1984: Senna becomes a star

"Monaco," said the man on French radio on Thursday evening, "has become an event for dragsters ..."
Quite a pithy comment, really, despite the fact that one associates dragsters with straight lines - the one thing you do not find in the Principality. But you could see what he meant. Ground effect was outlawed at the end of 1982, but in practice the first five were under Rene Arnoux's pole time of two years ago, despite the fact that turn-in speeds - all-important at this place - were inevitably slower than in the bad old days when a car's competitiveness was dependent almost entirely on the efficiency of its skirts.

No, brute horsepower is more to the fore these days. And in qualifying at Monaco the sight of great drivers exploiting and containing well over 700bhp through this skittle alley of a circuit was truly exhilarating. Often I found myself casting back to that day at Paul Ricard 18 months ago when I 'drove' the Renault Fl car. On the wide open expanse of Paul Ricard's air strip I felt almost hemmed in, such was the brutality of the car's acceleration. And I tried to marry up in my mind that thought with narrow streets and beckoning guardrails. Without much success.

On Saturday afternoon I watched the final session at the exit of Tabac. Someone - Keke probably - came by in a blurred, frantic explosion of power and opposite lock. McLaren director Creighton Brown was next to me, and we made appropriate gestures of appreciation for the man's efforts. "It's good to stand here," he shouted over the clamour, "because it reminds you that Grand Prix drivers do earn their money sometimes." Not very long afterwards Martin Brundle crashed in front of us.

You can get very blase about places like Monaco. You can use phrases like 'Mickey Mouse' and you can point out that the average speed here is easily attainable in the most pedestrian of road cars. For three-quarters of an hour I had been watching cars coming through Tabac and on past down to the swimming pool complex, and to some extent my senses had accustomed themselves to it. A pattern of braking, accelerating, sliding and so on had formed. Break the pattern, and the pace of it all is screamingly amplified.

Brundle's maroon Tyrrell was just briefly in my sight to the left, smoke pouring from its front tyres as it hurtled into the barriers, mercifully not quite head-on. The impact was of terrifying force.

On striking the guardrail the car lost its right-hand wheels, then flipped over on its side, scudded on down the road and came to a final stop in front of us. We walked swiftly away as the marshals set to work and then - within seconds - heard a burst of applause from the stands. Martin was out, now standing, now walking, now climbing over the armco. It was too much to believe, but it was happening.

Not surprisingly, he was suffering afterwards from shock, saying that he had no recollection of the accident, just remembered vaguely some cheering from the crowd. Later he would ascribe the accident to error by himself: he must, he said, have braked too late. He couldn't remember it, but it seemed like the most logical explanation.

Tyrrell designer Maurice Phillippe, however, picked up something else in the immediate aftermath. "There was something about a 'long' brake pedal. The pedal went down further than he expected, and he thinks maybe his heel dabbed the throttle pedal..."

Whatever the cause, the outcome was an enormous relief, and Phillippe has every reason to feel great pride in the strength of his design. The consequences of such an accident a few years ago would have been very different.

The accident, of course, brought qualifying to a halt for a while. Manfred Winkelhock, himself the victim of a big shunt on the opening day, stopped at the scene to see if he could help, and it was more than fortunate that the German had not been right on Brundle's tail. With no pre-qualifying at Monaco this year, the track was even more crowded than usual, with just an hour available for 27 drivers to get in a quick lap.

More than ever, it seemed to me, there was a case to be made for 'Indy qualifying' at this place. In itself, it would be an exciting event, and would remove the lottery element. With overtaking virtually out of the question on race day, the grid is more crucial here than anywhere else - but if you don't get a clear lap you don't get a good grid position.

Thursday morning, for instance, saw Nigel Mansell quickest, but in the afternoon he was only eighth, and fuming about it. "If people won't try and cooperate," he said, "it's a complete joke. I went out of my way not to hold anyone up, but every single quick lap I had was ruined. This morning I had much more fuel in the car, and harder race tyres - and I was quicker than my best time this afternoon. I know everyone complains about 'traffic' everywhere, but really it is a different matter here - just luck really, and that's not how qualifying should be."

