The top turbo Formula 1 drives

Given how demanding the first turbo Formula 1 cars were to drive, it's not surprising they brought out the best of the best.

There were many great drives during the 1977-1988 period in which the turbos came to dominate, and we've picked out some of the highlights as part of our turbo celebration this week.

We've selected a mix of significant races and charging performances across the entire era, with efforts from a range of drivers.

We're sure you could come up with a host of alternatives, but here's AUTOSPORT's list.

1979 French GP, Jean-Pierre Jabouille
Renault RE10

Qualified: 1st
Result: 1st

The Gilles Villeneuve-Rene Arnoux battle in the closing stages at Dijon is legendary, but the other Renault was well up the road - and making history.

Villeneuve's Ferrari had jumped poleman Jabouille at the start, but gradually came under increasing pressure as his tyres started to fade.

When Villeneuve was delayed behind Elio de Angelis' Shadow, Jabouille pounced. Unlike Arnoux later on, he was then able to draw away from the French-Canadian.

Even a hard brake pedal could not stop him taking the first turbocharged victory in F1, almost 15 seconds ahead of the famous duel.

"He had driven magnificently, taken just reward from many years of toil, but the crowd had seen only the two behind him," said Nigel Roebuck in his AUTOSPORT report.

1981 Monaco GP, Gilles Villeneuve
Ferrari 126CK

Qualified: 2nd
Result: 1st

His win at Jarama was impressive, but Villeneuve's manhandling of the difficult Ferrari 126CK around the streets of Monaco the week before was arguably an even greater performance.

In light of team-mate Didier Pironi's qualifying troubles, Villeneuve's second place on the grid was astonishing. Pironi, the 1980 poleman, crashed three times in practice and only made it in to the race by 0.2s. Villeneuve was 2.5s faster.

Nelson Piquet's Brabham pulled clear of Villeneuve in the early going, as the Ferrari held a train of more nimble DFV-engined cars behind it.

Eventually, as his Ferrari's brakes started to fade, Villeneuve had to cede to the Williams of Alan Jones at Mirabeau.

That turned out to be a plus, for Jones now took off after Piquet, who responded by crashing in traffic at Tabac. Jones then looked set to win until he started experiencing fuel pressure issues.

The Williams pitted for more fuel and returned six seconds ahead of Villeneuve, but the stop had not cured the problem. The Ferrari closed in and, when the #27 machine attacked on the start-finish straight, Jones remembered the space Villeneuve had given him earlier and afforded him the same.

Villeneuve then drew away to score Ferrari's first turbo victory at the most unlikely of venues.

1982 South African GP, Alain Prost
Renault RE30B

Qualified: 5th
Result: 1st

Prost is famed for his cool, calculating approach to winning grands prix. But when he needed to be, he was also capable of being seriously fast, as he proved in the 1982 season-opening South African GP.

Team-mate Arnoux initially led from pole, with Prost catapulting from fifth to second off the line. Prost passed his compatriot, who was struggling with a tyre vibration, on the inside of Crowthorne Corner on lap 14 - and that, seemingly, was that.

By lap 40, Prost had eased out to a lead of over 11 seconds, only to be robbed of his position by a left-rear puncture.

GP Gold: AUTOSPORT's original Kyalami 1982 report

By the time he had limped back to the pits and bolted on a new set of boots, he was a lap down and rejoined in eighth. With 37 laps to go and fresh rubber, Prost set about scything his way back through the field.

After passing Michele Alboreto's Tyrrell for seventh, he unlapped himself on lap 46. Arnoux was still a massive 72 seconds up the road.

On lap 50, Prost dispatched F1 returnee Niki Lauda's McLaren to take sixth and on lap 54 passed the sister car of John Watson. He was still 45s behind Arnoux, who was struggling with a worsening tyre vibration.

On the next lap Prost passed Keke Rosberg's Williams for fourth, and on lap 61, the other Williams of Carlos Reutemann. On lap 62 he dispatched Didier Pironi. He was then only 18.8s behind Arnoux and it took him just six more laps to reel in and pass his team-mate.

