1982 Monaco Grand Prix: Patrese Triumphs Amid Spills, Thrills

From the moment Riccardo Patrese emerged on the Formula One scene in the late-1970s, spins, accidents and over-drives was all a part of who he was at the time. There was certainly talent there, but controversy as well. At the Monaco Grand Prix in 1982, the spills and thrills would be everywhere, and yet, it would be Patrese that would come through all the wildness to take his first victory.

Though he would be exonerated from guilt judiciously, Patrese would still have his detractors and those convinced of his guilt. It was as if he could never be washed clean and made whole again. The only answer left to him would be to mature and achieve, and then, let the fruits of his labor on the track be what everyone had to judge him for.

Patrese would get his opportunity when he left the Arrows team in 1981 to join the Brabham team alongside Nelson Piquet the following year. Riccardo had already stood on the podium more than a few times in his career, but he had never made it to the top step. Being at the wheel of the Brabham BT49 and BT50, he would have one of the best chances of his career, at least without having the need of the entire field retiring. But, even while at the wheel of the Brabham, it would require nearly the entire field to fail before Riccardo could come through on that 23rd of May to collect his first victory.

Nelson Piquet was firmly ensconced within the Brabham team. He would finish the 1981 season as the World Champion and was obviously the number one within the team when Patrese showed up the following season.

Brabham would be building their new turbocharged BT50 and would introduce the car in time for the first race of the 1982 season at South Africa. However, after both cars failed to finish the race, the team would revert back to its Cosworth V8-powered BT49 for the next handful of races. Although Piquet was the number one driver within the team, Riccardo would be the first to make a mark on the season when he would finish the United States West Grand Prix in 3rd place. Piquet would come back in the team's next race, the Belgian Grand Prix. Again behind the wheel of the turbocharged BT50, Piquet would come through to finish in 5th place.

The next stop after the Belgian Grand Prix would be in Monaco. And, in spite of his reputation, Riccardo would have some decent success around the Monte Carlo street circuit. Amidst the narrow and punishing Armco, Riccardo would earn one of his first points-paying results at the circuit when he drove for Arrows in 1978. And, prior to the race on the 23rd of May in 1982, Riccardo had failed to finish the race just twice.

Patrese had a reputation for being fast, just not disciplined enough to make the most of it. So it wasn't all that surprising when the Italian emerged from qualifying having set the second-fastest lap in qualifying with a time of 1:23.791 around the 2.05 mile circuit. The man that would end up on pole would be Rene Arnoux in the Renault. His best effort would be half a second quicker than Patrese's around the circuit. However, Riccardo knew well that if he won the race to the first corner, he would likely have a great chance at winning the race overall.

The weather conditions would be mixed heading to the start of the 76 lap race. The conditions were dry at the beginning, but there was a serious threat of rain over the course of the afternoon, but it would be rather surprising just how much of a role the weather would play before it was all over.

The grid would be all formed up with engines, drivers and spectators all ready for a usually crazy start to the Monaco Grand Prix. At the start, Patrese would get away from his grid slot well, but it wouldn't be good enough to fight for the lead, or, hold onto 2nd place as Arnoux would easily lead the way through the first corner followed by Giacomelli. Patrese would even get muscled out of the way by Alain Prost in the other Renault. So, just like that, even before the completion of the second lap, Patrese would go from 2nd to 4th. But, the wild and drama-filled race would be just beginning.

Giacomelli's time in 2nd place would be short-lived as he would break a half-shaft ending his race after four laps. Arnoux, meanwhile, would have clear road ahead of him and would begin drawing away from his teammate Prost. All thoughts of Arnoux finishing the charge would also come to an abrupt end as he tried to negotiate the swimming pool section on the 15th lap. Putting the power down a little too early, Arnoux would find the Renault swapping ends on him. Arnoux would do the hard work of keeping the car off the Armco but he would be unable to perform the other step, which was to keep the engine running. This would be the first of many to take a spin, but this one would allow Alain Prost to come through into the lead of the race. Patrese, who could have been in the lead had he made a good start, would be, at least, back up to 2nd place in the running order.

Prost would take over the lead of the race on the 15th lap and would never look back leading all the way until the 73rd lap when he would be forced to look back, to the side and all around before coming to a rest near the outside wall down the road from the chicane.

Patrese would not let Prost go quietly. Approaching the halfway mark of the race, Prost would find himself slowed by lapped traffic and this would allow Riccardo to close right up on the back of Prost's Renault. Patrese would be all over the Frenchman and it seemed as though another accident would be in the offing.

As Prost continued to hold off a hard-charging Patrese, the rest of the competitors would be finding their day to be extremely troubling. Eliseo Salazar would be forced to retire when the fire extinguisher went off in his ATS-Ford D5. Eddie Cheever's race would come up well short as a result of an oil leak and Jacques Laffite would retire with an ill-handling Ligier.

Just under 30 laps remaining, Nelson Piquet would retire his Brabham with gearbox failure while Patrese trailed behind Prost by a sizable margin. Nearly all except for the top five would be at least a lap down as the race headed into the last ten laps of the race.

Heading into the final ten laps of the race everything appeared processional and it seemed safe, for those that didn't want to stick around, they could leave and not worry about missing anything. But then the rain started falling and the real race would be only just beginning.

