1981 Belgian Grand Prix
Racing data | ||
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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
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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
Classifications
Qualifying
Item | driver | constructor | Qualification training 1 | Qualification training 2 | begin | ||
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time | Ø speed | time | Ø speed | ||||
1 | Carlos Reutemann | Williams-Ford | 1: 22.28 | 186.475 km / h | 1: 36.27 | 159.377 km / h | 1 |
2 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham-Ford | 1: 23.13 | 184.569 km / h | no time | - | 2 |
3 | Didier Pironi | Ferrari | 1: 23.47 | 183.817 km / h | 1: 36.76 | 158.570 km / h | 3 |
4th | Riccardo Patrese | Arrows Ford | 1: 23.67 | 183.378 km / h | 1: 38.28 | 156.117 km / h | 4th |
5 | John Watson | McLaren-Ford | 1: 23.73 | 183.246 km / h | 1: 30.92 | 168.755 km / h | 5 |
6th | Alan Jones | Williams-Ford | 1: 23.82 | 183.049 km / h | 1: 27.43 | 175.491 km / h | 6th |
7th | Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | 1: 23.94 | 182.788 km / h | 1: 27.33 | 175.692 km / h | 7th |
8th | Eddie Cheever | Tyrrell-Ford | 1: 24.38 | 181.835 km / h | 1: 31.00 | 168.607 km / h | 8th |
9 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier-Matra | 1: 24.41 | 181.770 km / h | 1: 44.07 | 147.432 km / h | 9 |
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 |
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1 | Carlos Reutemann | Williams-Ford | 54 | 0 | 1: 16: 31.61 | 1 | 1: 23.30 | |
2 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier-Matra | 54 | 0 | + 36.06 | 9 | 1: 23.65 | |
3 | Nigel Mansell | Lotus Ford | 54 | 0 | + 43.69 | 10 | 1: 24.43 | |
4th | Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | 54 | 0 | + 47.64 | 7th | 1: 24.65 | |
5 | Elio de Angelis | Lotus Ford | 54 | 0 | + 49.20 | 14th | 1: 24.50 | |
6th | Eddie Cheever | Tyrrell-Ford | 54 | 0 | + 52.51 | 8th | 1: 24.21 | |
7th | John Watson | McLaren-Ford | 54 | 0 | +1: 01.66 | 5 | 1: 24.36 | |
8th | Didier Pironi | Ferrari | 54 | 0 | +1: 32.04 | 3 | 1: 24.82 | |
9 | 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 | 6th | 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 | 2 | 1: 24.75 | accident |
- | Keke Rosberg | Fittipaldi-Ford | 10 | 0 | DNF | 11 | 1: 25.95 | Gearbox damage |
- | Alain Prost | Renault | 2 | 1 | DNF | 12 | 1: 41.44 | Clutch damage |
- | Riccardo Patrese | Arrows Ford | 0 | 0 | DNF | 4th | - | collision |
- | Siegfried Stohr | Arrows Ford | 0 | 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
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Constructors' championship
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Individual evidence
- ↑ "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)
- ^ "Report" (accessed on October 14, 2012)
- ↑ "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)