Twenty-seven laps earlier, Prost had been a lap down in eighth place, but by the chequered flag he was 15 seconds clear of Carlos Reutemann, who had passed Arnoux for second late on.

1982 Canadian GP, Didier Pironi
Ferrari 126C2

Qualified: 1st
Result: 9th

In many ways this race is most significant as the first win for Brabham-BMW, with Nelson Piquet beginning to reap the rewards of his perseverance with the German marque's turbo programme.

But probably the best performance came from Pironi. Just weeks after Ferrari team-mate Villeneuve had been killed at Zolder, Pironi stalled on pole in Montreal and was collected by rookie Riccardo Paletti.

The race was stopped while the fatally wounded Paletti was cut from the wreckage of his Osella, but Pironi decided to take the restart.

"Didier agonised for some time, made his decision and prepared to climb aboard the spare Ferrari," wrote Roebuck in his AUTOSPORT report. "It was the action of a courageous man, and the only one he could take."

Come the race, Pironi soon fell back with ignition troubles. Three pitstops followed and eventually the black box was changed.

Now Pironi, despite being out of contention, flew. His fastest lap was nearly a second quicker than the next best and he took almost half a minute out of (an admittedly unpressured) Piquet after his final stop.

The reward? A pointless ninth. But the performance had been about so much more than the result.

1982 British GP, Derek Warwick
Toleman-Hart TG181C

Qualified: 16th
Result: R

Since coming into F1 in 1981, Toleman had yet to achieve much. With underfunded Hart engines just finishing races had proved a struggle, never mind challenging the frontrunners.

Things didn't look any different when Warwick qualified 16th at Brands Hatch, but third quickest in the warm-up hinted at what was to come.

Several early mishaps helped, but Warwick's progress was sensational as he picked off the likes of Prost, Michele Alboreto and de Angelis.

Within 20 laps he had made it into third and then, remarkably, he caught and overtook Pironi's Ferrari for second.

Shortly afterwards Warwick pulled into the pits with what was claimed as a driveshaft failure, but there was more to the story than that.

"It was a very tricky part of Toleman's season," says Warwick today. "We were struggling with sponsors and with speed. We had to do something dramatic.

"We came up with the idea of starting the car on half tanks and run until it coughed, but I don't think we realised how competitive the car was. It was competitive at Brands and the Pirellis were working well.

"It was lovely to drive and I could pick them off one by one. Passing Pironi at Paddock for second was one of the moments of my life.

"I regret starting on low fuel in a way now because I think we may have picked up some points, but we did keep a sponsor and it gave us all a shot in the arm."

1983 British GP, Nigel Mansell
Lotus-Renault 94T

Qualifying: 18th
Result: 4th

A charging drive after the loss of a wheel balance weight, followed by a late dummy to complete a pass. It sounds like Mansell's 1987 British GP win, almost certainly his most famous turbo race, but it also describes his '83 effort at the same venue.

Mansell arrived at Silverstone set to race the turbocharged 94T for the first time. But while the sister example proved competitive in the hands of Elio de Angelis, Mansell's was beset with a misfire.

A run in the older 93T resulted in a blown engine and Mansell ended up 18th on the grid. A new wiring loom was fitted to his 94T in time for the race and, with de Angelis going quickest in warm-up, the stage was set for a Mansell charge.

The Lotus drivers' fortunes swapped in the race, de Angelis retiring - on fire - on lap one as Mansell rose to 12th. He soon reached the top 10 and, after a fine battle with Warwick's Renault, took seventh.

The loss of a wheel balance weight caused a vibration but Mansell's fight up the order continued: after a stop for new tyres he found himself in fifth.

With the 94T's handling now much more to his liking, Mansell closed on Arnoux's Ferrari. Approaching Abbey he jinked to the right, then dived up the inside to take fourth.

"You don't know what it means to be in a truly competitive car after all this time," said Mansell after the race. "After the tyre stop I couldn't believe how good it was."

