70th, Ferrari's Imola Chaos: Pironi's Surprise Victory Amidst Team Dispute
Political wrangling between the governing body and the member teams of FOCA meant only 14 cars presented themselves at Imola. It hurt the fans, of course, but also the FOCA teams themselves, for Ferrari finished 1-2 – and needed those points ultimately to beat McLaren to the constructors’ title.
1982 San Marino GP
April 25, Imola
The fastest cars at Imola were the Renaults of Prost and Arnoux, but Gilles Villeneuve – a second and a half faster in qualifying than Ferrari team-mate Didier Pironi – took the fight to them from the beginning, and when they broke looked set fair to win his first race in Italy.
Once the Renaults were gone, Villeneuve – mindful that the Ferraris were very marginal on fuel – backed off, allowing Pironi to catch him, and even occasionally overtake. Gilles assumed he was playing to the crowd, but was concerned by fuel consumption, for whenever Didier led the pace was a couple of seconds quicker.
Towards the end, Villeneuve was in front again, slowing the pace once more, and at this stage he believed his team-mate was behaving honourably, observing the ‘Hold’ signals from the Ferrari pit.
Not so. As they cruised round the final lap, just before Tosa – the last overtaking opportunity – Pironi suddenly spurted past, leaving Villeneuve no chance to respond. The crowd, it appeared, believed they had been ‘racing’.
After a furious slowing-down lap, Gilles brought his car into the paddock, slewing it to a stop after a final burst of throttle. As he stepped out, and removed his helmet, his face was livid. As I caught his eye, he uttered a single word – English, and of four letters – to sum up his feelings about his team-mate. He did not accompany Pironi and third man Alboreto on the lap of honour.
On the podium his expression said it all. This was farce, nothing less, and after a token appearance he left for the park where his helicopter awaited.
Two days later we spoke on the phone, and he told me he intended never to speak to Pironi again. Nor did he: in the last minutes of qualifying at the next race, Zolder, he clipped a slower car cruising in the middle of the track, and died in an accident of extraordinary violence. For some of us, at a time when so much else was awry with F1, the loss of Villeneuve was almost too much to take in. NSR
1st Didier Pironi (Ferrari)
2nd Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari)
3rd Michele Alboreto (Tyrrell-Ford)
Winner’s time & speed 1hr 36min 38.887sec, 116.651mph
Pole position René Arnoux (Renault), 1min 29.765sec, 125.597mph