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The 1980 British Grand Prix was the eighth round of the 1980 world championship, being held at Brands Hatch. It was won by Alan Jones ahead of Nelson Piquet and Carlos Reutemann.


Background[]

Heading into Britain, the entry list notably lacked the presence of the Shadow team. The team had an appaling season, qualifying for only one race in the non-championship Spanish Grand Prix. The new team owners under Teddy Yip had decided to shut the team down after six years of competing, hoping to relaunch the team under the new Theodore guise for 1981 in a much more competitive state. 

Ricardo Zunino had failed to live up to expectations in Brabham, whilst his teammate Nelson Piquet was competing at the front of the field, Zunino struggled to even compete in the mid-field leading him to be sacked. Brabham replaced him with another firm number two driver to Piquet, Mexican driver Héctor Rebaque. Rebaque had previously competed in F1 with his own team, however he had failed to produce any decent race results leading many to believe Rebaque was signed on by Bernie Ecclestone purely as a pay driver and number two like Zunino was. 

With the loss of Shadow, the field was bolstered by the entry of the RAM team who entered privately owned Williams cars. RAM was the leading team in the British Formula One series, entering Rupert Keegan and female racing star Desiré Wilson.

Fittipaldi had arrived in Britain with a new car for team leader Emerson Fittipaldi, the double world champion would be racing the new Fittipaldi F8. Teammate Keke Rosberg would have to wait until Germany for the new car.

In the driver's championship, Alan Jones led with 28 points, three points ahead of Piquet and five points ahead of French drivers René Arnoux and Didier Pironi.


Entry List[]

The full entry list for the 1980 British Grand Prix is outlined below:

No. Driver Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Model Tyre
1 South Africa Jody Scheckter Italy Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC Ferrari 312T5 Ferrari 015 3.0 F12 M
2 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Italy Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC Ferrari 312T5 Ferrari 015 3.0 F12 M
3 France Jean-Pierre Jarier United Kingdom Candy Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 010 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
4 Ireland Derek Daly United Kingdom Candy Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 010 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
5 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Parmalat Racing Team Brabham BT49 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
6 Mexico Héctor Rebaque United Kingdom Parmalat Racing Team Brabham BT49 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
7 United Kingdom John Watson United Kingdom Marlboro Team McLaren McLaren M29 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
8 France Alain Prost United Kingdom Marlboro Team McLaren McLaren M29 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
9 Switzerland Marc Surer West Germany Team ATS ATS D4 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
11 United States Mario Andretti United Kingdom Team Essex Lotus Lotus 81 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
12 Italy Elio de Angelis United Kingdom Team Essex Lotus Lotus 81 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
14 Netherlands Jan Lammers United Kingdom Unipart Racing Team Ensign N180 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille France Equipe Renault Elf Renault RE20 Renault EF1 3.0 V6t M
16 France René Arnoux France Equipe Renault Elf Renault RE20 Renault EF1 3.0 V6t M
17 United Kingdom Geoff Lees United Kingdom Theodore Shadow Shadow DN12 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
18 Ireland David Kennedy United Kingdom Theodore Shadow Shadow DN12 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
20 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Brazil Skol Fittipaldi Team Fittipaldi F8 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
21 Finland Keke Rosberg Brazil Skol Fittipaldi Team Fittipaldi F7 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
22 France Patrick Depailler Italy Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo 179 Alfa Romeo 1260 3.0 V12 G
23 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Italy Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo 179 Alfa Romeo 1260 3.0 V12 G
25 France Didier Pironi France Equipe Ligier Gitanes Ligier JS11/15 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
26 France Jacques Laffite France Equipe Ligier Gitanes Ligier JS11/15 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
27 Australia Alan Jones United Kingdom Albilad-Williams Racing Team Williams FW07B Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
28 Argentina Carlos Reutemann United Kingdom Albilad-Williams Racing Team Williams FW07B Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
29 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Warsteiner Arrows Racing Team Arrows A3 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
30 West Germany Jochen Mass United Kingdom Warsteiner Arrows Racing Team Arrows A3 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
31 United States Eddie Cheever Italy Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
43 South Africa Desiré Wilson United Kingdom Brands Hatch Racing Williams FW07 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
50 United Kingdom Rupert Keegan United Kingdom RAM – Williams Grand Prix Engineering Williams FW07 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G

Practice Overview[]

Qualifying[]

Once again qualifying was a battle between the Ligier and Williams cars. The Ligier's came out on top, Didier Pironi took pole position and in doing so shattered the previous lap record that was set in 1978 by Carlos Reutemann. Jacques Laffite was second while the two Williams cars of Alan Jones and Reutemann were third and fourth.

