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1981 Canadian Grand Prix
Race 14 of 15 in the 1981 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	27 September 1981
Official name	XX Grand Prix du Canada
Location	Circuit Île Notre-Dame Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Course	Temporary street circuit
Course length	4.410 km (2.740 miles)
Distance	63 laps, 277.830 km (172.636 miles)
Scheduled distance	70 laps, 308.700 km (191.817 miles)
Weather	Wet and cold with temperatures up to 20 °C (68 °F); wind speeds up to 15 kilometres per hour (9.3 mph)
Pole position
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford
Time	1:29.211
Fastest lap
Driver	John Watson	McLaren-Ford
Time	1:49.475 on lap 43
Podium
First	Jacques Laffite	Talbot Ligier-Matra
Second	John Watson	McLaren-Ford
Third	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari
Lap leaders

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 race was run in wet conditions, and ended after 63 of the scheduled 70 laps due to the two-hour time limit. Frenchman Jacques Laffite won in a Talbot Ligier-Matra, with Northern Ireland's John Watson second in a McLaren-Ford and local hero Gilles Villeneuve third in a Ferrari. Brazilian Nelson Piquet finished fifth in his Brabham-Ford, having started from pole position, while Drivers' Championship rival, Argentine Carlos Reutemann, could only manage tenth in his Williams-Ford. Piquet thus moved within one point of Reutemann with one race to go, while the win gave Laffite an outside chance of the title. Despite both Reutemann and Australian teammate Alan Jones failing to score, Williams clinched the Constructors' Championship.

This would turn out to be Laffite's final F1 victory, as well as the last for the Ligier team for fifteen years, until the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. It was also the last time the Canadian Grand Prix was held in the fall, as the race would move to June the following year.

Pre-race

Prior to the race, Alan Jones announced that he was retiring from the sport after clinching the title the previous year. Rumors were also spreading around in paddock that Niki Lauda had tested for McLaren at Donington Park and that he was planning a comeback.

Qualifying

Nelson Piquet clinched pole with a time of 1:29.221, with rival Carlos Reutemann alongside him on the front row. The top ten were completed by: Jones, Prost, Mansell, Rebaque, de Angelis, Arnoux, Watson and Laffite respectively.

Race

The race start was marred with bad weather. Immediately after the start, Jones took the lead after a minor collision with Reutemann which left Reutemann behind. Toward the middle of the pack, Arnoux and Pironi had a collision which resulted in Arnoux spinning out of the race. On lap 7, Jones spun and Piquet had to take evasive action, resulting in both drivers dropping down the pecking order. Prost took the lead with Laffite, who had climbed from tenth, second. Prost's lead did not last long, as Laffite overtook him on lap 13, and kept the lead to the end of the race.

Villeneuve had a minor accident that damaged his front wing. The wing flew up only to be stuck up in the air, blocking Villeneuve's race-line vision. With his forward vision impaired, he used his peripheral vision to navigate using the yellow track markers as reference. After racing this way for minutes he used vibration on the ribbed curbing, to the point it flew off the car. This way he managed to keep control until the end of the race, without a front wing and under the rain.

Mansell pitted for slicks, convinced the weather would turn. It did not. Within minutes he spun, heavily damaging his rear wing, and was pushed by marshals back onto the circuit. Driving slowly toward the L'Epingle at the northern end, he placed his JPS Lotus in the middle of the track but slowly edging to his left onto the racing line, at the braking area. Prost, on the racing line and much faster, tried unsuccessfully to avoid colliding but could not, resulting in both drivers retiring from the race.

