1981 F1 Season

The 1981 Formula One World Championship, marking the 35th season of FIA Formula One motor racing, was a year of intense rivalry and significant regulatory changes. Nelson Piquet, driving for Brabham, won his first of three drivers’ championships, narrowly defeating Carlos Reutemann of Williams by just one point. Williams-Ford secured the Constructors’ Championship for the second consecutive year. The season, which ran from 15 March to 17 October, comprised 15 races, including the inaugural San Marino Grand Prix and the first championship race in the parking lot of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Notably, this season was the first to be conducted under the new Concorde Agreement, which required teams to enter the entire championship rather than individual races, standardizing rules and prize money across all events.

1981 was a year of transition and controversy in Formula One. The season was overshadowed by the ongoing FISA-FOCA war, a conflict between the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) and the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) over regulations and commercial aspects of the sport. This dispute led to the South African Grand Prix being run as a non-championship Formula Libre event. On the track, the season was characterized by close competition and dramatic races. The Monaco Grand Prix was particularly notable, with Gilles Villeneuve’s masterful win in a Ferrari. The season also saw the introduction of new teams and drivers, as well as the emergence of turbocharged engines, which began to dominate the sport. The final race in Las Vegas, held in the Caesars Palace parking lot, was a unique and challenging venue that ultimately decided the championship in Piquet’s favor.