For the final third of the race Mansell proved faster than winner Alain Prost's McLaren. If only he'd started higher up...

1984 Dallas GP, Keke Rosberg
Williams-Honda FW09

Qualified: 8th
Result: 1st

"Keke remains the great improviser of Formula 1," wrote Roebuck. "If freak conditions are likely, if a track surface is breaking up, if the hot is really torrid, the race unusually long, my money would always be on him."

There was no better example of that than Rosberg's win in the blistering heat of Dallas at the wheel of the tricky 1984 Williams-Honda.

There were concerns about the track surface even before the start and a threat of a drivers' boycott. When things finally got going Rosberg, armed with his water-cooled skullcap, quickly moved up to sixth.

He gained another place when Warwick's Renault crashed trying to wrest the lead from Mansell's Lotus, and then overcame Lauda's McLaren.

When de Angelis tried to pass Mansell he too was delayed. After swapping places briefly with Prost, Rosberg moved forward to harass the leader.

Eventually, with a bit of fist-waving, Rosberg prised the lead from Mansell, but Prost swiftly followed. The McLaren then found a way by the Williams and started to edge away, only for Prost to crash with 10 laps to go.

To emphasise how challenging the circuit conditions had become, Lauda also hit the wall, leaving Rosberg to take a first victory for the Williams-Honda partnership.

Rosberg's drive wasn't the only star performance of that day, either. Having been forced to start from the back when his Ferrari failed to start on the dummy grid, Arnoux stormed through the field.

With little to lose, he was even quicker than Rosberg for a significant portion of the second half of the race on his way to a brilliant second.

1985 Monaco GP, Michele Alboreto
Ferrari 156/85

Qualified: 3rd
Result: 2nd

Ayrton Senna's prowess around Monaco is the stuff of legend, especially driving turbocharged machinery. Yet at the 1985 Monaco Grand Prix Ferrari driver Michele Alboreto outdrove everyone, Senna included, in a race that he should have won.

After starting second, Alboreto slipped to third at the start. But he pulled off a spectacular overtaking move on Mansell's Williams at Sainte Devote on the second lap, his Ferrari squirming under him as the Italian tried to stop the car.

He then set about reeling in Senna, and was looking every bit the likely winner when the Brazil slowed with an engine problem. Surely, nobody would be beating Alboreto now.

Alboreto's hopes took a major hit when Piquet and Riccardo Patrese collided on the run to the first corner. Patrese's Alfa Romeo engine spewed oil onto the track, sending Alboreto up the escape road. By the time he rejoined, he was second to Prost, over eight seconds down.

It took Alboreto only a few laps to get on Prost's tail and he breezed past the Frenchman on the approach to Ste Devote to reclaim the lead and seemingly certain victory.

But on lap 32, still less than half distance, Alboreto suffered a left-rear puncture and headed for the pits. He restarted almost 45 seconds behind and down in fourth place.

The Italian soon caught Andrea de Cesaris, passing the Ligier with a bold dive up the inside at Mirabeau, and later passed de Angelis for second at Ste Devote.

Although Prost won, nobody would argue that the man of the day was Alboreto. The Italian ended up only 7.541s away from what would surely have been the greatest win of his career.

1985 Dutch GP, Niki Lauda
McLaren MP4/2B

Qualified: 10th
Result: 1st

One of the all-time greats, Lauda came out of retirement in 1982 and drove turbocars for just two seasons. In the first of those, he pipped McLaren team-mate Prost to the crown, but there was no doubt who the lead McLaren driver was in 1985: while Prost finally took his first title, Lauda finished a lacklustre 10th in the standings.

Nevertheless, one day stood out: the day Lauda took his 25th and final GP win.

Although they didn't set the pace in qualifying, the two MP4/2Bs predictably made their way to the front come race day, once Rosberg's Williams had suffered an engine failure.

Prost was on course for victory until the tyre stops. The right-rear became cross-threaded, and he returned to the fray in third, 17s down on Lauda.

