1984 South African Grand Prix

Championship standings

Prost leads the championship after winning the opening race in Brazil.

Previous race

Prost won at Jacarepaguá for his first victory in a McLaren. De Angelis took pole and ran at the front early before Prost took over late in the race; Rosberg and de Angelis completed the podium. Senna retired from his Formula One debut on lap 8 with a blown turbo.

Practice

In the Sunday morning warm-up session, Piercarlo Ghinzani had a massive accident at the Jukskei Sweep — a fast, uphill left-hander — in his Osella. The car, carrying a full fuel load, was consumed by fire. Ghinzani escaped with minor burns to his hands but subsequently withdrew from the race.

The accident proved consequential for the McLaren team. Lauda had a chronic misfire in his TAG-Porsche race engine, but the 30-minute delay caused by Ghinzani’s crash gave McLaren enough time to completely change the electrical system in Lauda’s car and make it driveable. Without the accident, the team would not have had time to fix the car. The delay also allowed Prost to race the spare car after his own suffered a fuel pump failure, which would otherwise have left him unable to start.