Mansell's problem was further amplified by the fact that the Goodyear qualifier seemed to have a shorter useful life than its Michelin equivalent. "One really quick lap, and then it's finished," agreed Michele Alboreto, whose Ferrari was fastest on the first day. "So, you know, we had to think of another way..."

The Italian thus chose one 'C race tyre (for the hard-working left rear of the C4) and seven qualifiers for his 'two sets', and the policy worked very well, allowing Michele to stay out on the track, picking his moment to go for a time. "For sure," he said, "it would be quicker to have qualifiers all round - but where is the point unless you are lucky and get that clear lap? Better, I think, to have three qualifiers and more opportunities ..."

Alboreto was actually surprised to find himself topping the lists on Thursday, with Warwick, Prost, Piquet, Lauda, Arnoux, Tambay and Mansell behind him. But the presence in the top five of both McLarens was perhaps more of a surprise to most people. Had not Prost expressed doubts about its suitability for Monaco, spoken of its still imperfect throttle response, long wheelbase, large dimensions?

Immediately after the French Grand Prix Prost and Lauda did three days of testing at the Michelin track near Clermont-Ferrand. "Good days," said Alain. "We learned a lot there - not only testing tyres, but also chassis and engine changes for Monaco. It was all good work, I think ..."

It was good work. On Saturday Prost found the eye of the storm. About 20 minutes into the session the traffic was light, and the Frenchman thought he could see a clear lap. "I had a lap like this at Paul Ricard in qualifying last year, you know, a lap you can call nearly perfect, no big mistakes, no traffic ..."

The time set was 1m22.661s, almost a full second inside Alboreto's Thursday lap. Alain had no need of his second set of Michelins. He had captured the pole in the spare MP4/2, and came out later in his race car, merely to check it out for the morrow.

Pole last year for Prost's Renault. Pole this time for his McLaren. The man is a star.

If Alain's circumstances were unchanged, however, his team's were not. On the Saturday afternoon last year McLaren were packing their gear and preparing to leave, neither car having qualified.

The significance of the clear lap was plain to see from Lauda's grid position. Although the Austrian never looked quite as quick as his team mate, it was ridiculous to find him down in eighth place, well over a second away. It was simply a matter of people in the way, shrugged the Austrian, not a problem with the car.

After his similar problems on Thursday a frustrated Mansell hoped for better things in the last session. Both he and Elio de Angelis intended to use their T-cars for this, leaving the race-prepared 95Ts for Sunday, but Nigel had to switch after halting near the tunnel with a dead engine. By now all the Goodyear runners were following the Alboreto plan, running with a race tyre at the left rear and staying out there. But Mansell's car, thus shod, was parked out on the circuit.

There was only one thing for it: the race car, a full set of qualifiers, go for it, hope for the best. And Nigel produced a gem of a lap, all but glancing the barrier at Tabac in a brave and impressive display that was good for second place on the grid. "That's better," he grinned. "The car's been fantastic all through practice, and it should be at the front. Mind you," he added, "it still wasn't a completely clear lap ..." Since Thursday, it should be noted, his mechanics had fitted a horn, complete with button, to Nigel's Lotus!

De Angelis, too, had to call upon his race chassis during the last hour, following turbo failure on the spare. But at this, a circuit where Mansell has always excelled, the Italian was disappointingly slower. His car, he said, was suffering from a surfeit of oversteer, but it was noticeable at Tabac that he was nowhere near as close to the barriers as his team mate. Elio qualified 11th.

Ferrari had the second row to itself, with Arnoux pipping Alboreto by precisely two-thousandths of a second. Despite much recent testing of a modified Marelli-Weber electronic injection system, all four cars in Monaco had Lucas mechanical. Nor, for once, did the Italian team bring special 'Monaco' engines here.

