1981 British Grand Prix

The 1981 British Grand Prix was the ninth round of the 1981 Formula One season. The race was won by John Watson who took his first win since the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix. His team also returned to winning ways having not won since .
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==Background==
The championship order was much the same heading into Britain as it was in the previous round heading into France. All the lead championship contenders bar Nelson Piquet had failed to score in France. Piquet managing a third place had moved into second in the championship standings, now only eleven points behind championship leader Carlos Reutemann. 
In Britain, returned to running two cars for the event after only running a sole car of Beppe Gabbiani in France. The team had hired Formula One veteran Jean-Pierre Jarier who had largely been out of work in 1981 with the exception of participating in the opening two rounds for . 
 had announced that it was to reenter its Lotus 88 chassis for Britain, updating it to a configuration that would be hoped to be accepted by the FISA unlike the team's previous entry attempts with the chassis. Whilst Colin Chapman's team was optimistic, there was much doubt within the paddock that the FISA would accept the Lotus 88 entrant. 
===Entry List===
The full entry list for the is outlined below:
No.	Driver 	Entrant 	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model 	Tyre
1 	Alan Jones 	TAG Williams Team 	 	FW07C 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
2 	Carlos Reutemann 	TAG Williams Team 	 	FW07C 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
3 	Eddie Cheever 	Tyrrell Racing Team 	 	011 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
4 	Michele Alboreto 	Tyrrell Racing Team 	 	011 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
5* 	Nelson Piquet 	Parmalat Racing Team 	 	BT49C 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
5* 	Nelson Piquet 	Parmalat Racing Team 	 	BT50 	 	M12/13 1.5 L4t	
6 	Héctor Rebaque 	Parmalat Racing Team 	 	BT49C 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
7 	John Watson 	Marlboro McLaren International	 	MP4/1 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
8 	Andrea de Cesaris 	Marlboro McLaren International	 	MP4/1 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
9 	Slim Borgudd 	Team ATS 	 	HGS1 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
11 	Elio de Angelis 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	87 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
12 	Nigel Mansell 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	87 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
14 	Eliseo Salazar 	Ensign Racing 	 	N180B 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
15 	Alain Prost 	Equipe Renault Elf 	 	RE30 	 	EF1 3.0 V6t 	
16 	René Arnoux 	Equipe Renault Elf 	 	RE30 	 	EF1 3.0 V6t 	
17 	Derek Daly 	March Grand Prix Team 	 	811 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
18 	Stefan Johansson 	March Grand Prix Team 	 	811 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
20 	Keke Rosberg 	Fittipaldi Automotive 	 	F8C 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
21 	Chico Serra 	Fittipaldi Automotive 	 	F8C 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
22 	Mario Andretti 	Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo 	 	179C 	 	1260 3.0 V12 	
23 	Bruno Giacomelli 	Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo 	 	179C 	 	1260 3.0 V12 	
25 	Patrick Tambay 	Equipe Talbot Gitanes 	 	JS17 	 	MS81 3.0 V12 	
26 	Jacques Laffite 	Equipe Talbot Gitanes 	 	JS17 	 	MS81 3.0 V12 	
27 	Gilles Villeneuve 	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC 	 	126CK 	 	021 3.0 V6t 	
28 	Didier Pironi 	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC 	 	126CK 	 	021 3.0 V6t 	
29 	Riccardo Patrese 	Ragno Arrows Beta Racing Team 	 	A3 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
30 	Siegfried Stohr 	Ragno Arrows Beta Racing Team 	 	A3 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
31 	Beppe Gabbiani 	Osella Squadra Corse 	 	FA1B 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
32 	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella Squadra Corse 	 	FA1B 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
33 	Marc Surer 	Theodore Racing Team 	 	TY01 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
34 	Geoff Lees 	Theodore Racing Team 	 	TY01 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
35 	Brian Henton 	Candy Toleman Motorsport 	 	TG181 	 	415T 3.0 L4t 	
36 	Derek Warwick 	Candy Toleman Motorsport 	 	TG181 	 	415T 3.0 L4t 	
** Piquet drove a in practice, but drove a in the race.
==Practice Overview==
During practice, Nelson Piquet and ran their Brabham BT50 chassis for the first time, notably powered by a turbo engine supplied by . The team would not run the BT50 in 1981, the new car was announced to be making its debut in the next season in . 
Lotus ran their Lotus 88 chassis in practice with seemingly little resistance, the race organisers at Silverstone the Royal Automobile Club feeling that the 88 chassis was perfectly legal. When FISA President Jean-Marie Balestre heard of this, he immediately began to angrily demand that the Lotus 88 chassis be withdrawn from the event. Therefore beginning the controversy surrounding the car once again.
