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Alain Prost vs Niki Lauda - the story of the 1984 Formula One season
The Closest Rivalry in F1 History?
Prologue
August 1st, 1976. I’d be surprised if there was anyone in the F1 community who does not know the meaning of that date. It was, of course, the German Grand Prix. The race that saw Niki Lauda’s trial by fire. Literally. When he stepped back onto the grid less than six weeks later, for the Italian round of the World Championship for Drivers, the Austrian was a changed man. By the end of the season, Lauda had narrowly missed out on winning the championship by a single point. His fierce rival, Briton James Hunt in his McLaren, had triumphed.
This, of course, was not the end for Lauda. He came back to win another championship with Ferrari the following year. However, following his decision to withdraw from the season-deciding Japanese Grand Prix of 1976, his relationship with the Scuderia had soured, and the newly-crowned double champion departed Maranello to join Bernie Ecclestone’s own Brabham team. Unfortunately, other than the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix, which saw the running of the infamous “Fan Car”, the next two seasons proved to be much less successful than his glory days with Ferrari. So, during practice at the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, Lauda announced that he had no more desire to “drive around in circles” and retired with immediate effect, going back to Austria to manage his fledgling airline, Lauda Air.
The following year, a promising young talent began his Formula One career with McLaren, a career that would one day see him becoming one of the greatest drivers the sport had ever seen. However, in his first season, this young French driver, while showing promise, would only finish fifteenth – although equal on points with former champion Emerson Fittipaldi – and soon chose to break off his contract with McLaren to join Renault. Over the next three seasons, Alain Prost would start to show his talent, winning several races, but by the end of the 1983 season, his relationship with the French team had broken down completely. After criticising the team’s “uncompetitive” car once too often, he was sacked by the team only two days after the final race of the season. The breakdown was so bad, that some factory workers reportedly burned down one of Prost’s private cars before his departure back home to Switzerland.
Meanwhile, Niki Lauda’s career as an airline manager had proven to not quite be as fulfilling as the Austrian had hoped. When he returned to the paddock in a commentary role for the 1981 Austrian Grand Prix, he realised that, actually, driving around in circles wasn’t all that boring after all. Not much later, Lauda was behind the wheel of the McLaren MP4, and the following year, he was back on the grid, this time in a McLaren. At the third race of that season, the US Grand Prix in Long Beach, he silenced his doubters and proved that yes, Niki Lauda can still win races, hammering the point home by winning the British Grand Prix later that season. The 1983 season, however, was not to be as successful, as Lauda barely finished a race, and came home without a single win.
1984 – building up to a new season
As dawn broke on the 1984 seasons, an interesting off-season had drawn to a close. Reigning champion Nelson Piquet had remained with the Brabham team for yet another season, with the team’s BMW engines now reaching an incredible 900bhp in power. Williams had retained their lineup of Rosberg and Lafitte, becoming the exclusive user of the new 800 bhp turbocharged Honda V6. Lotus retained Mansell and de Angelis, while Renault went for a completely new driver team after sacking Prost, with Patrick Tambay of Ferrari and Derek Warwick of Toleman joining the team. Ferrari signed Alboreto to join Frenchman Arnoux, while Ligier made the move to turbo engines. Tyrrell was to be the only team running a naturally aspirated engine with the 012, driven by an all-new lineup of Stefan Bellof and Martin Brundle, a car that would prove the centre of controversy later on in the season. But two moves on the grid would prove to have the biggest impact on the future of Formula One. The Toleman team, having lost Warwick to Renault and released Bruno Giacomelli from his contract decided to sign veteran motorcycle racer Johnny Cecotto alongside the reigning British F3 champion, a young talent from Brazil going by the name of Ayrton Senna. Alain Prost, meanwhile, had returned home and rejoined the McLaren team. Mclaren’s new car, the MP4/2, was powered by a TAG-Porsche engine that, albeit down on power compared to the other leading teams, producing only 750 bhp, showed to have superior fuel economy, which, coupled with the car’s superior aerodynamics, proved to be a major factor for the season ahead. At the start of the season, commentators expected a continuation of the three-way battle between Brabham, Renault and Ferrari, with McLaren, Williams and Lotus being the “best of the rest”. However, things would turn out quite differently.
