The 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix was the second race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship and was held on 29 March 1981 at Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Formula One moved to the Jacarepaguá circuit in Rio de Janeiro from the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo, after safety concerns with the long Interlagos circuit and the growing slums of São Paulo being at odds with the glamorous image of Formula One.
The Argentine driver Carlos Reutemann won the race in contentious circumstances; he ignored his pit signals to give up the lead to his teammate and team leader Alan Jones. Jones, who finished second, did not show up on the podium afterwards.
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 1:35.786 1:35.079 — 2 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 1:35.390 1:36.000 +0.311 3 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:36.337 1:36.690 +1.258 4 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:37.231 1:36.667 +1.588 5 15 Alain Prost Renault 1:37.147 1:36.670 +1.591 6 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:38.682 1:37.283 +2.204 7 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:37.975 1:37.497 +2.418 8 16 René Arnoux Renault 1:38.985 1:37.561 +2.482 9 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 1:37.933 1:37.597 +2.518 10 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:38.352 1:37.734 +2.655 11 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 1:38.225 1:37.777 +2.698 12 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 1:37.981 1:39.371 +2.902 13 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1:38.861 1:38.003 +2.924 14 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 1:38.160 1:38.521 +3.081 15 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:40.057 1:38.263 +3.184 16 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:38.273 1:38.713 +3.194 17 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 1:39.229 1:38.565 +3.486 18 14 Marc Surer Ensign-Ford 1:39.296 1:38.570 +3.491 19 33 Patrick Tambay Theodore-Ford 1:38.726 1:39.668 +3.647 20 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 1:39.409 1:38.780 +3.701 21 30 Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford 1:40.297 1:39.190 +4.111 22 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 1:39.326 1:39.396 +4.247 23 25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Matra — 1:39.398 +4.319 24 4 Ricardo Zunino Tyrrell-Ford 1:41.036 1:39.798 +4.719 25 9 Jan Lammers ATS-Ford 1:40.339 1:39.844 +4.765 26 25 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Ligier-Matra 1:40.306 withdrew +5.227 27 32 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford 1:41.954 1:40.709 +5.630 28 31 Miguel Angel Guerra Osella-Ford 1:40.984 1:44.482 +5.905 29 18 Eliseo Salazar March-Ford 1:44.730 1:43.267 +8.188 30 17 Derek Daly March-Ford no time no time — Source:
Race
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 62 2:00:23.66 2 9 2 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 62 + 4.44 3 6 3 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 62 + 1:03.08 4 4 4 14 Marc Surer Ensign-Ford 62 + 1:17.03 18 3 5 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 62 + 1:26.42 10 2 6 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 62 + 1:26.83 16 1 7 25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Matra 62 + 1:30.25 23 8 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 61 + 1 lap 15 9 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 61 + 1 lap 12 10 33 Patrick Tambay Theodore-Ford 61 + 1 lap 19 11 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 61 + 1 lap 13 12 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 60 + 2 laps 1 13 4 Ricardo Zunino Tyrrell-Ford 57 + 5 laps 24 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 49 + 13 laps 14 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 40 + 22 laps 6 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 25 Turbo 7 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 22 Spun off 11 15 Alain Prost Renault 20 Collision 5 30 Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford 20 Accident 21 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 19 Collision 17 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 9 Engine 20 16 René Arnoux Renault 0 Collision 8 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 0 Collision 9 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 0 Collision 22 9 Jan Lammers ATS-Ford 32 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford 31 Miguel Angel Guerra Osella-Ford 18 Eliseo Salazar March-Ford 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 14 Ricardo Londoño Ensign-Ford Car raced by Surer
Colombian driver Ricardo Londoño was denied a superlicense, was not allowed to participate in official practice, and unable to race.
Notes
This was the 10th pole position for a Brazilian driver. This was the 3rd Brazilian Grand Prix win for Carlos Reutemann, breaking the previous record set by Emerson Fittipaldi at the 1974 Brazilian Grand Prix. This race marked the 1st fastest lap set by Ensign. This was the 200th Grand Prix start for a Ford-powered car. In those 200 races, Ford-powered cars had won 138 Grands Prix, achieved 399 podium finishes, 124 pole positions, 122 fastest laps, 19 Grand Slams and had won 10 Driver's and 9 Constructor's Championships. This was the 5th Brazilian Grand Prix win for a Ford-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alan Jones 15 2 Carlos Reutemann 15 3 Nelson Piquet 4 13 4 Riccardo Patrese 4 1 5 Mario Andretti 3Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 30 2 Brabham-Ford 4 9 3 Arrows-Ford 4 1 4 Alfa Romeo 3 3 5 Ensign-Ford 3Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
Further reading