1980 British Grand Prix

1980 British Grand Prix
Race 8 of 14 in the 1980 Formula One season
Race details
Date	13 July 1980
Official name	XXXIII Marlboro British Grand Prix
Location	Brands Hatch, Kent, Great Britain
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.207 km (2.614 miles)
Distance	76 laps, 319.732 km (198.672 miles)
Pole position
Driver	Didier Pironi	Ligier-Ford
Time	1:11.004
Fastest lap
Driver	Didier Pironi	Ligier-Ford
Time	1:12.368 on lap 54
Podium
First	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford
Second	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford
Third	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1980 British Grand Prix (formally the XXXIII Marlboro British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 13 July 1980. It was the eighth round of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was held over 76 laps of the 4.207-km (2.614-mile) circuit for a total race distance of 319.73 km (198.67 miles).

The race was won by Australian driver, Alan Jones driving a Williams FW07B. The win was Jones' eighth Formula One Grand Prix victory and his fourth of the year. Including the non-championship Spanish Grand Prix it was Jones' third victory in a row as he built his charge towards becoming the 1980 World Drivers' Champion. Jones won by eleven seconds over the man becoming his arch-rival, Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet driving a Brabham BT49. Third, and the only other car to finish on the lead lap, was Jones' Williams Grand Prix Engineering teammate, Argentine driver Carlos Reutemann.

Report

Background

In the two weeks between the French and British Grands Prix, Brabham decided to replace Ricardo Zunino with Mexican driver Héctor Rebaque, while the Shadow team closed down. There were still 27 cars on the entry list, as RAM Racing entered year-old Williams FW07s for Rupert Keegan and South African female racer Desiré Wilson. ^[1]

Qualifying

For the third consecutive race, a Ligier driver took pole position, Didier Pironi setting a time some 5.8 seconds faster than the pole time set by Ronnie Peterson at the previous Grand Prix at Brands Hatch two years before. Pironi's teammate Jacques Laffite was alongside on the front row, while the works Williams filled the second row with championship leader Alan Jones ahead of Carlos Reutemann. On the third row were Nelson Piquet in the Brabham and Bruno Giacomelli in the Alfa Romeo, and on the fourth were Alain Prost in the McLaren and Patrick Depailler in the second Alfa Romeo. Mario Andretti in the Lotus and Derek Daly in the Tyrrell completed the top ten.

The Renaults and Ferraris had issues with their Michelin tyres, ^[2] and Jean-Pierre Jabouille and René Arnoux could only manage 13th and 16th respectively for the French team, while Gilles Villeneuve and reigning champion Jody Scheckter struggled to 19th and 23rd respectively for the Italian outfit, and were both out-qualified by Keegan's private Williams. Wilson failed to qualify in the other private Williams.

Race

At the start, Pironi led with Laffite holding off Jones and Piquet passing Reutemann for fourth. Pironi held a comfortable lead until lap 19, when he suffered a deflating front tyre followed by a long pit stop to replace it. Laffite led until he too suffered a deflating tyre, causing him to spin off into catch fencing at Hawthorn Bend on lap 31. Thereafter, Jones retained a comfortable advantage over Piquet and Reutemann, while Pironi made a charge from the back of the field, reaching fifth before suffering another tyre failure on lap 64. It was later established that the Ligiers' problems were caused by their wheel rims cracking. ^[2]

Jones eventually took the chequered flag 11 seconds ahead of Piquet, for his fourth victory of the season and his third in succession (including the Spanish Grand Prix, which was subsequently stripped of its World Championship status). Reutemann, the last man on the lead lap, finished 2.2 seconds behind Piquet, with the minor points going to Daly, his Tyrrell teammate Jean-Pierre Jarier, and Prost.

In the Drivers' Championship, Jones doubled his lead over Piquet to six points, while in the Constructors' Championship Williams moved 18 points clear of Ligier.

