1981 F1 World Championship Season

1980 F1 World Championship

1982 F1 World Championship

Fact File

Drivers’ Champion:	Nelson Piquet (1st title, 19th different world champion, 2nd Brazilian champion)
Constructors’ Champion:	Williams (2nd title)
Races:	15
Winning drivers:	Nelson Piquet (3) Alain Prost (3) Carlos Reutemann (2) Gilles Villeneuve (2) Jacques Laffite (2) Alan Jones (2) John Watson (1)
Winning constructors:	Williams (4) Brabham (3) Renault (3) Ferrari (2) Ligier (2) McLaren (1)
First-time winners (driver):	Alain Prost
First-time winners (constructor):	none

1981 F1 World Championship Grands Prix

Calendar

DT: Drivers’ title decider
CT: Constructors’ title decider

No.	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date	Race Result
1	USA West	Long Beach	15 March	1981 United States Grand Prix West
2	Brazil	Jacarepagua	29 March	1981 Brazilian Grand Prix
3	Argentina	Buenos Aires	12 April	1981 Argentine Grand Prix
4	San Marino	Imola	3 May	1981 San Marino Grand Prix
5	Belgium	Zolder	17 May	1981 Belgian Grand Prix
6	Monaco	Monte Carlo	31 May	1981 Monaco Grand Prix
7	Spain	Jarama	21 June	1981 Spanish Grand Prix
8	France	Dijon-Prenois	5 July	1981 French Grand Prix
9	Britain	Silverstone	18 July	1981 British Grand Prix
10	Germany	Hockenheim	2 August	1981 German Grand Prix
11	Austria	Osterreichring	16 August	1981 Austrian Grand Prix
12	Netherlands	Zandvoort	30 August	1981 Dutch Grand Prix
13	Italy	Monza	13 September	1981 Italian Grand Prix
14	Canada CT	Montreal	27 September	1981 Canadian Grand Prix
15	Caesars Palace DT	Las Vegas	17 October	1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix

Race Winners

Highlight: Home driver race winner

No.	Grand Prix	Circuit	Driver	Constructor	Start	Win Margin
1	USA West	Long Beach	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford Cosworth	2	9.190s
2	Brazil	Jacarepagua	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford Cosworth	2	4.440s
3	Argentina	Buenos Aires	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford Cosworth	1	26.610s
4	San Marino	Imola	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford Cosworth	5	4.580s
5	Belgium	Zolder	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford Cosworth	1	36.060s
6	Monaco	Monte Carlo	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	2	39.910s
7	Spain	Jarama	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	7	0.211s
8	France	Dijon-Prenois	Alain Prost	Renault	3	2.290s
9	Britain	Silverstone	John Watson	McLaren-Ford Cosworth	5	40.650s
10	Germany	Hockenheim	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford Cosworth	6	11.520s
11	Austria	Osterreichring	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	4	5.170s
12	Netherlands	Zandvoort	Alain Prost	Renault	1	8.240s
13	Italy	Monza	Alain Prost	Renault	3	22.175s
14	Canada	Montreal	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	10	6.233s
15	Caesars Palace	Las Vegas	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford Cosworth	2	20.048s

Polesitters

Highlight: Home driver polesitter

No.	Grand Prix	Circuit	Driver	Constructor	Race	Pole Margin
1	USA West	Long Beach	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford Cosworth	DNF	0.009s
2	Brazil	Jacarepagua	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford Cosworth	12	0.311s
3	Argentina	Buenos Aires	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford Cosworth	1	0.316s
4	San Marino	Imola	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	7	0.706s
5	Belgium	Zolder	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford Cosworth	1	0.850s
6	Monaco	Monte Carlo	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford Cosworth	DNF	0.078s
7	Spain	Jarama	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	2	0.270s
8	France	Dijon-Prenois	Rene Arnoux	Renault	4	0.410s
9	Britain	Silverstone	Rene Arnoux	Renault	9	0.046s
10	Germany	Hockenheim	Alain Prost	Renault	2	0.460s
11	Austria	Osterreichring	Rene Arnoux	Renault	2	0.303s
12	Netherlands	Zandvoort	Alain Prost	Renault	1	0.079s
13	Italy	Monza	Rene Arnoux	Renault	DNF	0.673s
14	Canada	Montreal	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford Cosworth	5	0.148s
15	Caesars Palace	Las Vegas	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford Cosworth	8	0.174s

