1984 European Grand Prix

Championship standings

Lauda leads Prost by 10.5 points with two races remaining. Prost must win both of the last two rounds and hope Lauda fails to score to have any chance of the title.

Previous race

Lauda won at Monza after Prost retired early with engine failure. Alboreto and Patrese completed the podium. Johansson, replacing the suspended Senna at Toleman, drove a measured race to fourth — his first World Championship points.

Track changes

This is the first Formula One race at the new 4.54 km Nürburgring GP-Strecke circuit. The original 22.83 km Nordschleife has not hosted a Grand Prix since 1976 — Lauda’s near-fatal accident in the German Grand Prix that year. The new purpose-built circuit, with state-of-the-art safety facilities and a modern paddock, replaces it entirely for World Championship events.

Milestones

Prior to the Grand Prix, Ayrton Senna won a special Race of Champions event at the Nürburgring in which all competitors drove identical Mercedes-Benz 190E saloon cars. His opponents included Prost, Lauda, Stirling Moss, James Hunt, Carlos Reutemann, Denny Hulme, Phil Hill, and Alan Jones.

Lauda, who nearly lost his life at the previous Nürburgring Grand Prix in 1976, has visited the new circuit and given it his approval, saying it is “the perfect place to hold a Grand Prix.”