1982 Dutch Grand Prix: Pironi's Dutch Delight

April 15, 2014 by Jeremy McMullen

There have been many moments throughout the history of sport where an individual's life off the field is about to spiral out of control and that at those moments, on the field, he or she has managed to put together the performance of a lifetime. In the case of Didier Pironi in 1982, all of the pressure would be found at the track. Yet, in the midst of incredible pressure he would come through with one of the best drives of his career.

No sooner had Villeneuve's body come to a rest against the catch-fencing when the ardent Gilles-supporters began to look for someone to blame. And, when Jochen Mass was exonerated from all blame it seemed absolutely inevitable Pironi would be everyone's target.

Pironi was not one of those loud and boisterous types. Coming from an engineering background, Didier had a technical mind and was very much interested in all aspects engineering. This would lead him to becoming the youngest licensed pilot in France and, obviously, have an affinity toward motorcycles and motor racing.

Turning his attentions to motor racing, Pironi would rise up through the ranks rather quickly. When he showed up in Formula One in 1978 he would be impressive coming away with five points-paying finishes. Unfortunately, his teammate would stand on the podium a number of times and would even have a victory to his credit.

Moving on to the Ligier team, Pironi would soon prove his abilities by taking victory in the Belgian Grand Prix and earning a couple of other podium finishes over the course of the 1980 season. Finishing the season 5th in the standings, Pironi would get the attention of none other than Enzo Ferrari.

Ferrari had his hard-charger with Gilles Villeneuve. Unfortunately, Villeneuve had a penchant for pushing too far and coming up with naught. This type of driving was certainly exciting to watch but it would not necessarily win championships, especially the constructors' title. Pironi's engineering mind was calculated. This meant Didier was a solid driver that could be counted on to bring his car home in the points. Pironi, therefore, seemed the perfect counterbalance to Villeneuve. Pironi's star was on the rise. He certainly appeared to have the talent to challenge for victories, and now, he was with a team that demanded them.

It seemed clear who the number one driver was within Ferrari, at least as far as the fans and the journalists were concerned. However, there was no such declaration within the team, and Pironi certainly didn't believe there was any such delineation.

There wouldn't be any trouble during the 1981 season, and Gilles would even take Pironi under his wing. However, into just his second year with the team, Didier began to challenge at the front. The evolved Ferrari 126C2 was much more to Pironi's liking and this drew him closer to Gilles. And, at the ill-fated San Marino Grand Prix, Pironi would battle with Villeneuve right from the very beginning. The two Ferrari teammates would swap positions back and forth. While most would not deny Villeneuve could win in a straight-up battle with Didier, the Frenchman was, nonetheless, not only keeping up, but, making his way past the Canadian as well. In just his second season with Ferrari, Didier was showing a great deal of promise.

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The lack of declaration by the team would end up causing a rift between the two drivers at the end of the event. It was impossible, in the minds of just about everyone outside of Pironi and Ferrari, that he could ever beat Villeneuve. Therefore, he had to 'steal' the victory. This immediate feud would only get worse in two week's time.

Pironi was on pole for the Belgian Grand Prix. The second year Ferrari man was beginning to show signs of getting comfortable within the team. And, for the man feeling cheated in Imola, this just could not stand, at least this is what the popular myth has been. Therefore, supposedly distracted by a driver apparently not on his same level, Villeneuve would not recognize the terrible situation about to happen as he closed rapidly on Jochen Mass' March. In one tragic moment, Villeneuve would become deified.

The martyr had to have a killer. And, when Mass was exonerated, Pironi would become the next logical target. Everyone was upset for Pironi's actions, though the crowd at Imola that day would go wild with the excitement of a Ferrari one-two finish. It certainly didn't seem to matter to those present who won as long as it was a Ferrari. Unfortunately, there would be two drivers with two different understandings of what the word 'slow' meant on a pit board and, as a result, the debate would rage, and now will likely never be resolved. What was undeniable was that the hero Villeneuve was dead and that just couldn't be without some outside force coercing people into accepting what had to be an alternate reality.

Nearly everyone would turn on Pironi. Suddenly, this man was now considered public enemy number one. Unfortunately, this hatred and arraignment of guilt was to be found nearly everywhere. Driving in Formula One, Pironi was a public figure in nearly every way. Therefore, at the track he would face the condemnation. Off the track it would still be there. There was no escaping the situation. What he was facing would break most men.