The opening rounds
And so, on 25 March, 1984, the F1 grid once again lined up to begin a new season of 16 races, with the Brazilian Grand Prix at Jacarepagua kicking off. Elio de Angelis in the Lotus had taken the first pole of the season, with fellow Italian Michele Alboreto alongside him in the Ferrari. Alain Prost started in fourth, with Mansell in the second Lotus and Lauda in the second McLaren rounding out the top 6. Reigning champion Piquet would start his home race in 7th. Further down the grid, newcomer Senna had put his Toleman on an impressive 17th, with Jonathan Palmer being the only driver who failed to qualify.
After a bad start, Prost had slumped down to 10th position, with Lauda in 4th. Eight laps into his debut, Ayrton Senna became the first driver to retire from a race this season. On lap 34, Lauda had built a comfortable lead when the electrics on his car failed, forcing him to retire from the race. Meanwhile, Prost had battled his way back to the front, and, after a short battle with Derek Warwick, comfortably won the race once the Englishman had to retire, with Rosberg and de Angelis making up the podium. Out of 26 cars that had started the race, only 9 had made the chequered flag.
Two weeks later, the F1 circus arrived in Kyalami, where Piquet took his first pole of the season, with Rosberg’s Williams alongside him. Prost and Lauda started in fifth and eighth, respectively. In a race that would once again see half the grid retire, both Brabhams would retire with turbo problems. After an excellent start, Lauda had taken second place by lap 10; Piquet’s retirement on lap 30 handed him an easy win. Prost came in second, over a minute behind his teammate, and the only other driver to finish on the lead lap. Warwick rounded up the podium, and a delighted Ayrton Senna gained his first championship point ever, bringing the Toleman home in sixth. But the story of the paddock was the dominance of the McLaren drivers. Prost, on 15 points, was comfortably leading the drivers’ championship with Lauda in second on 9, while in the constructors’ rankings, Williams and Alfa Romeo, both on 6 points, were far away from McLaren’s 24.
The season went to Belgium, with Zolder next hosting the circus. It proved to be a dismal weekend for McLaren, with both cars retiring. Alboreto took the win from pole, with Warwick in second and Arnoux in third. The next race in Imola would see Senna fail to qualify for the only time in his career, with Prost taking another win. Lauda, once again, failed to finish the race. A quarter of the season had passed, and Prost seemed on course to finally win his first championship, leading the standings with 24 points over Warwick’s 13. Lauda, meanwhile, had dropped out of even the top 5.
However, the Austrian’s luck began to turn as Formula One came to the Dijon-Prenois circuit for what was to be the last time. Lauda achieved his first win in France since the ‘75 season, while teammate Prost missed out on scoring any points in his home race, after having to pit for a loose wheel and coming in 7th. Suddenly, Lauda had moved back into second place in the drivers’ championship, a mere six points between his teammate. The challenge was back on as the field headed to Monaco, for a race that would go down in history as one of the most controversial grands prix yet.
Monaco. The Principality Under Water.
With the grid limited to 20 spots, qualifying here always had some surprises. Prost finally put the McLaren on pole alongside Mansell, with Lauda starting in eighth. Sunday morning then brought torrential rain to the Principality, and the start to the race was delayed by 45 minutes while, after a petition by Lauda, fire trucks flooded the tunnel to make sure the entire circuit was evenly wet. Prost led the race from the start, while Arnoux and Warwick crashed into each other in the first corner, in the first of a number of incidents that would throw the race into chaos. On lap nine, Mansell took the lead from Prost before crashing out of the race himself a few laps later. Prost retook the lead, but both his teammate Lauda and Senna’s Toleman were catching up to him. On lap 23, Lauda’s brakes failed and he spun out at the casino, stalling his engine and ending his race. The race was then only between Prost and Senna, a scenario that nobody had expected, but that showed the early beginnings of yet another legendary rivalry in years to come. By lap 29, Prost had begun to indicate his opinion that the race should not be continued in these circumstances, and the red flag and chequered flag were flown at the end of lap 32, just after Senna had passed Prost for the lead. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, the result was counted back to lap 31, and so Prost took the win in Monaco, with Senna’s second place giving him his first podium, and Tyrrell’s Stefan Bellof finishing third after having started last, his only visit to the podium in his tragically short career. As the race had run to less than 75% distance, only half points were awarded, a fact that would prove crucial to the outcome of the season.
