Didier Pironi
The cancellation of the Mexican Grand Prix, supposed to have taken place 2 weeks after Long Beach created a 5-week gap between Long Beach and the Belgian Grand Prix. The F1 circus started its 4-month long European tour at Zolder, where Frenchman Didier Pironi took his first ever victory in his Ligier-Ford/Cosworth ahead of Alan Jones and his Argentinean teammate Carlos Reutemann.