1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix

The 1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 17, 1981, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It was the fifteenth and final race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.

The 75-lap race was won by Australian driver Alan Jones, driving a Williams-Ford, with Frenchman Alain Prost second in a Renault and Italian Bruno Giacomelli third in an Alfa Romeo. Brazilian Nelson Piquet finished fifth in his Brabham-Ford to take the Drivers' Championship by one point from Jones's Argentine teammate, Carlos Reutemann, who finished eighth having started from pole position.

This was the last F1 race to be won by an Australian driver for 28 years, until Mark Webber won the 2009 German Grand Prix.

Summary

Championship permutations Going into this race, three drivers were in contention for the World Championship. Argentine Carlos Reutemann, driving a Williams-Ford, had 49 points having won two races, while Brazilian Nelson Piquet, driving a Brabham-Ford, had 48 having won three. Frenchman Jacques Laffite, driving a Ligier-Matra, had an outside chance on 43, having won two races including the previous race in Canada.

After being outscored by both Laffite and Piquet at the preceding Canadian Grand Prix, championship leader Reutemann was unable to secure the drivers' title prematurely. Thus, the Drivers' Championship was decided at the final round, marking the second consecutive year that the championship battle went down to the wire. All three title contenders had the opportunity to become Formula One World Champion for the first time in their respective careers. While Reutemann would have become the first Argentinian driver since Juan Manuel Fangio in to clinch the drivers' title, Laffite had the chance to become the first French Drivers' Champion. If Piquet won, he would have become the second Formula One World Drivers' Champion from Brazil after two-time world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, who clinched his last title in . Reigning champion Alan Jones was mathematically eliminated from championship contention after failing to finish at the previous round in Canada.

The championship would have been won by either of the top three drivers in the following manner:

Reutemann would have won if: Carlos Reutemann Nelson Piquet Jacques Laffite1stEliminated Eliminated2nd3rd or lower3rd4th or lower4th5th or lower 2nd or lower5th or 6th lower than 6th

Piquet would have won if: Nelson Piquet Carlos Reutemann Jacques Laffite1st Eliminated Eliminated2nd3rd4th or lower 2nd or lower4th5th or lower5th6th or lower6thlower than 6th3rd or lower

Laffite would have won if: Jacques Laffite Carlos Reutemann Nelson Piquet1st4th or lower3rd or lower2ndlower than 6th6th or lower

The setting This was the third year in succession that the United States hosted the final round of the World Championship. This time, however, it took place in Las Vegas, instead of Watkins Glen in upstate New York: after twenty years on the Grand Prix schedule, the organizers at Watkins Glen were unable to fulfill financial obligations for 1981.

The track, created on the parking lot of the Caesars Palace hotel, had a smooth surface and provided speeds averaging over 160 km/h or 100 mph, as well as plenty of overtaking opportunities. Unusually, however, its direction was counter-clockwise, which strained the drivers' necks, which were accustomed to the more common clockwise circuits. This, together with the desert heat, meant that the drivers' endurance would be tested in the extreme all weekend. Even in practice, Piquet suffered noticeably and became physically sick; he later got a 90-minute massage from Sugar Ray Leonard's masseur to help sort out his troubled back and "Las Vegas neck".

Qualifying

The Williams drivers, Alan Jones and Reutemann, were fastest from the start of the first practice with points leader Reutemann the faster of the two. Later, Jones became the only other driver to break 1:18 in qualifying, and the starting front row was all Williams. Reutemann was not expecting any help winning the Championship from teammate Jones, who explained, "I don't see how I can help him; I would not go holding up people as I am a member of the British Commonwealth (Australia, specifically) and I would consider that unsporting." Jones may have held animosity toward Reutemann from earlier in the season, when Reutemann (whom team principal Frank Williams insisted was hired with knowledge that he was a firm #2 driver to Jones) ignored team orders to let Jones pass and won races for himself.

Race

In the race on Saturday, Jones jumped off the line into the lead, but Reutemann was quickly passed by Gilles Villeneuve, Alain Prost and Bruno Giacomelli, and finished the first lap in fifth. By the end of lap two, Jones had a five-second lead. Further down the field Patrick Tambay lost control of his Ligier, hitting a tyre wall positioned ahead of a concrete barrier with a force high enough to tear off the front of his car. Luckily, Tambay escaped with only minor injuries. Prost passed Villeneuve on lap three, but could not get close enough to challenge Jones for the lead. Villeneuve, meanwhile, kept a line of cars behind him as he fought off the advances of Giacomelli. This allowed Mario Andretti to move right on to Piquet's tail, as he desperately tried to overtake Reutemann.

