Elio De Angelis scored his maiden F1 victory and Stefan Johansson survived a high-speed encounter with the local wildlife.
The closing stages of the 1982 Austrian Grand Prix saw a thrilling climax as Elio De Angelis just held off a rapidly closing Keke Rosberg to score the first Formula 1 victory of his career. De Angelis was a man seemingly without any enemies in the sport and Rosberg was delighted for the Italian. In Laurie Coffey’s book, ‘Remembering Elio’, the Finn is quoted as saying, “If I was going to come second to anyone I would rather it was Elio than anybody else.” The podium was completed by Jacques Laffite in third.
Patrick Tambay was on pole for 1983, having replaced the late Gilles Villeneuve at Ferrari. In the race his Ferrari did not last the distance. Victory went to Alain Prost and Renault. René Arnoux was second for Ferrari and Nelson Piquet third for Brabham.
Niki Lauda set the fastest lap on his way to winning the 1984 race. Piquet, who had started from pole, had to settle for second. Michele Alboreto came home third in his Ferrari. Prost took his second Austrian Grand Prix victory in 1985. In second was Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian having started the race from 14th on the grid. Alboreto was again third for Ferrari.
Benetton-BMW was the fastest team at the Osterreichring in 1986. Teo Fabi took pole, only to retire, and Gerhard Berger set the fastest race lap en route to a seventh place finish. Prost was again the winner, followed by Alboreto and Stefan Johansson. The latter had suffered a crash before the race which resulted in a pole from an advertisement hoarding piercing his Ferrari’s carbon-fibre tub and injuring his back.
Johansson was again in the wars in 1987, this time driving for McLaren. During qualifying he had the misfortune to encounter a deer running across the track. The resulting collision killed the deer and destroyed Johansson’s car but the Swede survived unscathed. The race had to be restarted twice because of start-line accidents. Piquet had taken pole but, in the race, was beaten by his Williams team-mate Nigel Mansell. Unlike the previous year Fabi’s Benetton lasted until the chequered flag and the Italian crossed the line in third.
1987 was the last time the daunting old circuit would host a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Grand Prix racing would return a decade later, but to a more sanitised version of the track. Many in the sport lamented the passing of the spectacular and scenic circuit.
