The 1981 Argentine Grand Prix was the third race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship and was held at the Buenos Aires circuit in Argentina on 12 April 1981. This was the last Argentine Grand Prix until 1995. Thanks to designer Gordon Murray's alternative solution to flexible side skirts, the Brabham cars of Nelson Piquet and Héctor Rebaque were dominant in this race, with Piquet (who took pole at an average speed of 130.029 mph (209.261 km/h)) taking the lead immediately from Alan Jones on the back straight and Rebaque climbing up from 5th to 2nd over 23 laps.
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 1:42.665 1:44.364 — 2 15 Alain Prost Renault 1:42.981 1:43.748 +0.316 3 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:44.662 1:43.638 +0.973 4 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 1:43.935 1:44.094 +1.270 5 16 René Arnoux Renault 1:43.997 1:44.080 +1.332 6 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 1:44.712 1:44.100 +1.435 7 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:44.236 1:44.132 +1.467 8 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 1:45.273 1:44.191 +1.526 9 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:45.008 1:45.357 +2.343 10 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:45.252 1:45.065 +2.400 11 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:45.073 1:45.202 +2.408 12 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 1:45.108 1:45.599 +2.443 13 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 1:45.117 1:45.357 +2.452 14 33 Patrick Tambay Theodore-Ford 1:46.872 1:45.297 +2.632 15 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1:45.369 1:45.790 +2.704 16 14 Marc Surer Ensign-Ford 1:45.734 1:46.188 +3.069 17 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 1:46.329 1:46.059 +3.394 18 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 1:46.387 1:46.663 +3.722 19 30 Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford 1:47.342 1:46.444 +3.779 20 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 1:46.743 1:46.706 +4.041 21 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:46.854 1:47.594 +4.189 22 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:47.109 1:46.918 +4.253 23 9 Jan Lammers ATS-Ford 1:47.174 1:47.576 +4.509 24 4 Ricardo Zunino Tyrrell-Ford 1:47.464 1:48.143 +4.799 25 31 Miguel Angel Guerra Osella-Ford 1:47.609 1:48.571 +4.944 26 32 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford 1:48.121 1:48.203 +5.456 27 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 1:48.191 1:49.571 +5.526 28 25 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Ligier-Matra 1:49.581 1:50.226 +6.916 29 18 Eliseo Salazar March-Ford no time 1:51.086 +8.421 Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 53 1:34:32.74 1 9 2 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 53 + 26.61 4 6 3 15 Alain Prost Renault 53 + 49.98 2 4 4 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 53 + 1:07.88 3 3 5 16 René Arnoux Renault 53 + 1:31.85 5 2 6 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 52 + 1 Lap 10 1 7 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 52 + 1 Lap 9 8 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 52 + 1 Lap 17 9 30 Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford 52 + 1 Lap 19 10 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 51 Out of Fuel 22 11 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 51 + 2 Laps 18 12 9 Jan Lammers ATS-Ford 51 + 2 Laps 23 13 4 Ricardo Zunino Tyrrell-Ford 51 + 2 Laps 24 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 40 Transmission 7 33 Patrick Tambay Theodore-Ford 36 Oil Leak 14 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 36 Transmission 11 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 32 Electrical 6 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 28 Gearbox 20 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 19 Handling 21 14 Marc Surer Ensign-Ford 14 Engine 16 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 4 Fuel System 8 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 3 Engine 15 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 3 Engine 12 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 1 Clutch 13 31 Miguel Ángel Guerra Osella-Ford 32 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 25 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Ligier-Matra 18 Eliseo Salazar March-Ford
Notes
This was the 5th Grand Slam for Brabham. This was the 400th and 401st podium finish for a Ford-powered car. This was Alain Prost's first ever podium finish.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Carlos Reutemann 21 2 Alan Jones 18 3 Nelson Piquet 13 4 Riccardo Patrese 4 5 Alain Prost 4Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 39 2 Brabham-Ford 13 3 Renault 6 4 Arrows-Ford 4 5 Alfa Romeo 3Source:
References
Further reading