On Sunday, 3 June 1984, the glittering state of Monaco was emanating all the brittle charm of a team shower cubicle. Dark clouds clustered around the tips of the skyscrapers, dumping vast quantities of icy non-stop rain on the streets below Everyone present agreed that, even back at the horrific Grand Prix of 1972, the Principality had seemed positively benign and welcoming compared with conditions for this event.
By now, the turbo had virtually swept the board in its rise to power, and at teatime, 19 of the 20 cars anxiously awaiting developments on the starting grid were breathing turbocharged air. Only Stefan Bellof, in the black 012 of that loyal Ford client Ken Tyrrell, had made its way to the grid through the qualifying rounds with a naturally-aspirated engine — albeit in last place.

At the front of the grid, Nigel Mansell sat in his Lotus 95T, powered by a V6 engine from Renault, and second only to Alain Prost in a McLaren MP 4/2. The fact that, in his quest for pole position, Prost had shot around the course faster than anyone had ever achieved before, was of precious little interest to the little Frenchman. The question which occupied his mind was whether — and if so, how effectively — he would be able to navigate his 750 bhp TAG Porsche engine through the wet streets of Monaco for the next two hours. Following a request from the drivers, a firefighting vehicle had sprayed the road surface in the tunnel to ensure that conditions were uniformly treacherous.

Of the planned two hours, only one was now left. While Prost and Mansell effectively made their way on tiptoe through Sainte Devote, the others were forcing their way almost blind through a dark grey cloud of spray the height of a house. The two Renault drivers Derek Warwick and Patrick Tambay eliminated each other almost straight away, thereby saving themselves a further 60 minutes of agile "reacrobatics" in the no-man's land between existence and eternity. From laps 11 to 15, Mansell led the pack. When Corrado Fabi and his Brabham BT 53 had a big spin at Portier, one of the race marshals rushed selflessly to his assistance, only to be hit by Prost's McLaren, amazingly avoiding injury The British driver turned this moment to his advantage, only to land in trouble himself ten minutes later: after a massive slide beside the Chatham Bar, on the climb up to the Casino, the Lotus ploughed into the crash barrier - and so ended the day for Mansell.

Prost took over the lead - and he stayed there. However, that day, Formula 1 gave birth to two new stars. One was Ayrton Senna at the wheel of his Toleman TG 184, powered by a Hart engine which was only able to deliver its full power explosively across a narrow engine speed range. The other was Stefan Bellof, whose Tyrrell frolicked in these awful conditions like a fish in water. The Brazilian was catching up four seconds every lap, and the German followed this lead step by step. Then, after 31 laps, race director Jacky Ickx decided that enough was enough. The specified 75 per cent of overall distance had not been reached, so all points would have to be halved. At the end of that season, Alain Prost missed winning the World Championship by just half a point.




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