The Brazilian was nearly touching the back of the Williams as they approached the last left-hander before the pits on lap 17. Piquet got around Reutemann on the inside when Reutemann, fighting for the Championship, inexplicably braked early. Piquet said, "I saw his car getting worse oversteer, then he braked very early, I think in the hope I would run into him, but I saw it and passed easily." On the next lap, Andretti also went by. Piquet passed John Watson on lap 22, and put himself in a position to score points when he took over sixth place. Reutemann continued to slip backwards with gearbox trouble, having lost fourth gear as early as lap two.

The Ferrari team was trying to decide whether to call Villeneuve in on lap 23 after he had been disqualified for lining up on the grid improperly, but when he pulled off the track with an engine fire, the point was moot. On lap 30, crowd favorite Andretti retired from fourth place with broken suspension.

With 15 laps still to go, but a 40-second lead over Prost, Jones began pacing himself to the finish. Giacomelli was third, having worked his way back after spinning from fourth to tenth, and Nigel Mansell had passed Piquet for fourth.

Piquet, in fact, was on the verge of physical exhaustion with his head visibly rolling around in the cockpit, but he still held fifth place and the two points he needed for the Championship. Piquet's condition was the only question left about how the Championship would turn out, for Reutemann, driving without fourth gear, was passed by Watson and Laffite, dropping to eighth place on lap 69.

Laffite took sixth place and the final point from Watson on the last corner of the last lap, while Giacomelli missed taking second from Prost, on failing tires, by a few car lengths, thus finishing third and achieving his only career podium in Formula One (and the first podium for Alfa Romeo since the 1–3 of Juan Manuel Fangio and Giuseppe Farina in the 1951 Spanish Grand Prix). Piquet took fifteen minutes to recover from heat exhaustion after making it to the finish, but he had collected the two points for fifth place, and was the new World Champion.

Classification

Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 1:17.821 1:18.343 — 2 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:18.236 1:17.995 +0.174 3 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:18.457 1:18.060 +0.239 4 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 1:18.954 1:18.161 +0.340 5 15 Alain Prost Renault 1:18.433 1:18.760 +0.612 6 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:19.975 1:18.617 +0.796 7 25 Patrick Tambay Ligier-Matra 1:19.874 1:18.681 +0.860 8 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:20.570 1:18.792 +0.971 9 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1:19.044 1:19.623 +1.223 10 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 1:19.594 1:19.068 +1.247 11 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:20.132 1:19.152 +1.331 12 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:19.878 1:19.167 +1.346 13 16 René Arnoux Renault 1:19.966 1:19.197 +1.376 14 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 1:19.338 1:19.217 +1.396 15 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:20.337 1:19.562 +1.741 16 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 1:20.555 1:19.571 +1.750 17 4 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:21.964 1:19.774 +1.953 18 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 1:19.899 1:21.347 +2.078 19 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 1:21.116 1:20.475 +2.654 20 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 1:21.299 1:20.729 +2.908 21 32 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 22:19.563 1:20.781 +2.960 22 36 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 1:22.491 1:21.294 +3.473 23 33 Marc Surer Theodore-Ford 1:21.889 1:21.430 +3.609 24 14 Eliseo Salazar Ensign-Ford 1:22.616 1:21.629 +3.808 9 Slim Borgudd ATS-Ford 1:21.665 1:21.731 +3.844 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 1:22.612 1:21.672 +3.851 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 1:21.846 1:21.824 +4.003 30 Jacques Villeneuve Arrows-Ford 1:22.977 1:22.822 +5.001 35 Brian Henton Toleman-Hart 1:23.857 1:22.960 +5.139 31 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford 1:26.634 no time +8.813Source:

Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 75 1:44:09.077 2 9 2 15 Alain Prost Renault 75 + 20.048 5 6 3 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 75 + 20.428 8 4 4 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 75 + 47.473 9 3 5 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 75 + 1:16.438 4 2 6 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 75 + 1:18.175 12 1 7 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 75 + 1:18.497 6 8 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 74 + 1 Lap 1 9 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 73 + 2 Laps 18 10 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 73 + 2 Laps 20 11 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 71 + 4 Laps 11 12 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 69 + 6 Laps 14 13 4 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 67 Engine 17 14 Eliseo Salazar Ensign-Ford 61 + 14 Laps 24 36 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 43 Gearbox 22 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 29 Suspension 10 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 22 Improper Grid Formation 3 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 20 Throttle 16 33 Marc Surer Theodore-Ford 19 Suspension 23 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 10 Engine 19 16 René Arnoux Renault 10 Electrical 13 25 Patrick Tambay Ligier-Matra 2 Accident 7 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 2 Water Leak 15 32 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 0 Transmission 21 9 Slim Borgudd ATS-Ford 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 30 Jacques Villeneuve Arrows-Ford 35 Brian Henton Toleman-Hart 31 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nelson Piquet 50 2 Carlos Reutemann 49 3 Alan Jones 46 4 Jacques Laffite 44 5 Alain Prost 43Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 95 2 Brabham-Ford 61 3 Renault 54 4 Ligier-Matra 44 5 Ferrari 34Source:

References

1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix

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