Brazilian GP 1980

Brazilian GP, 1980

The field was the same as had appeared in Argentine a fortnight earlier but this time it was Jean-Pierre Jabouille who was pole in his Renault, ahead of Didier Pironi's Ligier, Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari, Carlos Reutemann's Williams and Jacques Laffite's Ligier. The top 10 was completed by Rene Arnoux in the second Renault, Elio de Angelis (Lotus) and Jody Scheckter (Ferrari). Alan Jones had a poor qualifying and had to start 12th.

At the start of the race Villeneuve made a remarkable start to slot between Jabouille and Pironi to go into the lead. Laffite followed Villeneuve and at the first corner the order was Villeneuve, Pironi, Laffite, Jabouille and Arnoux. Reutemann's race ended almost immediately with a driveshaft failure.

Jabouille rapidly passed both Ligiers and on the second lap led his three fellow countrymen ahead of Villeneuve. In the laps which followed Villeneuve fell behind de Angelis and Jones. It was not long before Villeneuve pitted for new tires.

Pironi also pitted because of a skirt problem and so Jabouille was left with Laffite and Arnoux chasing. Laffite's race lasted only 14 laps and then the Ligier ground to a halt with an electrical problem. The Renaults were running 1-2 with de Angelis third and Jones fourth. Then came Riccardo Patrese (Arrows) and Alain Prost (McLaren) while Pironi was charging back up in seventh.

On lap 26 Jabouille suffered a turbo failure and so Arnoux was left in the lead and he remained there for the rest of the afternoon with de Angelis and Jones following him home at a distance. Pironi recovered to fourth with Prost fifth and Patrese sixth.

It was Arnoux's first F1 victory.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
16 Rene Arnoux Renault  40 1h40m01.330s  
12 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Cosworth  40 1h40m23.190s  
27 Alan Jones Williams-Cosworth  40 1h41m07.440s  10 
25 Didier Pironi Ligier-Cosworth  40 1h41m41.460s  
Alain Prost McLaren-Cosworth  40 1h42m26.740s  13 
29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Cosworth  39  14 
Marc Surer ATS-Cosworth  39  20 
Ricardo Zunino Brabham-Cosworth  39  18 
21 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Cosworth  39  15 
10 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Cosworth  39  16 
11 John Watson McLaren-Cosworth  39  23 
12 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Cosworth  39  22 
13 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo  39  17 
14 Derek Daly Tyrrell-Cosworth  38  24 
15 20 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Cosworth  38  19 
16r Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari  36 Throttle Jammed/ Spin 
22 Patrick Depailler Alfa Romeo  33 Electrics 21 
15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault  25 Turbo 
Nelson Piquet Brabham-Cosworth  14 Suspension/ Accident 
14 Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Cosworth  13 Handling 12 
26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Cosworth  13 Electrics 
Jody Scheckter Ferrari  10 Engine 
28 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Cosworth  Drive Shaft 
11 Mario Andretti Lotus-Cosworth  Spin 11 
nq 10 Jan Lammers ATS-Cosworth    25 
nq 18 David Kennedy Shadow-Cosworth    26 
nq 17 Stefan Johansson Shadow-Cosworth    27 
nq 31 Eddie Cheever Osella-Cosworth    28