1981 Spanish Grand Prix
Going Into This Race
Pre-Race Report
Championship standings
Reutemann’s lead has taken a blow: he retired at Monaco with gearbox trouble, breaking a 15-race streak of consecutive points finishes.
Previous race
At Monaco, Piquet led from pole for most of the race before crashing at Tabac on lap 53 when he went offline on a group of backmarkers. Jones inherited the lead but suffered a fuel vaporisation problem with just a few laps remaining, handing victory to Villeneuve — his first win since 1979. Jones finished second; Laffite third.
Between-race developments
Eliseo Salazar has left March and joins Ensign, displacing Marc Surer. John Player Special sponsorship and livery return to Team Lotus after a two-year absence.
Weather
Race day is unusually hot, with temperatures around 38 °C expected.
Adapted by AI summarisation from “1981 Spanish 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 29 Mar | 🇧🇷 Brazilian Grand Prix | Piquet | Reutemann | Jones | Patrese |
| 3 | 12 Apr | 🇦🇷 Argentine Grand Prix | Piquet | Piquet | Reutemann | Prost |
| 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 |
Drivers' Championship
Full standings →| Pos | Driver | Team | Pts | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlos Reutemann | Williams | 34 | 2 |
| 2 | Alan Jones | Williams | 24 | 1 |
| 3 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham | 22 | 2 |
| 4 | Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | 12 | 1 |
| 5 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier | 11 | 0 |
| 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Arrows | 10 | 0 |
| 7 | Didier Pironi | Ferrari | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | Eddie Cheever | Tyrrell | 5 | 0 |
| 9 | Elio de Angelis | Team Lotus | 5 | 0 |
| 10 | Nigel Mansell | Team Lotus | 4 | 0 |