1981 United States Grand Prix West
Sunny streets of Long Beach hosted the opening round for the 1981 Formula 1 season. Three World champions left the sport during the off-season meaning we only had one past champion (Carlos Reutemann) trying to recapture the title. A few new teams and many new cars were shipped to the States and everyone was eagerly waiting for the season to start.
Pre-qualifying
Last season ended with Wolf, Ligier, Rebaque, ATS and Osella taking part in pre-qualifying. Wolf and Ligier made it out thanks to their late-season form in 1980 while ATS folded in the off-season. Their replacements at least for the first half of the season are Toleman, Theodore and March. Friday morning session is a place no one wants to be in, especially the likes of
Derek Daly who was a constant podium finisher just two seasons ago.
Rebaque had to be regarded as the favourites in pre-qualifying, despite still racing their ancient HR100 chassis. The team lead by Derek Daly secured Michelin tyres in hopes of better times but to the surprise of many, failed to qualify. It was Theodore Racing that took the early advantage as
Rupert Keegan and
David Kennedy lead the time charts. Returning German ace
Hans-Joachim Stuck was third fastest for March Racing. Teammate
Rahal was only seventh fastest but still quick enough to beat the Tolemans on combined time.
Qualifying
McLaren, Ferrari and Tyrrell had looked the strongest in the pre-season tests and the British teams really fulfilled their promise by capturing the two front rows. It was also a first ever pole for
Didier Pironi. Ferraris however were struggling badly. New guy
Nelson Piquet had the upper hand to
Reutemann but only in 9th position. Both Williamses were in front of him, much to the joy of Williams manager who had been seen fist-bumping air after Piquet's final lap.
Championship contender
Jacques Laffite splitted the Williams duo in 6th in his A3 chassis used in 1980
, together with Shadow's
Alain Prost who was the fastest Goodyear user.
Tambay completed the top-10 for Fittipaldi, leaving Reutemann just out of top5 rows. Lotus, Ligier, Renault, Alfa Romeo and Wolf were the next fastest teams. New teams Theodore and March both got one driver in to race as
Rupert Keegan was impressively 17th and
Bobby Rahal 23rd fastest.
Race
Great start for Tyrrells as Pironi lead
Scheckter to turn 1. McLarens followed in 3-4, Williams 5-6 and Prost, Tambay, Laffite and
Zunino behind them rounding out the top-10. Ferraris had a miserable start and were down in 11th and 12th. First lap claimed one driver as Lotus'
Jean-Pierre Jarier smashed his car to the wall.
Overtaking proved to be difficult on the tight street circuit. Only changes in top-10 in first 10 laps happened on lap 4 when Piquet tried to overtake Zunino for 10th. Following the opportunistic move the Brazilian ran wide and dropped to last. Zunino lost some time too allowing Reutemann to claim 10th place. Running order on lap 10 of 80 was Pironi-Scheckter-
Rosberg-
Mansell-
de Angelis-
Alboreto-Prost-Tambay-Laffite-Reutemann. Piquet was already up to 20th after Keegan had retired.
Next few laps saw more higher profile retirements as Laffite crashed out first on lap 12, soon followed by Alboreto. Prost was now running in points with Tambay right behind him. Tambay however retired on lap 17 giving Prost some breathing space.
After these incidents the race cooled down considerably. A bit of drama unfolded on lap 31 when Pironi's car looked to be overheating due to water leak. Luckily the Frenchman was just about to do his first pit stop. Tyrrell pit crew did a marvellous job fixing Pironi's car and he rejoined the track second with only teammate Scheckter in front. De Angelis had passed both McLarens during pit stops but otherwise the top-10 was largely unchanged. Word out for
Kevin Cogan however who was having a solid début race in 9th.
Closest battle on track was for tenth place between
Depailler and
de Cesaris.
Hoffmann and Piquet were also within striking distance but other than that battle, nothing much was happening for the next 30 laps. Overtakes were few as everyone was waiting for the second round of pit stops to shuffle the pack perhaps.
The stops really did shuffle the order a bit and with 15 laps remaining Pironi was back in the lead. Scheckter was 15 seconds behind while de Angelis, Mansell, Rosberg and Prost all had around 10 seconds between each other. Reutemann, Cogan, Zunino and Depailler were also in top-10. It looked like defending champions Ferrari would be left without points but luckily for them Nigel Mansell's Cosworth engine blew up with six laps to go. A
massive shame for McLaren who were looking to have to cars on points today.
In the end the only team with two cars on points was another British team as Tyrrell started their season with a perfect display. A pole position, 1-2 finish and fastest lap of the race for Jody Scheckter showed they had done something right during winter break. Elio de Angelis completed the podium but never looked like challenging the Tyrrell duo. Alain Prost in fifth had a good race and will be delighted with the two points.
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