Brazilian Grand Prix 1983 - Race Schedule and Countdown

Nelson Piquet opened the 1983 season with victory in Brazil, demonstrating the Brabham BT52's competitiveness and BMW's turbocharged power. Gordon Murray's innovative design featured pull-rod suspension and extreme ground-effect aerodynamics that made it devastatingly fast when reliability cooperated. Niki Lauda finished third for McLaren, showing that the Austrian remained competitive despite his naturally aspirated Cosworth engine's power disadvantage.

The race confirmed that 1983 would be the turbo era's definitive year, with forced-induction engines winning all 15 races. Renault, Ferrari, Brabham-BMW, and Alfa Romeo all fielded competitive turbo cars, rendering the Cosworth DFV obsolete. Piquet's victory suggested he would be the man to beat, though Alain Prost's Renault and Ferrari's pairing of René Arnoux and Patrick Tambay were expected to mount strong challenges throughout the season.