1981 Belgian Grand Prix

 1981 Belgian Grand Prix

Racing data
5th of 15 races in the 1981 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	XXXIX Grote Prijs van Belgie
Date:	May 17, 1981
Place:	Zolder-Terlaemen
Course:	Circuit Zolder
Length:	230.148 km in 54 laps of 4.262 km
Planned:	298.34 km in 70 laps of 4.262 km
Weather:	initially dry, later light rain
Spectator:	~ 70,000
Pole position
Driver:	Carlos Reutemann	Williams
Time:	1: 22.28 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Carlos Reutemann	Williams
Time:	1: 23.30 min
Podium
First:	Carlos Reutemann	Williams
Second:	Jacques Laffite	Ligier
Third:	Nigel Mansell	lotus

The 1981 Belgian Grand Prix took place on May 17th on the Circuit Zolder in Zolder-Terlaemen and was the fifth race of the 1981 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

Since the Concorde Agreement has ensured a certain continuity in the Formula 1 World Cup since the beginning of the season, fewer changes occurred during the season within the entry lists between the individual Grand Prix than had previously been the case. The racing series became more structured through clear guidelines and was therefore easier to market, which was particularly in line with the goals of FOCA founder Bernie Ecclestone . With Toleman , another team has been represented since the 1981 San Marino Grand Prix . Since Lotus also returned to the field for the Belgian GP , the limit of 32 registered vehicles per Grand Prix was reached. The ATS Racing Team then agreed to forego a second car from now on in order not to exceed this maximum number. It was decided to go with Slim Borgudd instead of Jan Lammers .

At Osella , the Italian debutant Piercarlo Ghinzani took over the substitute for the injured Miguel Ángel Guerra .

training

During the first qualifying session on Friday afternoon, there was a tragic accident in the pit lane when Carlos Reutemann could not avoid an Osella mechanic who stumbled and fell from the pit wall and injured him so badly that he died in hospital three days later. Some drivers then complained about the very dense crowd in the pit lane.

Although he was under the impression of the accident, Reutemann qualified for pole position in front of Nelson Piquet , Didier Pironi and Riccardo Patrese .

Since the ground clearance of Alan Jones' Williams FW07C did not correspond to the required six centimeters, his best lap time of the first qualifying training was denied. For the same reason, Derek Daly lost all of his training times.

Due to the rain, no time improvements were expected on Saturday. Some drivers therefore decided not to take part in the second qualification training.

run

Shortly before the start, mechanics from all teams demonstrated in view of the accident that had happened two days earlier for better safety regulations in the pit lane. Some drivers spontaneously left their cars on the grid and joined the protest in solidarity. When the race director released the introductory lap shortly afterwards, there was chaos, as some cars with an empty cockpit stopped. Nelson Piquet lost his bearings and at the end of the lap he missed his starting position, so that he had to complete another warm-up lap on his own. As the rest of the vehicles on the grid were in danger of overheating, some drivers switched off the engines because they expected another introductory lap for all participants. Instead, the normal take-off procedure was initiated after Piquet took his position. Riccardo Patrese was one of those who was surprised by this. Since he could not start his engine again by himself, he drew attention to himself with clear warning signs and a mechanic hurried over. Nevertheless, the race was released. All drivers except for Father's team mate Siegfried Stohr managed to evade in time. However, Stohr crashed into the rear of his teammate, injuring a second mechanic that weekend. However, he survived.

When Piquet and Reutemann as the leaders passed the scene of the accident after the first lap, they reduced their speed. Since debris and an ambulance continued to partially block the track, the other drivers stopped and independently stopped the race without being shown the red flag.

The Arrows team did not participate in the restart. Pironi took the lead from Reutemann and Piquet. Jones passed John Watson on the second lap and his team-mate Reutemann on lap ten. One lap later, a collision between Jones and Piquet in the duel for second place led to an accident for the Brazilian. In the 13th round, Jones took the lead from Pironi. When he retired due to an accident on lap 19, his team-mate Reutemann took over the top position. This eventually won ahead of Jacques Laffite and Nigel Mansell .

As a consequence of the starting accident, the rule that is still valid today was introduced that all mechanics must have left the starting grid at least 15 seconds before the start of the introductory lap and are then no longer allowed to enter the track.

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	Michele Alboreto
Parmalat Racing Team	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham BT49C		M.
	6th	Hector Rebaque
Marlboro McLaren International	7th	John Watson	McLaren MP4 / 1		M.
	8th	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren M29F
Team ATS	9	Slim Borgudd	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		A.
	21st	Chico Serra			M.
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 Jabouille	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	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella FA1B		M.
	32	Beppe Gabbiani
Theodore Racing Team	33	Patrick Tambay	Theodore TY01		M.
Candy Toleman Motorsport	35	Brian Henton	Toleman TG181	Hart 415T 1.5 L4 t	P
	36	Derek Warwick

