Race Rewind
As of March 1981

1981 Brazilian Grand Prix

🇧🇷 Brazil Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Round 2 of 15

Going Into This Race

WDC Leader
9 pts (+3 over P2)
WCC Leader
15 pts (+11 over P2)

Pre-Race Report

Championship standings

Jones leads the championship after the Williams 1–2 at Long Beach, with Reutemann second and Piquet third.

Previous race

At Long Beach, Patrese led from pole until fuel pressure problems on lap 25 handed the lead to Reutemann. Jones then passed Reutemann on lap 32 when the Argentine ran wide while lapping a backmarker, and the defending World Champion drove away to win by nine seconds. It was Jones’s third consecutive Grand Prix victory.

Between-race developments

Jean-Pierre Jabouille attempts to qualify the Talbot Ligier but his legs from the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix accident have clearly not healed enough; Jean-Pierre Jarier takes the car again. There are murmurs in the paddock about Brabham’s new hydro-pneumatic suspension, which appears designed to satisfy the 6 cm ground clearance regulation when measured at rest while running much closer to the ground at speed. The new McLaren MP4/1 carbon-composite chassis seen at Long Beach is not brought to South America.

Entrants

Tyrrell rents its second car to Ricardo Zunino, who drove for Brabham in the first half of 1980. Formula One visits Jacarepaguá for only the second time, having moved from Interlagos after safety concerns.

Adapted by AI summarisation from “1981 Brazilian Grand Prix” on Wikipedia . This adapted text is licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0 . Modifications: summarised and spoiler-trimmed.

Drivers' Championship

Full standings →

Constructors' Championship

Full standings →
PosTeamPtsWins
1Williams151
2Brabham40
3Alfa Romeo30
4Tyrrell20
5Theodore10