Rupert Keegan had an enormous accident during the session, wrecking his RAM entered Williams. Luckily for him, his car was rebuilt in time for the race.

Qualifying Results[]

The full qualifying results for the 1980 British Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time Gap
Q1 Q2
1 25 France Didier Pironi France Ligier-Ford Cosworth 1:11.004 1:11.017
2 26 France Jacques Laffite France Ligier-Ford Cosworth 1:11.749 1:11.395 +0.391s
3 27 Australia Alan Jones United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 1:11.609 1:11.630 +0.605s
4 28 Argentina Carlos Reutemann United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 1:11.839 1:11.629 +0.625s
5 5 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Brabham-Ford Cosworth 1:13.089 1:11.634 +0.630s
6 23 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Italy Alfa Romeo 1:15.208 1:12.128 +1.124s
7 8 France Alain Prost United Kingdom McLaren-Ford Cosworth 1:12.759 1:12.634 +1.630s
8 22 France Patrick Depailler Italy Alfa Romeo 1:13.189 1:14.038 +2.185s
9 11 United States Mario Andretti United Kingdom Lotus-Ford Cosworth 1:14.780 1:13.400 +2.396s
10 4 Ireland Derek Daly United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1:14.011 1:13.469 +2.465s
11 3 France Jean-Pierre Jarier United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1:14.926 1:13.666 +2.662s
12 7 United Kingdom John Watson United Kingdom McLaren-Ford Cosworth 1:13.717 1:13.916 +2.713s
13 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille France Renault 1:14.278 1:13.749 +2.745s
14 12 Italy Elio de Angelis United Kingdom Lotus-Ford Cosworth 1:14.617 1:13.859 +2.855s
15 9 Switzerland Marc Surer West Germany ATS-Ford Cosworth 1:14.948 1:13.953 +2.949s
16 16 France René Arnoux France Renault 1:14.170 1:13.967 +2.963s
17 6 Mexico Héctor Rebaque United Kingdom Brabham-Ford Cosworth 1:15.307 1:14.226 +3.222s
18 50 United Kingdom Rupert Keegan United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 1:15.259 1:14.236 +3.232s
19 2 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Italy Ferrari 1:14.754 1:14.296 +3.292s
20 31 United States Eddie Cheever Italy Osella-Ford Cosworth 1:15.233 1:14.517 +3.513s
21 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Arrows-Ford Cosworth 1:16.942 1:14.560 +3.556s
22 20 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Brazil Fittipaldi-Ford Cosworth 6:39.105 1:14.580 +3.576s
23 1 South Africa Jody Scheckter Italy Ferrari 1:15.370 1:15.430 +4.366s
24 30 West Germany Jochen Mass United Kingdom Arrows-Ford Cosworth 1:17.416 1:15.423 +4.419s
DNQ 14 Netherlands Jan Lammers United Kingdom Ensign-Ford Cosworth 1:17.274 1:15.596 +4.592s
DNQ 21 Finland Keke Rosberg Brazil Fittipaldi-Ford Cosworth 1:17.198 1:15.845 +4.841s
DNQ 43 South Africa Desiré Wilson United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 1:17.624 1:16.315 +5.311s
WD 17 United Kingdom Geoff Lees United Kingdom Shadow-Ford Cosworth Withdrawn
WD 18 Ireland David Kennedy United Kingdom Shadow-Ford Cosworth Withdrawn

Grid[]

Pos. Pos.
Driver Driver
______________
Row 1 ______________ 1
2 Didier Pironi
Jacques Laffite ______________
Row 2 ______________ 3
4 Alan Jones
Carlos Reutemann ______________
Row 3 ______________ 5
6 Nelson Piquet
Bruno Giacomelli ______________
Row 4 ______________ 7
8 Alain Prost
Patrick Depailler ______________
Row 5 ______________ 9
10 Mario Andretti
Derek Daly ______________
Row 6 ______________ 11
12 Jean-Pierre Jarier
John Watson ______________
Row 7 ______________ 13
14 Jean-Pierre Jabouille
Elio de Angelis ______________
Row 8 ______________ 15
16 Marc Surer
René Arnoux ______________
Row 9 ______________ 17
18 Héctor Rebaque
Rupert Keegan ______________
Row 10 ______________ 19
20 Gilles Villeneuve
Eddie Cheever ______________
Row 11 ______________ 21
22 Riccardo Patrese
Emerson Fittipaldi ______________
Row 12 ______________ 23
24 Jody Scheckter
Jochen Mass ______________

Race[]

Report[]

Didier Pironi immediately began to open up a lead in the race, the order behind him remained much the same, however Nelson Piquet was able to get ahead of Carlos Reutemann for fourth place. Patrick Depailler had also managed to move ahead of Alain Prost for seventh position.