"There was no need," explained Harvey Postlethwaite. "The engines have loads of torque - in fact, at Dijon they had too much, at the expense of the top-end power they needed there."

Ste Devote brought excitement for both drivers in practice, Arnoux somehow managing to spin into the escape road without hitting anything on Thursday, and Alboreto clobbering the barrier there during the last session. With a front wheel askew, the car could not be driven back to the pits, Michele running in to take over his T-car. By this time, fortunately for him, he had already put in a quick lap, which Arnoux then shaved.

"I think," said a watching Carlos Reutemann, "that one of the Ferraris will win. Very strong, good gearbox, good reliability..."

Row two, then, to the Italians, and row three to the French. For Monaco Renault had new, smaller, turbocharged units from Garrett, these intended to improve throttle response and punch out of slow corners. Lotus and Ligier, Renault-powered of course, also had them, and quickly found them superior to the traditional 'qualifying' Garretts.

But Patrick Tambay was initially less convinced. "They'll be better for the race, certainly," he said, "but for qualifying I think you need pure power..."

By Saturday, however, he had changed his mind, and until the final minute of the last session looked set to qualify fifth. Still out on the circuit, though, was Derek Warwick - and the Englishman's last-ditch effort moved him a place ahead. "Bloody rosbif," Patrick smiled.

"Phew! That was some session," Derek said. "I spun on my second lap, at Rascasse - trying to go too quickly on cold tyres. Bloody stupid. The car never felt the same after that, because I think I bent the suspension. Then I hit the barrier by the swimming pool a couple of times, and that tweaked it some more! At the end I went out on a mix of my used sets, and just sort of threw the lap together. To be honest, the car was better today than the driver showed ..."

Thursday had also had its moments. Warwick had been at Casino Square, on a quick lap, and came over the rise to find Winkelhock's wrecked ATS in the middle of the road. "That was a big moment, I'll tell you. The car just sort of slid through the only gap. Pure luck."

Manfred had stopped with turbo failure on the D7, and, mindful of the need to set a time, went out in the older, unsorted, D6. At the exit of Casino Square the care went sideways over the bump. "It was so soft at the back," the German explained, "that it came down on its skid-plates-with the back wheels up in the air somewhere! I tell you, putting on opposite lock does not help much at this time..."

The car slammed into the guardrail with terrific force, and Winkelhock suffered torn muscles in his shoulder. For the rest of the day, it seemed unlikely that he would be able to take any further part in the Monaco proceedings, and Stefan Johansson, here to spectate, was mentioned as a possible stand-in. But Willi Dungl set to work, and the following, morning Manfred bravely turned out. In the circumstances he did a superb job to qualify 12th. "No problem for a few laps," he commented, "but the race... who can tell?"

It was no real surprise to see Andrea de Cesaris well up, for this is a circuit where driver 'acrobatics' can still flatter a car. The Italian found that a change to harder springs for the second day made a big difference to the Ligier's handling, and he hurled the car round very confidently in the last session, at one point being second fastest. In the end he was pushed down to seventh, but was virtually as quick as the Renaults, and a happy man. Team mate Francois Hesnault, although two seconds away, did well to qualify 17th for his first Monaco Grand Prix.

There was little joy for either Brabham or Williams. Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg qualified ninth and 10th - and Corrado Fabi and Jacques Laffite 15th and 16th. For Brabham the main problem was poor engine response out of the slow corners. In both timed sessions Nelson was out first, going for a time before the place got crowded, and on each occasion he succeeded in being the early pacesetter.

But on Saturday afternoon he was able to find only a couple of tenths, while the front runners were up to one and a half seconds faster than before. On Thursday his engine lost power, and he waited in vain for the spare BT53. Fabi, his own car losing boost, had taken it - only to have to park out on the circuit. BMW's nightmare season continues.

