Qualifying
The front row of the grid was filled by the Ferraris of René Arnoux and Patrick Tambay , Arnoux over 0.6 seconds ahead. Arnoux created history with his lap as he was the first driver ever to lap Silverstone in under 70 seconds. Drivers' Championship leader Alain Prost was third in his Renault , with Elio de Angelis in the Lotus alongside him on the second row. The two Brabhams made up the third row with Riccardo Patrese ahead of Nelson Piquet , while on the fourth row were Eddie Cheever in the s... Reigning World Champion Rosberg, the fastest of the non-turbos, was some 4.293 seconds slower than Arnoux. Soon to be local hero Nigel Mansell , having his first Grand Prix in the Lotus Renault, qualified 18th after a troubled practice in sorting the new car. Mansell had raced in the non-championship 1983 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in the turbo powered Lotus 93T earlier in the season, but until Silverstone his only Grands Prix were in the Ford powered cars.
Race
In the Drivers' Championship, Prost doubled his lead over Piquet to six points, with Tambay two points further back. Renault moved into the outright lead of the Constructors' Championship, three points ahead of Ferrari.
Race Result
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Tyre | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | Alain Prost | Renault | M | 67 |
| 2 | 5 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | M | 67 |
| 3 | 27 | Patrick Tambay | Ferrari | G | 67 |
| 4 | 12 | Nigel Mansell | Lotus-Renault | P | 67 |
| 5 | 28 | René Arnoux | Ferrari | G | 67 |
| 6 | 8 | Niki Lauda | McLaren-Ford | M | 66 |
| 7 | 23 | Mauro Baldi | Alfa Romeo | M | 66 |
| 8 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Alfa Romeo | M | 66 |
| 9 | 7 | John Watson | McLaren-Ford | M | 66 |
| 10 | 25 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | Ligier-Ford | M | 65 |
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 | René Arnoux | Ferrari | 1:10.436 | 1:09.462 |
| 2 | 27 | Patrick Tambay | Ferrari | 1:10.874 | 1:10.104 |
| 3 | 15 | Alain Prost | Renault | 1:10.170 | 1:10.808 |
| 4 | 11 | Elio de Angelis | Lotus-Renault | 1:10.771 | 1:11.114 |
| 5 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | 1:11.246 | 1:10.881 |
| 6 | 5 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | 1:11.098 | 1:10.933 |
| 7 | 16 | Eddie Cheever | Renault | 1:11.055 | 1:11.520 |
| 8 | 9 | Manfred Winkelhock | ATS-BMW | 1:13.493 | 1:11.687 |
| 9 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Alfa Romeo | 1:13.163 | 1:12.150 |
| 10 | 35 | Derek Warwick | Toleman-Hart | 1:12.528 | 1:12.541 |
Championship Standings After This Race
The Paddock Breakdown
Barry · Gary · KatGary — 33 · Three Fantasy F1 leagues
The air hangs thick with the scent of burning rubber and something far more potent – the subtle, almost metallic tang of BMW's H6 engine struggling to maintain its peak in the damp conditions. Arnoux's blistering qualifying lap, a testament to that 2. 6-liter displacement, was built on a razor's edge; a mere 0. 6 second advantage is all that separated him from Tambay's Ferrari, and a slight shift in the track's slick surface could have undone everything. Don't mistake the speed for dominance; the Brabham-BMW pairing, despite Piquet's finish, was battling a tire compound mismatch – those BMW-supplied Dunlops simply weren't harmonizing with the Silverstone asphalt.
4 seconds, a margin of nearly half a second over Tambay—felt like a deliberate statement. Consider the numbers: a Ferrari dominating a track where McLaren-Ford had previously held sway. Sixteen races in, and Ferrari's statistical advantage, particularly in qualifying, was beginning to resemble a quiet, insistent tide.
Kat — 30 · Technical journalist
The air around the Ferrari garage hung thick with a silence that wasn't contentment. Tambay's third place was a respectable result, sure, but the whispers emanating from Enzo's office were a different beast entirely. Arnoux, meanwhile, was practically radiating a barely contained fury – a consequence, I suspect, of BMW's increasingly insistent demands regarding engine development. A subtle shift in power, perhaps? Don't be fooled by the Italian flag; this race was rapidly becoming a battle for technological dominion. The young Frenchman isn't merely chasing points; he's positioning himself to dictate the terms of engagement for the remainder of the season. A dangerous game, wouldn't you agree?
Tambay. Always the quiet observer, isn't he? You wouldn't think a man who's spent a decade at Ferrari would be so utterly detached from the simmering tension here. He's a technician, a craftsman of a car, and frankly, he seems to view this whole championship battle as a particularly complex engineering problem. Don't mistake that for lack of ambition, though. He's a survivor, and he knows how to position himself – a crucial asset for a team suddenly finding itself in the shadows. The Ferrari hierarchy, particularly Luca di Monteverde, clearly sees him as a fallback, a way to absorb the pressure if things, as they often do, go sideways. A fascinating study in calculated restraint.