The North American Races – Trouble for Tyrrell
Round seven of the championship took the drivers to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. Piquet finally caught a break and scored a grand slam – pole, fastest lap, and race victory – with Lauda coming second and Prost in third, rejuvenating the Austrian’s title hopes. From Canada, the field moved on to Detroit, where Piquet once again took pole, leading from flag to flag and fending off a charge from rookie Brundle. He ended winning the race by just a second over the naturally-aspirated Tyrrell, after a massive cash at the start took out a number of drivers. Prost finished fifth, with Lauda once again retiring.
But in Parc ferme, controversy struck. Lead balls were found in the Tyrrell’s water injection system, and fuel traces were found in the water itself. Team manager Ken Tyrrell was called to a meeting of the FISA executive on July 18th and was accused of refuelling the car during the race, which had been banned prior to the season. After a lengthy process of appeals, the Tyrrell team was found in breach of regulations, and disqualified from the season, with all their results struck out, lifting Prost to fourth in the Detroit grand prix. He was now leading team mate Lauda by 10 ½ points in the drivers’ championship as the season passed its halfway point. Little changed there after the next race in Dallas, with both McLarens failing to score points, with Keke Rosberg scoring his only win for the season. Elio de Angelis, meanwhile, had finished third, and moved within half a point of Lauda for second in the championship.
On to Brands Hatch, for the 37th running of the British Grand Prix. Qualifying would see the career-ending crash of Toleman’s Johnny Cecotto, who broke both his legs and would never race again. Nelson Piquet went on to take yet another pole position, but ultimately could only finish seventh. Prost retired from second on the grid, and after yet another dominant McLaren performance, Niki Lauda took the win, 42 seconds ahead of local hero Derek Warwick in the Renault. Ayrton Senna once again showed his talent and came third. The race for the championship was now truly on, as Lauda had closed the gap to 1.5 points. The German Grand Prix would provide some respite to the Frenchman, as Prost took another win ahead of Lauda, with Warwick in third taking what would be the last podium of his career.
400 Grands Prix – and still counting
The 17th Austrian Grand Prix, race 12 of the season, was a landmark race for both the season and F1 history, as the sport celebrated its 400th World Championship race. After chaos at the race start, Prost crashed out on lap 28. Lauda, after some problems himself, won the race ahead of Piquet, who had once again started on pole. For the first time in the season, Niki Lauda was now leading the championship. Round 13, the Dutch Grand Prix, saw the beginning of what we would nowadays call the silly season. Rumours surfaced that Senna was to break his contract with Toleman and sign for Lotus, which was confirmed shortly after the race and led to the young Brazilian being suspended by the team for the following race in Italy. At the same time, Mansell was rumoured to be leaving Lotus for Williams, which was again proven right. In a rather uneventful race, meanwhile, Prost had won from pole with Lauda in second, giving McLaren the constructors’ trophy with three races to go and closing the gap between their two drivers to 1.5 points. At this point of the season, a McLaren triumph was guaranteed as no other driver stood any chance of winning the championship. The only question that remained was who the champion would be – Lauda, or Prost.
In the time between the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix, Tyrrell’s final appeal was thrown out and the team, having contested the previous races despite their pending disqualification, ended their season early. Thus, the 1984 Italian Grand Prix would be the first all-turbo race in F1 history.
Once again, Nelson Piquet dominated qualifying, with Prost taking second. Elio de Angelis and Niki Lauda had qualified on the second row of the grid. At the start, de Angelis took the lead, but Piquet quickly overtook him, with Lauda dropping back to seventh. Prost and Tambay overtook de Angelis and began to chase Piquet, when the McLaren’s TAG-Porsche engine failed. In the meantime, Lauda had moved back up to fourth place. The race once again showed a high attrition rate. By lap 15, both Ligiers, both Williams and both Lotuses had retired, with Arnoux’ Ferrari out after a gearbox failure. On lap 16, race leader Piquet suffered a similar fate to Prost earlier, handing the lead to Tambay in the Renault. Teo Fabi in the second Brabham had taken second from Lauda, and by half-distance the three were running in a close chase. On lap 40, Lauda caught Fabi, and took Tambay’s lead shortly on lap 43. One lap later, both the second and third place drivers dropped out of the race, leaving Lauda to take an easy win and widening his gap to 10.5 points, with two races to go.
