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The 1980 Canadian Grand Prix was the thirteenth race of the 1980 Formula One World Championship. Alan Jones won the race and in doing so secured his one and only world title, becoming the second Australian after Jack Brabham to win the Formula One World Championship. Williams took an one-two finish in this race, with Jones' team-mate, Carlos Reutemann, finishing second. Didier Pironi of Ligier finished third.

Background[]

Heading into Canada, Brabham driver Nelson Piquet held a one point lead in the driver's championship over Alan Jones in the Williams

Vittorio Brambilla had retired from Formula One in Italy, so his place in the Alfa Romeo team was taken by a young debutant called Andrea de Cesaris. RAM had entered a second private Williams to partner Rupert Keegan, successful CART racer Kevin Cogan. Tyrrell had decided to enter a third car for their test driver Mike Thackwell. The 19 year old Thackwell had previously attempted to enter a race for Arrows in Holland. Jochen Mass returned to the cockpit of the Arrows following his neck injury in Austria, although the team had brought youngster Derek Warwick in case Mass was not up to the job. Lotus had also dropped their third car of Nigel Mansell for the North American races. 


Entry List[]

Below is the full entry list for the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix:

Official Entry List of the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix
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 Tyrrell Team Tyrrell 010 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
4 Ireland Derek Daly United Kingdom Candy Tyrrell Team Tyrrell 010 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
5 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Parmalat Racing Brabham BT49 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
6 Mexico Héctor Rebaque United Kingdom Parmalat Racing Brabham BT49 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
7 United Kingdom John Watson United Kingdom Marlboro Team McLaren McLaren M29C Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
8 France Alain Prost United Kingdom Marlboro Team McLaren McLaren M30 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 Équipe Renault Elf Renault RE20 Renault EF1 1.5 V6t M
16 France René Arnoux France Équipe Renault Elf Renault RE20 Renault EF1 1.5 V6t M
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 F8 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris 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 Équipe Ligier Gitanes Ligier JS11/15 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
26 France Jacques Laffite France Équipe 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 with Penthouse Rizla+. Arrows A3 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
30 West Germany Jochen Mass United Kingdom Warsteiner Arrows Racing with Penthouse Rizla+. Arrows A3 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
31 United States Eddie Cheever Italy Osella Racing Team Osella FA1B Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
41 United Kingdom Geoff Lees United Kingdom Unipart Racing Team Ensign N180 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
43 New Zealand Mike Thackwell United Kingdom Candy Tyrrell Team Tyrrell 010 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
50 United Kingdom Rupert Keegan United Kingdom RAM – Penthouse Rizla+. Racing Williams FW07 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
51 United States Kevin Cogan United Kingdom RAM – Rainbow Jeans/Theodore Racing Williams FW07 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G
Source:[1]

Practice Overview[]

Qualifying[]

Qualifying Results[]

