1982-04-04 126 C2 (27) Gilles Villeneuve USA - Long Beach 3 (DQ)
Gilles Villeneuve crossed the line in third, at the GPUSA West at Long Beach citi circuit 1982 but he was disqualified after the race when a protest of his Ferrari's rear wing was upheld by the officials. The so called twin wing was an uneven very thin rear wing.
In his third race since returning from a self-imposed two-year "retirement," Austrian Niki Lauda won the seventh United States Grand Prix West at Long Beach, ahead of Keke Rosberg.
Andrea de Cesaris was the youngest driver to achieve pole position with Lotus, a record beaten by Rubens Barrichello at the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix.
Sunday, As the cars formed on the grid for the start, Lotus driver Elio de Angelis lined up on the wrong side (he claimed he was waved into the wrong place). He quickly backed out of the spot, bumping his teammate Nigel Mansell behind him. When Mansell put his car into reverse, thinking that de Angelis was coming back further, the green light came on. As a result, Mansell claims to be the only driver to have started a race in reverse. Everyone got away cleanly, though Mansell found himself near the back of the field. At the front, de Cesaris made an excellent start, jumping into the lead ahead of Lauda and René Arnoux.
On lap 15, de Cesaris was held up by Raul Boesel's March in the chicane entering Shoreline Drive as he came up to lap him. This gave Lauda the momentum he needed to sweep by into the lead at the end of the straight, and the Austrian immediately began to pull away.
Rosberg and Villeneuve battled for the 3rd position. De Cesaris had an accident and Roseberg surpassed Villeneuve.
The Ferrari came third in the books when the stewards accepted Tyrrell's protest of Ferrari's staggered, two-part rear wing, aimed at circumventing the 110 cm limit on its width, and Villeneuve was disqualified.
For the only time (although there are scheduled to be 3 races held in the US during the 2023 Formula One World Championship), this would be one of three American races in the same season, with the inaugural Detroit race and the Championship clincher in Las Vegas still to come.
