1983 United States Grand Prix West

The 1983 United States Grand Prix West (officially the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach [ 2 ] ) was a Formula One motor race held on March 27, 1983 at Long Beach, California . It was the second race of the 1983 Formula One World Championship .

Qualifying

Once again, the Long Beach circuit had been slightly modified, primarily to free up Ocean Boulevard, one of the city's main thoroughfares. Since the alternate route on Seaside Way included a tunnel under the Long Beach convention center, the pits were moved to the long, curving Shoreline Drive section, where the start and finish lines were reunited for the first time since 1977.

As practice began on Friday, two bumps where the circuit rejoined the old layout at the end of the Seaside Way straight were causing problems. Some teams were concerned that the suspension on their cars would not last more than a few laps under race conditions. René Arnoux ( Ferrari ) was the first to go over the bumps flat out and his 1:26.935 led Alain Prost ( Renault ), Patrick Tambay (Ferrari) and Riccardo Patrese ( Brabham ) on the day's timing chart, while Nelson Piquet (Brabham), Lauda an...

Overnight repair work smoothed the problematic bumps. Tambay grabbed his first pole with a lap of 1:26.117, the only lap to beat teammate Arnoux's Friday time; Keke Rosberg ( Williams ) took third with 1:27.145, ahead of teammate Jacques Laffite . American Danny Sullivan ( Tyrrell ), in his only season of Formula One, managed ninth, while the other American in F1, Eddie Cheever (driving the older model Renault RE30C ) was 15th, 7 places behind team mate Prost in the newer RE40 model. The McLaren...

Making what would be an abortive comeback to Formula One, Australia 's 1980 World Champion Alan Jones took Chico Serra 's drive in the No.30 Arrows - Ford . Still recovering from a broken hip requiring a pin, the result of falling off a horse on his farm north of Melbourne , Jones qualified in a creditable 12th place for his first F1 GP since winning the final race of the 1981 season at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas .

Race

After one lap, Sullivan was up to sixth, behind Arnoux, and Cheever was ninth, immediately behind Prost. Sullivan was passed by Patrese on the second lap, and then by Prost and Cheever on lap three. Before long, however, Prost began dropping back with a misfire that had been plaguing him recurrently all weekend, and he finally pitted on lap 16. Cheever was able to get by Arnoux and Patrese when Arnoux began to lose grip from his Goodyears , and was up into fifth place. When Cheever entered the R...

Meanwhile, Rosberg had regained second place behind Tambay and, by lap 20, was again looking for a way by. The top six cars were all running very close together, and Rosberg soon found himself under increasing pressure from Laffite, who was in turn being hounded by Jean-Pierre Jarier 's Ligier and Patrese's Brabham .

On lap 26, Rosberg attempted to take the lead again, but collided with Tambay, who spun and stalled. Rosberg continued again, driving around the outside of the disabled car. As he entered the chicane before the start/finish line, he found his teammate Laffite alongside and Jarier almost touching his gearbox behind. The two Williams cars touched briefly, and Jarier ran into the back of Rosberg, who hit the wall, bounced off, and hit it again before sliding to a stop. Jarier continued, but only br...

Laffite was now in the lead, with Patrese in second. By lap 28, the McLarens were lying third and fourth, having passed Marc Surer , Sullivan and Johnny Cecotto . When Watson got by Lauda at the end of Shoreline Drive, he was 20 seconds behind the two leaders. With Watson closing the gap to the front and Laffite's tires going off quickly, Patrese challenged Laffite for the lead. He slid wide, and Watson and Lauda both passed before he rejoined the track. Soon after, the McLarens passed Laffite a...

With Laffite still struggling with his tires, Patrese was able to catch him up again and took third on lap 52. Arnoux was coming back through the field after a second tire stop, and was waging battle with Cheever for fifth place when they came upon Laffite on lap 67, again at the end of Shoreline Drive. At the hairpin, the Williams and Ferrari swapped places around Cheever, as Arnoux went from sixth to fourth in one corner. On the next lap, however, Cheever lost fifth place when he pulled off wi...

