US Grand Prix West 1981

 US Grand Prix West 1981

Racing data
1st of 15 races in the 1981 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	VII Grand Prix of Long Beach
Date:	March 15, 1981
Place:	Long Beach
Course:	Long Beach Grand Prix Circuit
Length:	261.705 km in 80 laps of 3.251 km
Weather:	sunny and warm
Spectator:	~ 82,000
Pole position
Driver:	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows
Time:	1: 19.399 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Alan Jones	Williams
Time:	1: 20.901 min
Podium
First:	Alan Jones	Williams
Second:	Carlos Reutemann	Williams
Third:	Nelson Piquet	Brabham

The 1981 USA Grand Prix took place on March 15 in Long Beach and was the first world championship round of the 1981 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

The dispute between FISA and FOCA , which had already resulted in the 1980 Spanish Grand Prix not being recognized as a World Cup run, had intensified in the winter of 1980/81 to such an extent that the grand one planned for February 7th Price of South Africa also had to be held as a Formula 1 race that was not part of the World Championship. Carlos Reutemann won the race in which the FISA-related teams did not take part. The official start of the 1981 season took place on March 15th in Long Beach.

Only the Williams and Brabham teams started the new year with the same driver line-up with which they ended the 1980 season. However, many other teams each retained one of the previous year's pilots. McLaren , for example, stuck to John Watson and signed Andrea de Cesaris as the new second regular driver. This became necessary because Alain Prost, despite a valid two-year contract, moved to Renault early , where he replaced Jean-Pierre Jabouille and thus became René Arnoux's new team-mate . Jabouille was meanwhile under contract as Jacques Laffite's new teammate at Ligier . However, since he had still not recovered from his leg injuries, which he sustained in an accident during the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix , Jean-Pierre Jarier initially took over as his representative. His place as well as that of his former teammate Derek Daly in the financially troubled Team Tyrrell went to the two Americans Eddie Cheever and Kevin Cogan . Daly found a new job with Team March , which returned to Formula 1 after a three-year hiatus. The Chilean debutant Eliseo Salazar became his teammate there.

With Ferrari , another team with turbo engines joined Renault. Jody Scheckter , who had ended his career at the season finale in 1980, was replaced by Didier Pironi . From then on, he formed a legendary driver pairing with Gilles Villeneuve .

Mario Andretti switched to Alfa Romeo and became the second regular driver alongside Bruno Giacomelli . Thereupon Nigel Mansell , who had made three guest appearances in the previous year, received a regular driver contract with Lotus at the side of Elio de Angelis .

Alongside Jody Scheckter, Emerson Fittipaldi was the second former world champion to end his career as a Formula 1 driver after the 1980 season. He stuck to Keke Rosberg as a driver for his team and also signed the newcomer Chico Serra . From then on, Osella competed as a two-car team for the first time. Beppe Gabbiani and the Argentinian debutant Miguel Ángel Guerra were signed up as drivers. Arrows kept Riccardo Patrese and hired the debutant Siegfried Stohr to succeed Jochen Mass . Marc Surer and Jan Lammers swapped places between the ATS and Ensign teams .

Theodore Racing competed for the first time as a works team with its own car. This was called TY01 and was piloted by Patrick Tambay . The other teams mostly used models that were further developed from the previous year.

Since the tire manufacturer Goodyear had decided to withdraw from Grand Prix racing for a while, all teams with Michelin tires competed .

training

To the surprise of the professional world, Patrese secured pole position in the Arrows A3B ahead of the two Williams drivers Jones and Reutemann. Piquet followed ahead of Villeneuve and Andretti. Almost all drivers achieved their fastest lap during the second qualifying session. The only exception was Siegfried Stohr, who did not take part.

run

After a very good start, Villeneuve reached the first corner as the leader, but braked and had to give up the top position to Patrese. The two Williams drivers also returned to the positions from which they had started. Prost and de Cesaris collided further in the field. Both were eliminated. Pironi, who started the race from eleventh place, was in sixth place behind Piquet at the end of the first lap. Three laps later, he finished fourth.

