1980 Formula One Season

The **1980 Formula One season** was the 31st season of Formula One motor racing. The championship was contested concurrently over a twelve race series that commenced on 13th January and ended on 5th October.

Chuck Dingley and Tyrrell were the reigning Drivers' and Constructors' champions respectively. Dingley surprisingly left Tyrrell after the 1979 season, being lured to join a struggling McLaren team by Ron Dennis for 1980.

Dingley again successfully defend his title, winning his third Drivers' championship, with McLaren winning the Constructors' title

## Season Report

### **Round 1: Argentina**

The start of the 1980 season saw change down the paddock, most notably 1979 champion Chuck Dingley leaving Tyrrell to join a revitalized McLaren team, headed by new team principal Ron Dennis.

To the surprise of the rest of the grid, Arrows driver Aaron Herrmann took the first pole position of the season. The British team had failed to score a single point in 1979.

Herrmann proved that his qualifying pace was no fluke, leading from lights to flag and being the first rookie to win in their first Grand Prix since Stefan Van Damme did the same at the 1972 Belgian Grand Prix.

### **Round 2: South Africa**

Round two saw another surprise pole-sitter; this time being the Renault of Strip Weathers. The French team had been developing an upgraded turbocharged v6 over the winter, and finally the design philosophy was showing it's worth after dissappointing 1978 and 1979 campaigns.

While the American was unable to convert his pole into a victory after suffering from heavy tyre wear near the end of the race, he still managed to finish in second place, scoring Renault's first podium of the season. McLaren driver Chuck Dingley won the race from 5th on the grid, scoring his 11th career victory, and first victory for McLaren.

### **Round 3: United States West**

After a disappointing start to the season, having only scored two points from the first two races, Ferrari returned to form, as Fabiano Margheriti qualified second behind Brabham driver Nino Tempestini. Chuck Dingley had a disappointing qualifying coming off of his win in South Africa and only managed 13th, with teammate Joao Coutinho down in 18th.

The Italian duo of Tempestini and Margheriti proved untouchable throughout the race, with the two steadily building a gap to third place runner William W-S throughout. Tempestini slightly outpaced Margheriti's Ferrari, and went on to win by a margin of 2 seconds from his fellow countryman.

### **Round 4: Monaco**

Chuck Dingley scored his first pole of the season at Monaco after a disappointing home race at Long Beach, narrowly beating the Lotus of Stefan Van Damme. Ferrari were expecting to perform well after Fabiano's showing at Long Beach, but Jockey only managed 5th while teammate Fabiano was 7th.

Due to the nature of the circuit, overtaking was scarce. Fabiano made daring dives on back-to-back laps early in the race to move to 5th. Later on, his teammate Jockey would retire from engine issues, which promoted the Italian to 4th, the position he held until the checkered flag fell.

Dingley went on to win over Van Damme, with the Belgian showing pace early but falling back as the race went on, while Robson completed the podium. The aforementioned Fabiano finished 4th, with William W-S and Nino Tempestini rounding out the points.

### **Round 5: San Marino**

Stefan Van Damme scored his first pole position since the 1978 Italian Grand Prix, narrowly edging out Fabiano Margheriti's Ferrari. Chuck Dingley started 3rd, with the second Ferrari of Richard Jockey lining up 4th.

Jockey had an excellent launch compared to those ahead of him and was in the lead by the time the field reached Tosa, with teammate Fabiano following closely behind after slipstreaming past Van Damme's Lotus. Chuck Dingley lunged up the inside of the Belgian in the braking zone for Tosa, locking his left front and hitting Van Damme. Both drivers suffered suspension failures and were forced to retire.

The Ferrari duo proved to be untouchable after Dingley and Van Damme retired from the race. Richard Jockeywon ahead of Fabiano Margheriti, giving Ferrari a 1-2 finish in what was effectively one of their home races. Nino Tempestini went on to finish on the final step of the podium, much to the delight of the Tifosi. James McLean had a surprise result for Ligier, finishing 4th, while Vivaldo Margheriti and Jurg Scheller rounded out the points finishers.

