1981 Austrian Grand Prix

The 1981 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on 16 August 1981. Jacques Laffite took his first win of the 1981 Formula One season.
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==Background==
Heading into Austria, the championship battle had tightened significantly. The championship leader Carlos Reutemann had failed to finish in Germany whilst Hockenheim race winner, Nelson Piquet had closed to within eight points of Reutemann's 43 point lead in the championship. Jacques Laffite had been the most consistent driver in recent races, continuously finishing on the podium. Although his had proved not to be the fastest it was certainly the most reliable and his consistency meant he was now third in the world championship on 25 points, one point ahead of reigning champion Alan Jones. 
The Österreichring was once again expected to favour the turbo cars with its high altitude and long straights. The team with its drivers' René Arnoux and Alain Prost were considered the fastest team in Formula One, albeit certainly not the most reliable and were expected to be the pacemakers in Austria. One team that notably would not be competing in Austria was that of the Brazilian team ran by former world champion Emerson Fittipaldi and his brother and former racer Wilson Fittipaldi. The Fittipaldi team was strapped for cash and had notably been struggling in recent races. The team elected to miss the Austrian round as it could not afford to run the Ford-Cosworth DFV power unit that was being supplied to them. This meant that their drivers Keke Rosberg and Chico Serra would have to sit the weekend out.
==Practice Overview==
==Qualifying==
As was expected the Renault's held a stranglehold over qualifying. Arnoux took a convincing pole with teammate Prost in tow not far behind. Gilles Villeneuve was in third place ahead of Jacques Laffite who had seen an improvement in qualifying performance for . The two cars of Carlos Reutemann and Alan Jones were next on the grid ahead of Nelson Piquet, Didier Pironi, Elio de Angelis and Riccardo Patrese.
Of those failing to qualify were surprisingly Eddie Cheever, who was unhappy with the handling of the new Tyrrell 011, the two 's of Brian Henton and Derek Warwick as well as Beppe Gabbiani's .
===Qualifying Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Time 	Gap
1  	16 	René Arnoux 	 	1:32.018	
2 	15 	Alain Prost 	 	1:32.321	+ 0.303
3 	27 	 Gilles Villeneuve	 	1:33.334	+ 1.316
4 	26 	Jacques Laffite 	 	1:34.398	+ 2.380
5 	2 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	1:34.531	+ 2.513
6 	1 	Alan Jones 	 	1:34.654	+ 2.636
7 	5 	Nelson Piquet 	 	1:34.871	+ 2.853
8 	28 	Didier Pironi 	 	1:35.037	+ 3.019
9 	11 	Elio de Angelis 	 	1:35.294	+ 3.276
10 	29 	Riccardo Patrese 	 	1:35.442	+ 3.424
11 	12 	Nigel Mansell 	 	1:35.569	+ 3.551
12 	7 	John Watson 	 	1:35.977	+ 3.959
13 	22 	Mario Andretti 	 	1:36.079	+ 4.061
14 	32 	Jean-Pierre Jarier	 	1:36.117	+ 4.099
15 	6 	Héctor Rebaque 	 	1:36.150	+ 4.132
16 	23 	Bruno Giacomelli 	 	1:36.216	+ 4.198
17 	25 	Patrick Tambay 	 	1:36.233	+ 4.215
18 	8 	Andrea de Cesaris 	 	1:36.657	+ 4.639
19 	17 	Derek Daly 	 	1:37.230	+ 5.212
20 	14 	Eliseo Salazar 	 	1:37.631	+ 5.613
21 	10 	Slim Borgudd 	 	1:37.709	+ 5.691
22 	4 	Michele Alboreto 	 	1:38.084	+ 6.066
23 	33 	Marc Surer 	 	1:38.522	+ 6.504
24 	30 	Siegfried Stohr 	 	1:38.546	+ 6.528
DNQ 	3 	Eddie Cheever 	 	1:38.583	+ 6.565
DNQ 	36 	Derek Warwick 	 	1:38.593	+ 6.575
DNQ 	35 	Brian Henton 	 	1:38.691	+ 6.673
DNQ 	31 	Beppe Gabbiani 	 	1:41.198	+ 9.180
===Grid===
==Race==
=== Report ===
The start saw the two 's make the best start. Gilles Villeneuve took the lead from third on the grid whilst teammate Didier Pironi leapt up to fourth from eighth on the grid. Villeneuve's Ferrari lead was however short lived as he went off the circuit on lap two dropping down to sixth. The same lap saw Carlos Reutemann also go off and drop down the order. 
