Race
Drivers' Championship leader, Frenchman Alain Prost , could only manage fourth in his Renault , but nonetheless extended his lead in the championship to nine points over Brazilian Nelson Piquet , who failed to score in the other Brabham-BMW. With his second win in three races, Arnoux moved up to fourth in the championship, five points behind Piquet and three behind Tambay in third. Niki Lauda was disqualified from fifth for reversing his McLaren - Ford in the pits.
Race Result
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Tyre | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 | René Arnoux | Ferrari | G | 45 |
| 2 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Alfa Romeo | M | 45 |
| 3 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | M | 45 |
| 4 | 15 | Alain Prost | Renault | M | 45 |
| 5 | 7 | John Watson | McLaren-Ford | M | 44 |
| 6 | 2 | Jacques Laffite | Williams-Ford | G | 44 |
| 7 | 29 | Marc Surer | Arrows-Ford | G | 44 |
| 8 | 25 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | Ligier-Ford | M | 44 |
| 9 | 30 | Thierry Boutsen | Arrows-Ford | G | 44 |
| 10 | 1 | Keke Rosberg | Williams-Ford | G | 44 |
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 | Patrick Tambay | Ferrari | 1:49.328 | 2:10.057 |
| 2 | 28 | René Arnoux | Ferrari | 1:49.435 | 2:09.594 |
| 3 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Alfa Romeo | 1:50.845 | 2:16.694 |
| 4 | 5 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | 1:51.082 | 2:16.969 |
| 5 | 15 | Alain Prost | Renault | 1:51.228 | 2:13.620 |
| 6 | 16 | Eddie Cheever | Renault | 1:51.540 | 2:09.752 |
| 7 | 23 | Mauro Baldi | Alfa Romeo | 1:51.867 | 2:15.218 |
| 8 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | 1:52.105 | no time |
| 9 | 35 | Derek Warwick | Toleman-Hart | 1:54.199 | 2:13.461 |
| 10 | 36 | Bruno Giacomelli | Toleman-Hart | 1:54.648 | 13:17.646 |
Championship Standings After This Race
The Paddock Breakdown
Barry · Gary · KatGary — 33 · Three Fantasy F1 leagues
The Hockenheimring shimmered under a late August sun, a stage sculpted from granite and memory. René Arnoux, a sculptor of speed in his Ferrari 178T4 – a machine breathing 720 horsepower – navigated the hairpin bends with a precision born of instinct and a deep understanding of the asphalt. A failure of the Alfa Romeo's 2. 0-liter V8, a unit pushing 725 bhp, robbed Andrea de Cesaris of a hard-earned second place, a cruel twist of fate for the Italian. The air itself tasted of burning rubber and ambition, a potent cocktail that defined this era.
René Arnoux, emerging victorious from second, achieved a win ratio of precisely one in every four Grand Prix appearances – a statistic mirroring, with unsettling accuracy, the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio's own. A curious anomaly unfolded: Patrick Tambay's premature retirement, a catastrophic engine failure on lap twelve, deprived Ferrari of a perfect weekend, and the Italian marque's pole position count remained frustratingly stagnant at just one. Nelson Piquet's absence, a lack of points, effectively gifted Alain Prost a crucial nine-point advantage, a numerical chasm widening with each passing, rain-soaked lap.
Kat — 30 · Technical journalist
The rain, a bruised purple slick, clung to the Hockenheimring, mirroring the tension radiating from the Ferrari garage. Arnoux, a predator in the downpour, wrestled his machine forward, the engine's howl a desperate plea against the storm. A fleeting glimpse of the pit wall – Tambay's stricken face, the mechanical scream of a failing engine, a tragedy unfolding in the heart of a championship battle. The scent of ozone and burning oil, a primal perfume of speed and destruction. Victory, it seemed, would be carved from the wreckage of a dream.
The rain, a persistent, sullen grey, mirrored the face of Patrick Tambay as he climbed from his stricken Ferrari. A mechanic, young Klaus, offered a silent hand, a gesture of shared frustration amidst the echoing clang of the pit wall. He'd been so precise, so utterly confident just moments before, a sculptor meticulously shaping his machine to perfection. That engine, a snarling beast of a Judd-Hart, betrayed him with a shudder, a violent expulsion of steam. Tambay, a man of quiet dignity, simply nodded, accepting the inevitable, a familiar sorrow etched upon his features. The Hockenheimring, soaked and silent, held its breath, mourning a lost opportunity, a testament to the capricious nature of speed. It was a brutal reminder: even the most masterful of hands cannot always tame the fury of the track.