1980 Formula One season

Team and driver changes

• Arturo Merzario and Héctor Rebaque had participated in the 1979 season, building their own chassis and driving themselves. However, both had closed down their F1 operations at the end of the year.
• Osella had been close to winning the 1979 European Formula Two Championship with driver Eddie Cheever. After securing the sponsorship of the Italian Tobacco Organization, they entered Formula 1 in 1980, taking Cheever with them. The American previously drove for Theodore and Hesketh in 1978.
• Williams signed Carlos Reutemann. The Argentinian had finished third in the championship in 1975 as well as 1978, but had suffered a difficult 1979 season with Lotus. Ex-Williams driver Clay Regazzoni rejoined Ensign Racing, having driven for them in 1977, after Marc Surer had moved to ATS.
• ATS also signed Jan Lammers, coming from the slowly dissipating Shadow team. Lammers' 1979 teammate Elio de Angelis moved to Lotus after Reutemann had left. For 1980, Shadow signed David Kennedy, runner-up in the 1979 British Formula One Championship, and Stefan Johansson, while he was still just a British F3 driver.
• Jacky Ickx had retired at the end of 1979, his Ligier seat taken up by Didier Pironi.
• 1979 European F3 champion Alain Prost made his F1 debut with McLaren. He replaced Patrick Tambay, who went on to become the 1980 Can-Am champion with Haas Lola.
• Fittipaldi signed future champion Keke Rosberg after buying the remains of the Wolf team at the end of last season.
• Whilst still recovering from a hang gliding accident, Patrick Depailler joined Alfa Romeo, taking the place of Vittorio Brambilla.

Calendar changes

• The Brazilian Grand Prix was originally supposed to return to Jacarepaguá, but parts of the track, originally built on a swamp, were beginning to sink into the soft ground, so the race was held at Autodromo de Interlagos, like the year before.
• The Spanish Grand Prix, held on 1 June, was to be a championship race but it had a FISA–FOCA war concerning ground-effect aerodynamics. As a result of the war, Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo boycotted the event. It was announced before Friday practice that the race was not going to be held under FISA regulations and, therefore, would not count towards the championship. The race was won by Alan Jones.
• The French Grand Prix was moved from Dijon-Prenois to Circuit Paul Ricard, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits. Likewise, the British Grand Prix was moved from Silverstone to Brands Hatch.
• The Italian Grand Prix was moved from the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza to the Autodromo Dino Ferrari while Monza underwent major upgrades, including a new pit building.

Round 1: Argentina

The 1980 Formula One season started in Argentina in January, at the Buenos Aires Municipal Autodrome. After Friday's practice, due to the heat and the suction the ground-effect cars were creating, the track began to break up, and the drivers found conditions difficult and dangerous. Led by Emerson Fittipaldi, the drivers staged a semi-unsuccessful protest – the organizers fixed the track, but not successfully – and on race day, the track remained in subpar condition. The race went ahead anyway, and many drivers were caught-out by the disintegration of the twisty arena infield section of the No.15 variant of the racing facility. After going off twice and dropping back to 4th after making a pit-stop to clean grass out of his car's radiators, Australian and title favorite Alan Jones took victory in his Williams-Ford/Cosworth. Brazilian Nelson Piquet, who also went off a few times, finished 2nd, and Finn Keke Rosberg scored 3rd in his Fittipaldi. French rookie Alain Prost, in his first ever F1 race, finished 6th and scored his first ever World Championship point. Gilles Villeneuve, competitive throughout in his Ferrari, crashed heavily at the Toboggan left-right sequence of corners after his front suspension failed after possible damage caused to it after a number of off-track excursions the Canadian had during the race.

Round 2: Brazil

The other half of the South American January tour took place in Brazil. This meeting was also met with pre-race difficulties. The safety conditions of the 5-mile Interlagos circuit located in São Paulo had been heavily protested by the drivers for some time, led by South African Ferrari driver Jody Scheckter. The original arrangement was that this Grand Prix was supposed to be held at the Jacarepaguá circuit in Rio de Janeiro, and then the drivers would return to Interlagos for 1981 after it would go through a complete resurfacing; but the Jacarepaguá circuit had problems with the tarmac sinking into the ground, so the only option was to return to São Paulo. The drivers protested that the Interlagos track's surface was so bad that it was dangerous to race on. The barriers and catch-fence arrangements were not deemed adequate enough to protect the cars from the embankments and uneven surface of the limited run-off areas there, even though the track was wide in most places. The race went ahead anyway, and the Renault of Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jabouille took pole and led for 25 of 40 laps. The Renault cars proved to be dominant at Interlagos, which was 2,840 ft (850 m) above sea level, giving the turbocharged Renault engines a horsepower advantage. Jabouille retired with turbo failure and his teammate René Arnoux took the lead and won, followed by Italian driver Elio de Angelis in a Lotus and Jones in his Williams.

