F1 Legend Sim/Seasons/1984

1984 F1 Season

16 races · McLaren MP4/2

No championship has ever been decided by less: Niki Lauda 72 points, Alain Prost 71.5. Half a point. Both drove the same TAG-Porsche-powered McLaren, the car that won twelve of the sixteen races and the constructors' championship with 143.5 points, more than double Ferrari.

Prost won more: seven races to five. But the half point has a precise story. At Monaco it rained so hard that the race was stopped on lap 31, less than half distance, and half points were awarded. Prost, who was leading, collected 4.5 instead of 9. Second place went to a Toleman rookie who had started thirteenth: Ayrton Senna.

The last race was at Estoril. Prost won it, as he needed to, but Lauda started eleventh and climbed to second, exactly what he required. It was his third title, seven years after his second and after retiring and coming back. And it leaves a curious figure: Nelson Piquet took nine poles that year in the Brabham and won only two races.

Drivers’ Champion

Niki Lauda

McLaren MP4/2

Constructors’ Champion

McLaren

16 races

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Key moment

«Monaco was stopped on lap 31 because of the rain and Prost got half points: he lost the title by half a point.»

How 1984 actually ended

The official final standings, from the Brazilian Grand Prix to the Portuguese Grand Prix. This is the real result.

DriverPointsWinsPodiumsPoles
1Niki LaudaMcLaren72590
2Alain ProstMcLaren71.5793
3Elio de AngelisTeam Lotus34041
4Michele AlboretoFerrari30.5141
5Nelson PiquetBrabham29249
6René ArnouxFerrari27040
7Derek WarwickRenault23040
8Keke RosbergWilliams20.5120

It came down to 0.5 points: Lauda and Prost finished closer than a fourth place is worth. 5 different drivers won that year, and the final Grand Prix went to Alain Prost.

Official FIA standings via Jolpica (formerly Ergast).

1984, race by race

All 16 races: who started first, who won and from where, and how many cars reached the flag.

5different drivers won: Prost 7 · Lauda 5 · Piquet 2 · Alboreto 1 · Rosberg 1.

4different teams won: McLaren 12 · Brabham 2 · Ferrari 1 · Williams 1.

6different drivers took pole: Piquet 9 · Prost 3 · Alboreto 1 · Angelis 1 · Mansell 1 · Tambay 1.

13different drivers stood on the podium.

4one-twos for a single team: McLaren 4.

6 of 16races were won from pole position.

0first-ever wins: every winner had won before.

From 9ththe win from furthest back: Niki Lauda, French Grand Prix.

27 years, 128 daysthe youngest winner of the year: Michele Alboreto, Belgian Grand Prix.

36%of starts reached the flag (148 of 410).

5 of 26cars finished the Detroit Grand Prix, the race with fewest survivors.

#Grand PrixWinnerStarted
1Brazilian Grand PrixAlain ProstMcLaren4th
2South African Grand PrixNiki LaudaMcLaren8th
3Belgian Grand PrixMichele AlboretoFerrari1st
4San Marino Grand PrixAlain ProstMcLaren2nd
5French Grand PrixNiki LaudaMcLaren9th
6Monaco Grand PrixAlain ProstMcLaren1st
7Canadian Grand PrixNelson PiquetBrabham1st
8Detroit Grand PrixNelson PiquetBrabham1st
9Dallas Grand PrixKeke RosbergWilliams8th
10British Grand PrixNiki LaudaMcLaren3rd
11German Grand PrixAlain ProstMcLaren1st
12Austrian Grand PrixNiki LaudaMcLaren4th
13Dutch Grand PrixAlain ProstMcLaren1st
14Italian Grand PrixNiki LaudaMcLaren4th
15European Grand PrixAlain ProstMcLaren2nd
16Portuguese Grand PrixAlain ProstMcLaren2nd

Pole goes to whoever started first, after penalties. «Finished» counts classified cars that took the flag. Our source has no fastest laps before 2004.

1984 predates 1988, the year our simulator starts, so this page tells what happened and has no simulation. From 1988 on, every season can be run again a hundred times with its drivers and cars.

See 1988, the first simulated season →

Drivers of 1984

Alain Prost★ 4Ayrton Senna★ 3Michele Alboreto5 wins
All seasons 1980-2025

Keep reading

What we have measured about 1984 and about what decided it, with our own numbers.

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