Fastest Laps

Highlight: Home driver fastest lap setter

No.	Grand Prix	Circuit	Driver	Constructor
1	USA West	Long Beach	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford Cosworth
2	Brazil	Jacarepagua	Marc Surer	Ensign-Ford Cosworth
3	Argentina	Buenos Aires	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford Cosworth
4	San Marino	Imola	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari
5	Belgium	Zolder	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford Cosworth
6	Monaco	Monte Carlo	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford Cosworth
7	Spain	Jarama	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford Cosworth
8	France	Dijon-Prenois	Alain Prost	Renault
9	Britain	Silverstone	Rene Arnoux	Renault
10	Germany	Hockenheim	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford Cosworth
11	Austria	Osterreichring	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra
12	Netherlands	Zandvoort	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford Cosworth
13	Italy	Monza	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford Cosworth
14	Canada	Montreal	John Watson	McLaren-Ford Cosworth
15	Caesars Palace	Las Vegas	Didier Pironi	Ferrari

1981 F1 World Championship Standings

Driver

Pos	Driver	Constructor	Points	Gap
1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham	50
2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams	49	-1
3	Alan Jones	Williams	46	-4
4	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	44	-6
5	Alain Prost	Renault	43	-7
6	John Watson	McLaren	27	-23
7	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	25	-25
8	Elio de Angelis	Lotus	14	-36
9	Rene Arnoux	Renault	11	-39
=	Hector Rebaque	Brabham	11	-39
11	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows	10	-40
=	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell	10	-40
13	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	9	-41
14	Nigel Mansell	Lotus	8	-42
15	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	7	-43
16	Marc Surer	Ensign Theodore	4	-46
17	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	3	-47
18	Patrick Tambay	Theodore Ligier	1	-49
=	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren	1	-49
=	Slim Borgudd	ATS	1	-49
=	Eliseo Salazar	March Ensign	1	-49

Points scoring system used:

1st: 9 points
2nd: 6 points
3rd: 4 points
4th: 3 points
5th: 2 points
6th: 1 point

Only the best 11 results counted towards the championship.
Numbers shown without parentheses are the points scored that counted towards the championship; numbers in parentheses are the total number of points scored.

Constructor

Pos	Constructor	Points	Gap
1	Williams-Ford Cosworth	95
2	Brabham-Ford Cosworth	61	-34
3	Renault	54	-41
4	Ligier-Matra	44	-51
5	Ferrari	34	-61
6	McLaren-Ford Cosworth	28	-67
7	Lotus-Ford Cosworth	22	-73
8	Arrows-Ford Cosworth	10	-85
9	Alfa Romeo	10	-85
10	Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth	10	-85
11	Ensign-Ford Cosworth	5	-90
12	Theodore-Ford Cosworth	1	-94
13	ATS-Ford Cosworth	1	-94

Points scoring system used:

1st: 9 points
2nd: 6 points
3rd: 4 points
4th: 3 points
5th: 2 points
6th: 1 point

Constructors received points for each of their cars.
Only the best 11 results counted towards the championship.
Numbers shown without parentheses are the points scored that counted towards the championship; numbers in parentheses are the total number of points scored.