Round 3: South Africa

The F1 teams arrived in South Africa in March, at the fast Kyalami circuit between Johannesburg and Pretoria in the midst of an African summer. Alain Prost crashed his McLaren at the Esses and broke his wrist; he would miss this and the next race in Long Beach; while Marc Surer crashed heavily at Crowthorne and broke his leg; he missed the next 3 races. Like Interlagos before, the higher altitude of Kyalami helped the Renault cars which dominated the race. Jabouille led for a while and retired, and Arnoux took the lead from 2nd place and won the race. This race effectively brought the FISA–FOCA war into the spotlight; FISA, the governing body of international motorsports (and the organization that the 3 big constructors – Renault, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo – were aligned to) led by Jean-Marie Balestre, argued that the ground effect cars of the time were too fast through corners, and FOCA (Formula One Constructors' Association, representing the mostly British independent constructors) led by Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley, argued that the superior road-holding of the independent teams' cars equalized their cars to the power advantages that particularly the Renaults had.

Round 4: United States West

A stop-over in Long Beach, California right next to the Industrial landscape of Los Angeles happened 4 weeks after the South African race. The hot weather gave for a heated atmosphere at the first street circuit (1 of 2 on the calendar – the other being Monaco) which was in contrast to the previous 3 quick Southern Hemisphere circuits used thus far in the season. With its tight, slow layout being lined with concrete walls, Long Beach was known then to be the most punishing race of the season on the car and driver. Nelson Piquet won every award to win this race in his Brabham-Ford/Cosworth – he took pole, set fastest lap, led from start to finish and took his first of 23 race victories. The race itself saw multiple accidents – there was a pile-up at the Le Gasomet hairpin caused by Alfa Romeo driver Bruno Giacomelli, and the 40-year-old Swiss Clay Regazzoni crashed at the end of the long, flat-out Shoreline Drive when the brakes on his Ensign failed and he collided head on at 180 mph into Ricardo Zunino's parked Brabham, then through some tires and into a concrete wall. The Swiss was critically injured, but survived; he would be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life.

Round 5: Belgium

The cancellation of the Mexican Grand Prix, supposed to have taken place 2 weeks after Long Beach, created a 5-week gap between Long Beach and the Belgian Grand Prix. The F1 circus started its 4-month long European tour at Zolder, where Frenchman Didier Pironi took his first career victory in his Ligier-Ford/Cosworth ahead of Alan Jones and his Argentine teammate Carlos Reutemann.

Round 6: Monaco

The street race in Monaco began with a pile-up at the start, where Derek Daly went flying twice over a number of cars at the first corner. He took out Prost in the McLaren, his teammate Jean-Pierre Jarier and Bruno Giacomelli in an Alfa Romeo. Didier Pironi led and crashed, and Carlos Reutemann took the lead and won from Frenchman Jacques Laffite in a Ligier-Ford/Cosworth and Piquet in a Brabham.

Non-championship race: Spain

The Spanish Grand Prix at the Jarama circuit near Madrid ended up losing its championship status after Jean-Marie Balestre announced on morning of Friday's practice (in an attempt to put FOCA in their place after drivers driving for FOCA-aligned teams did not show up to drivers' meetings at the previous 2 Grands Prix) that the 1980 Spanish GP would not count as a championship round. Balestre also stripped the drivers of their racing licenses. The FISA-supported manufacturer teams – Renault, Ferrari, and Alfa – all pulled out, and the FOCA-supported independent constructors stayed to race. The race was won by Alan Jones, who had also taken pole.

Round 7: France

The abrupt non-championship status of the Spanish Grand Prix and the cancellation of the Swedish Grand Prix at the Anderstorp circuit meant there was a 6-week gap between the Monaco and French Grands Prix. The French Grand Prix took place while the situation around the Spanish Grand Prix was continuing 4 weeks afterwards. With their racing licenses given back to them, the drivers got on with the racing, and at the Paul Ricard circuit on the southern French riviera near Marseille, Williams driver Jones beat the Ligiers of Jacques Laffite and Didier Pironi on home soil. Jones won the race by 4.52 seconds from Pironi after he had been held up by teammate Laffite for a number of laps.

