1983-08-28 126 C3 (28) Rene Arnoux HOL - Zandvoort 1
The 1983 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zandvoort on 28 August .
The 72-lap race was won by René Arnoux, driving a Ferrari, with team-mate Patrick Tambay second and John Watson third in a McLaren-Ford. Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet collided midway through the race while challenging for the lead, allowing Arnoux to move into second in the Drivers' Championship, eight points behind Prost. However, this would turn out to be Arnoux's last Formula One victory.
René Alexandre Arnoux (born 4 July 1948) is a French who competed in 12 Formula One seasons (1978 to 1989). He participated in 165 World Championship Grands Prix (149 starts) winning seven of them, achieving 22 podium finishes and scoring 181 career points. His best finish in the World Drivers' Championship was third in 1983 for Ferrari
Afyer his debut in 1977, In 1979, he joined the factory Renault. The team's only victory of the year was taken by Arnoux's teammate Jean-Pierre Jabouille at the French Grand Prix at the Dijon-Prenois circuit, but Arnoux took the headlines due to a fierce wheel-banging battle with the Flat-12 Ferrari of Gilles Villeneuve for second place, which Villeneuve won In 1980, Arnoux took his first two Formula One victories, the first being at Interlagos circuit in Brazil. His second win came in the very next race at the Kyalami circuit in South Africa.
Arnoux's situation was complicated in 1981 by the arrival of Alain Prost at Renault. Their rivalry on-track flared up off the track and relations between the two men deteriorated. In 1982, he took one other win at the Italian Grand Prix at the end of the season.
The pairing of Prost and Arnoux having become unsustainable, Arnoux left Renault at the end of 1982 to join Ferrari in 1983, joining another French driver Patrick Tambay. With three victories, at the Canadian, German, and Dutch Grands Prix, Arnoux was in contention for the world title until the final race of the season, the South African Grand Prix. He retired from that race with engine failure, and finished the season third, behind Nelson Piquet and Prost. Both Arnoux and Tambay became favourites with the Tifosi for their hard-charging styles, and their conjuncted results saw Ferrari win the 1983 Constructors' Championship. Arnoux's win at Zandvoort turned out to be the seventh and final win of his Formula One career.
After poor results in 1984 and the opening race of the 1985 championship in Brazil, he left Ferrari by mutual consent. His place in the team was taken by Swedish driver Stefan Johansson. Without a drive for the rest of the 1985 season, Arnoux made his return to Formula One in 1986 for the French Ligier team who were using turbocharged Renault engines. The Pirelli-tyred Ligiers proved uncompetitive as the season progressed. Same story in 1987 & 1988.
In 1989, the new Ford DFR powered Ligier JS33 showed promise. Arnoux's driving had attracted some criticism, and he was frequently accused of not using his mirrors and blocking faster cars in qualifying and when being lapped. He retired later in the year.
