Race · Round 9 of 15 · 18 July 1981

1981 British Grand Prix

John Watson won for McLaren from 5th on the grid at Silverstone Circuit. 13 of the starters were not classified.

Circuit: Silverstone CircuitSilverstone, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Winner: John WatsonMcLaren
Pole: Rene Arnoux
Fastest lap: Rene Arnoux
Entries: 3011 classified

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	John Watson	McLaren	—	5	68	Finished	9
2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams	FW07C	9	68	Finished	6
3	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	JS17	14	67	Finished	4
4	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell	—	23	67	Finished	3
5	Héctor Rebaque	Brabham	BT49C	13	67	Finished	2
6	Slim Borgudd	ATS	—	21	67	Finished	1
7	Derek Daly	March	811	17	66	Finished	0
8	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella	—	20	65	Finished	0
9	Rene Arnoux	Renault	—	1	64	Distributor	0	fastest lap
10	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows	A3	10	64	Engine	0
11	Marc Surer	Theodore	TY01	24	61	Out of fuel	0
DNF	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	—	11	59	Throttle	0
DNF	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi	F8C	16	56	Suspension	0
DSQ	Elio de Angelis	Team Lotus	—	22	25	Ignored yellow flags	0
DNF	Alain Prost	Renault	—	2	17	Distributor	0
DNF	Patrick Tambay	Ligier	JS17	15	15	Clutch	0
DNF	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	126CK	4	13	Turbo	0
DNF	Nelson Piquet	Brabham	BT49C	3	11	Tyre	0
DNF	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	—	12	5	Transmission	0
DNF	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	126CK	8	4	Spun off	0
DNF	Alan Jones	Williams	FW07C	7	3	Collision	0
DNF	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren	—	6	3	Spun off	0
DNF	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell	—	19	0	Clutch	0
DNF	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows	A3	18	0	Spun off	0
DNQ	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi	F8C	—	—	DNQ	0
DNQ	Brian Henton	Toleman	TG181	—	—	DNQ	0
DNQ	Nigel Mansell	Team Lotus	—	—	—	DNQ	0
DNQ	Eliseo Salazar	Ensign	N180B	—	—	DNQ	0
DNQ	Derek Warwick	Toleman	TG181	—	—	DNQ	0
DNQ	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella	—	—	—	DNQ	0

A blank chassis is a season the team ran more than one design and no source says which car raced here.

F1DB layout silverstone-2 · 4.719 km · 9 turns, F1DB’s figures
F1DB, CC BY 4.0 · drawn by Jules Roy
The outline is F1DB’s, for every layout; the trace is OpenStreetMap’s, where it exists.

Grid to flag

Lines run from grid slot to result, ending at the last lap completed. A dashed line ending in a cross is a driver not classified. Nothing between is recorded, so a crossing is not an overtake at that lap.

Grid to flag
Driver	Grid	Result	Laps
John Watson	5	1	68
Carlos Reutemann	9	2	68
Jacques Laffite	14	3	67
Eddie Cheever	23	4	67
Héctor Rebaque	13	5	67
Slim Borgudd	21	6	67
Derek Daly	17	7	66
Jean-Pierre Jarier	20	8	65
Rene Arnoux	1	9	64
Riccardo Patrese	10	10	64
Marc Surer	24	11	61
Mario Andretti	11	DNF	59
Keke Rosberg	16	DNF	56
Elio de Angelis	22	DSQ	25
Alain Prost	2	DNF	17
Patrick Tambay	15	DNF	15
Didier Pironi	4	DNF	13
Nelson Piquet	3	DNF	11
Bruno Giacomelli	12	DNF	5
Gilles Villeneuve	8	DNF	4
Alan Jones	7	DNF	3
Andrea de Cesaris	6	DNF	3
Michele Alboreto	19	DNF	0
Siegfried Stohr	18	DNF	0

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Rene Arnoux	Renault	16	1:11.000	—	—
2	Alain Prost	Renault	15	1:11.046	+0.046	+0.046
3	Nelson Piquet	Brabham	5	1:11.952	+0.952	+0.906
4	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	28	1:12.644	+1.644	+0.692
5	John Watson	McLaren	7	1:12.712	+1.712	+0.068
6	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren	8	1:12.728	+1.728	+0.016
7	Alan Jones	Williams	1	1:12.998	+1.998	+0.270
8	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	27	1:13.311	+2.311	+0.313
9	Carlos Reutemann	Williams	2	1:13.371	+2.371	+0.060
10	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows	29	1:13.762	+2.762	+0.391
11	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	22	1:13.928	+2.928	+0.166
12	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	23	1:14.119	+3.119	+0.191
13	Héctor Rebaque	Brabham	6	1:14.542	+3.542	+0.423
14	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	26	1:14.798	+3.798	+0.256
15	Patrick Tambay	Ligier	25	1:14.976	+3.976	+0.178
16	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi	20	1:15.165	+4.165	+0.189
17	Derek Daly	March	17	1:15.189	+4.189	+0.024
18	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows	30	1:15.304	+4.304	+0.115
19	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell	4	1:15.850	+4.850	+0.546
20	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Osella	32	1:15.898	+4.898	+0.048
21	Slim Borgudd	ATS	9	1:15.959	+4.959	+0.061
22	Elio de Angelis	Team Lotus	11	1:15.971	+4.971	+0.012
23	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell	3	1:16.099	+5.099	+0.128
24	Marc Surer	Theodore	33	1:16.155	+5.155	+0.056
25	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi	21	1:16.360	+5.360	+0.205
26	Brian Henton	Toleman	35	1:16.388	+5.388	+0.028
27	Nigel Mansell	Team Lotus	12	1:16.432	+5.432	+0.044
28	Eliseo Salazar	Ensign	14	1:16.694	+5.694	+0.262
29	Derek Warwick	Toleman	36	1:16.891	+5.891	+0.197
30	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella	31	1:17.784	+6.784	+0.893

Before knock-out qualifying arrived in 2006 there is one time per driver; from 2006, the best lap of each of the three sessions.

Pit stops

Pit stops are recorded from 1994. F1DB, the source of every stop here, holds none before then, so this race has no stints to draw.

Photographs from this race

Filed on Wikimedia Commons under this race's own category, each shown with the photographer and licence its terms require. The filing is the Commons editors' and has not been checked here.

Everything filed under 1981 British Grand Prix on Wikimedia Commons

The cars in this race

The photograph each car's Wikipedia article leads with, from Wikimedia Commons: taken wherever and whenever that was, not necessarily at this race.

A photograph marked unchecked has a file name that does not name the car it is shown for. Most are still the right car, filed under the driver rather than the machine — but nobody has confirmed these one by one.

Where this comes from

Round: 9 of 1981
Grand Prix: British Grand Prix
Dates: 18 Jul 1981
Layout raced: With Woodcote chicane · 4.719 km
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: McLaren
Entrant: McLaren-Ford
Confidence: reference

The layout raced and its figures are this register’s, from its own sources; the figures under the race’s drawing are F1DB’s, and at some circuits the two disagree.