1984 Formula One Season - Team and Driver Changes

Team and Driver Changes

• Brabham retained their 850 bhp (634 kW; 862 PS) BMW engines along with reigning World Champion Nelson Piquet. Italian brothers Teo and Corrado Fabi replaced Riccardo Patrese and shared the #2 seat allowing older brother Teo to honour commitments in the US based CART World Series.

• Tyrrell had an all new driver line up. Gone were Michele Alboreto and Danny Sullivan and in were F1 rookie Martin Brundle and young West German ace Stefan Bellof. Tyrrell were the only team to run the full season with the naturally aspirated, 530 bhp (395 kW; 537 PS), Cosworth DFV V8.

• Williams retained their 1983 line up of 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg and Jacques Laffite. Williams also had exclusive use of the Honda V6 turbo engine for the entire season after having only run it in the last race of 1983 in South Africa.

• McLaren had exclusive use of the new TAG-Porsche turbo engine while Frenchman Alain Prost replaced John Watson and joined double World Champion Niki Lauda in what was seen as the strongest driver line up of the season.

• Lotus promised to get back to their glory days with the Renault engines and their 1983 driver line up of Elio de Angelis and Nigel Mansell who would drive the all new Lotus 95T designed by former Renault chief designer Gérard Ducarouge.

• After a disappointing end to the 1983 season which saw the factory Renault team lose its way at the end of the year costing Alain Prost the Drivers' Championship and the team the Constructors' Championship, the major changes to the national French team was its drivers as well as the loss of designer Ducarouge. Prost and American Eddie Cheever were replaced with Patrick Tambay and Englishman Derek Warwick. The all new RE50 which was designed by Michel Tétu and Bernard Dudot, was powered by the 800 bhp (597 kW; 811 PS) EF4 engine.

• Toleman, who were an up and coming team in Formula One, lost Warwick to Renault but signed Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto who was a former Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion in the 350 and 750 classes, as well as a rookie from Brazil by the name of Ayrton Senna, the reigning British Formula 3 Champion. The team continued to use the turbocharged Hart 415T engine for the 1984 season to power their 1983 car, the TG183B and their new car which appeared for the first time at Dijon, the TG184.

• Alfa Romeo lost major sponsor Marlboro and replacing the red and white was the green and red of Italian clothes manufacturer Benetton. Also gone were drivers Andrea de Cesaris and Mauro Baldi, replaced by Riccardo Patrese and Eddie Cheever. The team continued to use the thirsty, and moderately powerful (680 bhp (507 kW; 689 PS)) 890T V8 turbocharged engine for the season.

• Ferrari introduced the latest version of their successful 126C model, dubbed the 126C4, which was powered by the 850 bhp (634 kW; 862 PS) Tipo 031 V6 engine. With Tambay having departed for Renault, the team signed its first Italian driver since 1973 with Michele Alboreto to join Frenchman René Arnoux, who had finished third in the Drivers' Championship for Ferrari in 1983. It was reported that Enzo Ferrari broke his own rule against signing an Italian driver when he signed Alboreto who would be the first Italian driver at Ferrari since Arturo Merzario.