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

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time Gap
Q1 Q2
1 5 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Brabham-Ford Cosworth 1:31.909 1:27.328
2 27 Australia Alan Jones United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 1:30.710T 1:28.164 +0.836s
3 25 France Didier Pironi France Ligier-Ford Cosworth 1:31.896T 1:28.322 +0.994s
4 23 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Italy Alfa Romeo 1:34.628 1:28.575 +1.247s
5 28 Argentina Carlos Reutemann United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 1:31.184 1:28.663 +1.335s
6 21 Finland Keke Rosberg Brazil Fittipaldi-Ford Cosworth 1:33.829 1:28.702 +1.374s
7 7 United Kingdom John Watson United Kingdom McLaren-Ford Cosworth 1:31.880 1:28.775 +1.427s
8 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Italy Alfa Romeo 1:32.579 1:29.026T +1.698s
9 26 France Jacques Laffite France Ligier-Ford Cosworth 1:31.815 1:29.130 +1.802s
10 6 Mexico Héctor Rebaque United Kingdom Brabham-Ford Cosworth 1:33.980 1:29.377 +2.049s
11 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Arrows-Ford Cosworth 1:34.210 1:29.400 +2.072s
12 8 France Alain Prost United Kingdom McLaren-Ford Cosworth 1:33.899 1:29.804 +2.476s
13 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille France Renault 1:34.058 1:29.932 +2.604s
14 31 United States Eddie Cheever Italy Osella-Ford Cosworth 1:34.603 1:29.937 +2.609s
15 3 France Jean-Pierre Jarier United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1:34.234 1:30.070 +2.742s
16 20 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Brazil Fittipaldi-Ford Cosworth 1:36.847 1:30.294 +2.966s
17 12 Italy Elio de Angelis United Kingdom Lotus-Ford Cosworth 1:32.115 1:30.316 +2.988s
18 11 United States Mario Andretti United Kingdom Lotus-Ford Cosworth 1:34.040 1:30.559 +3.231s
19 14 Netherlands Jan Lammers United Kingdom Ensign-Ford Cosworth 1:34.658 1:30.668T +3.340s
20 4 Ireland Derek Daly United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1:34.843 1:30.791 +3.463s
21 30 West Germany Jochen Mass United Kingdom Arrows-Ford Cosworth 1:38.099 1:30.831 +3.503s
22 2 Canada Gilles Villeneuve Italy Ferrari 1:34.588 1:30.855 +3.527s
23 16 France René Arnoux France Renault 1:33.693T 1:30.912 +3.584s
24 43 New Zealand Mike Thackwell United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1:37.738 1:31.036 +3.708s
DNQ 9 Switzerland Marc Surer West Germany ATS-Ford Cosworth 1:36.060 1:31.169 +3.841s
DNQ 1 South Africa Jody Scheckter Italy Ferrari 1:35.179 1:31.688T +4.360s
DNQ 50 United Kingdom Rupert Keegan United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 1:35.322 1:32.638 +5.310s
DNQ 51 United States Kevin Cogan United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 1:37.059 1:32.745 +5.417s
WD 41 United Kingdom Geoff Lees United Kingdom Ensign-Ford Cosworth
Source: [2]
  • Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time
  • T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car to set their best time in that session.

Grid[]

Pos. Pos.
Driver Driver
______________
Row 1 ______________ 1
2 Nelson Piquet
Alan Jones ______________
Row 2 ______________ 3
4 Didier Pironi
Bruno Giacomelli ______________
Row 3 ______________ 5
6 Carlos Reutemann
Keke Rosberg* ______________
Row 4 ______________ 7
8 John Watson
Andrea de Cesaris ______________
Row 5 ______________ 9
10 Jacques Laffite
Héctor Rebaque ______________
Row 6 ______________ 11
12 Riccardo Patrese
Alain Prost ______________
Row 7 ______________ 13
14 Jean-Pierre Jabouille
Eddie Cheever ______________
Row 8 ______________ 15
16 Jean-Pierre Jarier
Emerson Fittipaldi ______________
Row 9 ______________ 17
18 Elio de Angelis
Mario Andretti ______________
Row 10 ______________ 19
20 Jan Lammers
Derek Daly ______________
Row 11 ______________ 21
22 Jochen Mass
Gilles Villeneuve ______________
Row 12 ______________ 23
24 René Arnoux
Mike Thackwell ______________
  • * Rosberg took the restart of the race from the pit lane.

Race[]

Report[]

Nelson Piquet, from pole failed to get the best of starts, Didier Pironi moved up the outside of him in an attempt to take the position, however Alan Jones had stormed up the inside. Piquet, refusing to give away in the kink before the first corner saw the two championship rivals collide. Piquet went spinning into the wall, causing the mid-field to bunch up and cause a chain reaction of collisions. Alongside Piquet, Derek Daly, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Gilles Villeneuve, Emerson Fittipaldi, Keke Rosberg, Mario Andretti and Jochen Mass were all eliminated as a result of this incident. 