Qualifying Results Overview

Pos	Driver	USW	BRA	ARG	SMR	BEL	MCO	ESP	FRA	GBR	DEU	AUT	NLD	ITA	CAN	CPL	Avg.	Best
1	Carlos Reutemann	3	2	4	2	1	4	3	7	9	3	5	5	2	2	1	3.53	1
2	Nelson Piquet	4	1	1	5	2	1	9	4	3	6	7	3	6	1	4	3.80	1
3	Alan Jones	2	3	3	8	6	7	2	9	7	4	6	4	5	3	2	4.73	2
4	Alain Prost	14	5	2	4	12	9	5	3	2	1	2	1	3	4	5	4.80	1
5	Gilles Villeneuve	5	7	7	1	7	2	7	11	8	8	3	16	9	11	3	7.00	1
6	Rene Arnoux	20	8	5	3	25	13	17	1	1	2	1	2	1	8	13	8.00	1
7	John Watson	23	15	11	7	5	10	4	2	5	9	12	8	7	9	6	8.87	2
8	Jacques Laffite	12	16	21	10	9	8	1	6	14	7	4	6	4	10	12	9.33	1
9	Riccardo Patrese	1	4	9	9	4	5	12	18	10	13	10	10	20	18	11	10.27	1
10	Didier Pironi	11	17	12	6	3	17	13	14	4	5	8	12	8	12	18	10.67	3
11	Elio de Angelis	13	10	10		14	6	10	8	22	14	9	9	11	7	15	11.29	6
12	Mario Andretti	6	9	17	12	18	12	8	10	11	12	13	7	13	16	10	11.60	6
13	Nigel Mansell	7	13	15		10	3	11	13	27	15	11	17	12	5	9	12.00	3
14	Bruno Giacomelli	9	6	22	11	17	18	6	12	12	19	16	14	10	15	8	13.00	6
15	Andrea de Cesaris	22	20	18	14	23	11	14	5	6	10	18	13	16	13	14	14.47	5
16	Hector Rebaque	15	11	6	13	21	23	18	15	13	16	15	15	14	6	16	14.47	6
17	Patrick Tambay	17	19	14	16	28	16	16	16	15	11	17	11	15	17	7	15.67	7
18	Eddie Cheever	8	14	13	19	8	15	20	19	23	18	25	22	17	14	19	16.93	8
19	Jean-Pierre Jarier	10	23							20	17	14	18	18	23	21	18.22	10
20	Keke Rosberg	16	12	8	15	11	21	15	17	16	25		27	29	25	20	18.36	8
21	Marc Surer	19	18	16	21	15	19		21	24	22	23	20	25	19	23	20.36	15
22	Jean-Pierre Jabouille			28	18	16	22	19									20.60	16
23	Michele Alboreto				17	19	20	25	23	19	29	22	25	22	22	17	21.67	17
24	Siegfried Stohr	28	21	19	25	13	14	23	25	18	24	24	21	28			21.77	13
25	Derek Daly	29	29	27	26	31	28	22	20	17	21	19	19	19	20	27	23.60	17
26	Slim Borgudd				24	27	27	27	27	21	20	21	23	21	21	25	23.67	20
27	Jan Lammers	21	25	23	27												24.00	21
28	Ricardo Zunino		24	24													24.00	24
29	Chico Serra	18	22	20	28	20	24	21	24	25	30		28	30	26	26	24.43	18
30	Piercarlo Ghinzani					24	25										24.50	24
31	Eliseo Salazar	26	28	29	23	26	29	24	22	28	23	20	24	24	24	24	24.93	20
32	Kevin Cogan	25															25.00	25
33	Miguel Angel Guerra	27	27	25	22												25.25	22
34	Beppe Gabbiani	24	26	26	20	22	26	26	28	30	27	28	29	26	30	30	26.53	20
35	Brian Henton				30	30	30	28	26	26	26	27	26	23	27	29	27.33	23
36	Jacques Villeneuve Sr														28	28	28.00	28
37	Derek Warwick				29	29	31	29	29	29	28	26	30	27	29	22	28.17	22
38	Giorgio Francia							30									30.00	30

