1984 Formula One season

F1 season
Previous = 1983
Current = 1984
Next = 1985The 1984 Formula One season was the 35th FIA Formula One World Championship season. It commenced on March 25, 1984, and ended on October 21 after sixteen races.

During the season, the Tyrrell team had its results stripped after a technical infringement.

eason summary

The season had been expected to see a continuation of the Brabham-Renault-Ferrari battle, with supporting roles for McLaren, Honda and Lotus. McLaren however had stolen a march on its competitors thanks to its TAG turbo engine.

The FISA had introduced new fuel economy rules aimed at reducing speeds, providing 240 litres of fuel for the entire race. TAG commissioned German sports car manufacturer Porsche to design and build a turbo engine. Porsche had extensive experience with similar economy rules due to its participation in endurance racing and this translated in superior fuel economy.

Reigning world driver's champion Nelson Piquet and his Brabham-BMW were usually the fastest combination on track but appalling reliability meant he was never able to challenge consistently.

The season saw a titanic battle between both McLaren drivers Niki Lauda and Alain Prost. Prost had been sacked by Renault after failing to win the 1983 title. Fast and ambitious, the Frenchman quickly established his dominance over his team mate and easily proved the faster McLaren driver.

Austrian Niki Lauda had returned to F1 in 1982 and soon showed he had lost nothing of his earlier determination and guile. He regularly matched the pace of his 1982-1983 McLaren team mate John Watson, but Alain Prost was a different kettle of fish. Lauda quickly realized he could not beat his young team mate on speed. The wily Austrian therefore ignored qualifying and concentrated on his race strategies. By winning races when Prost ran into trouble and scoring relentlessly when Prost proved quicker, Lauda was just able to win the title.

But his strategy would have been for naught if not for the controversial Monaco Grand Prix. The race was run in heavy rain and Alain Prost eventually emerged in the lead, only to have Ayrton Senna in a Toleman-Hart catching him in second place. And behind them was Stefan Bellof in the Tyrrell-Cosworth catching the both of them! The race was eventually halted with Prost just in the lead and half points were awarded. Had the race continued, Senna or Bellof would most likely have won with Prost third. Tyrrell's disqualification later in the season would have elevated Prost into second place and those points would have given the Frenchman the title. Also it would had been the only win for a Toleman in Formula 1, if the race had gone to full distance and Ayrton Senna had completed it as well.

As it was, Niki Lauda won a hugely popular third driver's crown.

Drivers & Constructors

* On 18 July, Tyrrell was disqualified from all races so far that season, and banned from competing in remaining races, because the team had run illegal cars

1984 Drivers Championship final standings

Drivers' Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the first six finishers in each round.

External links

* [http://www.4mula1.ro/history/article/article9.html 1984 Formula 1 review]
* [http://f1-facts.com/results/season/1984 1984 Formula 1 World Championship results and images from f1-facts.com]