1982 Formula One World Championship
Lauda won in Britain, but the real star of the race was Derek Warwick, who hustled the unfancied Toleman into second place late in the race and was closing on Lauda before the car broke down. The next race at Le Castellet's Circuit Paul Ricard saw Frenchman Arnoux take victory in his French Renault, which was popular with the crowd but not with the team, as Arnoux was supposed to give the win to teammate Prost to help the latter's championship cause. But that was a race that saw 4 French drivers finish in the top 4 (Arnoux, Prost, Pironi and Patrick Tambay) and German driver Jochen Mass immediately retire from F1 after a near-catastrophic accident with Mauro Baldi at Signes, the fast corner after the long Mistral straight. Mass's car touched Baldi's, both went off the track and Mass hit the barrier and was then catapulted into grandstands full of people. Although several spectators had minor injures, this appalling accident left no one dead or even seriously injured- as Formula One came very close to having its own 1955 Le Mans disaster. As it was, Pironi seemed poised to run away with the title, but his quest was ended prematurely at the next race in Germany. During a wet qualifying session, Pironi plowed into the back of Prost's Renault. The Ferrari was launched into the air in an eerily similar accident to the one that killed Villeneuve. Pironi was not thrown from the car, but suffered career-ending leg injuries. Pironi's crash was so bad that FIA doctor Sid Watkins had considered amputating Pironi's legs to remove him from the wrecked Ferrari, which never happened.[citation needed] Ferrari chose to compete in the next day's race, and Patrick Tambay (who Ferrari had picked to replace Villeneuve) took a sombre win after Piquet crashed out of the lead while lapping Eliseo Salazar (Piquet famously punched Salazar for his trouble). The Austrian Grand Prix at the Österreichring, the fastest Grand Prix circuit of the year was next, and this was perhaps the most exciting race of the season: all the turbo cars eventually fell out or hit trouble, and Prost, still in contention for the championship was dealt a serious blow to his championship hopes when his car suffered turbo failure 5 laps from the end. The race then ended up being an exciting sprint for the finish between Rosberg and Italian Lotus driver Elio de Angelis. De Angelis beat Rosberg to the line by half a car's length. The Swiss Grand Prix, held at the Dijon-Prenois circuit in France, not Switzerland (where motor racing is banned) saw Rosberg win and took the lead in the championship after being held up by de Cesaris in the Alfa and catching Prost who suffered yet more mechanical troubles with his car; this was perhaps the fatal blow for the hapless Frenchman's championship hopes. The Italian Grand Prix was won by Prost's hated teammate Arnoux and the two Ferraris of Tambay and American Mario Andretti finished 2nd and 3rd; John Watson still remained in contention for the championship title with Rosberg going into the final race in Las Vegas.