On the 17th lap, Villeneuve, who had dropped to sixth place, retired due to damage to the drive train. His position was then taken by Cheever.

Due to problems with the fuel pressure, Patrese initially lost the lead to Reutemann on lap 25 and second place to Jones one lap later. On the 17th lap, an unavoidable pit stop threw him back to the bottom of the field.

In the 32nd lap, Reutemann made a mistake in the course of a lapping maneuver against Surer. His team-mate Jones took advantage of this to take the lead. Meanwhile, Laffite overtook sixth-placed Andretti and collided ten laps later with fifth-placed Cheever. The Frenchman had to stop repairs on the pits and Cheever's car also slowed down due to slight damage. Andretti took advantage of this, as well as the fact that Pironi slowed down due to an oil leak, to move up to fourth place.

The season started with a one-two victory for the reigning world champions Williams.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Albilad-Williams Racing Team	1	Alan Jones	Williams FW07C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	M.
	2	Carlos Reutemann
Tyrrell Racing Team	3	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell 010		M.
	4th	Kevin Cogan
Parmalat Racing Team	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham BT49C		M.
	6th	Hector Rebaque
Marlboro McLaren International	7th	John Watson	McLaren M29F		M.
	8th	Andrea de Cesaris
Team ATS	9	Jan Lammers	ATS D4		M.
Team Essex Lotus	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus 81B		M.
	12	Nigel Mansell
Ensign Racing	14th	Marc Surer	Ensign N180B		M.
Equipe Renault Elf	15th	Alain Prost	Renault RE20B	Renault EF1 1.5 V6 t	M.
	16	René Arnoux
March Grand Prix Team	17th	Eliseo Salazar	March 811	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	M.
	18th	Derek Daly
Fittipaldi Automotive	20th	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi F8C		M.
	21st	Chico Serra
Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo	22nd	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo 179C	Alfa Romeo 1260 3.0 V12	M.
	23	Bruno Giacomelli
Equipe Talbot Gitanes	25th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ligier JS17	Matra MS81 3.0 V12	M.
	26th	Jacques Laffite
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari 126CK	Ferrari 021 1.5 V6 t	M.
	28	Didier Pironi
Ragno Arrows Beta Racing Team	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows A3B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	M.
	30th	Siegfried Stohr
Osella Squadra Corse	31	Miguel Ángel Guerra	Osella FA1B		M.
	32	Beppe Gabbiani
Theodore Racing Team	33	Patrick Tambay	Theodore TY01		M.