Corrado's task - making his debut with Brabham at, of all places, Monaco - was hardly an enviable one, and the young man did not look at ease during Thursday, his attempts to learn car and circuit again thwarted by many engine problems. But on Saturday he did a very professional, if unspectacular, job.

The less kind elements of pit lane currently refer to Williams as "Team Understeer," which needs no clarification. It was, I have to say, Rosberg who qualified 10th, and not the Williams FW09. When Keke was on a hot lap, his car - on the stretch from Tabac to the pool - was terrifying to behold, proceeding in a series of violent twitches. And once at the pool complex, Rosberg's only means of getting it to turn into the first left-hander was, simply, to chuck it. More than once I saw him on opposite lock at that point. Into Casino Square, too, the car looked awful, front end washing out wide, then tail kicking out over the bump.

To compound his problems, Keke had turbo failures on both his own and the spare car during the last session, and had to spectate for the last half of it. Laffite, unwilling to chance his arm on qualifiers, set his best time on race tyres towards the end.

Toleman, sponsored once more by Candy, had tested with Brian Hart's new engine management system since the French Grand Prix, and Ayrton Senna ran with it on his car during Thursday. There was a definite improvement in response, he said, but no more actual horsepower. On Thursday afternoon he had to use the spare TGI84 for much of the session, having clobbered a barrier with the race car, breaking its suspension. On this, the Brazilian's first visit to Monaco, he again impressed with his ability to learn a circuit within just a few laps. And on Saturday he qualified an excellent 13th, with Johnny Cecotto's sister car also in, five places back.

Alfa Romeo were in desperate trouble on the opening day, and for Eddie Cheever the whole weekend was a disaster. "The handling is terrible," he said, "and we're down on power. What else can I tell you? If we set the front wings to be quick through the tunnel, we just understeer ridiculously everywhere else. And if we set them for good turn-in for slow corners, we can't even go through the tunnel in fourth gear. It's a joke."

Cheever, third on the grid last year with the Renault, improved by two and a half seconds in the last session - and stayed right where he was, 23rd, and out of the Monaco Grand Prix. Riccardo Patrese, though, took three seconds off, moving himself up from 20th to 13th. It was a great lap, but Riccardo had no kind words for the car.

The last row comprised Piercarlo Ghinzani, who looked like getting in from the very beginning of practice, and gave Enzo Osella his first ever Monaco qualifier, and Stefan Bellof, the only Cosworth representative.

The young German was another man racing at Monaco for the first time, but within 15 minutes of the start of the first session he was slinging the black Tyrrell through Casino Square with all the confidence imaginable. Until Brundle's accident on Saturday afternoon, it looked as though both Tyrrell drivers might make the show. On Thursday both had been comfortably in, but in the last session Winkelhock, Fabi and Cecotto came into the reckoning.

And Martin was actually trying to get himself back into the first 20 when he crashed. Last year at Monaco it was Ron Dennis's people who had nothing to do on race day, and this time Jack Oliver and his team were able to pack up early. Marc Surer, who had such a fine drive here 12 months ago, opted for the Cosworth-powered Arrows for Monaco, although it was his 'turn' to run the BMW car.

As expected, the Swiss's attempts to qualify were highly entertaining on this, a track he relishes, but he finished up a tenth slower than Bellof and therefore missed the show - as also did Thierry Boutsen, slower yet in the clumsy A7. The Belgian had engine problems with both his cars in the last session, but was always a likely non-qualifier.

The RAM-Harts were complete disaster, lurching into lurid slides after initial understeer, and looking mighty unstable over the bumps. It says much for Jonathan Palmer's courage that he finally fought the thing round within five seconds of the pole, and Philippe Alliot, who banged the barriers twice during practice, was slowest of all. Mauro Baldi, a past winner of the Monaco F3 race, also had a qualifying shunt, and the Spirit-Hart driver was the only not to go quicker in the Saturday afternoon session.



And then came Sunday. When I arrived in Monte Carlo the girl in reception at my hotel told me that it would rain on Sunday, and next time I will listen. It was one of those days they have an awful lot of in the south of France, but keep from mentioning in the brochures.