The Final Showdown
The penultimate round of the season saw the F1 circus return to the Nürburgring for the first time since Lauda’s crash in 1976, with the famous Nordschleife no longer part of the circuit. Instead, the European Grand Prix was held on the much shorter GP-Strecke. Continuing the flavour of the season, Nelson Piquet once again took pole, ahead of Prost, with Lauda starting all the way down in 15th. The race was marked by a first corner accident caused by the returning Ayrton Senna, taking out Rosberg, Marc Surer, Gerhard Berger, and Piercarlo Ghinzani. At the front of the pack, Prost took the win from Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari and Piquet’s Brabham, who both ran out of fuel on the finish line, with Lauda finishing fourth – he could have finished third had it not been for a spin while lapping a backmarker. Thus, the championship decider would fall to the final round of the season in Portugal, with Niki Lauda leading Alain Prost by 3.5 points.
For the first time in 24 years, a Grand Prix had come to Portugal, on the newly-upgraded Estoril circuit. Qualifying was no different than it had been in the previous races – once again, Piquet was on pole alongside Prost, with Senna an impressive Third. Lauda, meanwhile, qualified all the way down in eleventh. Things were looking good for Prost – he would have to win the race with Lauda third or lower, or could finish second if Lauda failed to score at all.
At the start, Prost took the lead from Piquet, but he dropped down to third behind Rosberg and Mansell by the first corner. He quickly took second from Mansell and went to pursue Rosberg. Meanwhile, Lauda was working his way up through the midfield. On lap nine, Prost took the lead with Lauda running ninth. Mansell took Rosberg for second, with Senna soon overtaking the Williams as well. By lap 28, Prost had built a comfortable lead, with Lauda finally in the points. Five laps later, Lauda’s McLaren had overcome Senna’s Toleman, and it was all down to the final chase. If Lauda could overtake Mansell for second, he would be champion. On lap 51, Mansell spun. Lauda was now firmly attached to the rear wing of the Briton’s Lotus, and when he spun again on the following lap, the Austrian took second as Mansell retired from his final race with Lotus. It was all he needed. Nineteen laps later, Alain Prost took the chequered flag to take victory, with Lauda coming home 13 seconds later as newly-crowned triple world champion. Ayrton Senna rounded out the podium with yet another astounding third-place finish, putting three drivers on a truly legendary podium. After a thrilling season, the half-points race in Monaco had proven decisive as Niki Lauda took the World Championship by half a point, the smallest title winning margin in F1 history.
Epilogue
Prost would not remain uncrowned for long. By the end of the 1985 season, he would have won the first of his four world titles. Lauda, meanwhile, appeared to have lost his edge, winning only a single race. By the end of the season, the Austrian had decided to once again retire. This time, it was for good. The other two podium finishers of the ’84 Portuguese Grand Prix would of course move on to become legends in their own right. But Niki Lauda’s legend had come to a close. After three world championships, it was time to move on from Formula One. He returned to running his airline, before returning as a consultant to Ferrari in 1993. In 1996, he began commentating on races for German broadcaster RTL, a role from which he suddenly retired at the end of the 2017 season. He managed the Jaguar team in 2001 and 2002, and has been non-executive chairman of the Mercedes F1 team since 2012. Prost would go on to win the ’85, ’86, ’89 and ’93 titles, moving from McLaren to Ferrari and then Williams, before retiring from the sport ahead of the ’94 season, with arch-rival Senna taking his Williams seat. In 1997, he then acquired the Ligier team, running it in his own name as Prost F1 until it folded in 2002. He is now involved in the management of the Renault e.dams Formula E team, and has been hired as a special advisor to the reborn Renault team in Formula One, putting him and Lauda back into rivalling positions in the paddock once again. The rivalry of Prost and Senna has gone down in history as possibly the greatest of them all, but it was in the 1984 season that Prost first showed the legend that he was to become, while Lauda enjoyed his final hurrah in a season that will forever be known for its controversies and, ultimately, the closest result F1 might ever see.