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Qualification training 1		Qualification training 2		begin
			time	Ø speed	time	Ø speed
01	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	1: 21.983	142.756 km / h	1: 19.399	147.402 km / h	01
02	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1: 20.911	144.648 km / h	1: 19.408	147.386 km / h	02
03	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	1: 21.739	143.183 km / h	1: 20.149	146.023 km / h	03
04th	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	1: 22.675	141.562 km / h	1: 20.289	145.768 km / h	04th
05	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1: 21.723	143.211 km / h	1: 20.462	145.455 km / h	05
06th	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	1: 22.020	142.692 km / h	1: 20.476	145.430 km / h	06th
07th	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Ford	1: 22.461	141.929 km / h	1: 20.573	145.255 km / h	07th
08th	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 22.992	141.021 km / h	1: 20.643	145.129 km / h	08th
09	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1: 22.592	141.704 km / h	1: 20.664	145.091 km / h	09
10	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ligier-Matra	1: 21.722	143.212 km / h	1: 20.787	144.870 km / h	10
11	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	1: 21.828	143.027 km / h	1: 20.909	144.651 km / h	11
12	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 23.140	140.770 km / h	1: 20.925	144.623 km / h	12
13	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Ford	1: 22.380	142.068 km / h	1: 20.928	144.617 km / h	13
14th	Alain Prost	Renault	1: 23.049	140.924 km / h	1: 20.980	144.525 km / h	14th
15th	Hector Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	1: 23.298	140.503 km / h	1: 21,000	144.489 km / h	15th
16	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	1: 23.356	140.405 km / h	1: 21.001	144.487 km / h	16
17th	Patrick Tambay	Theodore Ford	1: 23.373	140.376 km / h	1: 21.298	143.959 km / h	17th
18th	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	1: 26.730	134.943 km / h	1: 21.409	143.763 km / h	18th
19th	Marc Surer	Ensign-Ford	1: 28.045	132.927 km / h	1: 21.522	143.564 km / h	19th
20th	René Arnoux	Renault	1: 23.363	140.393 km / h	1: 21.540	143.532 km / h	20th
21st	Jan Lammers	ATS Ford	1: 23.802	139.658 km / h	1: 21.758	143.149 km / h	21st
22nd	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	1: 23.728	139.781 km / h	1: 22.028	142.678 km / h	22nd
23	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1: 26.419	135.429 km / h	1: 22.183	142.409 km / h	23
24	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford	1: 24.032	139.276 km / h	1: 22.213	142.357 km / h	24
DNQ	Kevin Cogan	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 25.164	137.424 km / h	1: 22.284	142.234 km / h	-
DNQ	Derek Daly	March-Ford	1: 26.074	135.971 km / h	1: 22.356	142.110 km / h	-
DNQ	Miguel Ángel Guerra	Osella-Ford	1: 25.190	137.382 km / h	1: 22.673	141.565 km / h	-
DNQ	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows Ford	1: 23.504	140.156 km / h	no time	-	-
DNQ	Eliseo Salazar	March-Ford	1: 25.017	137.662 km / h	1: 24.383	138.696 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	80	0	1: 50: 41.33	02	1: 20.901
02	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	80	0	+ 9.19	03	1: 20.91
03	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	80	0	+ 34.92	04th	1: 21.83
04th	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	80	0	+ 49.31	06th	1: 21.79
05	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	80	0	+1: 06.70	08th	1: 22.23
06th	Patrick Tambay	Theodore Ford	79	0	+ 1 lap	17th	1: 21.75
07th	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	78	0	+ 2 rounds	18th	1: 23.09
08th	René Arnoux	Renault	77	1	+ 3 rounds	20th	1: 22.54
-	Marc Surer	Ensign-Ford	70	0	DNF	19th	1: 22.77	defective ignition
-	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	67	0	DNF	11	1: 22.23	Oil loss
-	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Ligier-Matra	64	0	DNF	10	1: 22.90	defective ignition
-	Hector Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	49	1	DNF	15th	1: 22.68	accident
-	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	41	0	DNF	12	1: 22.08	collision
-	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	41	0	DNF	09	1: 22.41	collision
-	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	41	0	DNF	16	1: 22.88	Engine failure
-	Jan Lammers	ATS Ford	41	0	DNF	21st	1: 22.33	collision
-	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	33	2	DNF	01	1: 21.42	defective fuel supply
-	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford	26th	0	DNF	24	1: 25.19	accident
-	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Ford	25th	0	DNF	07th	1: 22.75	accident
-	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	17th	0	DNF	05	1: 22.54	broken PTO shaft
-	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	16	1	DNF	23	1: 24.55	Engine failure
-	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Ford	13	0	DNF	13	1: 23.32	accident
-	Alain Prost	Renault	00	0	DNF	14th	-	collision
-	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	00	0	DNF	22nd	-	collision

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Alan Jones Williams 9 02  Carlos Reutemann Williams 6th 03  Nelson Piquet Brabham 4th

Item driver constructor Points 04th  Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 3 05  Eddie Cheever Tyrrell 2 06th  Patrick Tambay Theodore 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Williams 15th 02  Brabham 4th 03  Alfa Romeo 3

Item constructor Points 04th  Tyrrell 2 05  Theodore 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fight at the limit. The Formula 1 Chronicle 1950–2000 , ed. v. Willy Knupp, RTL book edition: Zeitgeist Publishing house: Düsseldorf / Gütersloh 2000, ISBN 3-89748-277-0 , pp. 222-223
2. ↑ "Background" (accessed October 14, 2012)
3. ↑ "Training" ( memento of the original from August 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on October 14, 2012)  
4. ^ "Report" (accessed on October 14, 2012)
5. ↑ "World Cup stands" ( Memento of the original from August 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on October 14, 2012)  

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website