With eight cars blocking the run down to the first corner, the race was stopped as the driver's involved in the accident ran back to the pits for the spare cars. Whilst not involved in the accident, Mike Thackwell who was running the third Tyrrell was forced to give up his car to team leader Jarier. The second driver of Daly was forced to sit out the race, his race car too badly damaged to continue. All the other driver's involved in the crash were able to take the restart in the spare cars. 

On the second re-start, Pironi made a suspiciously strong start to overtake Piquet. Jones had also made a strong start taking Piquet as well to move into the lead of the race. The poor start would not deter Piquet and soon enough he was back in the lead moving ahead of both Pironi and Jones. Further down the field, Riccardo Patrese crashed out whilst a lap later Bruno Giacomelli ruined another chance for good results when he spun out of fourth place, damaging his car and forcing himself into retirement. With Giacomelli's retirement, this meant John Watson took fourth who was doing a solid job for McLaren

Piquet began to immediately open up a strong lead, championship rival Jones seemingly unable to match him. However on lap 24, Piquet's engine blew sending him out of the race. All Jones needed to do to win the title was to win the race, if he won the point's defict to Piquet would be too great for him to be overtaken at the final round at Watkins Glen. 

Jones, however was not unscathed following his collision with Piquet in the first start. The rear of his car was somewhat damaged which was allowing Pironi to close on the rear of him. As this occured, Alain Prost in the second McLaren was running a very strong race, he had overtaken Jacques Laffite early in the race and then on lap 25 he moved ahead of Carlos Reutemann to take fourth place, putting him behind teammate Watson. 

The same lap, there was a major disaster. Jean-Pierre Jabouille who was running well down the field, the Renault car not competitive around the Montreal circuit suffered a suspension failure pitching Jabouille into the barriers at full speed. Jabouille suffered serious leg injuries, breaking both his legs. The fire team had to cut the incapacitated Jabouille out of the car before he was rushed to hospital. 

Late in the race, a minute time penalty was handed to Pironi for jumping the start of the race. As a result Jones let Pironi through rather than risk further damaging his car in fighting the Ligier driver. Prost had meanwhile caught up to the rear of McLaren teammate Watson and was challenging for third place, however on lap 41 Prost suffered a suspension failure pitching him into the barriers and ending his terrific drive. In the closing laps Watson also spun, which resulted in him dropping behind Reutemann and back down into fourth place. 

Whilst Pironi took the chequered flag, his time penalty dropped him down to third behind the two Williams cars of Alan Jones, the new world champion and Carlos Reutemann. Watson finished fourth for McLaren ahead of Gilles Villeneuve and Héctor Rebaque

Results[]

