It was a sunny Californian day not impacted by bad weather, there was no multiple accident to thin out the field, no clever pit stop strategy, and safety car interventions were still a decade away.
So how did he do it? Quite simply it was a stunning performance by a motivated driver who was at the top of his game and had complete confidence in the package underneath him.
In 1983, Watson was in his fifth season with McLaren. The previous year he’d been joined by Niki Lauda, whose return from retirement had captured the headlines.
Watson enjoyed a good relationship with the Austrian – they had been team mates at Brabham in 1978 – and while Lauda had the higher PR profile they were equally matched on track through 1982, scoring two wins apiece.
McLaren was one of the teams still using the normally aspirated Cosworth engine, and through 1982 the turbo cars from Ferrari, Renault, Brabham and Alfa Romeo dominated the front rows of the grid.
It was obvious that the class divide was going to be even more apparent in 1983, and with his own TAG Porsche turbo project still in development team boss Ron Dennis left nothing to chance. If McLaren couldn’t match the engine performance of its main rivals, the team could at least ensure that its drivers operated more efficiently than their rivals.
“At the start of that year Ron Dennis had said to Niki and to me, ‘I’m fed up spending so many millions of dollars to make competitive race cars,” Watson recalls. “You two lazy bastards should make the same effort.’
“He said that Niki’s physio Willi Dungl would become a full-time team member, and Niki, myself and the team would have to pay a third of the costs each.
“I got my first official Dungl treatment in Brazil, and it was a revelation. He was the architect of the first really scientific approach to the physical, dietary and psychological training of a racing driver. Niki had benefited from it before, and I had seen it, but never actually been a part of it.”
Watson was to gain an advantage over Lauda when following the ’83 season opener in Rio he unexpectedly found himself with exclusive use of Dungl.
Derek Warwick, Toleman TG183B Hart, battles with Eddie Cheever, Renault RE30C, at the star
Photo by: Motorsport Images
“After the Brazilian GP Niki, Keke Rosberg and myself were due to do a promotional tour of South America for Marlboro.
“But some of the British newspaper boys heard about it, tackled me and said, ‘John, are you seriously…
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