Round 8: Great Britain

The British Grand Prix in 1980 was at Brands Hatch, just outside London. This race on the southern English circuit saw the Ligiers of Pironi and Laffite lead and fall out; Pironi retired after a puncture, and Laffite crashed at Hawthorn's. Alan Jones took advantage of the Ligier's problems and managed to hold off Nelson Piquet to win again in a Williams, the English team's second consecutive British GP win.

Round 9: West Germany

The German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring was marred by the fatal pre-race testing accident of Patrick Depailler at the flat out Ost-Kurve 9 days before the race. Suspension failure on his Alfa Romeo caused him to crash massively after his car overturned and vaulted the barriers, causing fatal head injuries. Alan Jones took pole from Renault driver Jabouille by mere hundredths of a second, and he led the race until he had to come in with a puncture on the straight before the stadium. Laffite and Reutemann passed Jones, who finished 3rd. Laffite went on to win for Ligier, followed by the Williams duo of Reutemann and Jones.

Round 10: Austria

The fastest circuit of the season, the Österreichring in the Styrian mountains, enabled Jabouille to win by seconds from Alan Jones. Renault driver Jabouille, who had retired from every race he had participated in so far in the season, finished this race. His development work with Renault over the past 4 seasons gave him his 2nd and last F1 victory of his career.

Round 11: The Netherlands

The beach-side Zandvoort circuit near Amsterdam, modified from the previous year, saw Brazilian Nelson Piquet win from Frenchmen Arnoux and Laffite. The Renaults dominated qualifying, although Jabouille retired, and Jones went out after accident damage.

Round 12: Italy

The European tour concluded with the Italian Grand Prix being held at the Autodromo Dino Ferrari near the town of Imola, rather than Monza. The Dino Ferrari circuit, located near the Ferrari factory and just outside Bologna, had signed a deal to alternate the Italian GP with Monza, on the condition that Monza improve its track safety and facilities. Although the Monza track owners had already made safety upgrades a year before, the deal had been signed before Monza made changes; so for the first time since 1948 (and for the only time during the World Championship era), the Italian GP was not held at Monza. The Renaults dominated qualifying at this fast Italian circuit, although they fell out with mechanical problems; and Piquet won again and overtook Jones in the championship, who finished 2nd in front of his teammate Carlos Reutemann.

Round 13: Canada

The final leg of the 1980 Formula One season was a 2-part tour in North America, starting in Canada, at the Ile-Notre Dame circuit in Montreal. This race had to be restarted after a multiple pile-up involving Piquet and Jones at the start, when Jones shut the door at the very first corner after the start. Piquet jumped into the spare car, which had a short-lasting qualifying Ford/Cosworth engine in it which blew up early on, and Jones won the race, which effectively gave the Australian his only ever Formula One Drivers' Championship, and Williams's first ever Constructors' Championship. Jabouille crashed head on into a tire-wall and broke both of his legs.

Round 14: United States East

The other half of the North American visit and the last round of the 1980 Formula One season was the second round in the United States at the Watkins Glen circuit in New York State, four hours from New York City and 5 hours from Montreal. This race had been in doubt for almost the whole season, but went ahead after a loan was given by FOCA to the organizers. French rookie Alain Prost crashed heavily on Saturday morning practice due to suspension failure at the very fast left-handed Turn 10, the second-to-last corner on the track. Prost received a concussion after hitting his head on his car's steering wheel; he had to miss the race but was at the circuit on race day; he felt he could not trust the car's mechanical strength after a season's worth of component failures on his car, which often led to accidents; this happened to Prost a week earlier in Montreal.^[5]

Bruno Giacomelli took pole in his Alfa, the first time an Alfa Romeo had been on pole since 1951. Giacomelli led for most of the race up until Lap 32, when the electrics in his Alfa failed in the Boot section of the course. Jones went off at the first corner at the start and dropped to 16th; he raced through and took 2nd from his Argentine teammate Carlos Reutemann, and then inherited the lead from Giacomelli after the Italian retired. Jones won his 5th race of the year (6 if Spain is counted) ahead of Reutemann and Didier Pironi in a Ligier. 1978 champion Mario Andretti scored his only point of the 1980 season at Watkins Glen, close to his adoptive town in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

This would be the last championship Formula One race at the Watkins Glen circuit. The corporation running the circuit was in debt, and went bankrupt after it could not meet Bernie Ecclestone and FOCA's increased demands, and the circuit was struck from the 1981 season calendar in May of that year. Although there were other Grands Prix that would be run in the United States during the 1980s aside from Long Beach, the United States Grand Prix would not be run again until 1989 on a street circuit in Phoenix, Arizona.

