1980 Brazilian Grand Prix

Previous race

Argentina opened the season in chaos: the Buenos Aires surface broke up under summer heat and the suction of ground-effect cars, forcing a drivers’ protest and track repairs that never fully held. Jones won after spinning off twice and stopping to clear his radiators; Piquet finished second despite also going off; Rosberg claimed third on his World Championship debut. Villeneuve crashed late when his front suspension failed, and Reutemann — in his first race for Williams — retired with a blown engine after grass blocked his radiators. Prost scored a point in sixth on his Formula One début.

Championship

Jones leads the championship after Argentina.

Background

This race was originally scheduled for Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro, but was transferred to Interlagos after sections of the Rio circuit’s tarmac were found to be sinking into soft swampland. The return to São Paulo was controversial: reigning world champion Jody Scheckter led a group of drivers pressing for a boycott over Interlagos’s extreme bumpiness and inadequate barriers. The side-skirted ground-effect cars are stiffly sensitive to rough surfaces and the drivers argued conditions were genuinely dangerous. A 13–13 vote among the drivers produced a deadlock; they agreed to race only at the last minute.

The circuit sits at 850 metres altitude — higher than any other venue on this season’s calendar bar Kyalami — giving the turbocharged Renaults a substantial power advantage. This is also the last Grand Prix to be held on the original 7.87-kilometre Interlagos layout; the circuit is scheduled for complete redevelopment before it hosts Formula One again.