Grand Prix Gold: 1982 Italian GP
That the destiny of the world title would not be decided until the Las Vegas finale seemed like a moot point in Italy. Far more important, in the eyes of the Tifosi, was a stunning pole for Ferrari's returning Mario Andretti and a double podium for the squad, even if Rene Arnoux did win the race in the most French of cars
It was hardly a riveting race. Rene Arnoux's Renault seized the lead from Patrick Tambay's Ferrari at the end of the first lap, and they crossed the line in that order an hour and 20 minutes later. After the first six laps or so, they were under no threat from anyone.
This was a turbo race. The clutches of both Brabham-BMWs expired almost at once, removing Nelson Piquet and Riccardo Patrese from the equation. Mario Andretti, Ferrari's guest driver for the weekend, had started, remarkably, from pole, but had sticking throttle problems from the outset and finished a distant third. And Alain Prost made a mistake on the opening lap, clambered up to third, then retired with more Renault fuel-injection trouble.
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