1980 United States Grand Prix

1980 United States Grand Prix
Race 14 of 14 in the 1980 Formula One season
Race details
Date	October 5, 1980
Official name	XXIII Toyota United States Grand Prix
Location	Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course Watkins Glen, New York
Course	Permanent road course
Course length	5.435 km (3.377 miles)
Distance	59 laps, 320.67 km (199.24 miles)
Weather	Cloudy and dry with temperatures reaching up to 12 °C (54 °F); Wind speeds up to 14.82 km/h (9.21 mph)
Pole position
Driver	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo
Time	1:33.291
Fastest lap
Driver	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford
Time	1:34.068 on lap 44
Podium
First	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford
Second	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford
Third	Didier Pironi	Ligier-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1980 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 5, 1980 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. This event was also referred to as the United States Grand Prix East in order to distinguish it from the United States Grand Prix West held on March 30, 1980 in Long Beach, California.

It was the fourteenth and final race of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was the 30th United States Grand Prix, the 20th and last to be held at Watkins Glen, and the last to be held for nine years (other Formula One races were held in the United States during that time, but none were billed as the United States Grand Prix). The race was held over 59 laps of the 5.435-kilometre (3.377 mi) circuit for a total race distance of 320.67 kilometres (199.26 mi).

The race was won by the new World Champion, Australian driver Alan Jones, driving a Williams FW07B. It was Jones' fifth World Championship Formula One victory of the season and the sixth of the seven Grands Prix (including Spain and Australia) he would win in his career defining season. Jones won by four seconds over his Argentine team mate Carlos Reutemann with French driver Didier Pironi finishing third in his Ligier JS11/15. Two former World Champions, Emerson Fittipaldi and Jody Scheckter, retired after the race, although Fittipaldi would later return to racing in the American CART series.

Summary

Frank Williams' first Championship season, his eleventh as an owner, ended in style with another victory by team leader and new Driver's Champion Alan Jones, but this was the last Grand Prix to be held on the historic Watkins Glen course in the wooded hills at the foot of Seneca Lake. The Glen's demise came about when attempts to resurface the track proved not to be enough, runoff areas became too short for the speeds produced, and attendance was not what it had been, for even this race had been in doubt until just a month before.

As the track's last Grand Prix weekend got under way, the big surprise of qualifying was the Alfa Romeo of Italian Bruno Giacomelli, who was quickest in both Friday's and Saturday's sessions, averaging 130.314 mph (209.720 km/h). Giacomelli took the only pole of his 69-race career, and the first for Alfa Romeo since Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1951 Italian Grand Prix, by three-quarters of a second over a tightly-bunched group including Nelson Piquet's Brabham, Carlos Reutemann's Williams, Elio de Angelis' Lotus and Jones in the second Williams.

Race day threatened rain, but none appeared. Alain Prost, completing his first F1 season had a heavy crash at Turn 10 during Friday practice. He hit his head on his McLaren's steering wheel and suffered a concussion, forcing him to miss the race. This enabled Dutchman Jan Lammers to start the race, and Prost, already having suffered 8 previous mechanical failures during the season chose to leave McLaren for the factory Renault team. At the start, Giacomelli got off the line well and led into the first turn. Jones rocketed forward from fifth on the grid to second entering Turn One, but he could not hold his line through the turn. He, along with Giacomelli's teammate Andrea de Cesaris swung wide onto the dirt, then collected himself and continued, finishing the first lap in fourteenth place.

At the end of a lap, Giacomelli had opened a gap back to Piquet, followed by Reutemann, Didier Pironi, de Angelis and Héctor Rebaque. In two more laps, the Alfa was ahead by two and a half seconds. Meanwhile, Jones was battling his way back through the field, and on lap 7, he was already poking around the gearbox of John Watson's McLaren, trying to take seventh place. Watson held him off until the tenth lap, and, once by, Jones quickly pulled away after de Angelis and Pironi.

Giacomelli continued to set an even pace, and his lead was ten seconds on lap 21, with Reutemann now threatening Piquet, whose tires were beginning to go off. Jones had caught up to de Angelis, and on the next lap, got around him for fifth.

Reutemann's pressure, and the Brabham's increasing lack of grip, finally got to Piquet on lap 26 as he spun off in turn one. The off-road excursion damaged a skirt, and he retired after reaching the pits. Three laps later, Jones passed Pironi for third, as the Ligier was also suffering from tire wear.

The only car between Jones and the leader now was teammate Reutemann, but with the Driver's Championship already in Jones' hands, there would be no team orders. Understeer induced by a worn left front tire was plaguing the Argentine, however, and Jones easily overcame him on lap 30 and set his sights on Giacomelli, now 12 seconds ahead. The red and white Alfa Romeo coasted to a halt in the Boot on lap 32 with electrical trouble. Once in the lead, Jones went faster and faster, finally doing a 1:34.068 on lap 44, better than his qualifying time.