Quick Facts

1983 United States Grand Prix West Race 2 of 15 in the 1983 Formula One World Championship

1983 United States Grand Prix West nan

1983 United States Grand Prix West Race details

1983 United States Grand Prix West Date

1983 United States Grand Prix West Official name

1983 United States Grand Prix West Location

1983 United States Grand Prix West Course

1983 United States Grand Prix West Course length

1983 United States Grand Prix West Distance

1983 United States Grand Prix West Weather

Table 1

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2
1	27	Patrick Tambay	Ferrari	1:28.598	1:26.117
2	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	1:26.935	1:27.628
3	1	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Ford	1:29.577	1:27.145
4	2	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	1:30.529	1:27.818
5	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:31.624	1:27.982
6	35	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	no time	1:28.130
7	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1:29.066	1:28.425
8	15	Alain Prost	Renault	1:28.558	1:29.765
9	4	Danny Sullivan	Tyrrell-Ford	1:31.271	1:28.833
10	25	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ligier-Ford	1:29.600	1:28.913

Table 2

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps
1	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	M	75
2	8	Niki Lauda	McLaren-Ford	M	75
3	28	René Arnoux	Ferrari	G	75
4	2	Jacques Laffite	Williams-Ford	G	74
5	29	Marc Surer	Arrows-Ford	G	74
6	34	Johnny Cecotto	Theodore-Ford	G	74
7	26	Raul Boesel	Ligier-Ford	M	73
8	4	Danny Sullivan	Tyrrell-Ford	G	73
9	3	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	G	73
10	6	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	M	72

Table 3

Pos	Driver	Points	Unnamed: 3
1	Niki Lauda	10	nan
2	Nelson Piquet	9	nan
3	John Watson	9	nan
4	Jacques Laffite	6	nan
5	René Arnoux	4	nan
Source: [9]	Source: [9]	Source: [9]	Source: [9]

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F1ABY Commentary

Does the salt of California air truly wash away the ghosts of ambition, or does it merely sharpen the edges of a man’s desperate gamble? Watson, a warrior forged in the rain of Brands Hatch, wrestled his McLaren into a victory born not of flawless execution, but of a calculated, almost brutal, defiance. Lauda, a sculpted monument to resilience, mirrored his teammate’s ferocity, a testament to a spirit that refuses to yield, even when the track itself seems determined to break you. The echoes of Long Beach will forever be intertwined with the knowledge that this was a final, poignant farewell – a circuit relinquishing its place in the grand theater of Formula One, leaving behind a legacy etched in the sweat and the steel of those who dared to chase glory beneath the California sun. The Ferrari’s presence, a subtle assertion of Italian dominance, hinted at the shifting tides of power, a quiet acknowledgment of a changing landscape.

The rain hadn’t washed away the ghosts of ambition clinging to this track; John Watson, a man forged in the crucible of near-misses, simply seized the moment. This was not merely a victory, but the culmination of a lifetime spent chasing a sliver of impossible brilliance, a testament to the stubborn refusal to accept limitation. The roar of the crowd faded into the background as Watson, a solitary figure against the Californian sun, drove the narrative of his destiny.

F1ABY Trivia

The salt air hung heavy, a damp shroud over the track, mirroring perhaps, the tension clinging to the McLaren garage. Watson, a man sculpted by the storms of Northern Ireland, wrestled with the recalcitrant Ford-BMW V8 – a beast of 330 horsepower, a brute force attempting to tame by a will forged in peat and rain. Lauda, ever the stoic, methodically adjusted the engine mapping, a subtle dance with the 328 bhp unit, seeking an edge, a fraction of a second. The crowd, a restless sea of California dreams, anticipated a battle fought not just on asphalt, but within the very heart of these machines.

The air hung thick with the scent of salt and anticipation – a peculiar blend clinging to the California coastline. Observe, if you will, the curious symmetry of the day: precisely three drivers, Lauda and Arnoux included, began their race from the rear, a mirrored reflection of Watson’s own improbable rise. This was not merely a victory for McLaren-Ford; it was the quiet, insistent triumph of a spirit determined to rewrite the narrative.

F1ABY Tales

The rain, a venomous slick, hadn’t cared for reputations. Watson, clinging to the apex, a desperate prayer etched onto his face, wrestled the McLaren through Turn Nine. The crowd, a muted roar, sensed it – this was the moment. Lauda, a ghost beside him, a steel-grey presence, was relentless, a machine of calculated aggression. Thirty seconds remained, the gap shrinking to a razor’s edge. A final, agonizing correction, and the checkered flag, a brutal promise, hung suspended in the deluge. Long Beach, a graveyard of dreams, claimed another victim.

The rain hadn’t bothered Watson, not truly. He’d felt it in his bones, a cold anticipation mirroring the grit settling beneath his fingernails. A man sculpted by the Irish coast, he understood the capricious moods of the ocean, the sudden storms that could swallow a ship whole. This track, this California drizzle—it was simply another test, another opportunity to prove the resilience he’d cultivated over a lifetime chasing ghosts on asphalt. Twenty-second on the grid, a position earned not through speed, but through a stubborn refusal to yield. He’d spent the evening with Frank, dissecting telemetry, arguing the nuances of cornering—a familiar dance. Lauda, of course, was a constant, a quiet, almost mournful presence in the garage, a reminder of battles fought and lost. The scent of oil and ozone hung heavy, a potent cocktail of ambition and regret.