Zandvoort, August 25th
Before the engines started up on the first morning of practice for the Dutch GP the talk was of the “musical chairs” that Niki Lauda had precipitated the previous weekend at the Osterreichring by announcing that he would be retiring at the end of this season and leaving the McLaren team. Much of the talk at Zandvoort was rumour and surmise, but equally much of it was true and some was actually confirmed. Lauda’s place at McLaren, alongside Prost, is to be taken by Keijo Rosberg, and the vacant seat at Williams will be filled by Nelson Piquet, leaving Brabham after all these years. The Brabham seat could be filled by de Angelis moving from Lotus and the vacant seat at Lotus could go to a reasonable driver who might find himself out of work, like Derek Warwick, providing he is prepared to play number two to Ayrton Senna. That, of course, assumes that Senna will stay with Lotus. If the Beatrice/Lola/Hart combine turns out to be a pure Ford (Detroit) Grand Prix team, then there will be a rush for the second seat behind Alan Jones. Renault was on the brink of announcing its withdrawal at the end of this season, though engine supplies will continue to Lotus, Ligier and Tyrrell, or so the contracts say, and Toleman may become an all-Italian team.
While some people were waving their arms about and saying “we have a contract .. . ” someone started up an engine, and then another, and another and practice and testing began in warm and sunny conditions with a strong tail-wind down the long straight. As some of the cars went by the pits clocking 192 mph· before braking at 105 metres for the 80 mph Tarzan hairpin, you could only think to yourself, ” .. . contract! What’s a contract in the world of Formula One?”
