The 1980 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on 4 May 1980. It was the fifth round of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was the 38th Belgian Grand Prix and the seventh to be held at Zolder. The race was held over 72 laps of the 4.262-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 307 kilometres.
The race was won by French driver Didier Pironi driving a Ligier JS11/15. It was Pironi's first World Championship victory and he was the fourth driver to win in the first five races of the season. Pironi won by 47 seconds over Australian driver and eventual 1980 champion, Alan Jones driving a Williams FW07B. Third was Jones' Williams Argentine teammate, Carlos Reutemann. It was the first of three wins in Pironi's accident-shortened Formula One career. Jones' second place allowed him to close to within two points of series leader René Arnoux who had collected three points for finishing fourth in his Renault RE20. Piquet was one point behind Jones with Pironi just one point further behind.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No. Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:19.12 - 2 25 Didier Pironi Ligier-Ford 1:19.35 + 0.23 3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 1:19.69 + 0.57 4 28 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 1:19.79 + 0.67 5 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 1:19.89 + 0.77 6 16 René Arnoux Renault 1:19.89 + 0.77 7 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 1:20.23 + 1.11 8 12 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:20.96 + 1.84 9 3 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 1:21.36 + 2.24 10 22 Patrick Depailler Alfa Romeo 1:21.45 + 2.33 11 4 Derek Daly Tyrrell-Ford 1:21.51 + 2.39 12 2 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:21.54 + 2.42 13 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 1:21.55 + 2.43 14 1 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 1:21.58 + 2.46 15 9 Jan Lammers ATS-Ford 1:21.72 + 2.60 16 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:21.75 + 2.63 17 11 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:22.07 + 2.95 18 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:22.20 + 3.08 19 8 Alain Prost McLaren-Ford 1:22.26 + 3.14 20 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:22.57 + 3.45 21 21 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 1:22.97 + 3.85 22 6 Ricardo Zunino Brabham-Ford 1:23.18 + 4.06 23 14 Tiff Needell Ensign-Ford 1:23.50 + 4.38 24 20 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:24.22 + 5.10 25 17 Geoff Lees Shadow-Ford 1:24.37 + 5.25 26 18 David Kennedy Shadow-Ford 1:24.64 + 5.52 27 31 Eddie Cheever Osella-Ford 1:40.06 + 20.94Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 25 Didier Pironi Ligier-Ford 72 1:38:47.4 2 9 2 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 72 + 47.37 secs 1 6 3 28 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 72 + 84.12 secs 4 4 4 16 René Arnoux Renault 71 + 1 lap 6 3 5 3 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 71 + 1 lap 9 2 6 2 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 71 + 1 lap 12 1 7 21 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 71 + 1 lap 21 8 1 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 70 + 2 laps 14 9 4 Derek Daly Tyrrell-Ford 70 + 2 laps 11 10 12 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 69 Spun off 8 11 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 68 + 4 laps 3 12 9 Jan Lammers ATS-Ford 64 Engine 15 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 61 + 11 laps 20 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 58 Spun off 16 11 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 41 Gearbox 17 22 Patrick Depailler Alfa Romeo 38 Exhaust 10 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 32 Spun off 7 8 Alain Prost McLaren-Ford 29 Transmission 19 20 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 16 Electrical 24 14 Tiff Needell Ensign-Ford 12 Engine 23 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 11 Suspension 18 6 Ricardo Zunino Brabham-Ford 5 Gearbox 22 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford 1 Spun off 13 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 1 Clutch 5 17 Geoff Lees Shadow-Ford 18 David Kennedy Shadow-Ford 31 Eddie Cheever Osella-Ford
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for British driver Tiff Needell. Needell replaced Clay Regazzoni at Ensign Racing when the latter was injured during the United States Grand Prix West at the Long Beach Street Circuit. This was the 25th Grand Prix start for Alfa Romeo as a constructor. This was the 5th pole position for Williams. This was the 5th Grand Prix win for Ligier.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 René Arnoux 21 1 2 Alan Jones 19 1 3 Nelson Piquet 18 4 Didier Pironi 17 5 Riccardo Patrese 7Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 2 1 Williams-Ford 25 2 2 Ligier-Ford 23 2 3 Renault 21 2 4 Brabham-Ford 18 5 Arrows-Ford 8Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References