There were just three laps remaining in the race and Prost would still be leading the way while Patrese followed along a ways behind in 2nd. The man in 3rd place would be Didier Pironi in the Ferrari. He would be a good distance behind Patrese as all the cars still remaining in the race would be fighting very hard just to keep from going a second lap down. Ten laps from the end of the race, Patrese would pick up the pace in an effort to force Prost into a mistake. The Italian would set the fastest lap of the race on the 69th lap and would cause Prost to throw the car sideways here and there around the circuit in an effort to maintain the gap.

A light rain was falling on the circuit. It wasn't enough to cause last minute dashes to the pits, but it would mix with the tire rubber laid down to make for some very tricky conditions. Prost, however, had been handling the conditions beautifully and seemed unbeatable as he appeared from the tunnel and made his way through the chicane.

Lapped traffic would be just ahead and Prost would put his foot on the gas in an effort to get by the car before heading left toward the swimming pool section. However, just when he put the gas down the rear tires would grip and the car would turn immediately right into the Armco. The car would bounce back to the left off the other Armco and then would finally come to a rest back over to the right. In the tough conditions, Prost had thrown almost certain victory away. Moments later, Patrese would appear through the chicane and would pass by into the lead. The man that had been known for his over-aggressive driving would be one of the very few to survive. Unfortunately, the race wasn't over yet.

Riccardo would be in the lead heading into the tight hairpin at the top of the circuit. Approaching the hairpin the car would suddenly turn left spinning right around. Patrese would keep the engine running but his rear end was up against the Armco on the outside of the hairpin. This allowed Didier Pironi to slide through into the lead with just two laps remaining.

Patrese would get going again but it seemed absolutely certain he had allowed his first victory slip through his fingers. Pironi, however, would be in the lead, and a fair distance down the road. Just a lap remaining in the race, surely, the victory would have to go to Pironi in the Ferrari.

The race wasn't anywhere near over though as Pironi seemed slow heading into the right-hander just prior to the start/finish line. Crossing the line and heading around on the last lap, it was hard to tell whether the Ferrari driver was giving way to lapped traffic to ensure he made it to the end of the race, or, was actually in trouble. Pironi would carry on up the hill. Patrese was back going again, but no one would give the Italian a chance at coming through to victory.

The victory was well in hand for Pironi as he headed into the tunnel. Onlookers waited eagerly for the site of the Ferrari emerging from the tunnel. But that moment would never happen.

A number of other drivers had late accidents, ripping bodywork and wings off their cars, but everyone believed it would all come to an end as soon as Pironi appeared from the tunnel. But it would never happen as the Ferrari would be out of fuel, and on the last lap! Patrese would be half a lap behind, seemingly well out of contention for the win. In two laps time there had been two leaders, a rate only familiar with oval racing, not grand prix racing. But it wasn't over.

In all of the chaos and with all of the accidents and attrition, there would be a brief moment in time when nobody exactly knew who was running in 2nd place behind Pironi. Andrea de Cesaris had taken over 2nd place from Patrese when the Brabham swapped ends at the hairpin. However, at the same time Pironi parked his Ferrari in the tunnel, de Cesaris would be climbing out of his Alfa Romeo, supposedly as a result of fuel starvation as well. The chaos would throw everybody. Then it would dawn on everybody. The man that had spun only a lap earlier, and that had seemingly fallen out of everybody's minds, was now back in the lead. And that man was Patrese.

In the confusion of the moment, Derek Daly would be yet another that would ram his car up against the Armco and would end up falling out as well. James Hunt would remark, 'We have this ridiculous situation where we are all sitting about the start/finish line waiting for a winner and we don't seemed to be getting one.' Then, finally, the people, and Riccardo Patrese, would get what they wanted. The Brabham would suddenly appear around the final couple of corners and would power its way across the line to take what happened to be the most wild of race finishes.

Remarkably, amidst all the chaos, all the spills and thrills, Patrese, who would normally be the one lost in such craziness, would emerge as the only one capable of making it through the conditions to take the victory. It would be a remarkable first victory that would serve as truly memorable moment over the course of a career that would last more than 250 starts.

Sources:
'Monaco 1982', (http://statsf1.com/en/1982/monaco.aspx). Stats F1. http://statsf1.com/en/1982/monaco.aspx. Retrieved 10 April 2014.

'1982 World Drivers Championship', (http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1982/82mc.html). 1982 World Drivers Championship. http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/f1/1982/82mc.html. Retrieved 10 April 2014.

'Drivers: Riccardo Patrese', (http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-patric.html). GrandPrix.com. http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-patric.html. Retrieved 10 April 2014.

Diepraam, Mattijs. 'The Race That Nobody Wanted to Win', (http://8w.forix.com/mc82.html). 8W: The Stories Behind Motor Racing Facts and Fiction. http://8w.forix.com/mc82.html. Retrieved 10 April 2014.

BBC Classic F1—Monaco Grand Prix 1982. Video. (1982). Retrieved 10 April 2014 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tea-fDaMVDk.

Wikipedia contributors, 'Riccardo Patrese', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 30 March 2014, 20:46 UTC, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riccardo_Patrese&oldid=602007792 accessed 10 April 2014posted on conceptcarz.com

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