Low cloud of grey to black shrouding the mountain tops, and rain from dawn to dusk. For the 20 participants in the Monaco Grand Prix, it meant that everything learned from practice could be tossed away. Instead, they had a 30-minute warm-up to try new settings and so on. Experience would play its part.

That being the case, it came as no surprise to see the name of Niki Lauda at the top of the time sheets, the Austrian a full second faster than de Cesaris, with Rosberg, Prost, Warwick and de Angelis next up. A severe misfire kept Tambay from doing more than three laps, and Alboreto lightly dinged the tail of the Ferrari when he spun at Rascasse.

Conditions, everyone said, were simply dreadful, particularly through the tunnel. "It's not saturated like the rest of the track," Rosberg grimaced, "but water is carried in there on the tyres. Already it's greasy through the tunnel, but with a light covering of water it's lethal - more slippery than anything I've known before. I'm going though there with a tiny amount of throttle. If someone spins in there on the first lap, there could be an absolute catastrophe..."

Eventually it was decided to put fire hoses to work in the tunnel, this an attempt to remove some of the grease and to 'equalise' the conditions outside. Quite why the decision was taken late enough to delay the start was not known. What was known was that it made little or no difference.

The rain never let up all day. Here we were in Hooray Henry land, Niarchos's discreet little ocean liner parked in the harbour, and above us the hillsides, packed with spectators under polythene sheeting, reminded me more than anything of a Sao Paulo shanty town.

After an eternity, it seemed, engines were fired up. One by one, out the drivers cautiously came to find conditions worse even than in the warm-up. Most of them tried practice starts, spluttering away towards Ste Devote, electrics already soaked and playing up. The spray hung in the air for long seconds after a car passed. And in a few minutes they were going to ask all 20 to filter through that joke of a chicane - difficult enough on a dry day, when you can see where you're going...

At quarter to four they finally got the green, and Prost the Professor got the revs absolutely right, the McLaren immediately taking an undisputed lead. Away they went to Ste Devote, and we waited for the mist of spray to settle before the inevitable carnage could be assessed.

What we saw was a nightmare for Renault - Warwick's car buried in the barriers, Tambay's up against it. Stationary behind Derek's crippled RE50 were de Angelis's Lotus and Patrese's Alfa, patiently awaiting a clear track before proceeding.

Warwick was quickly out of the car and hobbling away, but his team mate needed help, marshals eventually carrying him to a stretcher by the trackside. Later the unfortunate Patrick was found to have a fracture in his left leg.

"I got a good start," said Derek, still coldly furious long afterwards, "arrived at the chicane ahead of Arnoux - and he drove straight over the kerb on the inside and pushed me off into the tyre barrier..."

Warwick's car then bounced back - into the path of Tambay, who had nowhere to go. I found the damage to the two Renaults rather disturbing. This was not a severe impact, after all, but a matter of hitting a tyre barrier - a tyre barrier - at a very slow corner. Yet the carbon fibre monocoque of Warwick's car broke up in the cockpit area. And Patrick's RE50 suffered similar damage to Derek's at Dijon, the front suspension punching through the monocoque and into the footwell area.

On the face of it, I do not care to contemplate what might have happened if Warwick or Tambay had had, say, Brundle's accident of the day before.

Two retirements, then, in the first few yards of the race, and there was a third at the end of the lap, a very disappointed de Cesaris coming in to park his Ligier, which had been struck a rude blow to the rear in the course of that first chaotic lap. But at least, mercifully, no one had spun in the tunnel.

Seventeen cars, therefore, came over the line after the first lap, which Prost covered in 2m 05s. A second back was Mansell, and then came Arnoux, Alboreto, Lauda, Rosberg, Winkelhock, Laffite, Senna, Fabi and Bellof. Towards the back ran Piquet's Brabham, the World Champion completely out of it today. Hesnault's Ligier was without its nosecone, and Cecotto's Toleman stopped at Ste Devote with a dead engine.