Prost dispatched Ayrton Senna's Lotus and chased off after Lauda. Inside the last 10 laps, the two McLarens were together and Prost looked strong.

But Lauda held firm in a battle that had "everyone mesmerised" according to Roebuck. "I knew the last few laps were going to be hell," said Lauda. "I was absolutely flat-out, on the limit."

Prost, who even tried using the grass to overtake at one point, just couldn't find a chink in Lauda's armour.

"I was trying very hard to win," he confirmed. "Maybe we were a little bit crazy in the last few laps, but it was fun."

1986 Hungarian GP, Nelson Piquet
Williams-Honda FW11

Qualified: 2nd
Result: 1st

This is all about overtaking. Piquet and Senna's Lotus were the class of the field on the first visit to the Hungaroring. Senna took pole and the two Brazilians, not exactly fans of one another, led every lap of the race.

It is Piquet's move on Senna into Turn 1 that gets this race onto the list. He'd already tried down the inside, Senna squeezing him but giving the Williams just enough room. On the dirty line, though, Piquet couldn't get the car stopped. He slid wide and Senna nipped back by.

Next time, Piquet went to the outside. The Williams snapped sideways as Piquet braked as late as he could, but he not only held it, he almost made it to the apex. More importantly, he was now ahead of Senna.

You can watch that move in all its glory here.

Piquet went on to win the race by over 17s, and finished a lap ahead of team-mate Mansell.

1987 Japanese GP, Alain Prost
McLaren-TAG Porsche MP4/2C

Qualified: 2nd
Result: 7th

With Mansell's qualifying crash handing the world title to Williams team-mate Piquet, the Japanese GP looked set to become a fight between Gerhard Berger's Ferrari and Prost. Berger took pole, but Prost was quickest in the warm-up.

Berger led from the McLaren at the start, but behind Alboreto's Ferrari stalled and triggered a minor accident. Prost ran over the debris the next time around, picking up a puncture that cost him two laps.

Game over as far as the victory was concerned - and Berger duly reeled off a convincing win - but Prost charged on regardless.

"World champion he may be no longer; the world's best he is without question," was Roebuck's assessment in AUTOSPORT's race report and the stats tend to support him.

Prost's best lap on his way back to seventh was a remarkable 1m43.844s. Berger's was 1m45.540s, while Stefan Johansson, who finished third in the other McLaren, was another 0.8s back.

1988 Japanese GP, Ayrton Senna
McLaren-Honda MP4/4

Qualified: 1st
Result: 1st

Many of Senna's drives could have been included in this list - his breakthrough drive for Toleman in Monte Carlo in 1984, his first F1 win in appalling conditions at Estoril in 1985 to name just two - but this Suzuka performance had a bit of everything.

Fittingly, the final title of the turbo period was fought out by the two greats of the era, Senna and Prost, in the same car. And the Japanese GP featured a botched start, a glorious comeback, and resulted in Senna taking his first world crown.

Having qualified on pole, Senna stalled his McLaren on the line. But he had two bits of good fortune. The first was that everyone missed him; the second was that Suzuka's downhill grid allowed him to bump-start the car.

At the end of lap one, he was eighth - having passed several cars already - and nine seconds behind title rival Prost. While he continued his recovery, Senna also fell over a dozen seconds behind the leader, but then a rain shower hit.

"No race driver on earth flourishes in the wet like Ayrton," wrote Roebuck. "He drove a quite inspired series of laps on the slippery track."

That brought Senna up on to Prost's tail and now there was really a race for the title. When the Frenchman, already beginning to struggle with a gearbox problem, was delayed by de Cesaris, Senna was able to drive past into the lead.

He pulled away too, before Prost started closing again in the final 10 laps. But then the rain returned and Senna pulled away again to secure the championship.

"Until today I always said my best drive was at Estoril in 1985," said Senna. "But not any more: this was my best."

For more on F1's first turbo era, look out for the January 23 issue of AUTOSPORT magazine and further online content this week