1981 French Grand Prix

 1981 French Grand Prix

Racing data
8th of 15 races in the 1981 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	LXVII Grand Prix de France
Date:	5th July 1981
Place:	Dijon Prenois
Course:	Stade Automobile de Dijon-Prenois
Length:	304 km in 80 laps of 3.8 km
Weather:	changeable, but warm
Spectator:	~ 80,000
Pole position
Driver:	René Arnoux	Renault
Time:	1: 05.95 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Alain Prost	Renault
Time:	1: 09.14 min
Podium
First:	Alain Prost	Renault
Second:	John Watson	McLaren
Third:	Nelson Piquet	Brabham

The 1981 French Grand Prix took place on July 5th at the Stade Automobile de Dijon-Prenois near Dijon and was the eighth race of the 1981 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

Two weeks after Gilles Villeneuve's remarkable victory at the Spanish Grand Prix , Formula 1 competed in the eighth World Championship round of the year in Dijon-Prenois.

Since Jean-Pierre Jabouille found that he could not get back to his old form after his serious accident at the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix , he decided to end his Formula 1 career. His compatriot Patrick Tambay , who had recently been replaced by Marc Surer at Theodore Racing , then took his place at Ligier .

Goodyear surprisingly returned to the eighth race after leaving the Grand Prix scene, which was announced at the beginning of the season, and initially equipped Williams and Brabham with tires. Toleman continued to receive exclusive Pirelli tires. The small teams March , Ensign and Theodore moved to Avon . The tires from this British manufacturer had previously been tried out once by the Fittipaldi team with both and sometimes with only one of the two vehicles. As a result, however, the Brazilian team had returned to Michelin , using the tires that most teams still use.

training

Between the pole-setter René Arnoux and his team-mate Alain Prost , who were able to exploit the increased power of their turbo engines during practice on the smooth race track with its comparatively large differences in altitude, John Watson surprisingly qualified for second place in the McLaren MP4 / 1 . Behind Nelson Piquet followed Andrea de Cesaris and Jacques Laffite .

run

During the first lap, Piquet took the lead in front of Watson, Prost, de Cesaris and Villeneuve, who started the race from eleventh on the grid. Pole-setter Arnoux, however, fell back to ninth place. On the third lap, Watson was overtaken by Prost and de Cesaris by Villeneuve. Meanwhile, Carlos Reutemann and René Arnoux were on a steady path forward.

Due to a downpour , the race was interrupted on lap 58. It was then started again in the order that existed at the time it was canceled. Prost managed to overtake Piquet. Watson and Arnoux followed him during the first lap of the restarted race.

Prost scored his first Grand Prix win ahead of Watson, Piquet and Arnoux as well as Didier Pironi and Elio de Angelis .

