The 1981 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zandvoort on 30 August 1981. It was the twelfth race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.
The 72-lap race was won from pole position by Alain Prost, driving a Renault. Nelson Piquet finished second in a Brabham-Ford, with Alan Jones third in a Williams-Ford. With Carlos Reutemann failing to finish in the other Williams-Ford after colliding with Jacques Laffite's Ligier-Matra, Piquet moved into the lead of the Drivers' Championship, with the same number of points as Reutemann but more wins.
Qualifying report
The Fittipaldi team returned after missing the previous race in Austria due to a lack of engines. However both their drivers, Keke Rosberg and Chico Serra, failed to qualify.
For the fourth consecutive race, the Renaults filled the front row, with Alain Prost 0.079 seconds ahead of René Arnoux. Nelson Piquet was third in his Brabham, followed by the two Williams of Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann and the Ligier of Jacques Laffite. The top ten was completed by Mario Andretti in the Alfa Romeo, John Watson in the McLaren, Elio de Angelis in the Lotus and Riccardo Patrese in the Arrows.
Qualifying classification Pos Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 15 Alain Prost Renault 1:18.279 1:18.176 2 16 René Arnoux Renault 1:18.255 1:18.301 +0.079 3 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 1:19.236 1:18.652 +0.476 4 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:18.672 1:19.133 +0.496 5 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 1:19.067 1:18.844 +0.668 6 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:19.386 1:19.018 +0.842 7 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 1:19.896 1:19.040 +0.864 8 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:19.312 1:19.651 +1.136 9 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:21.662 1:19.738 +1.562 10 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:21.010 1:19.864 +1.688 11 25 Patrick Tambay Ligier-Matra 1:20.802 1:19.979 +1.803 12 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 1:21.293 1:20.248 +2.072 13 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 1:20.651 1:20.377 +2.201 14 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:20.384 1:20.495 +2.208 15 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 1:20.547 1:20.872 +2.371 16 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:21.049 1:20.595 +2.419 17 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1:21.106 1:20.663 +2.487 18 32 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 1:21.086 1:21.294 +2.910 19 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 1:22.274 1:21.391 +3.215 20 33 Marc Surer Theodore-Ford 1:22.389 1:21.454 +3.278 21 30 Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford 1:21.568 1:21.713 +3.392 22 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 1:21.849 1:21.698 +3.522 23 9 Slim Borgudd ATS-Ford 1:21.760 1:22.302 +3.584 24 14 Eliseo Salazar Ensign-Ford 1:22.382 1:22.024 +3.848 25 4 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:25.976 1:22.030 +3.854 35 Brian Henton Toleman-Hart 1:22.226 1:24.167 +4.050 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 1:23.518 6:09.795 +5.342 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 1:23.677 1:23.613 +5.437 31 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford no time 1:23.898 +5.722 36 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 1:25.104 1:24.028 +5.852Source:
Race report
At the start, Prost led the field into Tarzan, with teammate Arnoux following closely behind. Further back in the midfield, Gilles Villeneuve crashed his Ferrari into the back of Bruno Giacomelli's Alfa Romeo, vaulting over the Alfa before spinning out of the race.
As the field wound toward the second corner, Andretti and Reutemann collided, leaving Andretti's car with a broken nose. Before the end of the first lap, another incident occurred when Patrick Tambay in the second Ligier and Didier Pironi in the second Ferrari came together. Tambay retired instantly, whilst Pironi carried on for three more laps before also pulling out of the race.
At the front of the field, Arnoux was unable to keep up with the pace and dropped four places, behind Jones, Piquet, Laffite and Reutemann. With Arnoux out of the way, Jones hunted down Prost and challenged for the lead until his tyres wore out and Jones had to slow down. Reutemann and Laffite, in the meantime, battled fiercely for fourth, ending with both cars crashing out of the race on the 18th lap.
Toward the end of the race, a slowing Jones was overtaken by Piquet. This would prove to be crucial in the World Championship standings, for if Jones had kept second, Piquet would have missed out on the title at the final race of the season.
Race classification
Pos Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 15 Alain Prost Renault 72 1:40:22.43 1 9 2 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 72 + 8.24 3 6 3 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 72 + 35.50 4 4 4 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 71 + 1 lap 15 3 5 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 71 + 1 lap 9 2 6 14 Eliseo Salazar Ensign-Ford 70 + 2 laps 24 1 7 30 Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford 69 + 3 laps 21 8 33 Marc Surer Theodore-Ford 69 + 3 laps 20 9 4 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 68 Engine 25 10 9 Slim Borgudd ATS-Ford 68 + 4 laps 23 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 62 Accident 7 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 50 Ignition 8 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 46 Suspension 22 32 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 29 Transmission 18 16 René Arnoux Renault 21 Engine 2 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 19 Tyre 14 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 18 Collision 6 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 18 Collision 5 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 16 Suspension 10 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 5 Suspension 19 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 4 Collision 12 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1 Engine 17 25 Patrick Tambay Ligier-Matra 1 Collision 11 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 0 Collision 16 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford Non starter 35 Brian Henton Toleman-Hart 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 31 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford 36 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nelson Piquet 45 2 Carlos Reutemann 45 3 Jacques Laffite 34 4 Alan Jones 31 5 Alain Prost 28Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 76 2 Brabham-Ford 56 3 Renault 39 4 Ligier-Matra 34 5 Ferrari 28Source:
References