1982 French Grand Prix

The **1982 French Grand Prix**was a Formula One motor race held at Dijon-Prenois on 25th July 1982. It was the ninth race in both the 1982 Drivers' Championship and the 1982 Constructors' Championship.

## Background

News broke a few days before the race that Lotus team owner and principal Colin Chapman had passed away at his home in Norfolk. Chapman lead Lotus to widespread success in Formula One and was instrumental in developing and introducing the revolutionary ground effect that was introduced into the sport in recent years. The paddock sent an outpouring of respects to Chapman and his family, with Stefan Van Damme delivering a heartfelt message when asked how he was coping during the Thursday press conference.

## Qualifying

Fabiano Margheriti took his second consecutive pole of the season, half a second ahead of Ligier's Emile Levesque. Chuck Dingley qualified third, almost a second off of Fabiano's pole time, whilst the British GP race winner Stefan Van Damme struggled to find a balance throughout qualifying, and was forced to settle for 10th on the grid after being held up on his final two laps by Brett Spiros and Nate O'Brien respectively.

## Race Summary

Polesitter Fabiano Margheriti got off the line cleanly, but there was contact further back between Danilo Koren and Chuck Dingley after Koren outbroke himself into the first corner. He ran wide into Dingley, sending both drivers into the gravel and to the back of the field. Gyozo Szel was forced to retire just moments into the race after he lost control and was collected by Williams' William O'Conner. At the end of the opening lap, Levesque lost the rear of his Ligier in the penultimate corner, spinning off into the barrier, making it four retirements in four races for the Canadian.

Stefan Van Damme took advantage of the misfortunes of the cars ahead and had a blistering start, going from 10th to 3rd on the opening lap. Van Damme's 3rd turned into 2nd on the following lap after he overtook Bruce Kerrigan in the Parabolique after Kerrigan ran wide at the previous corner. Mick Ashcroft followed Van Damme past Kerrigan, but contact in the following corner after Kerrigan misjudged Ashcroft braking point resulted in Ashcroft's DNF and fifth consecutive non-points finish.

Fabiano Margheriti looked to be in a class of his own much like he was in qualifying. He had almost a 10 second gap over teammate Van Damme by lap five of the race and consistently lapped almost a second faster than him.

In a race where Van Damme was en route to take the lead of the championship thanks to Dingley's first corner incident, disaster struck for the Belgian on lap 15 when the lapped ATS of Laurent Leroux lost the rear of his car into turn one, overcorrecting directly into the path of Van Damme, who had nowhere to go. Van Damme struck the ATS, snapping his right front suspension and retiring in a race that had looked to be another easy Ferrari 1-2. It was the Belgian driver's first retirement of the season.

After the pit-stops had cycled through on lap 20, Fabiano held a lead of over 20 seconds to Kun-woo Chang. Chang had been scooped up by Brabham to replace Connor Burns after his debut in Brands Hatch, while Danilo Koren had recovered to 3rd after the first lap collision with Dingley. Koren overtook Chang on the following lap when Chang made a mistake and ran into the gravel trap, losing over five seconds and falling into the clutches of fourth-placed Dingley.

Dingley managed to pass Chang a few laps later down the main straight and set his sights on Koren, methodically closing the gap by a handful of tenths every lap. On lap 30 Dingley slipstreamed past Koren to take second. It capped off an amazing recovery drive for the American driver after falling to last and almost getting beached in the gravel due to the contact with Koren on the first lap.

Fabiano Margheriti was able to coast to victory, over half a minute clear of second-placed Dingley. Koren completed the podium, while Chang finished fourth in his second Formula One race. Bruce Kerrigan was able to snatch 5th from Skylar West on the main straight, after West had to conserve fuel in the final laps of the race.

After the race, FIA stewards announced that Koren received a 10 second time penalty for his first corner collision with Dingley. The penalty promoted Chang onto the podium, a result Brabham desperately needed after not scoring a point since the Belgian Grand Prix.

## Championship Standings

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