A third American race, the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas, was supposed to be the final event of the season 4 weeks after Watkins Glen, but this event was cancelled.

Grands Prix

More information Round, Grand Prix ...

Round	Grand Prix	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning constructor	Report
1	Argentine Grand Prix	Alan Jones	Alan Jones	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	Report
2	Brazilian Grand Prix	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	René Arnoux	René Arnoux	Renault	Report
3	South African Grand Prix	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	René Arnoux	René Arnoux	Renault	Report
4	United States Grand Prix West	Nelson Piquet	Nelson Piquet	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	Report
5	Belgian Grand Prix	Alan Jones	Jacques Laffite	Didier Pironi	Ligier-Ford	Report
6	Monaco Grand Prix	Didier Pironi	Carlos Reutemann	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	Report
7	French Grand Prix	Jacques Laffite	Alan Jones	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	Report
8	British Grand Prix	Didier Pironi	Didier Pironi	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	Report
9	German Grand Prix	Alan Jones	Alan Jones	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Ford	Report
10	Austrian Grand Prix	René Arnoux	René Arnoux	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	Report
11	Dutch Grand Prix	René Arnoux	René Arnoux	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	Report
12	Italian Grand Prix	René Arnoux	Alan Jones	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	Report
13	Canadian Grand Prix	Nelson Piquet	Didier Pironi	Alan Jones[a]	Williams-Ford	Report
14	United States Grand Prix	Bruno Giacomelli	Alan Jones	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	Report

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Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers. The International Cup for F1 Constructors counted the points of all drivers for a constructor. For the Championship, the best five results from rounds 1-7 and the best five results from rounds 8-14 were counted, while, for the Cup, all rounds were counted.

Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in the following system:

World Drivers' Championship standings

More information Pos, Driver ...

Pos Driver ARG BRA RSA USW BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA Points[7] 1 Alan Jones 1PF 3 Ret Ret 2P Ret 1F 1 (3)PF 2 11 2F 1 1F 67 (71) 2 Nelson Piquet 2 Ret 4 1PF Ret 3 4 2 4 5 1 1 RetP Ret 54 3 Carlos Reutemann Ret Ret 5 Ret 3 1F 6 3 2 3 (4) (3) 2 2 42 (49) 4 Jacques Laffite Ret Ret 2 Ret 11F 2 3P Ret 1 4 3 9 8 5 34 5 Didier Pironi Ret 4 3 6 1 RetP 2 RetPF Ret Ret Ret 6 3F 3 32 6 René Arnoux Ret 1F 1F 9 4 Ret 5 NC Ret 9PF 2PF 10P Ret 7 29 7 Elio de Angelis Ret 2 Ret Ret 10 9 Ret Ret 16 6 Ret 4 10 4 13 8 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Ret RetP RetP 10 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 1 Ret Ret Ret 9 9 Riccardo Patrese Ret 6 Ret 2 Ret 8 9 9 9 14 Ret Ret Ret Ret 7 10 Keke Rosberg 3 9 Ret Ret 7 DNQ Ret DNQ Ret 16 DNQ 5 9 10 6 11 John Watson Ret 11 11 4 NC DNQ 7 8 Ret Ret Ret Ret 4 NC 6 12 Derek Daly 4 14 Ret 8 9 Ret 11 4 10 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 6 13 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ret 12 7 Ret 5 Ret Ret 5 15 Ret 5 13 7 NC 6 14 Gilles Villeneuve Ret 16 Ret Ret 6 5 8 Ret 6 8 7 Ret 5 Ret 6 15 Emerson Fittipaldi NC 15 8 3 Ret 6 Ret 12 Ret 11 Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 16 Alain Prost 6 5 DNS Ret Ret Ret 6 11 7 6 7 Ret DNS 5 17 Jochen Mass Ret 10 6 7 Ret 4 10 13 8 DNQ 11 Ret 4 18 Bruno Giacomelli 5 13 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 Ret Ret Ret Ret RetP 4 19 Jody Scheckter Ret Ret Ret 5 8 Ret 12 10 13 13 9 8 DNQ 11 2 20 Mario Andretti Ret Ret 12 Ret Ret 7 Ret Ret 7 Ret 8 Ret Ret 6 1 21 Héctor Rebaque 7 Ret 10 Ret Ret 6 Ret 1 — Marc Surer Ret 7 DNS Ret Ret 12 12 10 Ret DNQ 8 0 — Ricardo Zunino 7 8 10 Ret Ret DNQ Ret 0 — Rupert Keegan 11 DNQ 15 DNQ 11 DNQ 9 0 — Clay Regazzoni NC Ret 9 Ret 0 — Jan Lammers DNQ DNQ DNQ Ret 12 NC DNQ DNQ 14 DNQ DNQ DNQ 12 Ret 0 — Eddie Cheever DNQ DNQ Ret Ret DNQ DNQ Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret Ret 0 — Geoff Lees 13 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ Ret DNQ DNQ 0 — Patrick Depailler Ret Ret NC Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 0 — Nigel Mansell Ret Ret DNQ 0 — Vittorio Brambilla Ret Ret 0 — Andrea de Cesaris Ret Ret 0 — Mike Thackwell DNQ Ret DNQ 0 — Tiff Needell Ret DNQ 0 — David Kennedy DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 — Stefan Johansson DNQ DNQ 0 — Stephen South DNQ 0 — Desiré Wilson DNQ 0 — Harald Ertl DNQ 0 — Manfred Winkelhock DNQ 0 — Kevin Cogan DNQ 0 Pos Driver ARG BRA RSA USW BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA Points

