1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix

1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix
1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix
Race 15 of 15 in the 1981 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	October 17, 1981
Official name	1st Caesars Palace Grand Prix
Location	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Course	Temporary street course
Course length	3.650 km (2.268 miles)
Distance	75 laps, 273.750 km (170.137 miles)
Weather	Sunny with temperatures reaching up to 75 °F (24 °C); wind speeds approaching speeds up to 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Carlos Reutemann ;
Time	1:17.821
Fastest lap
Driver	Didier Pironi
Time	1:20.156 on lap 49
Podium
First	Alan Jones ;
Second	Alain Prost ;
Third	Bruno Giacomelli ;
	Lap leaders ;

Last updated October 28, 2023

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 FIA 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 final win by an Australian driver 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.

Laffite needed to win this race with Reutemann finishing no higher than fourth and Piquet no higher than third, or to finish second with neither Reutemann nor Piquet finishing in the top six. If Laffite won with Piquet third and Reutemann fourth, then all three drivers would finish on 52 points, and the Frenchman would then win the Championship on a tie-break, with the same number of wins as Piquet but more second places than the Brazilian (two to one). He would also win the Championship if he finished second with neither Reutemann nor Piquet scoring, as he and Reutemann would both have 49 points and the same numbers of wins and second places, but he would have more third places than the Argentine (three to two).

If Laffite failed to finish first or second, then all Reutemann had to do was finish ahead of Piquet, while Piquet had to finish in the top five and ahead of Reutemann.

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. 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."

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. 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
DNQ	9	Slim Borgudd	ATS-Ford	1:21.665	1:21.731	+3.844
DNQ	21	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:22.612	1:21.672	+3.851
DNQ	17	Derek Daly	March-Ford	1:21.846	1:21.824	+4.003
DNQ	30	Jacques Villeneuve	Arrows-Ford	1:22.977	1:22.822	+5.001
DNQ	35	Brian Henton	Toleman-Hart	1:23.857	1:22.960	+5.139
DNQ	31	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford	1:26.634	no time	+8.813
Source:^[2]

Race

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

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	43
Source:^[5]

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Williams-Ford	95
2	Brabham-Ford	61
3	Renault	54
4	Ligier-Matra	44
5	Ferrari	34
Source:^[5]

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

Related Research Articles

The 1979 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 9 September 1979 at Monza. It was the thirteenth race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

The 1980 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.

The 1980 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Hockenheimring on 10 August 1980. It was the ninth round of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was the 42nd German Grand Prix and the fifth to be held at Hockenheim. The race was held over 45 laps of the 6.790 kilometres (4.219 mi) circuit for a total race distance of 305.505 kilometres (189.832 mi).

The 1980 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 31 August 1980 at the Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands. It was the eleventh race of the 1980 Formula One season.

The 1980 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 28 September 1980, at the Circuit Île Notre-Dame in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the thirteenth and penultimate race of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was the 19th Canadian Grand Prix and the third to be held in Montreal. The race was held over 70 laps of the 4.41-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 309 kilometres.

The 1981 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Hockenheimring on 2 August 1981. It was the tenth race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.

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 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 1981 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 13 September 1981. It was the thirteenth race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.

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 1983 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 37th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1983 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1983 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a fifteen-race series that commenced on 13 March and ended on 15 October. Nelson Piquet won the Drivers' Championship, his second Formula One title and the first to be won by a driver using a turbocharged engine, while Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship. It was also the last Drivers' Championship won by a Brabham driver.

The 1981 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 35th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1981 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1981 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a fifteen-race series that commenced on 15 March and ended on 17 October. Formula One cars also competed in the 1981 South African Grand Prix, although this was a Formula Libre race and was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

The 1980 Formula One season was the 34th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1980 World Championship of Drivers and the 1980 International Cup for F1 Constructors, which were contested concurrently from 13 January to 5 October over a fourteen-race series. The season also included one non-championship race, the Spanish Grand Prix.

The 1979 Formula One season was the 33rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors which were contested concurrently over a fifteen-round series which commenced on 21 January 1979, and ended on 7 October. The season also included three non-championship Formula One races. Jody Scheckter of Scuderia Ferrari won the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers while Scuderia Ferrari won 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors. Gilles Villeneuve made it a 1–2 for Ferrari in the championship, concluding a successful second half of the 1970s for Ferrari. Alan Jones finished the season strongly for Williams, finishing third in the championship and with teammate Clay Regazzoni scoring Williams's first ever Grand Prix win as a constructor. Scheckter's title was Ferrari's last drivers' title for 21 years, before Michael Schumacher won five consecutive titles for the team between 2000 and 2004.

The 1980 United States Grand Prix West was a Formula One motor race held on March 30, 1980, at Long Beach, California. It was the fourth round of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was the fifth United States Grand Prix West and the sixth street race to be held at Long Beach. The race was held over 80 laps of the 3.251-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 260 kilometres.

The 1981 United States Grand Prix West was a Formula One motor race held on March 15, 1981, at Long Beach, California. It was the opening race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.

The 1979 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 7, 1979 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was the fifteenth and final race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors. This event was also referred to as the United States Grand Prix East in order to distinguish it from the United States Grand Prix West held on April 8, 1979 in Long Beach, California.

The 1980 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 5, 1980 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. This event was also referred to as the United States Grand Prix East in order to distinguish it from the United States Grand Prix West held on March 30, 1980 in Long Beach, California.

Carlos Alberto "Lole" Reutemann was an Argentine racing driver who raced in Formula One from 1972 to 1982, and later became a politician in his native province of Santa Fe, for the Justicialist Party, and governor of Santa Fe in Argentina.

References

↑ "Weather information for the "1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix"". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
↑ Hamilton, Maurice, ed. (1981). AUTOCOURSE 1981–82. Hazleton Publishing Ltd. p. 222. ISBN 0-905138-17-1.
↑ "1981 Las Vegas Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on May 16, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
↑ "1981 Las Vegas Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. October 17, 1981. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
1 2 "Las Vegas 1981 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved March 14, 2019.

Awards
Previous race: 1981 Canadian Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1981 season	Next race: 1982 South African Grand Prix
Previous race: None	Caesars Palace Grand Prix	Next race: 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix
Preceded by 1980 Italian Grand Prix	Formula One Promotional Trophy for Race Promoter 1981	Succeeded by 1982 British Grand Prix

v t e « previous Formula One Grands Prix (1980–1989) next »
1980	ARG BRA RSA USW BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA
1981	USW BRA ARG SMR BEL MON ESP FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN CPL
1982	RSA BRA USW SMR BEL MON DET CAN NED GBR FRA GER AUT SUI ITA CPL
1983	BRA USW FRA SMR MON BEL DET CAN GBR GER AUT NED ITA EUR RSA
1984	BRA RSA BEL SMR FRA MON CAN DET DAL GBR GER AUT NED ITA EUR POR
1985	BRA POR SMR MON CAN DET FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA BEL EUR RSA AUS
1986	BRA ESP SMR MON BEL CAN DET FRA GBR GER HUN AUT ITA POR MEX AUS
1987	BRA SMR BEL MON DET FRA GBR GER HUN AUT ITA POR ESP MEX JPN AUS
1988	BRA SMR MON MEX CAN DET FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR ESP JPN AUS
1989	BRA SMR MON MEX USA CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR ESP JPN AUS

1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix

Contents

Summary

Championship permutations

The setting

Qualifying

Race

Classification

Qualifying

Race

Championship standings after the race

Related Research Articles

References

Further reading