1981 Italian Grand Prix
After a rather long summer break after the Dutch Grand Prix, the Formula 1 series returns to action on the high speed circuit of Monza.
Jody Scheckter was the winner in the Netherlands, keeping himself in the running fro the title.
Nigel Mansell and
Didier Pironi however are leading the championship and with three win to their names are the biggest two favourites going into these last three races.
There were a lot of rumours surrounding the minor teams, specially about March and Toleman and their drivers about financial difficulties. For those or any other reason, Toleman has opted to sack
Hans Binder, who has been demolished by teammate
Derek Warwick this season, with 29 years old
Tiff Needel. The Englishman has had some success in the lower formulae but nothing really noteworthy.
Pre-qualifying
There isn't much to say here. Alfa Romeos and Theodores ruled the session while the others never looked like challenging. Sad days for the Osella team who must have been itching to qualify for their home grand prix.
Qualifying
There were writings on the wall for this one. Ferrari has been steadily improving their car all season long and now, in front of the tifosi they finally bring out the best they've got.
Nelson Piquet's second pole position of the year was accompanied by
Reutemann's third place and the Maranello outfit looks like a true challenger for the race. Championship contenders Tyrrell and McLaren completed the first three rows with championship leader
Mansell only in sixth.
Ligiers had a good qualifying again with both cars in top-9, split by Arrows'
Ingo Hoffmann who beat his 13th placed teammate comfortably. Fittipaldis had one of their strongest qualifying sessions of the year in 10th and 11th whereas Williams was largely disappointing:
Elio de Angelis and
Michele Alboreto would have a tough race from P12 and P15 in the grid.
Alfa Romeo was also in good shape in their home GP in 17th and 19th. Back of the grid provided no major surprises as Theodore's
Ricardo Londoño and Toleman's débutant
Tiff Needel failed to qualify.
Race
Reutemann shot into the lead as Piquet had a terrible start. Tyrrells and
Rosberg slotted in between them. Behind the leaders the start was rather messy as expected. Most of the pack got through the first chicane, only
Zunino and
Thackwell had to retire after making contact with each other. After first lap the order was: Reutemann,
Scheckter,
Pironi, Piquet (after passing Keke into Parabolica), Rosberg, Mansell,
Tambay,
de Cesaris,
Depailler and Hoffmann in top-10 with a little gap to
Cogan & co.
Williamses were struggling in 13th and 15th, Ferraris on the other hand were looking racey in front of the tifosi. Reutemann was driving away from the pack and by lap 5 Piquet had climbed to second. The reason for their speed came clear by lap 15. The Maranello cars were fueled very lightly and dropped to 3rd and 4th after their pit stops, largely thanks to the big number of retirements (
Giacomelli&
Cheever and Hoffmann&Depailler had crashed out while battling,
Laffite had crashed all by himself, and Rosberg&
Alboreto had suffered transmission problems) in the first ten laps.
It wasn't long though before Reutemann was back in the lead. Before the Tyrrells even made it to their first pit stops the Argentinean had already passed them. The Tyrrells finally made their stops around lap 25, dropping behind Ferraris and Mansell. De Cesaris was the leading Italian driver in sixth, 15 seconds ahead of
Elio de Angelis.
Piquet and Reutemann made their second stops on laps 33 and 34 respectively and were able to hold their 1-2 lead. Mansell meanwhile dropped to fifth during his second stop but wasn't too far from single-stopping Scheckter. However, both of them would move up a place right after as Reutemann's suspension broke from the lead. With 15 laps to go there were only 10 cars left: Piquet, Pironi, Scheckter, Mansell, de Cesaris, de Angelis,
Prost,
Arnoux,
Keegan and
Surer.
The positions looked set until the very last laps when first Surer and right afterwards Prost and Mansell retired with various technical issues. Rupert Keegan and René Arnoux had been racing against each other the last laps and suddenly their battle became a battle for championship point! In the end Keegan was the stronger of the two, earning Theodore their first points since 1977 Japanese Prand Prix!
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