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25px Belgium  1981 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 5 of 15 in the 1981 Formula One season
Zolder 1975
Date May 17, 1981
Location Zolder, Belgium
Course
4.011 km (2.492 mi)
Distance 54 laps, 216.594 km (134.585 mi)
Scheduled Distance70 laps, 288.792 km (179.424 mi)
Weather Wet/Dry
Pole position
Driver 25px Argentina Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford
Time 1:22.28
Fastest lap
Driver 25px Argentina Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford
Time 1:23.30 on lap 37
Podium
First 25px Argentina Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford
Second 25px France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra
Third 25px UK Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford

The 1981 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on May 17, 1981.

Mechanic safety and chaotic first race[]

The Belgian Grand Prix of 1981 was marred by two serious incidents involving mechanics, one fatal. In Friday practice a mechanic from the Osella team, Giovanni Amadeo, stumbled off the pitwall into the path of the Williams of Carlos Reutemann. Reutemann was unable to avoid the mechanic, who suffered a fractured skull. He died from his injuries on the Monday after the race. Before the start of the race the mechanics of all the teams staged a protest over the safety measures protecting them, which was soon joined by several drivers who left their cars. The race organisers nevertheless flagged the warm-up lap at the normal time, leaving several cars delayed on the grid, either stalled or with their cockpits vacant. The resulting chaos when the grid formed up again at the end of this lap was exacerbated when Nelson Piquet missed his starting position and was sent round on another lap, with the other cars being held in position. As the cars began to overheat, several drivers turned off their engines, among them Arrows driver Riccardo Patrese, expecting another formation lap due to Piquet's error. However, the organisers began the start sequence as usual once Piquet had regained his position. Patrese was unable to restart his car and waved his arms to signal that he could not take the start. His mechanic, Dave Luckett, instantly came onto the track to restart the car from behind. But after he got onto the track, the lighting sequence to start the race had already begun, and the start went ahead despite the presence of Luckett and Patrese's gesticulations. In the confusion and likely unable to see Patrese's stalled car, the other Arrows driver, Siegfried Stohr, ploughed into the back of his team-mate's car, hitting Luckett. Luckett suffered a broken leg and lacerations but survived the incident. But even after this incident, the race continued, and as the field was about to start the second lap, with marshals and Stohr's disabled car still on the circuit, cars passed by with very little space, and the marshals frantically waved at the drivers to stop and the confused drivers waved back at the marshals, who were still on the circuit as the cars passed by. The drivers stopped themselves rather than being directed to stop. As a result of these events, a new rule was introduced forbidding mechanics from being on the grid within fifteen seconds of the formation lap, and the race starter would use greater caution.[1]

Race report[]

The race was fairly uneventful – Reutemann was passed by Didier Pironi going into the first corner. Then Alan Jones nudged off Nelson Piquet at the early stages of the race and Piquet crashed into some catch fencing at the chicane; and a furious Piquet stormed to the Williams garage in an altercation with Jones and the Williams personnel after Jones's gearbox failed, ploughed into the barriers and badly burned his left thigh after the gearbox oil leaked into Jones's cockpit. Pironi had fallen back and after Jones's accident, Reutemann took the lead, and kept the lead until the race was called off early because of rain starting to fall on the track. A somber Reutemann took his 2nd victory of the season and his 12th and what was to be the final victory of his enigmatic career after a weekend that was marked by frustration, politics and tragedy.

Classification[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2 25px Argentina Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 54 1:16:31.61 1 9
2 26 25px France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 54 + 36.06 s 9 6
3 12 25px UK Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 54 + 43.69 s 10 4
4 27 25px Canada Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 54 + 47.64 s 7 3
5 11 25px Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 54 + 49.20 s 14 2
6 3 25px USA Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 54 + 52.51 s 8 1
7 7 25px UK John Watson McLaren-Ford 54 + 1:01.66 5
8 28 25px France Didier Pironi Ferrari 54 + 1:32.04 3
9 23 25px Italy Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 54 + 1:35.58 17
10 22 25px USA Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 53 + 1 lap 18
11 14 25px Switzerland Marc Surer Ensign-Ford 52 + 2 laps 15
12 4 25px Italy Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 52 + 2 laps 19
13 31 25px Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 50 + 4 laps 24
Ret 6 25px Mexico Hector Rebaque Brabham-Ford 39 Accident 21
Ret 25 25px France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Ligier-Matra 35 Transmission 16
Ret 21 25px Brazil Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 29 Engine 20
Ret 32 25px Italy Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford 22 Engine 22
Ret 1 25px Australia Alan Jones Williams-Ford 19 Accident 6
Ret 8 25px Italy Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 11 Gearbox 23
Ret 5 25px Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 10 Accident 2
Ret 20 25px Finland Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 10 Gearbox 11
Ret 15 25px France Alain Prost Renault 2 Clutch 12
Ret 29 25px Italy Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 0 Collision 4
Ret 30 25px Italy Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford 0 Collision 13
DNQ 18 25px Flag of the Republic of Ireland Derek Daly March-Ford
DNQ 16 25px France René Arnoux Renault
DNQ 17 25px Flag of Chile Eliseo Salazar March-Ford
DNQ 9 25px Sweden Slim Borgudd ATS-Ford
DNQ 33 25px France Patrick Tambay Theodore-Ford
DNQ 36 25px UK Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart
DNQ 35 25px UK Brian Henton Toleman-Hart

Notes[]

  • First podium: Nigel Mansell
  • Last win: Carlos Reutemann
  • Race scheduled for 70 laps, but stopped after 54 because of rain. As more than 3/4 of the scheduled laps were run, the points were assigned entirely.
  • To date, this was the last race victory for an Argentine driver.

Standings after the race[]

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 25px Argentina Carlos Reutemann 34
2 25px Brazil Nelson Piquet 22
3 25px Australia Alan Jones 18
4 25px Italy Riccardo Patrese 10
5 25px France Jacques Laffite 7
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 25px UK Williams-Ford 52
2 25px UK Brabham-Ford 25
3 25px UK Arrows-Ford 10
4 25px UK Lotus-Ford 9
5 25px France Ligier-Matra 7
  • 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". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1981/362/. Retrieved 2007-06-16. 


Previous race:
1981 San Marino Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1981 season
Next race:
1981 Monaco Grand Prix
Previous race:
1980 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1982 Belgian Grand Prix
Smallwikipedialogo.png This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1981 Belgian Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


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