| 1981 Dutch Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 12 of 15 in the1981 Formula One World Championship | |||
 The Zandvoort Circuit (1980–1989) | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 30 August 1981 | ||
| Official name | XXVIIIGrote Prijs van Nederland | ||
| Location | Circuit Zandvoort,Zandvoort,Netherlands | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.252 km (2.642 miles) | ||
| Distance | 72 laps, 306.144 km (190.229 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny, dry | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Renault | ||
| Time | 1:18.176 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Alan Jones | Williams-Ford | |
| Time | 1:21.83 on lap 15 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Renault | ||
| Second | Brabham-Ford | ||
| Third | Williams-Ford | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1981 Dutch Grand Prix was aFormula Onemotor race held atZandvoort on 30 August 1981. It was the twelfth race of the1981 Formula One World Championship.
The 72-lap race was won frompole position byAlain Prost, driving aRenault.Nelson Piquet finished second in aBrabham-Ford, withAlan Jones third in aWilliams-Ford. WithCarlos Reutemann failing to finish in the other Williams-Ford after colliding withJacques Laffite'sLigier-Matra, Piquet moved into the lead of the Drivers' Championship, with the same number of points as Reutemann but more wins.
TheFittipaldi team returned after missing the previous race inAustria due to a lack of engines. However both their drivers,Keke Rosberg andChico Serra, failed to qualify.
For the fourth consecutive race, theRenaults filled the front row, withAlain Prost 0.079 seconds ahead ofRené Arnoux.Nelson Piquet was third in hisBrabham, followed by the twoWilliams ofAlan Jones andCarlos Reutemann and theLigier ofJacques Laffite. The top ten was completed byMario Andretti in theAlfa Romeo,John Watson in theMcLaren,Elio de Angelis in theLotus andRiccardo Patrese in theArrows.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 |  Alain Prost | Renault | 1:18.279 | 1:18.176 | |
| 2 | 16 | René Arnoux | Renault | 1:18.255 | 1:18.301 | +0.079 |
| 3 | 5 |  Nelson Piquet | Brabham-Ford | 1:19.236 | 1:18.652 | +0.476 |
| 4 | 1 | Alan Jones | Williams-Ford | 1:18.672 | 1:19.133 | +0.496 |
| 5 | 2 |  Carlos Reutemann | Williams-Ford | 1:19.067 | 1:18.844 | +0.668 |
| 6 | 26 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier-Matra | 1:19.386 | 1:19.018 | +0.842 |
| 7 | 22 |  Mario Andretti | Alfa Romeo | 1:19.896 | 1:19.040 | +0.864 |
| 8 | 7 |  John Watson | McLaren-Ford | 1:19.312 | 1:19.651 | +1.136 |
| 9 | 11 |  Elio de Angelis | Lotus-Ford | 1:21.662 | 1:19.738 | +1.562 |
| 10 | 29 | Riccardo Patrese | Arrows-Ford | 1:21.010 | 1:19.864 | +1.688 |
| 11 | 25 | Patrick Tambay | Ligier-Matra | 1:20.802 | 1:19.979 | +1.803 |
| 12 | 28 | Didier Pironi | Ferrari | 1:21.293 | 1:20.248 | +2.072 |
| 13 | 8 | Andrea de Cesaris | McLaren-Ford | 1:20.651 | 1:20.377 | +2.201 |
| 14 | 23 | Bruno Giacomelli | Alfa Romeo | 1:20.384 | 1:20.495 | +2.208 |
| 15 | 6 |  Héctor Rebaque | Brabham-Ford | 1:20.547 | 1:20.872 | +2.371 |
| 16 | 27 |  Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | 1:21.049 | 1:20.595 | +2.419 |
| 17 | 12 | Nigel Mansell | Lotus-Ford | 1:21.106 | 1:20.663 | +2.487 |
| 18 | 32 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | Osella-Ford | 1:21.086 | 1:21.294 | +2.910 |
| 19 | 17 |  Derek Daly | March-Ford | 1:22.274 | 1:21.391 | +3.215 |
| 20 | 33 |  Marc Surer | Theodore-Ford | 1:22.389 | 1:21.454 | +3.278 |
| 21 | 30 | Siegfried Stohr | Arrows-Ford | 1:21.568 | 1:21.713 | +3.392 |
| 22 | 3 | Eddie Cheever | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:21.849 | 1:21.698 | +3.522 |
| 23 | 9 |  Slim Borgudd | ATS-Ford | 1:21.760 | 1:22.302 | +3.584 |
| 24 | 14 |  Eliseo Salazar | Ensign-Ford | 1:22.382 | 1:22.024 | +3.848 |
| 25 | 4 | Michele Alboreto | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:25.976 | 1:22.030 | +3.854 |
| DNQ | 35 | Brian Henton | Toleman-Hart | 1:22.226 | 1:24.167 | +4.050 |
| DNQ | 20 |  Keke Rosberg | Fittipaldi-Ford | 1:23.518 | 6:09.795 | +5.342 |
| DNQ | 21 | Chico Serra | Fittipaldi-Ford | 1:23.677 | 1:23.613 | +5.437 |
| DNQ | 31 | Beppe Gabbiani | Osella-Ford | no time | 1:23.898 | +5.722 |
| DNQ | 36 | Derek Warwick | Toleman-Hart | 1:25.104 | 1:24.028 | +5.852 |
| Source:[1] | ||||||
At the start, Prost led the field into Tarzan, with teammate Arnoux following closely behind. Further back in the midfield,Gilles Villeneuve crashed hisFerrari into the back ofBruno Giacomelli's Alfa Romeo, vaulting over the Alfa before spinning out of the race.
As the field wound toward the second corner, Andretti and Reutemann collided, leaving Andretti's car with a broken nose. Before the end of the first lap, another incident occurred whenPatrick Tambay in the second Ligier andDidier Pironi in the second Ferrari came together. Tambay retired instantly, whilst Pironi carried on for three more laps before also pulling out of the race.
At the front of the field, Arnoux was unable to keep up with the pace and dropped four places, behind Jones, Piquet, Laffite and Reutemann. With Arnoux out of the way, Jones hunted down Prost and challenged for the lead until his tyres wore out and Jones had to slow down. Reutemann and Laffite, in the meantime, battled fiercely for fourth, ending with both cars crashing out of the race on the 18th lap.
Toward the end of the race, a slowing Jones was overtaken by Piquet. This would prove to be crucial in the World Championship standings, for if Jones had kept second, Piquet would have missed out on the title at thefinal race of the season.
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| Previous race: 1981 Austrian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1981 season | Next race: 1981 Italian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1980 Dutch Grand Prix | Dutch Grand Prix | Next race: 1982 Dutch Grand Prix |