I cannot dignify the charade which took place at Monaco on Sunday as a 'race'. The conditions were as bad as any I have ever seen, and through the slippery streets this was a matter of survival, nothing more.

"For sure," Prost said earlier, "the winner today will not be the fastest man, but the one who makes fewest mistakes. Everyone will make some mistakes..."

Certainly, he seemed to be taking his own advice, his driving markedly smoother than most of his colleagues'. As we would have expected, Lauda's progress was also impressive. Smoothly he caught Alboreto unawares - into Station Hairpin! - on lap four to move himself up to fourth, and this began to have the look of another McLaren 1-2 about it.

Niki immediately moved onto the tail of Arnoux, and when the Frenchman's engine momentarily hesitated out of Ste Devote on lap six his rival audaciously gunned the McLaren past through the swerves up the hill! Rene simply had to concede, and now Lauda was up to third.

Such things, however, are expected from the Austrian. More remarkable was the progress being made by Senna and Bellof, two young chargers who had driven round this circuit for the first time only three days before. On the first lap they had been ninth and 11th respectively, but after 10 laps were up to sixth and eighth, with more very clearly to come. Some slight assistance had come from Alboreto, who spun and stalled his Ferrari on lap nine, restarting after a push from marshals.

By lap 10 Mansell had closed right up to Prost, and sodden British enthusiasts were delighted to see the black Lotus in the lead next time around. Nigel was at the head of a Grand Prix for the first time in his life, and quickly he built up a useful lead over the McLaren.

There was, however, a very long way to go. Unless the organisers at some stage called a halt to the farce, it was going to last for two full hours, as the rules decree. And no one was more aware of that than Prost, who was looking more for World Championship points than anything else.

Fabi's first Brabham drive ended on lap 10 when he spun at Portiers and was unable to restart, a similar fate befalling Piquet at Rascasse a few minutes later. All afternoon BMW's best hopes lay with Winkelhock, shoulder injury and all, who was driving the ATS with all his usual zest.

For five laps Mansell led the Monaco Grand Prix, driving beautifully. But on lap 16 his dream was shattered. Up the hill the Lotus seemed momentarily to hop over a bump. With the rear of the car light and the power on, the tail began to go away. Opposite lock left, then right. Nigel fought the slide all the way, but there was no catching the car, which slammed into the guardrail on both sides of the track.

Amazingly the 95T was still mobile, if battered, at the end of all this. Through Casino Square it came, wing askew and suspension clearly deranged. At the entry to Mirabeau Prost slipped by to reclaim the lead, and it seemed that his only realistic rival for the day was gone. Mansell loves Monaco and thrives in the wet. The day could have been his, but all one could do, regretfully, was recall the words, earlier in the day, of Alain Prost...

Lap 16: Prost, Lauda, an astonishing Senna, a misfiring Arnoux, a frustrated Rosberg, a charging Bellof. The young Tyrrell man, making the most of his engine's smooth power curve on the greasy surface, had hassled Winkelhock to the point that Manfred had waved his compatriot through. And now Stefan had designs on Rosberg's fifth place, just as Ayrton began to have a serious look at Lauda. The Formula 1 Youth Movement is in excellent shape this year.

As they came out of Rascasse on lap 18 Senna was right on Lauda's gearbox, and as the two cars scrabbled their way towards the start-finish line Ayrton flicked to the left. It was dead reckoning, this, overtaking in a dense mist of spray, putting your head down and going for it. Niki made no serious attempt to defend his place in the braking area for Ste Devote, and the Toleman driver's perfectly executed manoeuvre had him now up to second.

At this stage Prost was half a minute up the road, but Senna was by no means finished yet, and soon began to eat away at the Frenchman's lead. No, this race was by no means decided.

