The 1981 Argentine Grand Prix was the third race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship and was held at the Buenos Aires circuit in Argentina on 12 April 1981. This was the last Argentine Grand Prix until 1995. Thanks to designer Gordon Murray's alternative solution to flexible side skirts, the Brabham cars of Nelson Piquet and Héctor Rebaque were dominant in this race, with Piquet (who took pole at an average speed of 130.029 mph (209.261 km/h)) taking the lead immediately from Alan Jones on the back straight and Rebaque climbing up from 5th to 2nd over 23 laps.
Classification
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |  Nelson Piquet
|
Brabham-Ford | 1:42.665 | 1:44.364 | — |
| 2 | 15 |  Alain Prost
|
Renault | 1:42.981 | 1:43.748 | +0.316 |
| 3 | 1 |  Alan Jones
|
Williams-Ford | 1:44.662 | 1:43.638 | +0.973 |
| 4 | 2 |  Carlos Reutemann
|
Williams-Ford | 1:43.935 | 1:44.094 | +1.270 |
| 5 | 16 | René Arnoux
|
Renault | 1:43.997 | 1:44.080 | +1.332 |
| 6 | 6 |  Héctor Rebaque
|
Brabham-Ford | 1:44.712 | 1:44.100 | +1.435 |
| 7 | 27 |  Gilles Villeneuve
|
Ferrari | 1:44.236 | 1:44.132 | +1.467 |
| 8 | 20 |  Keke Rosberg
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | 1:45.273 | 1:44.191 | +1.526 |
| 9 | 29 |  Riccardo Patrese
|
Arrows-Ford | 1:45.008 | 1:45.357 | +2.343 |
| 10 | 11 | Elio de Angelis
|
Lotus-Ford | 1:45.252 | 1:45.065 | +2.400 |
| 11 | 7 |  John Watson
|
McLaren-Ford | 1:45.073 | 1:45.202 | +2.408 |
| 12 | 28 | Didier Pironi
|
Ferrari | 1:45.108 | 1:45.599 | +2.443 |
| 13 | 3 |  Eddie Cheever
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 1:45.117 | 1:45.357 | +2.452 |
| 14 | 33 | Patrick Tambay
|
Theodore-Ford | 1:46.872 | 1:45.297 | +2.632 |
| 15 | 12 | Nigel Mansell
|
Lotus-Ford | 1:45.369 | 1:45.790 | +2.704 |
| 16 | 14 |  Marc Surer
|
Ensign-Ford | 1:45.734 | 1:46.188 | +3.069 |
| 17 | 22 | Mario Andretti
|
Alfa Romeo | 1:46.329 | 1:46.059 | +3.394 |
| 18 | 8 | Andrea de Cesaris
|
McLaren-Ford | 1:46.387 | 1:46.663 | +3.722 |
| 19 | 30 | Siegfried Stohr
|
Arrows-Ford | 1:47.342 | 1:46.444 | +3.779 |
| 20 | 21 | Chico Serra
|
Fittipaldi-Ford | 1:46.743 | 1:46.706 | +4.041 |
| 21 | 26 | Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Matra | 1:46.854 | 1:47.594 | +4.189 |
| 22 | 23 | Bruno Giacomelli
|
Alfa Romeo | 1:47.109 | 1:46.918 | +4.253 |
| 23 | 9 |  Jan Lammers
|
ATS-Ford | 1:47.174 | 1:47.576 | +4.509 |
| 24 | 4 | Ricardo Zunino
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 1:47.464 | 1:48.143 | +4.799 |
| 25 | 31 | Miguel Angel Guerra
|
Osella-Ford | 1:47.609 | 1:48.571 | +4.944 |
| 26 | 32 | Beppe Gabbiani
|
Osella-Ford | 1:48.121 | 1:48.203 | +5.456 |
| 27 | 17 |  Derek Daly
|
March-Ford | 1:48.191 | 1:49.571 | +5.526 |
| 28 | 25 | Jean-Pierre Jabouille
|
Ligier-Matra | 1:49.581 | 1:50.226 | +6.916 |
| 29 | 18 |  Eliseo Salazar
|
March-Ford | no time | 1:51.086 | +8.421 |
| Source:[1] | ||||||
Race
Notes
- This was the 5th Grand Slam for Brabham.
- This was the 400th and 401st podium finish for a Ford-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- ^ Hamilton, Maurice, ed. (1981). AUTOCOURSE 1981–82. Hazleton Publishing Ltd. p. 108. ISBN 0-905138-17-1.
- ^ "1981 Argentine Grand Prix". Formula One. Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
- ^ a b "Argentina 1981 – Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
Further reading
- Lang, Mike (1992). Grand Prix! Vol 4. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 26–28. ISBN 0-85429-733-2.