### **Round 6: France**

Round six saw Vivaldo Margheriti score his first pole of the season for Williams, with Stefan Van Damme putting on another excellent display in qualifying to start in 2nd, while teammate Skylar West struggled throughout qualifying and was only able to manage 13th. Fabiano Margheriti qualified 3rd for Ferrari, showing that the 1-2 at Imola wasn't a fluke for the Maranello team.

The running order maintained the same for the first half of the race, with Van Damme applying pressure to Vivaldo throughout. The Belgian's engine went on to overheat and eventually failed, derailing another promising race. This opened the door for Fabiano Margheriti and gave the brothers a potential 1-2 finish, something that had never been seen before in Formula One. It wasn't to be, though, as Vivaldo retired a few laps after Van Damme, suffering a brake failure.

Vivaldo's retirement meant that Fabiano inherited the lead, and the Ferrari driver wouldn't look back, going on to win. Nino Tempestini finished in 2nd, while Chuck Dingley rounded out the podium. William W-S, Stanley Robson, and Skylar West went on to round out the points finishers, with West having a particularly impressive drive coming from 13th to 6th.

### **Round 7: Britain**

Vivaldo Margheriti scored a second consecutive pole position, while a slightly upgraded Tyrrell driven by Jeremy Spocinklass qualified in a shocking second position. Race winner in France, Fabiano Margheriti, qualified in third.

The start of the race was clean, and it was quickly shown that overtaking would be difficult at the Silverstone circuit. The running order maintained stagnant for the majority of the first half of the race, with tyre wear finally starting to kick in shortly past halfway. Fabiano Margheriti's Ferrari appeared to be the car most affected by the tyre wear as he appeared to be starting to struggle with heavy understeer through Silverstone's high speed corners.

Chuck Dingley's McLaren appeared to have much less tyre wear than the opposition and was starting to make up positions, having started 7th and being unable to overtake to this point.

Tyre wear would be an issue for the remainder of the race, with teams opting to stay out on worn rubber due to the long pit delta. When the checkered flag flew, Vivaldo Margheriti crossed the line to win his second Grand Prix, with Dingley's late race charge securing him second place. Jeremy Spocinklass rounded out the podium, with Van Damme, Reinaldo Molina, and William W-S completing the points.

### **Round 8: West Germany**

Stefan Van Damme started on pole for the German Grand Prix, having set a qualifying lap over 3 tenths quicker than anyone else. Teammate Skylar West had an excellent qualifying as well, gridding 3rd, which proved that the Lotus team had found an uptick in pace.

A majority of the grid opted to start on the soft tyres, after Chuck Dingley had managed to win by opting to start on the softs in the 1978 German Grand Prix two years prior. Due to the increased pace from the upgraded 1980 ground effect cars, most teams realized at the halfway point they would be unable to take their tires the distance, and opted to split the race in halves, pitting to take a fresh set of softs the rest of the race. This promoted Skylar West to the lead, as he was the only frontrunner to opt to start on the hard tyres.

The likes of Van Damme and Dingley quickly set to scything through the field to get back to the front, but Van Damme was pushed wide when attempting to overtake Strip Weathers' Renault through the NordKurve. Van Damme narrowly avoided contact with the outside retaining barrier, but had lost over 15 seconds in the process and had dropped to 12th.

In the closing laps Dingley had charged to 2nd and was rapidly closing in on West, but it wasn't enough, as West went on to win the race by less than a second over Dingley.

### **Round 9: Austria**

Tensions were high entering the Austrian Grand Prix, as Ferrari opted to lodge a protest against McLaren, claiming that the team had an illegal suspension which was giving the team abnormally low tyre wear.

