1983 Formula One Season

The **1983 Formula One season** was the 34th season of Formula One motor racing. The championship was contested concurrently over a twelve race series that commenced on 13th March and ended on 9th October.

Chuck Dingley entered the season as the reigning Drivers' Champion, but was unable to defend his championship after reliability issues plagued McLaren throughout the season.

Skylar West took a shock championship win, beating Williams' Vivaldo Margheriti on countback after the two collided at the season finale in Monza and ended the season tied on points.

## Season Summary

Following the ban of ground effect at the conclusion of the 1982 season, most of the grid had to radically overhaul their challengers from last season in order to regain some of the downforce they had lost. Along with this, reliability was getting worse and worse down the grid as teams started pushing higher boost pressures through their turbocharged engines.

Renault proved to be the dominant package throughout the season, as the team took ten of the twelve possible pole positions. Reliability issues plagued the French team though, with turbo failures becoming a norm throughout the season. This meant the team were only able to win four races, all of which were won by Skylar West. While driving a much slower car, Vivaldo Margheriti was able to challenge West through the season for the championship thanks to pure consistency, with the Italian finishing all twelve races.

Going into the final round of the season at Monza, West and Margheriti were tied on points and qualified on the front row together, with West taking pole over Margheriti by almost a second. Margheriti was able to get a better start than West and the two attempted to enter the first chicane but collided, sending West into the tyre barriers and out of the race. Vivaldo was able to continue but only managed to finish 9th in his heavily damaged Williams, handing West the championship on countback.

### **Round 1: South Africa**

Skylar West narrowly beat teammate Strip Weathers to pole position, while Stefan Van Damme qualified third, almost a second off of West's pole time. The two Renault drivers dominated the race, until Weathers' engine spectacularly failed in the closing laps. West comfortably won, beating Fabiano Margheriti by almost 45 seconds, while Vivaldo Margheriti finished in 3rd a further five seconds behind. James McLean scored a point by finishing sixth, after an aggressive counter-strategy paid off for the Osella team in their debut race.

### **Round 2: United States**

Renault once again dominated qualifying and started in 1st and 2nd for the race, with West starting from pole. They had a clean start and managed a gap to Fabiano Margheriti until West's engine failed halfway through the race. Fabiano caught up to the remaining Renault of Strip Weathers before making a move on the American driver at turn one. Margheriti went on to win the race by eight and took the lead of the championship in the process. Chuck Dingley finished on the final step of the podium, over thirty seconds behind Margheriti and Weathers.

### **Round 3: San Marino**

Skylar West took his third consecutive pole position of the season, with teammate Weathers following closely behind. The two Renaults dominated the early stages of the race, until a poor pitstop for Weathers saw the American drop to 9th place. Weathers had clawed his way up to 5th behind the Ferrari duo of Fabiano Margheriti and Stefan Van Damme, but made contact with the Italian at Tosa, sending both cars off the track. Meanwhile, West comfortably won the race over the Renault powered Lotus of Nate O'Brien, while Van Damme took his first podium of the season in third.

### **Round 4: Belgium**

Once again Renault locked out the front row of the grid, but Weathers' race ended in flames on lap 3 of the race as his Renault engine failed spectacularly on the main straight, gifting the lead of the race to teammate Skylar West. Vivaldo Margheriti and Stefan Van Damme had a tantalizing battle for second for a majority of the race only a year after Vivaldo's fiery crash at the Belgian circuit. West took his third victory in four races, over half of a minute ahead of Vivaldo and Van Damme, who crossed the line separated by mere tenths.

### **Round 5: Monaco**

Renault struggled around the streets of Monaco, unable to exploit the superior power of their engine, while Mick Ashcroft shone brightly, breaking a drought of pole positions that dated back to the 1977 Italian Grand Prix. Most of the grid attempted to run the whole race on a single set of soft tyres, but unexpectedly high degradation meant a majority of the grid was forced to pit. This thrust Tyrrell's Veikko Nyquist into the lead, and the Finn was able to drive a spectacular defensive drive, holding off the much quicker Ashcroft until the checkered flag flew and taking his first Formula One victory.

