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 45-lap race was won by Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet, driving a Brabham-Ford. Frenchman Alain Prost finished second in a Renault, having started from pole position, with compatriot Jacques Laffite third in a Ligier-Matra. The win, Piquet's third of the season, allowed him to move to within eight points of Drivers' Championship leader, Argentine Carlos Reutemann, who retired with an engine failure.
Qualifying report The pit entrance had been modified and slowed down; the drivers now entered the pits earlier than before. The two Renault turbo cars were on the front row with Alain Prost almost half a second quicker than teammate René Arnoux. It was the first pole position of Prost's F1 career. Williams locked out the second row with World Championship leader Carlos Reutemann third and teammate Alan Jones fourth. Didier Pironi was fifth in his Ferrari and Nelson Piquet was sixth in his Brabham. The top 10 was completed by Jacques Laffite (Ligier), Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari) and the two McLarens of John Watson and Andrea de Cesaris.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 15 Alain Prost Renault 1:48.09 1:47.50 2 16 René Arnoux Renault 1:47.96 1:48.08 +0.46 3 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 1:50.20 1:48.43 +0.93 4 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 1:48.49 1:49.38 +0.99 5 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 1:49.00 1:49.97 +1.50 6 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 1:49.03 1:49.26 +1.53 7 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 1:50.27 1:49.28 +1.78 8 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 1:49.44 1:50.24 +1.94 9 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 1:49.52 1:50.36 +2.02 10 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 1:50.07 1:49.58 +2.08 11 25 Patrick Tambay Ligier-Matra 1:50.00 1:50.61 +2.50 12 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 1:50.64 1:50.73 +3.14 13 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 1:50.68 1:50.65 +3.15 14 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 1:52.36 1:50.74 +3.24 15 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 1:51.98 1:50.86 +3.36 16 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 1:51.17 1:51.49 +3.67 17 32 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 1:52.19 1:52.95 +4.69 18 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 1:52.19 1:52.44 +4.69 19 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 1:52.21 1:52.59 +4.71 20 9 Slim Borgudd ATS-Ford 1:52.54 1:54.14 +5.04 21 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 1:55.80 1:52.65 +5.15 22 33 Marc Surer Theodore-Ford 1:52.85 1:53.50 +5.35 23 14 Eliseo Salazar Ensign-Ford 1:55.58 1:53.16 +5.66 24 30 Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford 1:53.19 1:53.33 +5.69 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 1:53.28 1:53.38 +5.78 35 Brian Henton Toleman-Hart 1:53.31 1:54.77 +5.81 31 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford 1:55.53 1:53.39 +5.89 36 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 1:54.59 1:53.58 +6.08 4 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:53.69 1:54.19 +6.19 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford 1:55.22 1:54.89 +7.39Source:
Race report The two Williams on the second row enjoyed a better start than the Renaults of Prost and Arnoux. Arnoux was overtaken both by Reutemann and Pironi before the first corner, and by Piquet tried a move in the Ostkurve but the two cars collided, deflating Arnoux's right rear tire and causing him to pit at the end of the lap. Piquet lost a place to Jones in the process, whilst Arnoux dropped through the field. On the second lap, Pironi's engine failed, making him retire from fourth. Consequently, Prost led from Reutemann, Jones, Piquet and Laffite, and the top five pulled away from the rest of the pack, led by Villeneuve in sixth. Reutemann was quickly overtaken by both Jones and Piquet, beginning a three-way fight from the lead until Piquet's tires fell off the pace and he dropped to fourth behind Reutemann.
On lap 21, the lead changed when Prost was overtaken by Jones as the duo were lapping Arnoux. Reutemann retired from the race on lap 28 with an engine failure. After around 30 laps, rain started to fall on the circuit and the Renaults suffered from poor handling and third place Piquet quickly overtook Prost for second. Jones' lead was diminished when his engine began to misfire, eventually dropping behind Piquet and Prost before heading to the pits, and he eventually finished a lap behind.
Piquet held on to his lead and finished first, in front of Prost, Laffite and Héctor Rebaque. Eddie Cheever finished fifth to round up the top five, in front of John Watson in sixth.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford 45 1:25:55.60 6 9 2 15 Alain Prost Renault 45 + 11.52 1 6 3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 45 + 1:04.60 7 4 4 6 Héctor Rebaque Brabham-Ford 45 + 1:39.69 16 3 5 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford 45 + 1:50.52 18 2 6 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 44 + 1 lap 9 1 7 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford 44 + 1 lap 14 8 32 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella-Ford 44 + 1 lap 17 9 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 44 + 1 lap 12 10 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 44 + 1 lap 8 11 1 Alan Jones Williams-Ford 44 + 1 lap 4 12 30 Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford 44 + 1 lap 24 13 16 René Arnoux Renault 44 + 1 lap 2 14 33 Marc Surer Theodore-Ford 43 Suspension 22 15 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 43 + 2 laps 19 14 Eliseo Salazar Ensign-Ford 39 + 6 laps 23 9 Slim Borgudd ATS-Ford 35 Engine 20 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Ford 27 Engine 3 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford 27 Engine 13 25 Patrick Tambay Ligier-Matra 27 Transmission 11 17 Derek Daly March-Ford 15 Suspension 21 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 12 Fuel leak 15 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford 4 Collision 10 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 1 Electrical 5 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford 35 Brian Henton Toleman-Hart 31 Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford 36 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 4 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 21 Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford
Notes
This was the 10th Grand Prix start for Hong Kong constructor Theodore. This was the 11th German Grand Prix win for a Ford-powered car. It broke the previous record set by Ferrari at the 1977 German Grand Prix.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Carlos Reutemann 43 2 Nelson Piquet 35 3 Jacques Laffite 25 4 Alan Jones 24 5 Gilles Villeneuve 21Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 67 2 Brabham-Ford 43 3 Ferrari 28 4 Ligier-Matra 25 5 Renault 24Source:
References