The 1981 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Île Notre-Dame, Montreal on 27 September 1981. It was the fourteenth race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.
The race was run in wet conditions, and ended after 63 of the scheduled 70 laps due to the two-hour time limit. Frenchman Jacques Laffite won in a Talbot Ligier-Matra, with Northern Ireland's John Watson second in a McLaren-Ford and local hero Gilles Villeneuve third in a Ferrari. Brazilian Nelson Piquet finished fifth in his Brabham-Ford, having started from pole position, while Drivers' Championship rival, Argentine Carlos Reutemann, could only manage tenth in his Williams-Ford. Piquet thus moved within one point of Reutemann with one race to go, while the win gave Laffite an outside chance of the title. Despite both Reutemann and Australian teammate Alan Jones failing to score, Williams clinched the Constructors' Championship.
This would turn out to be Laffite's final F1 victory, as well as the last for the Ligier team for fifteen years, until the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. It was also the last time the Canadian Grand Prix was held in the fall, as the race would move to June the following year.
Pre-race Prior to the race, Alan Jones announced that he was retiring from the sport after clinching the title the previous year. Rumors were also spreading around in paddock that Niki Lauda had tested for McLaren at Donington Park and that he was planning a comeback.
Qualifying Nelson Piquet clinched pole with a time of 1:29.221, with rival Carlos Reutemann alongside him on the front row. The top ten were completed by: Jones, Prost, Mansell, Rebaque, de Angelis, Arnoux, Watson and Laffite respectively.
Race The race start was marred with bad weather. Immediately after the start, Jones took the lead after a minor collision with Reutemann which left Reutemann behind. Toward the middle of the pack, Arnoux and Pironi had a collision which resulted in Arnoux spinning out of the race. On lap 7, Jones spun and Piquet had to take evasive action, resulting in both drivers dropping down the pecking order. Prost took the lead with Laffite, who had climbed from tenth, second. Prost's lead did not last long, as Laffite overtook him on lap 13, and kept the lead to the end of the race.
Villeneuve had a minor accident that damaged his front wing. The wing flew up only to be stuck up in the air, blocking Villeneuve's race-line vision. With his forward vision impaired, he used his peripheral vision to navigate using the yellow track markers as reference. After racing this way for minutes he used vibration on the ribbed curbing, to the point it flew off the car. This way he managed to keep control until the end of the race, without a front wing and under the rain.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
Mansell pitted for slicks, convinced the weather would turn. It did not. Within minutes he spun, heavily damaging his rear wing, and was pushed by marshals back onto the circuit. Driving slowly toward the L'Epingle at the northern end, he placed his JPS Lotus in the middle of the track but slowly edging to his left onto the racing line, at the braking area. Prost, on the racing line and much faster, tried unsuccessfully to avoid colliding but could not, resulting in both drivers retiring from the race.
Watson was able to catch and pass Villeneuve a few laps later and the two finished second and third respectively, with Villeneuve clinching his third and last podium of the year on home soil. Bruno Giacomelli of Alfa Romeo, who had started fifteenth, came home fourth, with pole-man Piquet coming in behind him.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 1:29.211 1:29.537 — 2 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 1:29.601 1:29.359 +0.148 3 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:29.728 1:29.781 +0.517 4 15 Alain Prost Renault 1:31.629 1:29.908 +0.697 5 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1:32.233 1:29.997 +0.786 6 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 1:31.545 1:30.182 +0.971 7 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:31.212 1:30.231 +1.020 8 16 René Arnoux Renault 1:34.151 1:30.232 +1.021 9 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:31.617 1:30.566 +1.355 10 26 Jacques Laffite Talbot Ligier-Matra 1:31.593 1:30.705 +1.494 11 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:32.077 1:31.115 +1.904 12 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 1:31.976 1:31.350 +2.139 13 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 1:32.281 1:31.507 +2.296 14 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 1:32.652 1:31.547 +2.336 15 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:34.995 1:31.600 +2.389 16 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 1:32.648 1:31.740 +2.529 17 25 Patrick Tambay Talbot Ligier-Matra 1:31.747 1:31.817 +2.536 18 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:31.969 1:32.277 +2.758 19 33 Marc Surer Theodore-Ford 1:34.424 1:32.253 +3.042 20 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 1:35.552 1:32.305 +3.094 21 9 Slim Borgudd ATS-Ford 1:34.002 1:32.652 +3.441 22 4 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:34.245 1:32.709 +3.498 23 32 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 1:33.432 1:33.643 +4.221 24 14 Eliseo Salazar Ensign-Ford 1:36.016 1:33.848 +4.637 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 1:34.634 1:34.310 +5.099 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 1:36.937 1:36.546 +7.335 35 Brian Henton Toleman-Hart 1:40.505 1:36.648 +7.437 30 Jacques Villeneuve Arrows-Ford 1:36.720 1:38.308 +7.509 36 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 1:36.999 1:37.256 +7.788 31 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford 1:37.493 1:55.307 +8.282Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 26 Jacques Laffite Talbot Ligier-Matra 63 2:01:25.20 10 9 2 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 63 + 6.23 9 6 3 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 63 + 1:50.27 11 4 4 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 62 + 1 Lap 15 3 5 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 62 + 1 Lap 1 2 6 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 62 + 1 Lap 7 1 7 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 62 + 1 Lap 16 8 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 61 + 2 Laps 20 9 33 Marc Surer Theodore-Ford 61 + 2 Laps 19 10 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 60 + 3 Laps 2 11 4 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 59 + 4 Laps 22 12 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 56 Engine 14 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 51 Spun Off 13 15 Alain Prost Renault 48 Collision 4 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 45 Collision 5 9 Slim Borgudd ATS-Ford 40 Spun Off 21 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 35 Spun Off 6 32 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 26 Collision 23 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 24 Handling 3 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 24 Ignition 12 14 Eliseo Salazar Ensign-Ford 8 Spun Off 24 25 Patrick Tambay Talbot Ligier-Matra 6 Spun Off 17 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 6 Spun Off 18 16 René Arnoux Renault 0 Collision 8 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 35 Brian Henton Toleman-Hart 30 Jacques Villeneuve Arrows-Ford 36 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 31 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve, sr. This was the 300th Grand Prix in which a Frenchman participated. In those 300 races, French driver had won 20 Grands Prix, achieved 115 podium finishes, 30 pole positions, 32 fastest laps and 2 Grand Slams. This was also the 100th Grand Prix in which a Mexican driver participated. In those 100 races, Mexican driver had won 2 Grands Prix, achieved 7 podium finishes, and 1 fastest lap.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Carlos Reutemann 49 2 Nelson Piquet 48 3 Jacques Laffite 43 4 Alain Prost 37 5 Alan Jones 37Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 86 2 Brabham-Ford 59 3 Renault 48 4 Talbot Ligier-Matra 43 5 Ferrari 34Source:
References