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

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 27 Australia Alan Jones United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 70 1:46:45.53 2 9
2 28 Argentina Carlos Reutemann United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth 70 +15.54s 5 6
3* 25 France Didier Pironi France Ligier-Ford Cosworth 70 +19.13s 3 4
4 7 United Kingdom John Watson United Kingdom McLaren-Ford Cosworth 70 +30.98s 7 3
5 2T Canada Gilles Villeneuve Italy Ferrari 70 +55.23s 22 2
6 6 Mexico Héctor Rebaque United Kingdom Brabham-Ford Cosworth 69 +1 lap 10 1
7 3T France Jean-Pierre Jarier United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 69 +1 lap 15
8 26 France Jacques Laffite France Ligier-Ford Cosworth 68 Out of fuel 9
9 21T Finland Keke Rosberg Brazil Fittipaldi-Ford Cosworth 68 +2 laps 6
10 12 Italy Elio de Angelis United Kingdom Lotus-Ford Cosworth 68 +2 laps 17
11 30T West Germany Jochen Mass United Kingdom Arrows-Ford Cosworth 67 +3 laps 21
12 14 Netherlands Jan Lammers United Kingdom Ensign-Ford Cosworth 66 +4 laps 19
Ret 8 France Alain Prost United Kingdom McLaren-Ford Cosworth 41 Suspension 12
Ret 16 France René Arnoux France Renault 39 Brakes 23
Ret 15 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille France Renault 25 Accident 13
Ret 5 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Brabham-Ford Cosworth 23 Engine 1
Ret 11T United States Mario Andretti United Kingdom Lotus-Ford Cosworth 11 Engine 18
Ret 31 United States Eddie Cheever Italy Osella-Ford Cosworth 8 Fuel pressure 14
Ret 22T Italy Andrea de Cesaris Italy Alfa Romeo 7 Gearbox 8
Ret 20T Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Brazil Fittipaldi-Ford Cosworth 7 Gearbox 16
Ret 23 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Italy Alfa Romeo 6 Spin 4
Ret 29 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Arrows-Ford Cosworth 6 Accident 11
DNS 4 Ireland Derek Daly United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 0 Accident 20
DNS§ 43 New Zealand Mike Thackwell United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 0 Withdrawn 24
DNQ 9 Switzerland Marc Surer West Germany ATS-Ford Cosworth
DNQ 1 South Africa Jody Scheckter Italy Ferrari
DNQ 50 United Kingdom Rupert Keegan United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth
DNQ 51 United States Kevin Cogan United Kingdom Williams-Ford Cosworth
WD 41 United Kingdom Geoff Lees United Kingdom Ensign-Ford Cosworth
  • T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.
  • * Pironi received a one-minute penalty due to a jump start of the race.
  • Laffite was still classfied despite retiring as he had complete 90% of the race distance.
  • Daly had failed to take the restart of the race after he crashed on the first start of the race.
  • § Thackwell also failed to take the restart of the race as he had withdrawn and given his car to Jarier.

Milestones[]

Standings after race[]

       
Drivers' World Championship
Pos. Driver Pts +/-
1 Australia Alan Jones 62 ▲1
2 Brazil Nelson Piquet 54 ▼1
3 Argentina Carlos Reutemann 43
4 France Jacques Laffite 32
5 France René Arnoux 29
6 France Didier Pironi 28
7 Italy Elio de Angelis 10
8 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille 9
9 Italy Riccardo Patrese 7
10 Ireland Derek Daly 6
11 France Jean-Pierre Jarier 6
12 Finland Keke Rosberg 6
13 Canada Gilles Villeneuve 6 ▲3
14 United Kingdom John Watson 6 ▲4
15 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 5 ▼2
16 France Alain Prost 5 ▼2
17 Germany Jochen Mass 4 ▼2
18 Italy Bruno Giacomelli 4 ▼1
19 South Africa Jody Scheckter 2
20 Mexico Héctor Rebaque 1 ▲1
Constructors' World Championship
Pos. Team Pts +/-
1 United Kingdom Williams-Ford 105
2 France Ligier-Ford 60
3 United Kingdom Brabham-Ford 55
4 France Renault 38
5 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford 12
6 United Kingdom Arrows-Ford 11
7 Brazil Fittipaldi-Ford 11
8 United Kingdom McLaren-Ford 11 ▲1
9 United Kingdom Lotus-Ford 10 ▼1
10 Italy Ferrari 8
11 Italy Alfa Romeo 4

External Links[]

  1. 'Canada 1980: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1980/canada/engages.aspx, (Accessed 23/10/2023)
  2. "1980 Canadian Grand Prix". Motor Sport Magazine. 2017-06-12. https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/database/races/1980-canadian-grand-prix. Retrieved 2018-11-07.


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 Canada Canadian Grand Prix
Circuits Mosport Park (1967, 1969, 1971–1974, 1976–1977), Mont-Tremblant (1968, 1970), Montreal (1978–1986, 1988–2008, 2010–present)
CircuitGillesVilleneuve
Races 196719681969197019711972197319741976197719781979198019811982198319841985198619881989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
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