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Other points position Blue Other classified position Not classified, finished (NC) Purple Not classified, retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrawn (WD) Did not enter (empty cell) Annotation Meaning P Pole position F Fastest lap

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International Cup for F1 Constructors standings

More information Pos, Constructor ...

Pos	Constructor	Car no.	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA	Points
1	Williams-Ford	27	1PF	3	Ret	Ret	2P	Ret	1F	1	3PF	2	11	2F	1	1F	120
		28	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	3	1F	6	3	2	3	4	3	2	2
		43								DNQ
		50								11	DNQ	15	DNQ	11	DNQ	9
		51													DNQ	DNQ
2	Ligier-Ford	25	Ret	4	3	6	1	RetP	2	RetPF	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	3F	3	66
		26	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	11F	2	3P	Ret	1	4	3	9	8	5
3	Brabham-Ford	5	2	Ret	4	1PF	Ret	3	4	2	4	5	1	1	RetP	Ret	55
		6	7	8	10	Ret	Ret	DNQ	Ret	7	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	6	Ret
4	Renault	15	Ret	RetP	RetP	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	1	Ret	Ret	Ret		38
		16	Ret	1F	1F	9	4	Ret	5	NC	Ret	9PF	2PF	10P	Ret	7
5	Lotus-Ford	11	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	6	14
		12	Ret	2	Ret	Ret	10	9	Ret	Ret	16	6	Ret	4	10	4
		43										Ret	Ret	DNQ
6	Tyrrell-Ford	3	Ret	12	7	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	5	15	Ret	5	13	7	NC	12
		4	4	14	Ret	8	9	Ret	11	4	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
		43													Ret	DNQ
7	Arrows-Ford	29	Ret	6	Ret	2	Ret	8	9	9	9	14	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11
		30	Ret	10	6	7	Ret	4	10	13	8	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	11	Ret
8	Fittipaldi-Ford	20	NC	15	8	3	Ret	6	Ret	12	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11
		21	3	9	Ret	Ret	7	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	Ret	16	DNQ	5	9	10
9	McLaren-Ford	7	Ret	11	11	4	NC	DNQ	7	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	4	NC	11
		8	6	5	DNS	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	11	7	6	7	Ret	DNS
10	Ferrari	1	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	8	Ret	12	10	13	13	9	8	DNQ	11	8
		2	Ret	16	Ret	Ret	6	5	8	Ret	6	8	7	Ret	5	Ret
11	Alfa Romeo	22	Ret	Ret	NC	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret			Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	4
		23	5	13	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	RetP
—	ATS-Ford	9	Ret	7	DNS	Ret	12	NC	Ret	Ret	12	12	10	Ret	DNQ	8	0
		10	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ						DNQ
—	Ensign-Ford	14	NC	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	14	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	12	Ret	0
		41											Ret	DNQ
—	Osella-Ford	31	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	0
—	Shadow-Ford	17	DNQ	DNQ	13	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ								0
		18	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
Pos	Constructor	Car no.	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA	Points

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