The 1980 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 17 August 1980 at the Österreichring circuit in Austria. It was the tenth race of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was the 13th Austrian Grand Prix and the eleventh to be held at the Österreichring. The race was held over 54 laps of the 5.942-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 321 kilometres.
The race was won by French driver, Jean-Pierre Jabouille driving a Renault RE20. The win was Jabouille's second and last Formula One Grand Prix victory. It was also his first points finish in over a year since his previous victory at the 1979 French Grand Prix. It would also be the last points finish of his career. Jabouille won by eight-tenths of a second over Australian driver Alan Jones driving a Williams FW07B. Third was Jones' Williams teammate, Argentine driver Carlos Reutemann.
At the high-altitude circuit the turbocharged Renaults dominated qualifying, with René Arnoux securing the pole over Jabouille but Jones won the start, leading until Arnoux took over on lap 3. Arnoux pitted for tyres on lap 21 handing Jabouille the lead he only just kept and Jones fell just short as Jabouille limped home on wrecked tyres.
Behind Reutemann, French driver Jacques Laffite was fourth in his Ligier JS11/15 with Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet (Brabham BT49) and Italian driver Elio de Angelis (Lotus 81) completing the points finishers. Team Lotus ran a third car for debutant British driver Nigel Mansell. The future world champion retired with a broken engine after 40 laps and suffering burns after he raced in overalls soaked in fuel after a pre-race incident. West German driver Jochen Mass did not make the start, crashing and rolling his Arrows A3 and injuring himself in practice.
Jones now led Piquet by eleven points, Reutemann by 17 and Laffite by 19. Williams now led Ligier in the constructors' championship by 26 points and Brabham by 41.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No. Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 16 René Arnoux Renault 1:30.27 - 2 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 1:31.48 + 1.21 3 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:32.95 + 2.68 4 28 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 1:33.07 + 2.80 5 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 1:33.16 + 2.89 6 25 Didier Pironi Ligier-Ford 1:33.22 + 2.95 7 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 1:33.39 + 3.12 8 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:33.64 + 3.37 9 12 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:33.76 + 3.49 10 4 Derek Daly Tyrrell-Ford 1:34.17 + 3.90 11 21 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 1:34.33 + 4.06 12 8 Alain Prost McLaren-Ford 1:34.35 + 4.08 13 3 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 1:34.63 + 4.36 14 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 1:34.86 + 4.59 15 2 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:34.87 + 4.60 16 9 Marc Surer ATS-Ford 1:35.10 + 4.83 17 11 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 1:35.20 + 4.93 18 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:35.29 + 5.02 19 31 Eddie Cheever Osella-Ford 1:35.40 + 5.13 20 50 Rupert Keegan Williams-Ford 1:35.53 + 5.26 21 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:35.56 + 5.29 22 1 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 1:35.61 + 5.34 23 20 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 1:35.67 + 5.40 24 43 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1:35.71 + 5.44 25 14 Jan Lammers Ensign-Ford 1:36.04 + 5.77 26 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford No time Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault 54 1:26:15.73 2 9 2 27 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 54 +0.82 secs 3 6 3 28 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 54 +19.36 secs 4 4 4 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Ford 54 +42.02 secs 5 3 5 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 54 +1:02.81 secs 7 2 6 12 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 54 +1:14.97 secs 9 1 7 8 Alain Prost McLaren-Ford 54 +1:33.41 secs 12 8 2 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 53 +1 Lap 15 9 16 René Arnoux Renault 53 +1 Lap 1 10 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 53 +1 Lap 14 11 20 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 53 +1 Lap 23 12 9 Marc Surer ATS-Ford 53 +1 Lap 16 13 1 Jody Scheckter Ferrari 53 +1 Lap 22 14 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 53 +1 Lap 18 15 50 Rupert Keegan Williams-Ford 52 +2 Laps 20 16 21 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 52 +2 Laps 11 43 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 40 Engine 24 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 34 Engine 21 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 28 Wheel 8 25 Didier Pironi Ligier-Ford 25 Handling 6 3 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Ford 25 Electrical 13 31 Eddie Cheever Osella-Ford 23 Wheel Bearing 19 4 Derek Daly Tyrrell-Ford 12 Brakes 10 11 Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 6 Engine 17 14 Jan Lammers Ensign-Ford 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Ford Driver Injured
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for future World Champion Nigel Mansell. This was the 25th Grand Prix start for a Finnish driver. This was the 5th fastest lap set by Renault and a Renault-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alan Jones* 47 2 Nelson Piquet* 36 3 Carlos Reutemann* 30 4 Jacques Laffite* 28 5 René Arnoux* 23Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford* 77 2 Ligier-Ford* 51 3 Brabham-Ford 36 4 Renault 32 5 Arrows-Ford 11Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References