This left the Renault's back in control of the race as Arnoux and Prost began pulling off into the distance ahead of Pironi's Ferrari now in third. Pironi could not keep pace with the Renault's and soon Piquet, Laffite, Jones and Reutemann were snapping at the Ferrari's heals. Pironi's turbo engine had the advantage on the long straights, but in the corners his rivals continued to snap at his heels.
After being held up by Pironi for nine laps, Laffite finally managed to overtake the Ferrari and began chasing after the Renault's 20 seconds ahead. Piquet and the two Williams cars of Jones and Reutemann had soon also managed to pass the Ferrari. Further disappointment for Ferrari came when Villeneuve crashed out of the race on lap eleven. 
Laffite slowly began to close in on Arnoux and Prost, however the Renault's continued to control the pace out front. Lap 26 however saw Prost retire with suspension failure, the first dent in Renault's race. By mid-distance race leader René Arnoux had encountered the backmarkers and was beginning to be held up as Laffite's Ligier began to close in. 
On lap 39, Arnoux went to overtake a group of backmarkers around the outside, however he ran wide off the circuit and in doing so conceded the lead of the race to Laffite. From thereon Laffite had control of the race, Arnoux was seemingly unwilling to push him being more interested in gaining some much needed points for Renault rather than risk blowing his turbo in the hope of winning the race. 
Piquet came home third ahead of the two Williams cars of Jones and Reutemann as well as John Watson's McLaren. Laffite finally took his first win of the season and was now within eleven points of championship leader Carlos Reutemann. Reutemann once again had lost out to his competitors claiming only two points in the race. Nelson Piquet who was second in the championship continued to creep closer, now only six points off Reutemann.
===Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired 	Grid	Points	
1 	26 	Jacques Laffite 	 	53 	1:27:36.47 	4 	9 	
2 	16 	René Arnoux 	 	53 	+5.17s 	1 	6 	
3 	5 	Nelson Piquet 	 	53 	+7.34s 	7 	4 	
4 	1 	Alan Jones 	 	53 	+12.04s 	6 	3 	
5 	2 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	53 	+31.85s 	5 	2 	
6 	7 	John Watson 	 	54 	+1:31.14 	12 	1 	
7 	11 	Elio de Angelis 	 	52 	+1 lap 	9 	 	
8 	8 	Andrea de Cesaris 	 	52 	+1 lap 	18 	 	
9 	28 	Didier Pironi 	 	52 	+1 lap 	8 	 	
10 	32 	Jean-Pierre Jarier	 	51 	+2 laps 	14 	 	
11 	17 	Derek Daly 	 	47 	+6 laps 	19 	 	
Ret 	22 	Mario Andretti 	 	46 	Engine 	13 	 	
Ret 	9 	Slim Borgudd 	 	44 	Brakes 	21 	 	
Ret 	29 	Riccardo Patrese 	 	43 	Engine 	10 	 	
Ret 	14 	Eliseo Salazar 	 	43 	Engine 	20 	 	
Ret 	4 	Michele Alboreto 	 	40 	Engine 	22 	 	
Ret 	23 	Bruno Giacomelli 	 	35 	Engine / Fire 	16 	 	
Ret 	6 	Héctor Rebaque 	 	31 	Clutch 	15 	 	
Ret 	30 	Siegfried Stohr 	 	27 	Spin 	24 	 	
Ret 	15 	Alain Prost 	 	26 	Front suspension	2 	 	
Ret 	25 	Patrick Tambay 	 	26 	Engine 	17 	 	
Ret 	12 	Nigel Mansell 	 	23 	Engine 	11 	 	
Ret 	27 	Gilles Villeneuve 	 	11 	Accident 	3 	 	
Ret 	33 	Marc Surer 	 	0 	Distributor 	23 	 	
DNQ 	3 	Eddie Cheever 	 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	36 	Derek Warwick 	 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	35 	Brian Henton 	 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	31 	Beppe Gabbiani 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
==Milestones==
==Standings after race==
==Notes==
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:1981 Grands Prix
Category:Austrian Grand Prix
Category:Formula One races in Austria