1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix

The 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix (the retronym Las Vegas Grand Prix has been used by Formula One broadcasts since 2023) was a Formula One motor race held on September 25, 1982, in Las Vegas , Nevada . It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1982 FIA Formula One World Championship , and the second F1 race in Las Vegas, and the last F1 race to be held in Caesars Palace.

When the 1982 Formula One schedule was first released in October 1981, the Caesars Palace Grand Prix was scheduled for Saturday, October 16, 1982. [ 2 ]

In response, CART president John Frasco said, "I don't know all the politics, but it's pretty obvious FISA doesn't want to race with us... I didn't think we were competing against each other because we would be racing on different configurations. Caesars Palace thought the doubleheader concept was fascinating, so did Bernie Ecclestone , and so did we. But obviously, other people involved didn't feel that way." [ 5 ]

For the first time since the World Championship began in 1950, a country hosted three rounds in the same season in 1982. The final race of the year, and the third in the US, would once again decide the Championship. Keke Rosberg of Williams had 42 points, to 33 for McLaren 's John Watson , and needed to finish sixth or better to secure the title. Meanwhile, the race was former world champion Mario Andretti 's final grand prix.

The course's tight turns and short straights allowed the non-turbo cars to be more competitive than usual, with Michele Alboreto 's Tyrrell and Eddie Cheever 's Talbot Ligier fastest among them. The turbocharged Renaults of Alain Prost and René Arnoux took first and second positions in qualifying, more than eight-tenths clear of Alboreto. The two Championship contenders, Rosberg and Watson, meanwhile, were in sixth and ninth places respectively, separated by the Ferraris of Mario Andretti and Pa...

For the first ten laps, the Renaults steadily pulled away from Alboreto, with Arnoux now leading Prost. The Tyrrell began to match Arnoux's times, however, and then to close on him, as Prost took back the lead on lap 15. Speculation of a problem with Arnoux's car proved true, as the Renault was faltering, and he retired on lap 21.

Watson, meanwhile, had dropped to twelfth in the opening laps, but passed Piquet on lap 12, then Rosberg, Andretti and Cheever on successive laps, eventually reaching third place, with a thirty-second gap to the two leaders. However, when Andretti, hoping to help clinch the Constructors' title for Ferrari, slid off directly in front of Rosberg on lap 27 with a broken rear suspension link, Rosberg took over the fifth place he sought.

Among the leaders, Alboreto began inching closer to Prost again, and Watson continued to close on both of them. Niki Lauda 's McLaren retired on lap 54, while Alboreto had eliminated the gap to Prost, and gotten by him to take the lead in a Grand Prix for the first time. Prost's tires were picking up rubber and had developed a vibration. In four more laps, Watson had also caught and passed him, but he was having the same problem as Prost, and so could make no progress on Alboreto.

Alboreto cruised to a comfortable victory, his first ever and the first for Tyrrell in four years. Alboreto was the 11th different victor that year. Cheever was also able to overtake the ailing Prost for third, nine laps from the end. Less than three seconds behind Prost, and the last car on the lead lap, was Rosberg, who therefore won the world title. Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship despite not finishing in the points.