wouldn’t show.”

A first Hethel win in three years, Chapman also spoke of his hopes for ’83, as Lotus had just signed to use turbo Renault engines in the coming season.

The Lotus boss would never see those plans come to fruition though – he suffered a fatal heart attack the following December.

HoF Colin Chapman

Austria represented the final Lotus win Chapman would see

De Angelis, known to be a sensitive and charming character, “Probably never felt quite the same about Lotus again,” said Nigel Roebuck in 2006.

For the 24-year-old Italian, Austria should have represented the first of a number of wins in what look to be a promising career.

However, he would only take one more victory, at Imola in ’85, before he was tragically killed the following year in an accident at Paul Ricard whilst testing for Brabham.

Forty years after this glorious win though, Chapman and de Angelis still shine brightly as they ever did.

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