There was really only one option available to Pironi. Sure, he would be hated and vilified, but all he could really do was focus on the task at hand and make the most of his situation. He would do just that. In spite of the terrible pressure, Didier would come away from Monaco with a 2nd place result. He would follow that up with another podium finish at Detroit. As a result, Pironi would be sitting 2nd in the championship behind John Watson. Sadly, the situation would only get worse after the next round of the championship however.

The next round of the championship would be none other than the Canadian Grand Prix held at the circuit based at a man-made island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. As if the pressure and the terrible aspects of the early part of the season weren't still on Pironi's mind, then the renaming of the circuit would certainly help to bring it all flooding back.

In spite of the ire from the Canadian fans and the inability to free himself from the memory of Gilles with the circuit now being renamed the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Pironi would again focus on the task at hand and would do no less than put his Ferrari on pole. But what looked to be good would soon turn tragic.

In spite of the odious feelings from the Canadians toward himself, Pironi would dedicate his pole-position to his late teammate. Unfortunately, the dubious feelings the Canadians would have toward Didier would only turn worse at the start of the race.

Approaching the start of the race, Pironi would take his place on pole. However, he could feel the clutch in the Ferrari going. And, as the light turned to green, the clutch would entirely go and the engine would stall right then and there. Those in the first half of the grid would manage to get by the stalled Ferrari without problem. However, those at the end of the field would have no idea the pole-sitter failed to get away. They would be racing even before they reached Pironi's car. This would be terrible as Riccardo Paletti would have nowhere to go and would be already travelling at a high rate of speed. Paletti would hit Pironi square in the back. The impact would be terrible and Paletti would be suffering from severe internal injuries.

Pironi would be commendable in his actions as he would cross over the track from his own car to try and help Paletti out of his mangled Osella. Pironi would rip away the bodywork and would continue to help until the marshals directed him out of the way. What the marshals, and everyone else, didn't realize is that fuel had been leaking underneath the car. Moments after Pironi was directed away, the car would erupt into flames. The marshals would be there to douse the car in extinguisher, but Didier would rush back in to help. The Frenchman would even fight with a marshal in an effort to get him to point the extinguisher right where it needed to go.

Paletti would be extracted from the car without having suffered from the fire. Unfortunately, the internal injuries would be too much for the doctors to overcome and he would end up losing his life. Just like that, Pironi had the life of another weighing down upon him. This fight for the championship was beginning to exact a toll beyond that any other driver had ever had to bear before.

In the restarted race, Pironi would be back on pole, but would not have the car he liked underneath him. He would lose places throughout the early going and what could have been a great day would end up so bad as he would end up more than 3 laps behind well down in 9th place.

Leaving Canada, Pironi now trailed Watson in the championship by 10 points. The pressure for the World Championship was now really building, on top of all the other pressure Didier had been experiencing since standing on the podium at Imola. Therefore, the next race on the calendar would take on a level of importance much beyond what would normally be the case.

The next round of the World Championship would take place back on the European continent. The Dutch Grand Prix would be set to take place at the familiar Zandvoort circuit. The 2.63 mile Zandvoort Circuit presented an opportunity for Pironi. Though redesigned in 1980 to help slow the speeds around the circuit, Zandvoort was still a fast circuit with the run off Pulleveld to Tarzan being about nothing but speed.

The updated suspension on the Ferrari had helped Didier take pole in Canada. He would have this same revised suspension on the car as it was unloaded in the Netherlands. As a result, he would end up amongst the top five in practice.

There would be no touching the Renaults over the course of qualifying as Rene Arnoux would take the pole with a time of 1:14.233. Alain Prost would end up 2nd on the grid giving Renault a sweep of the front row. The turbo-powered BMW engine had been coming on as of late, and, it would be of little surprise to see Nelson Piquet lining up 3rd just under a half a second slower than Arnoux.

Pironi would be a good deal off of the pace of the Renaults. By the end of qualifying, Didier's best would be one and a half seconds slower than that of Arnoux. As a result, he would find himself starting from the 4th position alongside Piquet. Yet, in spite of the time difference, a second row starting spot was still a good place from which to start a race.

Pironi would make the best of his starting position by getting away very well when the light turned green. Prost would get the best start of all and would be in the lead with Arnoux and Pironi coming along close behind.