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
TAG Williams team	1	Alan Jones	Williams FW07C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	2	Carlos Reutemann
Tyrrell Racing Team	3	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell 010		M.
	4th	Michele Alboreto
Parmalat Racing Team	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham BT49C		G
	6th	Hector Rebaque
Marlboro McLaren International	7th	John Watson	McLaren MP4 / 1		M.
	8th	Andrea de Cesaris
Team ATS	9	Slim Borgudd	ATS D5		M.
John Player Team Lotus	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus 87		M.
	12	Nigel Mansell
Ensign Racing	14th	Eliseo Salazar	Ensign N180B		A.
Equipe Renault Elf	15th	Alain Prost	Renault RE30	Renault EF1 1.5 V6 t	M.
	16	René Arnoux
March Grand Prix Team	17th	Derek Daly	March 811	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	A.
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	Patrick Tambay	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	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella FA1B		M.
Theodore Racing Team	33	Marc Surer	Theodore TY01		A.
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	René Arnoux	Renault	1: 07.09	203.905 km / h	1: 05.95	207.430 km / h	01
02	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1: 07.05	204.027 km / h	1: 06.36	206.148 km / h	02
03	Alain Prost	Renault	1: 07.57	202.457 km / h	1: 06.36	206.148 km / h	03
04th	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	1: 09.21	197.659 km / h	1: 06.91	204.454 km / h	04th
05	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	1: 08.83	198.751 km / h	1: 07.03	204.088 km / h	05
06th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 08.71	199.098 km / h	1: 07.09	203.905 km / h	06th
07th	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	1: 08.83	198.751 km / h	1: 07.42	202.907 km / h	07th
08th	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Ford	1: 08.40	200,000 km / h	1: 07.52	202.607 km / h	08th
09	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1: 09.28	197.460 km / h	1: 07.53	202.577 km / h	09
10	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	1: 10.09	195.178 km / h	1: 07.56	202.487 km / h	10
11	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1: 07.60	202.367 km / h	1: 07.68	202.128 km / h	11
12	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1: 09.81	195.960 km / h	1: 07.63	202.277 km / h	12
13	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Ford	1: 09.06	198.089 km / h	1: 07.72	202.008 km / h	13
14th	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	1: 08.09	200.911 km / h	1: 08.27	200.381 km / h	14th
15th	Hector Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	1: 09.69	196.298 km / h	1: 08.21	200.557 km / h	15th
16	Patrick Tambay	Ligier-Matra	1: 09.51	196.806 km / h	1: 08.47	199.796 km / h	16
17th	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	1: 10.13	195.066 km / h	1: 09.35	197.260 km / h	17th
18th	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	1: 09.37	197.203 km / h	1: 10.14	195.038 km / h	18th
19th	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 11.50	191.329 km / h	1: 09.88	195.764 km / h	19th
20th	Derek Daly	March-Ford	1: 12.10	189.736 km / h	1: 09.94	195.596 km / h	20th
21st	Marc Surer	Theodore Ford	1: 19.46	172.162 km / h	1: 10.21	194.844 km / h	21st
22nd	Eliseo Salazar	Ensign-Ford	1: 15.59	180.976 km / h	1: 10.50	194.043 km / h	22nd
23	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 12.37	189.029 km / h	1: 10.64	193.658 km / h	23
24	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	1: 13.60	185.870 km / h	1: 10.86	193.057 km / h	24
DNQ	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows Ford	1: 13.13	187.064 km / h	1: 11.24	192.027 km / h	-
DNQ	Brian Henton	Toleman-Hart	1: 29.13	153.484 km / h	1: 11.28	191.919 km / h	-
DNQ	Slim Borgudd	ATS Ford	1: 14.62	183.329 km / h	1: 12.20	189.474 km / h	-
DNQ	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford	1: 12.24	189.369 km / h	1: 36.20	142.204 km / h	-
DNQ	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	1: 13.65	185.743 km / h	no time	-	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Alain Prost	Renault	80	0	1: 35: 48.13	03	1: 09.14
02	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	80	0	+ 2.29	02	1: 09.30
03	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	80	0	+ 24.22	04th	1: 09.29
04th	René Arnoux	Renault	80	0	+ 42.30	01	1: 09.32
05	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	79	0	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 10.30
06th	Elio de Angelis	Lotus Ford	79	0	+ 1 lap	08th	1: 10.99
07th	Nigel Mansell	Lotus Ford	79	0	+ 1 lap	13	1: 11.13
08th	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	79	0	+ 1 lap	10	1: 09.97
09	Hector Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	78	0	+ 2 rounds	15th	1: 10.75
10	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	78	0	+ 2 rounds	07th	1: 10.76
11	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	78	1	+ 2 rounds	05	1: 09.97
12	Marc Surer	Theodore Ford	78	0	+ 2 rounds	21st	1: 12.24
13	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	77	0	+ 3 rounds	19th	1: 12.21
14th	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows Ford	77	0	+ 3 rounds	18th	1: 13.19
15th	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	77	0	+ 3 rounds	12	1: 13.55
16	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	77	0	+ 3 rounds	23	1: 14.15
17th	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	76	3	+ 4 rounds	09	1: 09.85
-	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	58	0	DNF	06th	1: 12.39	Suspension damage
-	Derek Daly	March-Ford	55	1	DNF	20th	1: 13.93	Engine failure
-	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	42	0	DNF	11	1: 12.58	defective ignition
-	Patrick Tambay	Ligier-Matra	31	1	DNF	16	1: 13.37	defective rear wheel bearing
-	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	12	0	DNF	17th	1: 15.01	Suspension damage
-	Eliseo Salazar	Ensign-Ford	07th	0	DNF	22nd	1: 14.30	Suspension damage
-	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	00	0	DNS	24	-	not started

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 37 02  Nelson Piquet Brabham 26th 03  Alan Jones Williams 24 04th  Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 21st 05  Jacques Laffite Ligier 17th 06th  Alain Prost Renault 13 07th  John Watson McLaren 10 08th  Riccardo Patrese Arrows 10 09  Elio de Angelis lotus 8th

Item driver constructor Points 10  Didier Pironi Ferrari 7th 11  Nigel Mansell lotus 5 12  Eddie Cheever Tyrrell 5 13  René Arnoux Renault 5 14th  Marc Surer Ensign 4th 15th  Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 3 16  Hector Rebaque Brabham 3 17th  Andrea de Cesaris McLaren 1 18th  Patrick Tambay Theodore 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Williams 61 02  Brabham 29 03  Ferrari 28 04th  Renault 18th 05  Ligier 17th 06th  lotus 13

Item constructor Points 07th  McLaren 11 08th  Arrows 10 09  Tyrrell 5 10  Ensign 4th 11  Alfa Romeo 3 12  Theodore 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Training" ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been 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)  
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