As Pironi began to pull away in the lead, teammate Jacques Laffite had began to hold up Alan Jones and Nelson Piquet behind him. Reutemann had meanwhile began to drop back into the clutches of the two Alfa Romeo's of Bruno Giacomelli and Depailler.

After a few laps, Laffite began to pull away as Jones fell into the clutches of Piquet. Lap six saw, Jean-Pierre Jabouille once again pull off the circuit to retire his Renault

By lap 12, Depailler had managed to make his way past teammate Giacomelli to move into sixth position. On lap 17, Giacomelli would come into the pits requiring new tyres. Two laps later disaster had struck for Pironi once again. His front left tyre went flat, forcing him into the pits. Pironi would rejoin the race at the back of the field.

The following lap, Gilles Villeneuve pitted to fit a new monocoque onto his car. Patrick Depailler, who was running in fifth was forced into the pits with tyre degradation putting him out of competitive running in the race. He would soon retire with engine failure.

Pironi had then began a strong comeback drive through the midfield. Despite being a long way down on the leaders, Pironi remained the fastest car on track and began to overtake car after car through the midfield. 

Teammate Laffite was comfortably leading the race, until he too like Pironi began to suffer from a deflating tyre. Unlike Pironi however, he opted to stay out. This resulted in full on tyre blowout at Hawthorn Bend, Laffite spun off the circuit through the catchfencing and into the tyre barriers. Laffite was out, and once again Alan Jones and Williams inherited the lead due to Ligier misfortune. 

With Jones leading, Piquet was trailing him in his Brabham with Reutemann a long way down in third. Derek Daly was doing well in fourth whilst behind him came Mario Andretti and Jean-Pierre Jarier

However it wasn't long before Pironi had made his way past both Jarier and Andretti to move back into fifth place.

In eighth position the two McLaren cars were dicing. Alain Prost put a move on teammate John Watson to take eighth position. 

On lap 57, Mario Andretti pulled into the pits to retire with a gearbox failure. A disappointing result considering he was running in the points in fifth place. Watson then had to pit from seventh due to tyre wear. He exited behind Hector Rebaque's Brabham.

Pironi was lapping the fastest of all the driver's on track until he then began to slow with tyre troubles once again. Pironi's tyre then suddenly burst and Pironi had to pull off the circuit. Tyre troubles proving the downfall of the two Ligier cars in Britain. 

Jones would go on to coast home to take the win, Piquet was second with the second Williams of Reutemann in third. Tyrrell did well to get points with Daly in fourth and Jarier in fifth. Prost managed to bring home one point for McLaren.

Results[]

The full results for the 1980 British Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 27 Australia Alan Jones United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 76 1:34:49.228 3 9
2 5 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Brabham-Ford Cosworth 76 +11.007s 5 6
3 28 Argentina Carlos Reutemann United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 76 +13.285s 4 4
4 4 Ireland Derek Daly United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 75 +1 lap 10 3
5 3 France Jean-Pierre Jarier United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 75 +1 lap 11 2
6 8 France Alain Prost United Kingdom McLaren-Ford Cosworth 75 +1 lap 7 1
7 6 Mexico Héctor Rebaque United Kingdom Brabham-Ford Cosworth 74 +2 laps 17
8 7 United Kingdom John Watson United Kingdom McLaren-Ford Cosworth 74 +2 laps 12
9 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Arrows-Ford Cosworth 73 +3 laps 21
10 1 South Africa Jody Scheckter Italy Ferrari 73 +3 laps 23
11 50 United Kingdom Rupert Keegan United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 73 +3 laps 18
12 20 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Brazil Fittipaldi-Ford Cosworth 72 +4 laps 22
13 30 West Germany Jochen Mass United Kingdom Arrows-Ford Cosworth 69 +7 laps 24
NC* 16 France René Arnoux France Renault 67 +9 laps 16
Ret 25 France Didier Pironi France Ligier-Ford Cosworth 63 Tyre 1
Ret 9 Switzerland Marc Surer West Germany ATS-Ford Cosworth 59 Engine 15
Ret 11 United States Mario Andretti United Kingdom Lotus-Ford Cosworth 57 Gearbox 9
Ret 23 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Italy Alfa Romeo 42 Accident 6
Ret 2 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Italy Ferrari 35 Engine 19
Ret 26 France Jacques Laffite France Ligier-Ford Cosworth 30 Tyre 2
Ret 22 France Patrick Depailler Italy Alfa Romeo 27 Engine 8
Ret 31 United States Eddie Cheever Italy Osella-Ford Cosworth 17 Suspension 20
Ret 12 Italy Elio de Angelis United Kingdom Lotus-Ford Cosworth 16 Suspension 14
Ret 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille France Renault 6 Engine 13
DNQ 14 Netherlands Jan Lammers United Kingdom Ensign-Ford Cosworth
DNQ 21 Finland Keke Rosberg Brazil Fittipaldi-Ford Cosworth
DNQ 43 South Africa Desiré Wilson United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth
WD 17 United Kingdom Geoff Lees United Kingdom Shadow-Ford Cosworth
WD 18 Ireland David Kennedy United Kingdom Shadow-Ford Cosworth
  • * Arnoux would not be classified as he had failed to complete 90% of the race distance.

