1981 Argentine Grand Prix

  1981 Argentine Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 15 in the 1981 Formula One season
Date	April 12, 1981
Official name	XVII Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina
Location	Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.968 km (3.708 mi)
Distance	53 laps, 316.304 km (196.542 mi)
Weather	Sunny, Hot, Dry
Pole position
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford
Time	1:42.665
Fastest lap
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford
Time	1:45.287 on lap 6
Podium
First	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford
Second	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford
Third	Alain Prost	Renault

The 1981 Argentine Grand Prix was the third race of the 1981 Formula One season and was held at the Buenos Aires circuit in Argentina on April 12, 1981. This was the last Argentine Grand Prix until the 1995 Argentine Grand Prix. Thanks to designer Gordon Murray's alternative solution to flexible side skirts, the Brabham cars of Nelson Piquet and Hector Rebaque were dominant in this race, with Piquet taking the lead immediately from Alan Jones on the back straight and Rebaque climbing up from 5th to 2nd over 23 laps.

Classification

Results from the 1981 Formula One Argentine Grand Prix:

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	53	1:34:32.74	1	9
2	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	53	+ 26.61	4	6
3	15	Alain Prost	Renault	53	+ 49.98	2	4
4	1	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	53	+ 1:07.88	3	3
5	16	René Arnoux	Renault	53	+ 1:31.85	5	2
6	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	52	+ 1 Lap	10	1
7	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	52	+ 1 Lap	9
8	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	52	+ 1 Lap	17
9	30	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows-Ford	52	+ 1 Lap	19
10	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	51	Out of Fuel	22
11	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	51	+ 2 Laps	18
12	9	Jan Lammers	ATS-Ford	51	+ 2 Laps	23
13	4	Ricardo Zunino	Tyrrell-Ford	51	+ 2 Laps	24
Ret	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	40	Transmission	7
Ret	33	Patrick Tambay	Theodore-Ford	36	Oil Leak	14
Ret	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	36	Transmission	11
Ret	6	Hector Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	32	Electrical	6
Ret	21	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	28	Gearbox	20
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	19	Handling	21
Ret	14	Marc Surer	Ensign-Ford	14	Engine	16
Ret	20	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	4	Fuel System	8
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	3	Engine	15
Ret	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	3	Engine	12
Ret	3	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	1	Clutch	13
DNQ	31	Miguel Angel Guerra	Osella-Ford
DNQ	32	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford
DNQ	17	Derek Daly	March-Ford
DNQ	25	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Ligier-Matra
DNQ	18	Eliseo Salazar	March-Ford

Notes

• 250th race entry for Michelin.
• This was the first race for an F1 car with a chassis made from carbon fibre composites, John Watson's McLaren MP4.
• During the podium ceremony, "Happy Birthday" was played through the PA for Carlos Reutemann, as it was Reutemann's 39th birthday.
• First podium: Alain Prost

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Carlos Reutemann	21
2	Alan Jones	18
3	Nelson Piquet	13
4	Riccardo Patrese	4
5	Alain Prost	4

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Williams-Ford	39
2	Brabham-Ford	13
3	Renault	6
4	Arrows-Ford	4
5	Alfa Romeo	3

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

• "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1981/360/. Retrieved 2007-06-16. 
• Lang, Mike (1992). Grand Prix! Vol 4. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 26–28. ISBN 0-85429-733-2. 

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