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Qualification training 1		Qualification training 2		begin
			time	Ø speed	time	Ø speed
01	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	1: 22.28	186.475 km / h	1: 36.27	159.377 km / h	01
02	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	1: 23.13	184.569 km / h	no time	-	02
03	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	1: 23.47	183.817 km / h	1: 36.76	158.570 km / h	03
04th	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	1: 23.67	183.378 km / h	1: 38.28	156.117 km / h	04th
05	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1: 23.73	183.246 km / h	1: 30.92	168.755 km / h	05
06th	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1: 23.82	183.049 km / h	1: 27.43	175.491 km / h	06th
07th	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1: 23.94	182.788 km / h	1: 27.33	175.692 km / h	07th
08th	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 24.38	181.835 km / h	1: 31.00	168.607 km / h	08th
09	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 24.41	181.770 km / h	1: 44.07	147.432 km / h	09
10	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Ford	1: 24.44	181.705 km / h	no time	-	10
11	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	1: 24.46	181.662 km / h	no time	-	11
12	Alain Prost	Renault	1: 24.63	181.297 km / h	1: 43.35	148.459 km / h	12
13	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows Ford	1: 24.66	181.233 km / h	no time	-	13
14th	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Ford	1: 24.96	180.593 km / h	no time	-	14th
15th	Marc Surer	Ensign-Ford	1: 25.19	180.106 km / h	no time	-	15th
16	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Ligier-Matra	1: 25.28	179.916 km / h	1: 38.87	155.186 km / h	16
17th	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1: 25.31	179.852 km / h	1: 37.77	156.932 km / h	17th
18th	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	1: 25.56	179.327 km / h	1: 32.17	166.466 km / h	18th
19th	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 25.91	178.596 km / h	1: 32.21	166.394 km / h	19th
20th	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	1: 25.93	178.555 km / h	no time	-	20th
21st	Hector Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	1: 26.52	177.337 km / h	2: 49.14	90.713 km / h	21st
22nd	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford	1: 26.69	176.989 km / h	no time	-	22nd
23	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	1: 26.95	176.460 km / h	1: 30.99	168.625 km / h	23
24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford	1: 27.48	175.391 km / h	no time	-	24
DNQ	René Arnoux	Renault	1: 27.93	174.493 km / h	1: 30.71	169.146 km / h	-
DNQ	Eliseo Salazar	March-Ford	1: 28.38	173.605 km / h	1: 35.66	160.393 km / h	-
DNQ	Slim Borgudd	ATS Ford	1: 28.98	172.434 km / h	1: 35.79	160.175 km / h	-
DNQ	Patrick Tambay	Theodore Ford	no time	-	1: 32.47	165.926 km / h	-
DNQ	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	1: 35.97	159.875 km / h	no time	-	-
DNQ	Brian Henton	Toleman-Hart	1: 36.37	159.211 km / h	1: 42.95	149.035 km / h	-
DSQ 4	Derek Daly	March-Ford	no time	-	no time	-	-

⁴ Because his car was too close to the ground, the lap times achieved by Derek Daly were canceled.

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	54	0	1: 16: 31.61	01	1: 23.30
02	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	54	0	+ 36.06	09	1: 23.65
03	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Ford	54	0	+ 43.69	10	1: 24.43
04th	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	54	0	+ 47.64	07th	1: 24.65
05	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Ford	54	0	+ 49.20	14th	1: 24.50
06th	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	54	0	+ 52.51	08th	1: 24.21
07th	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	54	0	+1: 01.66	05	1: 24.36
08th	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	54	0	+1: 32.04	03	1: 24.82
09	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	54	0	+1: 35.58	17th	1: 24.73
10	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	53	0	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 25.82
11	Marc Surer	Ensign-Ford	52	0	+ 2 rounds	15th	1: 25.23
12	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	52	1	+ 2 rounds	19th	1: 26.71
13	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford	50	1	+ 4 rounds	24	1: 26.58
-	Hector Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	39	0	DNF	21st	1: 23.74	accident
-	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Ligier-Matra	35	3	DNF	16	1: 25.25	Differential damage
-	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	29	1	DNF	20th	1: 26.89	Engine failure
-	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford	22nd	0	DNF	22nd	1: 26.85	Engine failure
-	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	19th	0	DNF	06th	1: 23.40	accident
-	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	11	1	DNF	23	1: 27.00	Gearbox damage
-	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	10	0	DNF	02	1: 24.75	accident
-	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	10	0	DNF	11	1: 25.95	Gearbox damage
-	Alain Prost	Renault	02	1	DNF	12	1: 41.44	Clutch damage
-	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	00	0	DNF	04th	-	collision
-	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows Ford	00	0	DNF	13	-	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  Carlos Reutemann Williams 34 02  Nelson Piquet Brabham 22nd 03  Alan Jones Williams 18th 04th  Riccardo Patrese Arrows 10 05  Jacques Laffite Ligier 7th 06th  Elio de Angelis lotus 5 07th  Nigel Mansell lotus 4th 08th  Alain Prost Renault 4th 09  Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 3

Item driver constructor Points 10  Marc Surer Ensign 3 11  Hector Rebaque Brabham 3 12  Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 3 13  Eddie Cheever Tyrrell 3 14th  René Arnoux Renault 2 15th  Didier Pironi Ferrari 2 16  Andrea de Cesaris McLaren 1 17th  Patrick Tambay Theodore 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Williams 52 02  Brabham 25th 03  Arrows 10 04th  lotus 9 05  Ligier 7th 06th  Renault 6th

Item constructor Points 07th  Ferrari 5 08th  Ensign 3 09  Tyrrell 3 10  Alfa Romeo 3 11  Theodore 1 12  McLaren 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training" ( memento of the original from March 3, 2006 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)  
2. ^ "Report" (accessed on October 14, 2012)
3. ↑ "World Cup stands" ( Memento of the original from August 4, 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