Trivia[]

  • Before the race began, Nelson Piquet had held a sign up whilst sitting in his car on the grid saying "Hello, Mum" pointing it at the television cameras whilst live on air. 

Milestones[]

Standings after race[]

  
Drivers' World Championship
Pos. Driver Pts +/-
1 Australia Alan Jones 37
2 Brazil Nelson Piquet 31
3 France René Arnoux 23
4 France Didier Pironi 23
5 Argentina Carlos Reutemann 20
6 France Jacques Laffite 16
7 Italy Riccardo Patrese 7
8 Italy Elio de Angelis 6
9 Ireland Derek Daly 6 ▲4
10 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 5 ▼1
11 Finland Keke Rosberg 4 ▼1
12 Germany Jochen Mass 4 ▼1
13 France Alain Prost 4 ▼1
14 France Jean-Pierre Jarier 4 ▲4
15 United Kingdom John Watson 3 ▼1
16 Canada Gilles Villeneuve 3 ▼1
17 Italy Bruno Giacomelli 2 ▼1
18 South Africa Jody Scheckter 2 ▼1
Constructors' World Championship
Pos. Team Pts +/-
1 United Kingdom Williams-Ford 57
2 France Ligier-Ford 39
3 United Kingdom Brabham-Ford 31
4 France Renault 23
5 United Kingdom Arrows-Ford 11
6 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford 10 ▲3
7 Brazil Fittipaldi-Ford 9 ▼1
8 United Kingdom McLaren-Ford 7 ▼1
9 United Kingdom Lotus-Ford 6 ▼1
10 Italy Ferrari 5
11 Italy Alfa Romeo 2

External Links[]

V T E 1980 Formula One Season
Teams Alfa Romeo • Arrows • ATS • Brabham • Ensign • Ferrari • Fittipaldi • Ligier • Lotus • McLaren • Osella • Renault • Shadow • Tyrrell • Williams
Engines Alfa Romeo • Ferrari • Ford Cosworth • Renault
Drivers Andretti • de Angelis • Arnoux • Brambilla • de Cesaris • Cheever • Cogan • Daly • Depailler • Ertl • Fittipaldi • Giacomelli • Johansson •Jabouille • Jarier • Jones • Keegan • Kennedy • Laffite • Lammers • Lees • Mansell • Mass • Needell • Patrese • Piquet • Pironi • Prost • Rebaque • Regazzoni • Reutemann • Rosberg • Scheckter • South • Surer • Thackwell • Villeneuve • Watson • Wilson • Winkelhock • Zunino
Cars Alfa Romeo 179 • Arrows A3 • ATS D3 • ATS D4 • Brabham BT49 • Ensign N180 • Ferrari 312T5 • Fittipaldi F7 • Fittipaldi F8 • Ligier JS11/15 • Lotus 81 • Lotus 81B • McLaren M29B • McLaren M29C • McLaren M30 • Osella FA1 • Osella FA1B • Renault RE20 • Shadow DN11 • Shadow DN12 • Tyrrell 009 • Tyrrell 010 • Williams FW07 • Williams FW07B
Tyres Goodyear • Michelin
Races Argentina • Brazil • South Africa • United States West • Belgium • Monaco • France • Britain • Germany • Austria • Netherlands • Italy • Canada • United States
Non-championship Races Spain
See also 1979 Formula One Season • 1981 Formula One Season • Category
V T E United Kingdom British Grand Prix
Circuits Brooklands (1926 - 1927), Silverstone (1948 - Present), Aintree (1955 - 1962), Brands Hatch (1963 - 1986)
SilverstoneArena2010
Races 19501951195219531954195519561957195819591960196119621963196419651966196719681969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
Non-Championship Races 1926192719481949
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