==Qualifying==
The Renault cars continued their competitive form from France, René Arnoux was in pole position with Alain Prost alongside him. Nelson Piquet lined up in third place, whilst Didier Pironi had found his form again to start from fourth place. Behind Pironi came John Watson and Andrea de Cesaris, the McLaren's continuing their resurgence in pace. 
Williams were underperforming in qaulifying, Alan Jones could only manage seventh whilst Carlos Reutemann was in ninth. Splitting the two Williams cars was Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari. Riccardo Patrese occupied the final place in the top ten for .
Lotus had responded to the demand from the FISA to withdraw their 88 chassis by cannabalising the Lotus 87 into a form similar to the 88 overnight. The result was not a success and Lotus were not competitive. Nigel Mansell failed to qualify for his home race whilst Elio de Angelis could only manage twenty second on the grid. 
===Qualifying Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Time 	Gap
1  	16 	René Arnoux 	 	1:11.000	
2 	15 	Alain Prost 	 	1:11.046	+ 0.046
3 	5 	 Nelson Piquet 	 	1:11.952	+ 0.952
4 	28 	Didier Pironi 	 	1:12.644	+ 1.644
5 	7 	John Watson 	 	1:12.712	+ 1.712
6 	8 	Andrea de Cesaris 	 	1:12.728	+ 1.728
7 	1 	Alan Jones 	 	1:12.998	+ 1.998
8 	27 	Gilles Villeneuve 	 	1:13.311	+ 2.311
9 	2 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	1:13.371	+ 2.371
10 	29 	Riccardo Patrese 	 	1:13.762	+ 2.762
11 	22 	Mario Andretti 	 	1:13.928	+ 2.928
12 	23 	Bruno Giacomelli 	 	1:14.119	+ 3.119
13 	6 	Héctor Rebaque 	 	1:14.542	+ 3.542
14 	26 	Jacques Laffite 	 	1:14.798	+ 3.798
15 	25 	Patrick Tambay 	 	1:14.976	+ 3.976
16 	20 	Keke Rosberg 	 	1:15.165	+ 4.165
17 	17 	Derek Daly 	 	1:15.189	+ 4.189
18 	30 	Siegfried Stohr 	 	1:15.304	+ 4.304
19 	4 	Michele Alboreto 	 	1:15.850	+ 4.850
20 	32 	Jean-Pierre Jarier	 	1:15.898	+ 4.898
21 	9 	Slim Borgudd 	 	1:15.959	+ 4.959
22 	11 	Elio de Angelis 	 	1:15.971	+ 4.971
23 	3 	Eddie Cheever 	 	1:16.099	+ 5.099
24 	33 	Marc Surer 	 	1:16.155	+ 5.155
DNQ 	21 	Chico Serra 	 	1:16.360	+ 5.360
DNQ 	35 	Brian Henton 	 	1:16.388	+ 5.388
DNQ 	12 	Nigel Mansell 	 	1:16.432	+ 5.432
DNQ 	14 	Eliseo Salazar 	 	1:16.694	+ 5.694
DNQ 	36 	Derek Warwick 	 	1:16.891	+ 5.891
DNQ 	31 	Beppe Gabbiani 	 	1:17.784	+ 6.784
===Grid===
==Race==
===Report===
Pole sitter René Arnoux made a poor getaway and dropped to fourth behind Renault teammate Alain Prost and the two Ferrari's of Didier Pironi and Gilles Villeneuve. Villeneuve having made another phenomenal start from eighth on the grid. However the Renault was far superior and Arnoux moved past the Ferrari's by lap three and began to chase after teammate Prost. 
Villeneuve's strong start was all for naught when at the end of lap three he spun at Woodcote corner. The Ferrari spun right into the path of the Williams of Alan Jones causing Jones to slam into Villeneuve whilst Andrea de Cesaris's McLaren spun off the circuit and into the catchfencing whilst taking avoiding action of the pair. Jones and De Cesaris were out on the spot whilst Ferrari attempted to limp his battered Ferrari around the circuit for half a lap before pulling off and retiring. 
With Villeneuve's Ferrari out, Nelson Piquet was now in fourth and began to pressure the sole Ferrari of Pironi ahead of him. On lap five, Piquet's Brabham took third where he began to settle comfortably into the position, however remained significantly behind the Renault's of Prost and Arnoux who were dominating out front.