While Ferrari were protesting McLaren's suspension, their driver Fabiano Margheriti claimed pole position, closely followed by Stefan Van Damme and Nino Tempestini. Chuck Dingley's protested McLaren qualified 5th, continuing a run of poor qualifying performances.

The start of the race saw Van Damme's poor season get worse as heading into the first chicane, he hooked wheels with Tempestini's Brabham. Both cars were sent off the track and suffered from failed suspensions.

Fabiano Margheriti held a comfortable lead for a majority of the race, but for the third consecutive race, Chuck Dingley was setting the timing charts ablaze in the closing laps. Coming to the penultimate lap, Dingley was on the rear wing of Fabiano's Ferrari, and attempted to make a lunge into the first chicane. Dingley's late braking resulted in him locking his front right tyre and he ran wide, striking Fabiano's rear suspension which immediately collapsed. Fabiano was forced to retire, while Dingley carried on with severe steering damage.

Dingley's steering damage allowed Jurg Scheller to overtake the American on the final lap, giving Shadow a surprise victory after Scheller had ran within the points the whole race, running in 4th for the majority of the race before overtaking Vivaldo Margheriti a few laps prior. The victory was the first in Scheller's career, Shadow's first victory since the 1978 United States Grand Prix West.

Chuck Dingley held on to finish 2nd, but shortly after the race Ferrari lodged another protest, this time pushing for the American to be disqualified for his move on Fabiano. Ferrari threatened to boycott the next race, their home race at Monza, if Dingley wasn't disqualified from the race and his car investigated.

### **Round 10: Italy**

Prior to the race, FIA officials announced that they had decided to uphold Chuck Dingley's second place finish at Austria, and had investigated his McLaren's aerodynamics and chassis dimensions, finding nothing illegal.

Qualifying saw Stanley Robson take a shock pole position, the first of his career, ahead of teammate Vivaldo Margheriti. William W-S qualified third for Brabham, with Dingley starting fourth.

Stanley Robson went on to dominate the race. His teammate Vivaldo retired from the race early due to an engine failure, along with Dingley a few laps later. William W-S finished 2nd to Robson, while Jeremy Spocinklass scored his second podium of the season for Tyrrell in 3rd.

### **Round 11: Canada**

Chuck Dingley entered the penultimate round with a 13 point lead in the championship over Fabiano Margheriti. This meant, if Dingley finished ahead of Fabiano, he would secure the 1980 championship. Dingley went on to qualify on pole, whilst Fabiano started 2nd behind his championship rival.

Fabiano got a slightly better start than Dingley and attempted to make a move similar to Dingley's move in Austria that ended Fabiano's race, but didn't lock up and was ultimately forced to yield to the American on the exit of the chicane. Dingley quickly started building a gap to Fabiano over the next few laps, but Fabiano's Ferrari engine failed in spectacular fashion on the end of lap 7, which secured the championship for Chuck Dingley.

Dingley went on to win the race, with Aaron Herrmann, winner at the opening round in Argentina finishing 2nd after qualifying in 4th. Post race, Ferrari once again lodged a protest on Dingley's McLaren, using footage of the car's right side rising entering any left-handed corner as proof that something was off. Once again though, the FIA was unable to find anything illegal in the McLaren.

### **Round 12: United States East**

Fabiano Margheriti and Ferrari entered the final round at Watkins Glen looking for redemption after the engine failure in Canada, and he subsequently qualified on pole. Strip Weathers surprised for Renault, qualifying in 2nd place after showing decent pace at the other high speed circuits throughout the season.

Fabiano went on to obliterate the field in the race, winning by a margin of over 20 seconds over second place finisher Strip Weathers. Richard Jockey completed the podium, having hounded Weathers for the majority of the race, ultimately unable to complete an overtake on the Renault.

## Results and Standings

### **1980 Constructors' Championship - Final Standings**

   Points were awarded to the top six finishers: **9-6-4-3-2-1.**

The best five results from the first six races and the best five results from the remaining six races were retained.