STORY OF THE DAY: Arnoux’s Final Grand Prix Victory

On 28 August 1983, Rene Arnoux won the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort in Ferrari 126 C3 number 28. Teammate Patrick Tambay finished second, giving Ferrari a commanding one-two, while John Watson completed the podium for McLaren. The result strengthened Ferrari’s successful Constructors’ Championship campaign.

Championship rivals Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet collided while disputing the lead, opening the way for Arnoux to take control. He converted the opportunity without error and moved closer to Prost in the standings. The victory was his third of the season and the seventh and last of his Formula One career.

The 126 C3 was Ferrari’s first Formula One chassis built as a full carbon-fibre composite monocoque. It retained the potent 1.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6 while introducing a stiffer structure and revised aerodynamics for the flat-bottom regulations adopted in 1983.

Frenchman Arnoux had become a Grand Prix winner with Renault and was renowned for uncompromising speed, particularly in qualifying. He joined Ferrari in 1983 after an increasingly strained partnership with Prost. At Zandvoort his forceful style was matched by discipline, producing a victory central to Ferrari’s second consecutive Constructors’ title.