When Watson pitted to replace a broken shock absorber on his McLaren, crowd favorite Mario Andretti moved up to the final points position. A set of new tires allowed René Arnoux to catch and pass the American, but a broken skirt soon slowed the Renault, and Andretti was able to regain the sixth spot and score his only point of the season.

The Williams team celebrated the climax to a year in which they had taken the Driver's and Constructor's Championships by waving a huge Union Flag at their one-two finish. The race saw not only the end of Formula One at Watkins Glen, but former champions Emerson Fittipaldi and Jody Scheckter's last Grand Prix and Mario Andretti's last race for Colin Chapman and Lotus. This Grand Prix would also witness the final occasion where a privateer entry would be classified as a finisher with Rupert Keegan finishing in 9th place in a RAM Racing-entered Williams FW07.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1:33.291
2	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	1:34.080	+0.789
3	28	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	1:34.111	+0.820
4	12	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	1:34.185	+0.894
5	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1:34.216	+0.925
6	16	René Arnoux	Renault	1:34.839	+1.548
7	26	Didier Pironi	Ligier-Ford	1:34.971	+1.680
8	6	Héctor Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	1:35.166	+1.875
9	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1:35.202	+1.921
10	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	1:35.235	+1.954
11	11	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	1:35.343	+2.052
12	25	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Ford	1:35.421	+2.130
13	8	Alain Prost	McLaren-Ford	1:35.988	+2.697
14	21	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:36.332	+3.041
15	50	Rupert Keegan	Williams-Ford	1:36.750	+3.459
16	31	Eddie Cheever	Osella-Ford	1:36.908	+3.607
17	9	Marc Surer	ATS-Ford	1:37.001	+3.710
18	2	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1:37.040	+3.749
19	20	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:37.088	+3.797
20	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	1:37.405	+4.114
21	4	Derek Daly	Tyrrell-Ford	1:37.923	+4.632
22	3	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Tyrrell-Ford	1:37.966	+4.675
23	1	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari	1:38.149	+4.858
24	30	Jochen Mass	Arrows-Ford	1:38.526	+5.535
25	14	Jan Lammers	Ensign-Ford	1:38.532	+5.541
DNQ	43	Mike Thackwell	Tyrrell-Ford	1:51.102	+17.811
DNQ	51	Geoff Lees	Williams-Ford	-	-
DNA	60	Nigel Mansell*	Lotus-Ford	-	-
DNA	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille*	Renault	-	-

• = Mansell was originally entered in this race, but Andretti used the car originally allocated to Mansell after Andretti wrote off his car during the Canadian Grand Prix one week earlier. Jabouille was also entered in this race, but had to miss out due to leg injuries sustained at the same Canadian race.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	27	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	G	59	1:34:36.05	5	9
2	28	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	G	59	+ 4.21	3	6
3	25	Didier Pironi	Ligier-Ford	G	59	+ 12.57	7	4
4	12	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	G	59	+ 29.69	4	3
5	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Ford	G	58	+ 1 Lap	12	2
6	11	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	G	58	+ 1 Lap	11	1
7	16	René Arnoux	Renault	M	58	+ 1 Lap	6
8	9	Marc Surer	ATS-Ford	G	57	+ 2 Laps	17
9	50	Rupert Keegan	Williams-Ford	G	57	+ 2 Laps	15
10	21	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	G	57	+ 2 Laps	14
11	1	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari	M	56	+ 3 Laps	23
NC	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	G	50	+ 9 Laps	9
Ret	2	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	M	49	Accident	18
NC	3	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Tyrrell-Ford	G	40	+ 19 Laps	22
Ret	30	Jochen Mass	Arrows-Ford	G	36	Transmission	24
Ret	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	G	31	Electrical	1
Ret	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	G	25	Spun Off	2
Ret	6	Héctor Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	G	20	Engine	8
Ret	31	Eddie Cheever	Osella-Ford	G	20	Suspension	16
Ret	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	G	16	Spun Off	20
Ret	14	Jan Lammers	Ensign-Ford	G	16	Steering	25
Ret	20	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	G	15	Suspension	19
Ret	4	Derek Daly	Tyrrell-Ford	G	3	Spun Off	21
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Alfa Romeo	G	2	Accident	10
DNS	8	Alain Prost	McLaren-Ford	G		Driver Injured	13
Source:

Notes

• This was the 10th Grand Prix start for Osella.
• This was the 25th podium finish for Ligier.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alan Jones	67 (71)
2	Nelson Piquet	54
3	Carlos Reutemann	42 (49)
4	Jacques Laffite	34
5	Didier Pironi	32
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Williams-Ford	120
2	Ligier-Ford	66
3	Brabham-Ford	55
4	Renault	38
5	Lotus-Ford	14
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Only the best 5 results from the first 7 races and the best 5 results from the last 7 races counted towards the Drivers' Championship. If different from Championship points, total points scored are shown in parentheses.

Further reading

• Rob Walker (January, 1981). "22nd United States Grand Prix: Final Round". Road & Track, 110-113.