1981 Canadian Grand Prix

  1981 Canadian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 14 of 15 in the 1981 Formula One season
Date	September 27, 1981
Official name	XXI Grand Prix du Canada
Location	Circuit Île Notre-Dame, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Course	Temporary Street Circuit 4.410 km (2.740 mi)
Distance	63 laps, 277.83 km (172.62 mi)
Weather	Wet and cold with temperatures up to 20 °C (68 °F); wind speeds up to 15 kilometres per hour (9.3 mph)[1]
Pole position
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford
Time	1:29.211
Fastest lap
Driver	John Watson	McLaren-Ford
Time	1:49.475 on lap 43
Podium
First	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra
Second	John Watson	McLaren-Ford
Third	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari

The 1981 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on September 27, 1981, at Montreal. Jacques Laffite won the race driving for Ligier. It would prove to be Ligier's last race win for fifteen years, until the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. Williams clinched the 1981 Constructors' Championship with one race left, as the two points scored by the Brabham team were not sufficient to allow them to catch Williams in the final race. This was also the last time the Canadian Grand Prix was held at the near-end of the season.

Pre-race

Prior to the race, Alan Jones announced that he was retiring from the sport after clinching the title the previous year. Rumors were also spreading around in paddock that Niki Lauda had tested for McLaren at Donington Park and that he was planning a comeback.

Qualifying

Nelson Piquet clinched pole with a time of 1:29.221, with rival Carlos Reutemann alongside him on the front row. The top ten were completed by: Jones, Prost, Mansell, Rebaque, de Angelis, Arnoux, Watson and Laffite respectively.

Race

The race start was marred with bad weather. Immediately after the start, Jones took the lead after a minor collision with Reutemann which left Reutemann behind. Toward the middle of the pack, Arnoux and Pironi had a collision with resulted in Arnoux spinning out of the race. On lap 7, Jones spun and Piquet had to take evasive action, resulting in both drivers dropping down the pecking order. Prost took the lead with Laffite, who had climbed from tenth, second. Prost's lead did not last long, as Laffite overtook him on lap 13, and kept the lead to the end of the race. Villeneuve had a minor accident which damaged his front wing to the point it flew off the car: yet he managed to keep control until the end of the race, without a front wing and under the rain. Prost was eventually overtaken by Villeneuve and Watson, before retiring with an accident on lap 48. Watson was able to catch and pass Villeneuve a few laps later and the two finished second and third respectively, with Villeneuve clinching his third and last podium of the year on home soil. Bruno Giacomelli of Alfa Romeo, who had started fifteenth, came home fourth, with pole-man Piquet coming in behind him.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	1:29.211	-
2	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	1:29.359	+0.148
3	1	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1:29.728	+0.517
4	15	Alain Prost	Renault	1:29.908	+0.697
5	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	1:29.997	+0.786
6	6	Hector Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	1:30.182	+0.971
7	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	1:30.231	+1.020
8	16	René Arnoux	Renault	1:30.232	+1.021
9	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1:30.566	+1.355
10	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1:30.705	+1.494
11	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1:31.115	+1.904
12	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	1:31.350	+2.139
13	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	1:31.507	+2.296
14	3	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	1:31.547	+2.336
15	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1:31.600	+2.389
16	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	1:31.740	+2.529
17	25	Patrick Tambay	Ligier-Matra	1:31.747	+2.536
18	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	1:31.969	+2.758
19	33	Marc Surer	Theodore-Ford	1:32.253	+3.042
20	17	Derek Daly	March-Ford	1:32.305	+3.094
21	9	Slim Borgudd	ATS-Ford	1:32.652	+3.441
22	4	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1:32.709	+3.498
23	32	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	1:33.432	+4.221
24	14	Eliseo Salazar	Ensign-Ford	1:33.848	+4.637
DNQ	20	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:34.310	+5.099
DNQ	21	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:36.546	+7.335
DNQ	35	Brian Henton	Toleman-Hart	1:36.648	+7.437
DNQ	30	Jacques Villeneuve	Arrows-Ford	1:36.729	+7.518
DNQ	36	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	1:36.999	+7.788
DNQ	31	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford	1:37.493	+8.282

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	63	2:01:25.20	10	9
2	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	63	+ 6.23	9	6
3	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	63	+ 1:50.27	11	4
4	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	62	+ 1 Lap	15	3
5	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	62	+ 1 Lap	1	2
6	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	62	+ 1 Lap	7	1
7	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	62	+ 1 Lap	16
8	17	Derek Daly	March-Ford	61	+ 2 Laps	20
9	33	Marc Surer	Theodore-Ford	61	+ 2 Laps	19
10	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	60	+ 3 Laps	2
11	4	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	59	+ 4 Laps	22
12	3	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	56	Engine	14
Ret	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	51	Spun Off	13
Ret	15	Alain Prost	Renault	48	Collision	4
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	45	Collision	5
Ret	9	Slim Borgudd	ATS-Ford	40	Spun Off	21
Ret	6	Hector Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	35	Spun Off	6
Ret	32	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	26	Collision	23
Ret	1	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	24	Handling	3
Ret	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	24	Ignition	12
Ret	14	Eliseo Salazar	Ensign-Ford	8	Spun Off	24
Ret	25	Patrick Tambay	Ligier-Matra	6	Spun Off	17
Ret	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	6	Spun Off	18
Ret	16	René Arnoux	Renault	0	Collision	8
DNQ	20	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford
DNQ	21	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford
DNQ	35	Brian Henton	Toleman-Hart
DNQ	30	Jacques Villeneuve	Arrows-Ford
DNQ	36	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart
DNQ	31	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Carlos Reutemann 49 2 Nelson Piquet 48 3 Jacques Laffite 43 4 Alain Prost 37 5 Alan Jones 37

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 86 2 Brabham-Ford 59 3 Renault 48 4 Ligier-Matra 43 5 Ferrari 34

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from "The Official Formula 1 website". Retrieved 2007-06-16.