### **Round 6: Canada**

West was back on pole for the fourth time of the season in Canada, narrowly beating teammate Weathers to pole position. The two teammates got away well and Weathers attempted to challenge his teammate into the first corner, but the two made contact and both went off of the track. West was forced to retire with suspension damage and was visibly frustrated, while Weathers was forced to pit for repairs. The Renault duo crashing out gifted the lead to Ashcroft, who qualified in fifth and had an excellent start. Ashcroft wouldn't relinquish the lead for the remainder of the race, and took victory less than a second ahead of a hard-charging Vivaldo Margheriti.

### **Round 7: United States North**

Once again a Renault took pole position as Strip Weathers claimed the top spot ahead of his teammate, marking the sixth 1-2 for the French team in qualifying. The race was another story though, and a poor start for Weathers dropped him to fourth on the opening lap, behind his teammate and the Ferrari duo of Van Damme and Fabiano. Bad went to worse for Renault, as another engine failure for Skylar West dropped him out of the lead at the halfway point, and teammate Weathers went skidding off the track after hitting a patch of oil. After Weathers' mistake Ferrari comfortably controlled the race, finishing in formation with Fabiano claiming victory.

### **Round 8: Great Britain**

After their 1-2 at Road America, Ferrari struggled in qualifying at Donington and were only able to manage 8th and 10th respectively, while Skylar West claimed his fifth pole position of the season. West comfortably controlled the race ahead of Vivaldo Margheriti for a majority of the race, until a slow puncture for the Williams driver meant he had to make an extra pit-stop. West went on to win by 20 seconds, while Nate O'Brien took his second podium in three races. Jurg Scheller completed the podium in third after no-stopping, scoring his first points of the season.

### **Round 9: France**

Vivaldo Margheriti took his first pole position of the season around the bumpy Dijon circuit, narrowly beating Mick Ashcroft to the top spot. Vivaldo lead from lights to flag, but came under pressure from Strip Weathers late in the race after making a slight mistake at turn 1. Vivaldo was able to hold the charging Renault behind and thrust himself back into the championship fight, 7 points behind West after a suspension failure forced him to retire.

### **Round 10: Germany**

As expected, Renault rebounded at the high speed Hockenheim circuit, the two over three quarters of a second clear of third place qualifier Nate O'Brien, who was also in a Renault powered car. Ferrari were expecting a solid showing at the high speed German circuit, but they struggled with setup throughout the weekend and were only able to manage 7th and 11th.

West controlled the early stages of the race while bad went to worse for Ferrari as Fabiano Margheriti had a high speed crash in turn 1 early in the race. Luckily for the Italian he was able to walk away unscathed, but his Ferrari was in pieces. While West pit at the halfway point in the race for a fresh set of soft tyres, he merged in fifth behind Nate O'Brien. West made quick work of the Australian, but was unable to catch the top 3 by the time the checkered flag flew. Danilo Koren scored his first victory of his career, and Vivaldo Margheriti was seen congratulating the young Yugoslavian driver shortly after the race. Chuck Dingley finished a season-best second place, while Ashcroft scored a second consecutive podium in third.

### **Round 11: Austria**

Renault took another 1-2 in qualifying, with Strip Weathers beating teammate West by less than half a tenth of a second to pole position. Weathers' lead wouldn't last though, as he stalled off the line and dropped to last before getting his Renault rolling. Skylar West was gifted the lead and held it for the majority of the race, until his gearbox failed in the closing stages. West's fifth retirement of the season gifted the lead to his championship rival Vivaldo Margheriti, who went on to win the race and draw equal with West in the Drivers Championship heading into the final race in Monza.

### **Round 12: Italy**

Skylar West started the final round of the season strong and claimed pole position by a second over his rival Vivaldo, while teammate Strip Weathers was unable to set a time due to an engine issue. Off the line Vivaldo got a better start than Skylar, and was able to pull alongside heading into the first chicane. The two entered side-by-side but West turned in on the Italian, sending him off and into the tyre barriers, while Vivaldo limped back to the pits with a broken front wing and slightly damaged suspension. Vivaldo merged back into the race in 22nd after the incident with West and managed to recover to ninth by the time the checkered flag flew, less than 5 seconds behind the sixth place finish he needed in order to win the championship.

Sid Donnelly took victory for Brabham ahead of Strip Weathers who went from last on the grid to finish second, while the sister Brabham of Ashcroft took the final step of the podium. Skylar West won the championship on countback, while Margheriti alleged that West intentionally turned in on him and crashed the pair in order to win the championship.