At the end of the first circuit it would be Prost in the lead with Arnoux sitting in 2nd place but under very heavy pressure from Pironi. Didier was not known for his prowess when it came to qualifying, but was respected for his pace during a race, and he was proving that point very clearly as he would power his way by Arnoux during the course of the second circuit around Zandvoort.

The race distance was 72 laps, or, 190 miles. And, though he was known for his consistent driving style, Pironi was not one to dominate a race, at least not until the Dutch Grand Prix in 1982.

By the 5th lap of the race, Didier was in the lead and pulling away from a soon-to-be legendary driver in Alain Prost. Heading down the straight toward Tarzan for the start of the 5th lap, Pironi would slip out from behind Prost and would effect the pass that would give him the lead. Rene Arnoux remained in 3rd place, but he too would start to come under pressure from Piquet.

Amazingly, the man who had qualified more than a second and a half slower than Arnoux, would be pulling away from the Renaults, and the remainder of the field, at a rather constant rate each and every lap. As Didier stretched his lead, Piquet would get around Arnoux for 3rd place. A little more than a half dozen laps later, Rene would come close to losing more than just position on the race track.

Heading out of the long, sweeping right-hander that led onto the start/finish straight, Arnoux would have little indication he was in trouble until he prepared to brake hard for the right hand Tarzan bend. At that time, the wheel came off the Renault sending his flying across the track and hard into the tires well to the outside of the corner. The impact would break the chassis of the car but would do its job in order to help Arnoux get out without much of a scratch on him.

That was one of the favorites already out of the race. Then, about 12 laps after his teammate's departure, Prost's day would come to an end when his turbo-powered Renault gave up the ghost yet again. That would make it two main challengers out of the way.

It really wouldn't matter who was chasing Pironi, not on this day, as the Frenchman only continued to stretch out and maintain his advantage over the remainder of the field. John Watson would struggle over the course of the race. The McLaren driver would be out of the points and this would enable Didier to back off the pace and merely maintain his gap to Piquet in 2nd place.

Firmly in control since the 5th lap of the race, Pironi would go on to lead the remaining 67 to take his second victory of the season. Piquet would finish in 2nd place but would be firmly covered by Pironi as he would trail behind the Ferrari by more than 21 seconds. Keke Rosberg would complete the rostrum finishing less than a second behind Piquet in what was really the only battle left on the track.

Pironi's season would be seemingly transformed in one moment. The Frenchman would face terrible pressure, from Villeneuve to Paletti to having a terrible race the round before to the simple fact of driving for Ferrari, and yet, in the face of such pressure, would put together the drive of his life to put him firmly back into the championship picture. As he stood on the podium spraying the champagne, Pironi's hopes would be renewed. Trailing in the championship by just a single point, Didier was staring-down all of his adversaries and was rising above it all.

The pressure experienced by Pironi heading into the Dutch Grand Prix in 1982 was of supreme levels and were, by far, greater than what most World Champions have ever had to face en route to their titles. Yet, in spite of all of the pressures, Pironi was only getting stronger. The much blighted man performed at a level of which even Gilles would have had to been proud.

Pironi would follow his indomitable performance in the Netherlands with a 2nd place result in the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. With only a handful of races left on the season, Pironi would be leading the World Championship and would even allow himself to begin to think it to be within his grasp.

Unfortunately, there would come that day in the rain at Hockenheim. And in that moment, Pironi and Villeneuve would come to be tied together in even more ways than that day at Imola. But, for a moment, amidst the sandy banks of the Zandvoort Circuit, all present would witness Pironi's true talent as he rose above it all.

Sources:
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'1982 World Drivers Championship', (http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1982/82nl.html). 1982 World Drivers Championship. http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1982/82nl.html. Retrieved 3 March 2014.

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Formula 1 1982 Canadian Grand Prix Highlights. Video. (1982). Retrieved 3 March 2014 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNycRzJUJlM.

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Hamilton, Maurice. 'Canada 1982: Agony and Irony', (http://www.grandprix.com/columns/maurice-hamilton/agony-and-irony.html). GrandPrix.com. http://www.grandprix.com/columns/maurice-hamilton/agony-and-irony.html. Retrieved 3 March 2014.

Wikipedia contributors, 'Circuit Gilles Villeneuve', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 February 2014, 18:45 UTC, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Circuit_Gilles_Villeneuve&oldid=597259612 accessed 3 March 2014

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