1981 British Grand Prix
Going Into This Race
Pre-Race Report
Championship standings
Reutemann leads the championship after France. Piquet remains his main challenger.
Previous race
At Dijon-Prenois, Piquet led until a torrential downpour on lap 58 halted the race. In the restart — with grid positions based on the finish order of the first segment — Prost took over and held the lead to the end. It was Prost’s first Formula One victory, on home soil in a Renault. Watson was second; Piquet third in the aggregate classification despite finishing fifth on the road in the restart.
Entrants
Team Lotus brings the new Lotus 88B to Silverstone, but FISA bans it once again. Having cannibalised the Lotus 87s to build the 88Bs, the team has no choice but to withdraw entirely.
Milestones
This is McLaren’s 200th Formula One World Championship start.
Practice
Nelson Piquet tests the new Brabham BT50 with BMW turbocharged engine during practice sessions, but sets his qualifying time in the older BT49C.
Circuit notes
The race takes place on a Saturday, rather than the customary Sunday.
Adapted by AI summarisation from “1981 British Grand Prix” on Wikipedia . This adapted text is licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0 . Modifications: summarised and spoiler-trimmed.
Last 5 Races
Full season →| # | Date | Grand Prix | Pole | P1 | P2 | P3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 May | 🇸🇲 San Marino Grand Prix | Villeneuve | Piquet | Patrese | Reutemann |
| 5 | 17 May | 🇧🇪 Belgian Grand Prix | Reutemann | Reutemann | Laffite | Mansell |
| 6 | 31 May | 🇲🇨 Monaco Grand Prix | Piquet | Villeneuve | Jones | Laffite |
| 7 | 21 Jun | 🇪🇸 Spanish Grand Prix | Laffite | Villeneuve | Laffite | Watson |
| 8 | 5 Jul | 🇫🇷 French Grand Prix | Arnoux | Prost | Watson | Piquet |
Drivers' Championship
Full standings →| Pos | Driver | Team | Pts | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlos Reutemann | Williams | 37 | 2 |
| 2 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham | 26 | 2 |
| 3 | Alan Jones | Williams | 24 | 1 |
| 4 | Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | 21 | 2 |
| 5 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier | 17 | 0 |
| 6 | Alain Prost | Renault | 13 | 1 |
| 7 | John Watson | McLaren | 10 | 0 |
| 8 | Riccardo Patrese | Arrows | 10 | 0 |
| 9 | Elio de Angelis | Team Lotus | 8 | 0 |
| 10 | Didier Pironi | Ferrari | 7 | 0 |