1982 Elite Racing League season

All information on this page is not part of canon.

1982 Elite Racing League season
Previous: 1981	Next: 1983

Drivers Champion	Manufacturers Champion
Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR McLaren-Ford

The 1982 Elite Racing League season was the 23rd season of the FIA's Formula One motor racing support series (the series would remain a support series until 1997.) Nigel Mansell won the ERL Drivers Championship at the Italian Grand Prix giving McLaren their first drivers title since 1977 - the Manufacturers Championship was won by Ferrari or McLaren at the last race at Caesars Palace.

This year would be the third of the F1/ERL merge which saw the championship start with a drivers' strike at the season opener in South Africa on the F1 side and saw a partial-race boycott as part of the ongoing FISA–FOCA war at the San Marino Grand Prix, the season was called "ugly and marked by tragedy, dissension and greed" which gave both F1 and the ERL alot of thinking to do especially at the Belgian Grand Prix when beloved Gilles Vileneuve would tragically lose his life, also on the F1 side of things - Didier Pironi also suffered a career-ending accident while qualifying for the German Grand Prix. These incidents and several other major accidents led to regulation changes to increase driver safety for the 1983 season.

Season Review

• The Argentine Grand Prix was scheduled to take place on 7 March, but was cancelled due to lack of sponsors, as several pulled out due to uncertainty following the drivers' strike in the opening race.

• The Spanish Grand Prix was omitted from the calendar for several reasons. The Circuito del Jarama, where the race had been held the previous year, was unpopular with the drivers. In addition, the organisers had failed to pay their fees for 1981. Although the race was re-instated for 27 June after the organisers had paid off their debts to the Formula One Constructors' Association (FOCA), protests from the teams over the dangerous nature of the Jarama venue led to the race being cancelled.

• The French Grand Prix returned to Circuit Paul Ricard whilst Dijon-Prenois became the new European Grand Prix venue.

• The British Grand Prix returned to Brands Hatch

• The United States Grand Prix returned at a new venue, the Detroit Street Circuit.

Rnd	Race	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Constructor
1	South African Grand Prix	Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit	Template:USA Mario Andretti	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Riccardo Patrese	Template:GBR Brabham-BMW
2	Brazilian Grand Prix	Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	Template:FRA Talbot Ligier-Matra
3	Template:USA California Grand Prix	Long Beach Street Circuit	Nelson Piquet	Nelson Piquet	Nelson Piquet	Template:GBR Brabham-BMW
4	San Marino Grand Prix	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari	Gilles Vileneuve	Gilles Vileneuve	Gilles Vileneuve	Ferrari
5	Template:BEL Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit Zolder	Template:USA Mario Andretti	Riccardo Patrese	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR McLaren-Ford
6	Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco	Elio de Angelis	Elio de Angelis	Elio de Angelis	Template:GBR Lotus-Ford
7	Template:USA United States Grand Prix	Detroit Street Circuit	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Keke Rosberg	Keke Rosberg	Template:GBR Williams-Ford
8	Canadian Grand Prix	Circuit Gilles Vileneuve	Template:USA Mario Andretti	Template:FRA Didier Pironi	Template:USA Mario Andretti	Ferrari
9	Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort	Keke Rosberg	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Template:FRA Renault
10	Template:GBR British Grand Prix	Brands Hatch	Nelson Piquet	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	Template:USA Mario Andretti	Ferrari
11	Template:FRA French Grand Prix	Circuit Paul Ricard	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR McLaren-Ford
12	German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	Keke Rosberg	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	Template:FRA Talbot Ligier-Matra
13	Template:AUT Austrian Grand Prix	Osterreichring	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	Template:SUI Clay Reggazoni	Nelson Piquet	Template:GBR Brabham-BMW
14	European Grand Prix	Dijon-Prenois	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR McLaren-Ford
15	Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza	Template:SUI Clay Regazzoni	Template:SUI Clay Regazzoni	Template:SUI Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari
16	Template:USA Caesars Palace Grand Prix	Caesars Palace	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR McLaren-Ford

Teams and Drivers

• Fittipaldi Automotive, despite two strong seasons, withdrew from the ERL after downgrading their F1 efforts to just one car.

• Goodyear and Pirelli returned to the sport to battle Michelin in the ERL's first three way tyre war.

• BMW entered the series becoming the engine supplier for the midfield Brabham team.

Mid-season

• Ferrari made the decision following the Belgian Grand Prix to replace Vileneuve with former teammate Clay Regazzoni who came out of retirement to honour his former teammate by racing his car - the two had led Clay and Ferrari to success as teammates and Regazzoni said he needed to finally do something for Gilles.

• Following his career ending crash at Hockenheim, Didier Pironi was replaced at Ligier with Patrick Tambay who had a lot to prove upon returning to the ERL after finishing last with 0 points when he last raced in the series for McLaren

Team	Constructor	Engine	Tyres	#	Driver	Rounds
Template:GBR Arrows Beta Racing Team	Arrows-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Pirelli	1	Template:SUI Marc Surer	All
				2	Template:GBR Brian Henton	All
Template:GBR Parmalat Racing Team	Brabham-BMW	BMW M12/13 1.5 L4t	Template:Goodyear	3	Nelson Piquet	All
				4	Riccardo Patrese	All
Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	Ferrari 021 1.5 V6t	Template:Goodyear	5	Gilles Vileneuve	1-5
					Template:SUI Clay Regazzoni	6-16
				6	Template:USA Mario Andretti	All
Template:GBR John Player Team Lotus	Lotus-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Goodyear	7	Elio de Angelis	All
				8	Stefan Johansson	All
Template:GBR Marlboro McLaren International	McLaren-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Michelin	9	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	All
				10	Andrea de Cesaris	All
Template:FRA Elf Equipe Renault	Renault	Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 V6 t	Template:Michelin	11	Template:FRA Alain Prost	All
				12	Template:FRA Rene Arnoux	All
Template:FRA Equipe Talbot Gitanes	Talbot Ligier-Matra	Matra MS81 3.0 V12	Template:Michelin	13	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	All
				14	Template:FRA Didier Pironi	1-12
					Template:FRA Patrick Tambay	13-16
Template:GBR Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Goodyear	15	Michele Alboreto	All
				16	Template:USA Eddie Cheever	All
Template:GBR Albilad Williams Racing Team	Williams-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Goodyear	17	Carlos Reutemann	All
				18	Keke Rosberg	All

Drivers Championship

Pos.	Driver	Points
1	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	54
2	Template:FRA Alain Prost	36
3	Template:USA Mario Andretti	29
4	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	28
5	Nelson Piquet	28
6	Andrea de Cesaris	26
7	Template:SUI Clay Regazzoni	26
8	Keke Rosberg	25
9	Riccardo Patrese	21
10	Template:USA Eddie Cheever	18
11	Elio de Angelis	15
12	Stefan Johansson	15
13	Gilles Vileneuve	14
14	Template:SUI Marc Surer	14
15	Carlos Reutemann	13
16	Template:GBR Brian Henton	12
17	Michele Alboreto	11
18	Template:FRA Didier Pironi	9
19	Template:FRA Rene Arnoux	6
20	Template:FRA Patrick Tambay	0

Manufacturers Championship

Pos.	Driver	Points
1	Template:GBR McLaren-Ford	80
2	Ferrari	69
3	Template:GBR Brabham-BMW	49
4	Template:FRA Renault	42
5	Template:GBR Williams-Ford	38
6	Template:FRA Talbot Ligier-Matra	37
7	Template:GBR Lotus-Ford	30
8	Template:GBR Tyrrell-Ford	29
9	Template:GBR Arrows-Ford	26