United States GP 1980

United States GP, 1980

The only changes to the driver lineup from the field in South Africa a month earlier were because of injury: Stephen South was in the second McLaren in place of Alain Prost (who had a broken wrist) while Jan Lammers was again in the ATS. This was the sensation of qualifying as the Dutchman set the fourth fastest time with the new D4 chassis. Pole position went to Nelson Piquet in the Brabham ahead of Rene Arnoux's Renault and Patrick Depailler's Alfa Romeo. Alan Jones was fifth in his Williams with Bruno Giacomelli sixth in the second Alfa. Then came Carlos Reutemann (Williams), Riccardo Patrese (Arrows), Didier Pironi (Ligier) and Gilles Villeneuve in the Ferrari. Jacques Laffite was a disappointing 13th while World Champion Jody Scheckter was a dismal 16th in his Ferrari.

At the start Piquet managed to get to the first corner just ahead of Arnoux with Depailler third and then Lammers, Jones and Giacomelli three abreast. Behind then Mario Andretti's Lotus ran into the back of Jean-Pierre Jarier's Tyrrell, an accident which caused Zunino to crash. Moments later Lammers's race ended with a driveshaft failure.

This left Piquet, Arnoux and Depailler ahead of Jones, Giacomelli and Patrese. Depailler and Jones were soon ahead of Arnoux and Patrese dropped behind Reutemann but on the fourth lap there were a series of accidents as a result of Giacomelli spinning. Jarier and Reutemann were both eliminated while the promising Elio de Angelis (Lotus) crashed into the rear of Eddie Cheever's Osella and injured his ankle.

Piquet was able to edge away from Depailler with Jones, Arnoux and Patrese chasing. There was then a gap back to Villeneuve and the other midfield survivors. It took Jones until the 18th lap to get into second place while further back Villeneuve had moved up to fourth by overtaking Patrese and Arnoux. Patrese soon followed to get ahead of the Renault, while Villeneuve worked his way past Depailler. The Frenchman's race ended with a rear suspension failure on lap 41 and soon afterwards Villeneuve dropped back after damaging the nose of his car as he lapped Derek Daly.

A lap later Jones disappeared when he collided with Giacomelli, who was a lap behind. All this meant that Piquet was well ahead of Patrese while Arnoux was dropping back towards the Ensign of Clay Regazzoni. Unfortunately on lap 51 Regazzoni`s Ensign suffered a brake failure and crashed into Zunino's abandoned Brabham. It then flew through the air and hit a concrete barrier. Regazzoni suffered spinal injuries.

Piquet duly won his first Grand Prix victory with Patrese second and Emerson Fittipaldi third.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-Cosworth  80 1h50m18.550s  1 
2 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Cosworth  80 1h51m07.762s  8 
3 20 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Cosworth  80 1h51m37.113s  24 
4 7 John Watson McLaren-Cosworth  79  21 
5 1 Jody Scheckter Ferrari  79  16 
6 25 Didier Pironi Ligier-Cosworth  79  9 
7 30 Jochen Mass Arrows-Cosworth  79  17 
8 4 Derek Daly Tyrrell-Cosworth  79  14 
9 16 Rene Arnoux Renault  78  2 
10 15 Jean-Pierre Jabouille Renault  71  11 
r 21 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Cosworth  58 Engine Overheating 22 
r 14 Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Cosworth  50 Accident 23 
r 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo  49 Accident 6 
r 27 Alan Jones Williams-Cosworth  47 Accident 5 
r 2 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari  46 Drive Shaft 10 
r 22 Patrick Depailler Alfa Romeo  40 Rear Suspension 3 
r 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Cosworth  36 Puncture/ Suspension 13 
r 31 Eddie Cheever Osella-Cosworth  11 Drive Shaft 19 
r 28 Carlos Reutemann Williams-Cosworth  3 Drive Shaft 7 
r 3 Jean-Pierre Jarier Tyrrell-Cosworth  3 Accident 12 
r 12 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Cosworth  3 Accident 20 
r 6 Ricardo Zunino Brabham-Cosworth  0 Accident 18 
r 11 Mario Andretti Lotus-Cosworth  0 Accident 15 
r 9 Jan Lammers ATS-Cosworth  0 Drive Shaft 4 
nq 18 David Kennedy Shadow-Cosworth    25 
nq 17 Geoff Lees Shadow-Cosworth   Driver Ill 26 
nq 8 Stephen South McLaren-Cosworth    27