Race Results Overview

Pos	Driver	USW	BRA	ARG	SMR	BEL	MCO	ESP	FRA	GBR	DEU	AUT	NLD	ITA	CAN	CPL	Points
1	Nelson Piquet	3	12	1	1	R	R	R	3	R	1	3	2	6^R	5	5	50
2	Carlos Reutemann	2	1	2	3	1	R	4	10	2	R	5	R	3	10	8	49
3	Alan Jones	1	2	4	12	R	2	7	17	R	11	4	3	2	R	1	46
4	Jacques Laffite	R	6	R	R	2	3	2	R	3	3	1	R	R	1	6	44
5	Alain Prost	R	R	3	R	R	R	R	1	R	2	R	1	1	R	2	43
6	John Watson	R	8	R	10	7	R	3	2	1	6	6	R	R	2	7	27
7	Gilles Villeneuve	R	R	R	7	4	1	1	R	R	10	R	R	R	3	DSQ	25
8	Elio de Angelis	R	5	6		5	R	5	6	DSQ	7	7	5	4	6	R	14
9	Rene Arnoux	8	R	5	8	DNQ	R	9	4	9^R	13	2	R	R	R	R	11
=	Hector Rebaque	R	R	R	4	R	DNQ	R	9	5	4	R	4	R	R	R	11
11	Riccardo Patrese	R	3	7	2	R	R	R	14	10^R	R	R	R	R	R	11	10
=	Eddie Cheever	5	NC	R	R	6	5	NC	13	4	5	DNQ	R	R	12^R	R	10
13	Didier Pironi	R	R	R	5	8	4	15	5	R	R	9	R	5	R	9	9
14	Nigel Mansell	R	11	R		3	R	6	7	DNQ	R	R	R	R	R	4	8
15	Bruno Giacomelli	R	NC	10^R	R	9	R	10	15	R	15	R	R	8	4	3	7
16	Marc Surer	R	4	R	9	11	6		12	11^R	14^R	R	8	DNQ	9	R	4
17	Mario Andretti	4	R	8	R	10	R	8	8	R	9	R	R	R	7	R	3
18	Patrick Tambay	6	10	R	11	DNQ	7	13	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	1
=	Andrea de Cesaris	R	R	11	6	R	R	R	11	R	R	8	DNS	7^R	R	12	1
=	Slim Borgudd				13	DNQ	DNPQ	DNQ	DNQ	6	R	R	10	R	R	DNQ	1
=	Eliseo Salazar	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	R	DNQ	DNPQ	14	R	DNQ	NC	R	6	R	R	NC	1
	Jean-Pierre Jarier	R	7							8	8	10	R	9	R	R
	Siegfried Stohr	DNQ	R	9	DNQ	R	R	R	DNQ	R	12	R	7	DNQ
	Derek Daly	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNPQ	16	R	7	R	11	R	R	8	DNQ
	Chico Serra	7	R	R	DNQ	R	DNQ	11	DNS	DNQ	DNQ		DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
	Keke Rosberg	R	9	R	R	R	DNQ	12	R	R	DNQ		DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	10
	Michele Alboreto				R	12	R	DNQ	16	R	DNQ	R	9^R	R	11	13^R
	Brian Henton				DNQ	DNQ	DNPQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	10	DNQ	DNQ
	Jan Lammers	R	DNQ	12	DNQ
	Ricardo Zunino		13	13
	Piercarlo Ghinzani					13	DNQ
	Jean-Pierre Jabouille			DNQ	NC	R	DNQ	R
	Beppe Gabbiani	R	DNQ	DNQ	R	R	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
	Derek Warwick				DNQ	DNQ	DNPQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	R
	Miguel Angel Guerra	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	R
	Jacques Villeneuve Sr														DNQ	DNQ
	Kevin Cogan	DNQ
	Giorgio Francia							DNQ

Race To The Title

The Race To The Title graph shows how the title race played out over the course of the season.

1981 F1 World Championship Season Statistics

See: 1981 F1 World Championship Season Statistics