1981 Spanish Grand Prix

  1981 Spanish Grand Prix

Race details
Race 7 of 15 in the 1981 Formula One season
Date	June 21, 1981
Official name	XXVII Gran Premio de España
Location	Circuito Permanente Del Jarama, Jarama, Spain
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.312 km (2.06 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 264.96 km (164.70 mi)
Weather	Sunny, hot
Pole position
Driver	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra
Time	1:13.754
Fastest lap
Driver	Alan Jones	Williams-Cosworth
Time	1:17.818 on lap 5
Podium
First	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari
Second	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra
Third	John Watson	McLaren-Ford

The 1981 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 21, 1981, at the Circuito Permanente Del Jarama, Jarama, Spain.

Summary

The 1981 Spanish Grand Prix featured the second closest finish ever of a Formula One race: after Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari, the four following cars finished in just 1.24 seconds. This was Villeneuve's last victory, often regarded as his tactical masterpiece.

There were some changes for this race: Eliseo Salazar had left March to join Ensign, replacing Marc Surer. Also, John Player Special sponsorship and livery returned to Team Lotus after a 2-year hiatus.

The pole went to Jacques Laffite on his Ligier-Matra with the two Williams-Cosworth of Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann second and third ahead of John Watson's McLaren, Alain Prost's Renault and the Alfa Romeo of Bruno Giacomelli. Gilles Villeneuve was seventh.

Race day was unusually hot. At the beginning of the race Jones and Reutemann went into the lead, as Laffite made a poor start. Villeneuve jumped into third place at the first corner, damaging Prost's front wing as he took the position. At the end of the first lap Villeneuve pulled out of Reutemann's slipstream and took second place. Jones began to build a lead but on lap 14 he went off the track, when he was 10 seconds ahead of the Canadian.

This left Villeneuve with Reutemann on his tail. Behind them Watson, Laffite and Elio de Angelis began to close on the dueling leaders. Reutemann was having some trouble with his gearbox and when Laffite arrived behind him there was little the Argentinian could do to stop him from overtaking. Reutemann would later drop behind Watson. The five front-runners became a train of cars, packed together for the remaining laps of the race.

Villeneuve used the power of his Ferrari engine on the straight to gain a little margin and not get overtaken by his rivals, but in the corners they were all over him. Many times Laffite pulled alongside the Canadian as they went out a corner but the Ferrari would stay ahead as the horsepower kicked in. The five remained locked together right to the flag, crossing the line covered by just 1.24 seconds to record the second closest race in the history of Formula One.

This would be the last Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama, owing to criticism of the track being too narrow for modern Formula One, the unpleasant conditions and the small crowd (the small turn-out was probably due to the backlash of the previous year's race not being counted as a World Championship race, the announcement was made on the weekend itself); and the last Spanish Grand Prix until 1986, when it would be held at the newly-built Jerez circuit.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	80	1:46:35.01	7	9
2	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	80	+ 0.22	1	6
3	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	80	+ 0.58	4	4
4	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	80	+ 1.01	3	3
5	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	80	+ 1.24	10	2
6	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	80	+ 28.58	11	1
7	1	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	80	+ 56.58	2
8	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	80	+ 1:00.80	8
9	16	René Arnoux	Renault	80	+ 1:07.08	17
10	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	80	+ 1:13.65	6
11	21	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	21
12	20	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	78	+ 2 Laps	15
13	33	Patrick Tambay	Theodore-Ford	78	+ 2 Laps	16
14	14	Eliseo Salazar	Ensign-Ford	77	+ 3 Laps	24
15	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	76	+ 4 Laps	13
16	17	Derek Daly	March-Ford	75	+ 5 Laps	22
NC	3	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	62	Not Classified	20
Ret	25	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Ligier-Matra	51	Brakes	19
Ret	6	Hector Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	46	Gearbox	18
Ret	30	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows-Ford	43	Ignition	23
Ret	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	43	Accident	9
Ret	15	Alain Prost	Renault	28	Spun Off	5
Ret	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	21	Brakes	12
Ret	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	9	Accident	14
DNQ	4	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford
DNQ	31	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford
DNQ	9	Slim Borgudd	ATS-Ford
DNQ	35	Brian Henton	Toleman-Hart
DNQ	36	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart
DNQ	32	Giorgio Francia	Osella-Ford

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Carlos Reutemann 37 2 Alan Jones 24 3 Nelson Piquet 22 4 Gilles Villeneuve 21 5 Jacques Laffite 17

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 61 2 Ferrari 26 3 Brabham-Ford 25 4 Ligier-Matra 17 5 Lotus-Ford 12

• 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/1981/364/. Retrieved 2007-06-16. 

Previous race: 1981 Monaco Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1981 season	Next race: 1981 French Grand Prix
Previous race: 1979 Spanish Grand Prix	Spanish Grand Prix	Next race: 1986 Spanish Grand Prix

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