The 1981 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on 16 August 1981. It was the eleventh race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.
The 53-lap race was won by Frenchman Jacques Laffite, driving a Talbot Ligier-Matra. Compatriot René Arnoux finished second in a Renault, having started from pole position, with Brazilian Nelson Piquet third in a Brabham-Ford. Piquet moved to within six points of Drivers' Championship leader, Argentine Carlos Reutemann, who finished fifth in his Williams-Ford.
Report
Qualifying In qualifying, just like the previous year, it was an all-French front row; René Arnoux planted his turbocharged Renault on pole, alongside his teammate Alain Prost. Next was Gilles Villeneuve in his turbocharged Ferrari, Jacques Laffite in the Talbot Ligier, Carlos Reutemann and Alan Jones in the Williams cars were 5th and 6th, then Nelson Piquet in a Brabham and then Didier Pironi in the other turbocharged Ferrari.
The Fittipaldi team was not present because they did not have enough engines.
Race At the start, Villeneuve got the jump on the two Renaults and led into the Hella-Licht chicane. On the next lap, Prost passed Villeneuve into the Hella-Licht; Villeneuve tried to outbrake Prost but he locked up solid and went into some runoff area; as did Reutemann. Both the Canadian and Argentine drivers were able to rejoin, but with time lost.
At the high-speed Österreichring, a power advantage paid dividends. Prost and Arnoux were able to pull away from the rest of the field. Around lap 4, Pironi (who had made a lightning start from 8th on the grid) was running 3rd, and Laffite, Piquet, Jones and eventually Reutemann had caught up to Pironi. None of them could find a way past, and were held up by Pironi for a number of laps. In a similar situation to the Spanish Grand Prix earlier in the year, the Ferrari had more power than any of the cars behind it did, but its handling was way worse; so they were able to stay with the Ferrari. The 5 drivers battled it out, with Piquet, Laffite, Jones and Reutemann keeping with and desperately trying to find a way past Pironi, but not being able to because of the Ferrari's power pulling away on the straights; made more difficult by the fact that the scenic Österreichring was made up almost entirely of long corners and straights.
Villeneuve crashed heavily at the Bosch-Kurve on lap 12, and finally, Laffite, having already passed Piquet, managed to outbrake Pironi into the first of the Texaco bends, and then the rest of the three drivers got by as well. Prost retired from the lead with damaged suspension, and Laffite then charged after Arnoux, passing him at the second of the 2 Texaco Bends. Laffite was to hold the lead until the end, and the poor performance of the Ferrari in relation to other cars meant that Pironi managed to hold up more cars.
Laffite crossed the line, followed by Arnoux, Piquet, Jones, Reutemann (who coasted over the finish line with a dead engine) and John Watson in the carbon-fibre McLaren.
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 16 René Arnoux Renault 1:32.682 1:32.018 — 2 15 Alain Prost Renault 1:32.798 1:32.321 +0.303 3 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:33.334 1:35.150 +1.316 4 26 Jacques Laffite Talbot Ligier-Matra 1:35.002 1:34.398 +2.380 5 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 1:34.531 1:35.633 +2.513 6 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:34.654 1:34.999 +2.636 7 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 1:34.871 1:35.519 +2.853 8 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 1:35.346 1:35.037 +3.019 9 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:35.294 1:35.858 +3.276 10 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:35.912 1:35.442 +3.424 11 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1:36.688 1:35.569 +3.551 12 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:36.007 1:35.977 +3.959 13 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 1:36.560 1:36.079 +4.061 14 32 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 1:38.004 1:36.117 +4.099 15 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 1:36.511 1:36.150 +4.132 16 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:37.637 1:36.216 +4.198 17 25 Patrick Tambay Talbot Ligier-Matra 1:36.233 1:36.443 +4.215 18 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 1:36.657 no time +4.639 19 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 1:37.777 1:37.230 +5.212 20 14 Eliseo Salazar Ensign-Ford 1:38.273 1:37.631 +5.613 21 9 Slim Borgudd ATS-Ford 1:38.529 1:37.709 +5.691 22 4 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:39.674 1:38.084 +6.066 23 33 Marc Surer Theodore-Ford 1:38.522 1:44.262 +6.504 24 30 Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford 1:38.616 1:38.546 +6.528 25 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 1:38.583 1:39.351 +6.565 26 36 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 1:40.391 1:38.593 +6.575 27 35 Brian Henton Toleman-Hart 1:39.987 1:38.691 +6.673 28 31 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford 1:41.198 1:46.079 +9.180 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford — — — 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford — — — Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 26 Jacques Laffite Talbot Ligier-Matra 53 1:27:36.47 4 9 2 16 René Arnoux Renault 53 + 5.17 1 6 3 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 53 + 7.34 7 4 4 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 53 + 12.04 6 3 5 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 53 + 31.85 5 2 6 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 53 + 1:31.14 12 1 7 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 52 + 1 Lap 9 8 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 52 + 1 Lap 18 9 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 52 + 1 Lap 8 10 32 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 51 + 2 Laps 14 11 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 47 + 6 Laps 19 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 46 Engine 13 9 Slim Borgudd ATS-Ford 44 Brakes 21 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 43 Engine 10 14 Eliseo Salazar Ensign-Ford 43 Oil Pressure 20 4 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 40 Gearbox 22 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 35 Fire 16 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 32 Clutch 15 30 Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford 27 Overheating 24 15 Alain Prost Renault 26 Suspension 2 25 Patrick Tambay Talbot Ligier-Matra 26 Engine 17 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 23 Engine 11 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 11 Accident 3 33 Marc Surer Theodore-Ford 0 Distributor 23 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 36 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 35 Brian Henton Toleman-Hart 31 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford
Notes
This was the 5th Grand Prix start for a Chilean driver.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Carlos Reutemann 45 2 Nelson Piquet 39 3 Jacques Laffite 34 4 Alan Jones 27 5 Gilles Villeneuve 21Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 72 2 Brabham-Ford 47 3 Talbot Ligier-Matra 34 4 Renault 30 5 Ferrari 28Source:
References