Equally, Bellof was making his moves. The only good thing about rain at Monte Carlo is that it permits overtaking - or attempts at overtaking - in places out of the question in the dry. During qualifying the Tyrrell had been at its weakest, inevitably, on the fast section through the tunnel - Prost was only a fraction shy of 170mph through the speed trap there on his pole lap! - and down to the chicane.

In the rain, though, the Cosworth car was superb through this section, and Bellof tailed Rosberg closely enough to nip past the Williams into the chicane! Two laps later the valiant Winkelhock tried the same move on Keke, but hit the guardrail, ending his race.

Lap 24 brought a major surprise: no Lauda. At Casino Square Niki had simply dropped it. With Arnoux not very far behind, he had spun in front of the Hotel de Paris. The car was completely undamaged, but its engine was still. Third place now belonged to Rene, but swiftly catching him was that black Tyrrell...

And swiftly catching Prost was that white Toleman. Senna was driving an absolutely inspired race, aggressive yet controlled. Some drivers you were surprised to see at the end of each lap; Ayrton you always expected. By lap 28 he was only 17 seconds back of Prost, and next time around it was 14.6, then 11.5 This was remarkable .With all the time in the world, this young Brazilian was going to win the Monaco Grand Prix at his first attempt.

By this time Bellof had dealt with Arnoux, setting him up through Casino Square, then diving for the inside at Mirabeau. In not too subtle fashion the Ferrari chopped across the Tyrrell's nose, forcing Stefan briefly to take to the pavement, but there was no question of giving way. Ultimately it was Rene who had to yield.

At the end of lap 31 Senna was a mere seven seconds away from the lead, and Prost had pointed to the front of his car as he passed his pit. For some time, it transpired, the McLaren's carbon fibre brakes had been playing up, and Alain was worried by an increasing vibration from them.

Pit signals had kept him advised of Senna's progress, and already Prost had decided not to give the Brazilian a fight. If there were to be a battle for victory, it appeared, the most likely contestants were Senna and Bellof, for the Tyrrell was ever so slightly closer to the Toleman with every passing lap now.

And then, all of a sudden, there were red flags everywhere. On the startline was a red one, and also the traditional chequer. The race, someone had decided, was being stopped after 31 laps, and Prost, a winner after all, stopped his car immediately at the start-finish line.

A couple of seconds later Ayrton Senna lashed past to begin another lap, but it vas all over.

McLaren people, of course, were delighted with the decision, but the same was hardly true of those at Toleman and Tyrrell. There were many dark mutterings in the paddock about the impossibility of beating the French in France.

"Why," Tyrrell demanded, "have they stopped the race now? After 31 laps? The rain was worse at the start, and it was worse a quarter of an hour ago. So why now - and why is it all over? Why no restart, like at Dijon three years ago? See, it's virtually stopped raining now."

Senna could hardly believe it, a furious man when he climbed from his car. His first Grand Prix win had been there before him - yet had been snatched away. It was cruel, no doubt about it.

Yet it would be a flinty heart which described Prost as a man who lucked into victory. He had been brilliant in qualifying, and had driven a faultless race in appalling conditions - conditions which provoked even Lauda into a mistake.

All those who finished - indeed, all who started - in Sunday's race were heroes. Senna and Bellof covered themselves with glory, and Arnoux did a typically forceful job for Ferrari, despite an increasingly serious misfire. If Rosberg's drive seemed to lack its customary ebullience, it was because of an intelligent approach to driving an unwieldy car on an unmanageable surface, and Keke richly deserved his point for fifth (the points were halved, in accordance with the rules when races are stopped before three-quarter distance).

De Angelis claimed the final half, having driven well to sixth after his delay at the first corner.

Six races run, then, in 1984, and Alain Prost has won half of them. We know that the McLaren works as well on tight as on fast circuits. The European season now takes a breather until Brands Hatch in July.

Who knows how much of a championship lead the Frenchman may have by then? Detroit, for example, Alain loathes. But on the strength of this weekend past, don't bet against him anywhere.

And if it rains, keep in mind the names of Senna and Bellof...