This race turned out to be the last for Depailler, who died three weeks later while testing at Hockenheim ahead of the German Grand Prix.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	25	Didier Pironi	Ligier-Ford	1:11.004	-
2	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Ford	1:11.395	+ 0.391
3	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1:11.609	+ 0.605
4	28	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	1:11.629	+ 0.625
5	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	1:11.634	+ 0.630
6	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1:12.128	+ 1.124
7	8	Alain Prost	McLaren-Ford	1:12.634	+ 1.630
8	22	Patrick Depailler	Alfa Romeo	1:13.189	+ 2.185
9	11	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	1:13.400	+ 2.396
10	4	Derek Daly	Tyrrell-Ford	1:13.469	+ 2.465
11	3	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Tyrrell-Ford	1:13.666	+ 2.662
12	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1:13.717	+ 2.713
13	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	1:13.749	+ 2.745
14	12	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	1:13.859	+ 2.855
15	9	Marc Surer	ATS-Ford	1:13.953	+ 2.949
16	16	René Arnoux	Renault	1:13.967	+ 2.963
17	6	Héctor Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	1:14.226	+ 3.222
18	50	Rupert Keegan	Williams-Ford	1:14.236	+ 3.232
19	2	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1:14.296	+ 3.292
20	31	Eddie Cheever	Osella-Ford	1:14.517	+ 3.513
21	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	1:14.560	+ 3.556
22	20	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:14.580	+ 3.576
23	1	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari	1:15.370	+ 4.366
24	30	Jochen Mass	Arrows-Ford	1:15.423	+ 4.419
25	14	Jan Lammers	Ensign-Ford	1:15.596	+ 4.592
26	21	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:15.845	+ 4.841
27	43	Desiré Wilson	Williams-Ford	1:16.315	+ 5.311
Source: [3]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	G	76	1:34:49.228	3	9
2	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	G	76	+ 11.007	5	6
3	28	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	G	76	+ 13.285	4	4
4	4	Derek Daly	Tyrrell-Ford	G	75	+ 1 lap	10	3
5	3	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Tyrrell-Ford	G	75	+ 1 lap	11	2
6	8	Alain Prost	McLaren-Ford	G	75	+ 1 lap	7	1
7	6	Héctor Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	G	74	+ 2 laps	17
8	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	G	74	Engine	12
9	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	G	73	+ 3 laps	21
10	1	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari	M	73	+ 3 laps	23
11	50	Rupert Keegan	Williams-Ford	G	73	+ 3 laps	18
12	20	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	G	72	+ 4 laps	22
13	30	Jochen Mass	Arrows-Ford	G	69	+ 7 laps	24
NC	16	René Arnoux	Renault	M	67	+ 9 laps	16
Ret	25	Didier Pironi	Ligier-Ford	G	63	Tyre	1
Ret	9	Marc Surer	ATS-Ford	G	59	Engine	15
Ret	11	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	G	57	Gearbox	9
Ret	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	G	42	Spun off	6
Ret	2	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	M	35	Engine	19
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Ford	G	30	Tyre	2
Ret	22	Patrick Depailler	Alfa Romeo	G	27	Engine	8
Ret	31	Eddie Cheever	Osella-Ford	G	17	Suspension	20
Ret	12	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	G	16	Suspension	14
Ret	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	M	4	Engine	13
DNQ	14	Jan Lammers	Ensign-Ford	G
DNQ	21	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	G
DNQ	43	Desiré Wilson	Williams-Ford	G
Source: [4] [5]

Notes

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for South African driver Desiré Wilson - the fourth woman to enter into Formula One after Maria Teresa de Filippis, Lella Lombardi and Divina Galica.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alan Jones 37 2 Nelson Piquet 31 3 René Arnoux 23 4 Didier Pironi 23 5 Carlos Reutemann 20 Source: [6]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 57 2 Ligier-Ford 39 3 Brabham-Ford 31 4 Renault 23 5 Arrows-Ford 11 Source: [6]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "Desiré Wilson – Biography". Formula One Rejects. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
2. "Grand Prix Results: British GP, 1980". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
3. "1980 British Grand Prix | Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motor Sport Magazine. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
4. "1980 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
5. "1980 British Grand Prix – Race Results & History – GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 13 July 1980. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
6. "Britain 1980 – Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.

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