On lap eleven Piquet's tyre blew spectacularly, sending him into the barriers at high speed. Piquet received minor injuries to his ankle and was required to be lifted out of the car by the marshalls.
John Watson who had had a slow start to the race was beginning to make a comeback in his McLaren. After overtaking both Carlos Reutemann and Mario Andretti, Watson moved into fourth and began to challenge Didier Pironi for third. On lap 13 Pironi suffered an engine failure leaving Watson in third place, some distance behind the Renault's. 
Prost and Arnoux were comfortably leading out front, however it was not to be two consecutive wins for Prost, his turbo Renault engine breaking down on lap 17 leaving Arnoux to inherit the lead of the race.
Elio de Angelis was disqualified on lap 25 for ignoring yellow flags, Lotus manager Colin Chapman was furious, believing it to be a deliberate slight against him from the FISA surrounding the controversy of the Lotus 88.
Reutemann moved past Andretti whilst behind the Alfa Romeo came Riccardo Patrese's Arrows and Héctor Rebaque's Brabham. Rebaque dropped back when he had to stop for tyres, leaving Jacques Laffite in the Ligier in sixth place.
There would be a number of retirements in the top six however, first to go out was Mario Andretti's Alfa Romeo on lap 59. Five laps later Riccardo Patrese was also out, however more significantly René Arnoux who had been dominating the race fell like Prost to Renault's poor reliability record, retiring with engine problems. 
This left John Watson in the lead where he would go on to win with Carlos Reutemann and Jacques Laffite a long way behind him in the final podium places. Eddie Cheever took fourth, a strong drive for the young driver who started twenty third on the grid. Rebaque claimed two points for Brabham whilst Slim Borgudd surprisingly took the final points position. After failing to qualify for the past four events, Borgudd took some much needed points for his team who took their first points of the season.
John Watson took a highly popular home win at Silverstone, the first for a British driver to do so on home turf since James Hunt in 1976. Watson also finally got his second win, five years after his last at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix. The race also confirmed McLaren's return as a front winning team taking their first win since the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix and their first win under the Ron Dennis era of the team. 
===Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired 	Grid	Points
1 	7 	John Watson 	 	68 	1:26:54.80 	5 	9
2 	2 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	68 	+ 40.65 	9 	6
3 	26 	Jacques Laffite 	 	67 	+ 1 Lap 	14 	4
4 	3 	Eddie Cheever 	 	67 	+ 1 Lap 	23 	3
5 	6 	Héctor Rebaque 	 	68 	+ 1 Lap 	13 	2
6 	9 	Slim Borgudd 	 	67 	+ 1 Lap 	21 	1
7 	17 	Derek Daly 	 	76 	+ 2 Laps 	17 	
8 	32 	Jean-Pierre Jarier	 	65 	+ 3 Laps 	20 	
9 	16 	René Arnoux 	 	64 	Engine 	1 	
10 	29 	Riccardo Patrese 	 	64 	Engine 	10 	
11 	33 	Marc Surer 	 	61 	Out of fuel 	24 	
Ret 	22 	Mario Andretti 	 	59 	Throttle linkage 	11 	
Ret 	20 	Keke Rosberg 	 	56 	Rear suspension 	15 	
DSQ 	11 	Elio de Angelis 	 	25 	Black flagged 	22 	
Ret 	15 	Alain Prost 	 	17 	Engine 	2 	
Ret 	25 	Patrick Tambay 	 	15 	Ignition 	15 	
Ret 	28 	Didier Pironi 	 	13 	Engine 	4 	
Ret 	5 	Nelson Piquet 	 	11 	Tyre burst / Accident	3 	
Ret 	23 	Bruno Giacomelli 	 	5 	Gearbox 	12 	
Ret 	27 	Gilles Villeneuve 	 	4 	Accident 	8 	
Ret 	1 	Alan Jones 	 	3 	Accident 	7 	
Ret 	8 	Andrea de Cesaris 	 	3 	Accident 	6 	
Ret 	4 	Michele Alboreto 	 	0 	Clutch 	19 	
Ret 	30 	Siegfried Stohr 	 	0 	Accident 	18 	
DNQ 	21 	Chico Serra 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	35 	Brian Henton 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	12 	Nigel Mansell 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	14 	Eliseo Salazar 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	36 	Derek Warwick 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	31 	Beppe Gabbiani 	 	 	 	 	
==Milestones==
*First victory for a carbon fiber monocoque chassis.
==Standings after race==
==Notes==
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:1981 Grands Prix
Category:British Grand Prix
Category:Formula One races in the United Kingdom