Watson was able to catch and pass Villeneuve a few laps later and the two finished second and third respectively, with Villeneuve clinching his third and last podium of the year on home soil. Bruno Giacomelli of Alfa Romeo, who had started fifteenth, came home fourth, with pole-man Piquet coming in behind him.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	1:29.211	1:29.537	—
2	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	1:29.601	1:29.359	+0.148
3	1	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1:29.728	1:29.781	+0.517
4	15	Alain Prost	Renault	1:31.629	1:29.908	+0.697
5	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	1:32.233	1:29.997	+0.786
6	6	Héctor Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	1:31.545	1:30.182	+0.971
7	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	1:31.212	1:30.231	+1.020
8	16	René Arnoux	Renault	1:34.151	1:30.232	+1.021
9	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1:31.617	1:30.566	+1.355
10	26	Jacques Laffite	Talbot Ligier-Matra	1:31.593	1:30.705	+1.494
11	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1:32.077	1:31.115	+1.904
12	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	1:31.976	1:31.350	+2.139
13	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	1:32.281	1:31.507	+2.296
14	3	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	1:32.652	1:31.547	+2.336
15	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1:34.995	1:31.600	+2.389
16	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	1:32.648	1:31.740	+2.529
17	25	Patrick Tambay	Talbot Ligier-Matra	1:31.747	1:31.817	+2.536
18	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	1:31.969	1:32.277	+2.758
19	33	Marc Surer	Theodore-Ford	1:34.424	1:32.253	+3.042
20	17	Derek Daly	March-Ford	1:35.552	1:32.305	+3.094
21	9	Slim Borgudd	ATS-Ford	1:34.002	1:32.652	+3.441
22	4	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1:34.245	1:32.709	+3.498
23	32	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	1:33.432	1:33.643	+4.221
24	14	Eliseo Salazar	Ensign-Ford	1:36.016	1:33.848	+4.637
DNQ	20	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:34.634	1:34.310	+5.099
DNQ	21	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:36.937	1:36.546	+7.335
DNQ	35	Brian Henton	Toleman-Hart	1:40.505	1:36.648	+7.437
DNQ	30	Jacques Villeneuve	Arrows-Ford	1:36.720	1:38.308	+7.509
DNQ	36	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	1:36.999	1:37.256	+7.788
DNQ	31	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford	1:37.493	1:55.307	+8.282
Source:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	26	Jacques Laffite	Talbot Ligier-Matra	M	63	2:01:25.20	10	9
2	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	M	63	+ 6.23	9	6
3	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	M	63	+ 1:50.27	11	4
4	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	M	62	+ 1 Lap	15	3
5	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	G	62	+ 1 Lap	1	2
6	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	G	62	+ 1 Lap	7	1
7	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	M	62	+ 1 Lap	16
8	17	Derek Daly	March-Ford	A	61	+ 2 Laps	20
9	33	Marc Surer	Theodore-Ford	A	61	+ 2 Laps	19
10	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	G	60	+ 3 Laps	2
11	4	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	A	59	+ 4 Laps	22
12	3	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	G	56	Engine	14
Ret	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	M	51	Spun Off	13
Ret	15	Alain Prost	Renault	M	48	Collision	4
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	G	45	Collision	5
Ret	9	Slim Borgudd	ATS-Ford	A	40	Spun Off	21
Ret	6	Héctor Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	G	35	Spun Off	6
Ret	32	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella-Ford	M	26	Collision	23
Ret	1	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	G	24	Handling	3
Ret	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	M	24	Ignition	12
Ret	14	Eliseo Salazar	Ensign-Ford	A	8	Spun Off	24
Ret	25	Patrick Tambay	Talbot Ligier-Matra	M	6	Spun Off	17
Ret	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	P	6	Spun Off	18
Ret	16	René Arnoux	Renault	M	0	Collision	8
DNQ	20	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	P
DNQ	21	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	P
DNQ	35	Brian Henton	Toleman-Hart	P
DNQ	30	Jacques Villeneuve	Arrows-Ford	P
DNQ	36	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart	P
DNQ	31	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford	M
Source:

Notes

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve, sr.
• This was the 300th Grand Prix in which a Frenchman participated. In those 300 races, French driver had won 20 Grands Prix, achieved 115 podium finishes, 30 pole positions, 32 fastest laps and 2 Grand Slams.
• This was also the 100th Grand Prix in which a Mexican driver participated. In those 100 races, Mexican driver had won 2 Grands Prix, achieved 7 podium finishes, and 1 fastest lap.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Carlos Reutemann 49 2 Nelson Piquet 48 3 Jacques Laffite 43 4 Alain Prost 37 5 Alan Jones 37 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 86 2 Brabham-Ford 59 3 Renault 48 4 Talbot Ligier-Matra 43 5 Ferrari 34 Source:

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

References

1. "Weather information for the "1981 Canadian Grand Prix"". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
2. Jenkinson, Denis (November 1981). "The Canadian Grand Prix: Heroes all". Motor Sport. p. 72. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
3. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "tJ13_TV presents 1981 Canadian GP - Gilles driving blind". YouTube.
4. Lang, Mike (1992). Grand Prix!. Vol. 4. Haynes. p. 67. ISBN 0-85429-733-2.
5. Hamilton, Maurice, ed. (1981). AUTOCOURSE 1981–82. Hazleton Publishing Ltd. p. 214. ISBN 0-905138-17-1.
6. "1981 Canadian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 12 June 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
7. "1981 Canadian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 27 September 1981. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
8. ^ "Canada 1981 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 March 2019.

• 1981 Formula One races
• Canadian Grand Prix
• 1981 in Canadian motorsport
• September 1981 sports events in Canada