Season 1981 · Round 9

British Grand Prix

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1981-07-18 · Silverstone Circuit · UK · British Grand Prix · 68Lap · 320.824km
7 John Watson
McLaren 1:26:54.800
Team win 9pt P1 · P22
2 Carlos Reutemann
Williams +40.650
26 Jacques Laffite
Ligier
Fastest Lap
—
DNF
12
Mario Andretti L59 Keke Rosberg L56 Alain Prost L17 Patrick Tambay L15 Didier Pironi L13 Nelson Piquet L11 Siegfried Stohr L8 Bruno Giacomelli L5 Gilles Villeneuve L4 Alan Jones L3 +2
Tyre usage Race Control
Storylines · This Grand Prix & circuit
Most wins at this GP
Jim Clark 5 wins
Alain Prost active 5 wins
Pole-to-win rate 22/61 36.1%
Most DNFs · all-time P13
Most SC/VSC · all-time P1
Closest finish · all-time P34
Most lead changes · all-time P4
Circuit Info
Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, UK
68Lap 320.824km 61 races held (1950–) Lap record 1:18.739 · Michael Schumacher (2004)
Track layout in detail →
Records Watch · Active drivers ranked at this Grand Prix
Wins
P2 Alain Prost 5 wins · → Lewis Hamilton -4
P4 Nigel Mansell 4 wins · → Alain Prost -1
P17 Carlos Reutemann 1 wins · → Sebastian Vettel -1
Starts
P6 Riccardo Patrese 17 starts · → Michael Schumacher -1
P14 Andrea de Cesaris 14 starts · → Sebastian Vettel -1
P18 Nelson Piquet 13 starts · → Giancarlo Fisichella -1
Grid → Finish · places gained and lost
GRID FINISH 10 20 30 40 50 60 L68 Watson · P5 → P1 · +4 5 Watson WAT 1 Watson WAT Reutemann · P9 → P2 · +7 9 Reutemann REU 2 Reutemann REU Laffite · P14 → P3 · +11 14 Laffite LAF 3 Laffite LAF Cheever · P23 → P4 · +19 23 Cheever CHE 4 Cheever CHE Rebaque · P13 → P5 · +8 13 Rebaque REB 5 Rebaque REB Borgudd · P21 → P6 · +15 21 Borgudd BOR 6 Borgudd BOR Daly · P17 → P7 · +10 17 Daly DAL 7 Daly DAL Jarier · P20 → P8 · +12 20 Jarier JAR 8 Jarier JAR Arnoux · P1 → P9 · -8 1 Arnoux ARN 9 Arnoux ARN Patrese · P10 → P10 10 Patrese PAT 10 Patrese PAT Surer · P24 → P11 · +13 24 Surer SUR 11 Surer SUR Andretti · P11 → retired L59 Andretti · retired L59 11 Andretti AND R Andretti AND Rosberg · P14 → retired L56 Rosberg · retired L56 14 Rosberg ROS R Rosberg ROS de Angelis · P22 → P14 · +8 22 de Angelis DE 14 de Angelis DE Prost · P2 → retired L17 Prost · retired L17 2 Prost PRO R Prost PRO Tambay · P15 → retired L15 Tambay · retired L15 15 Tambay TAM R Tambay TAM Pironi · P4 → retired L13 Pironi · retired L13 4 Pironi PIR R Pironi PIR Piquet · P3 → retired L11 Piquet · retired L11 3 Piquet PIQ R Piquet PIQ Giacomelli · P12 → retired L5 Giacomelli · retired L5 12 Giacomelli GIA R Giacomelli GIA Villeneuve · P8 → retired L4 Villeneuve · retired L4 8 Villeneuve VIL R Villeneuve VIL Jones · P7 → retired L3 Jones · retired L3 7 Jones JON R Jones JON de Cesaris · P6 → retired L3 de Cesaris · retired L3 6 de Cesaris DE R de Cesaris DE Alboreto · P19 → retired L1 Alboreto · retired L1 19 Alboreto ALB R Alboreto ALB Stohr · P18 → retired L8 Stohr · retired L8 18 Stohr STO R Stohr STO
retired horizontal axis = laps completed · line thickness = places gained or lost
PosDriverTeamGridLapTime / StatusPoints
1 7 John Watson McLaren 5 68 1:26:54.800 9
2 2 Carlos Reutemann Williams 9 68 +40.650 6
3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier 14 67 +1 Lap 4
4 3 Eddie Cheever Tyrrell 23 67 +1 Lap 3
5 6 Hector Rebaque Brabham 13 67 +1 Lap 2
6 9 Slim Borgudd ATS 21 67 +1 Lap 1
7 17 Derek Daly March 17 66 +2 Laps
8 32 Jean-Pierre Jarier Osella 20 65 +3 Laps
9 16 René Arnoux Renault 1 64 Distributor
10 29 Riccardo Patrese Arrows 10 64 Engine
11 33 Marc Surer Theodore 24 61 Out of fuel
R 22 Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo 11 59 Throttle
R 20 Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi 14 56 Suspension
D 11 Elio de Angelis Team Lotus 22 25 Disqualified
R 15 Alain Prost Renault 2 17 Distributor
R 25 Patrick Tambay Ligier 15 15 Clutch
R 28 Didier Pironi Ferrari 4 13 Turbo
R 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham 3 11 Tyre
R 23 Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo 12 5 Transmission
R 27 Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari 8 4 Spun off
R 1 Alan Jones Williams 7 3 Collision
R 8 Andrea de Cesaris McLaren 6 3 Spun off
R 4 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell 19 1 Clutch
R 30 Siegfried Stohr Arrows 18 8 Spun off
Not collected for this era — the source only covers 2003 onwards.
Starting grid
Official
1
16 René Arnoux
2
15 Alain Prost
3
5 Nelson Piquet
4
28 Didier Pironi
5
7 John Watson
6
8 Andrea de Cesaris
7
1 Alan Jones
8
27 Gilles Villeneuve
9
2 Carlos Reutemann
10
29 Riccardo Patrese
11
22 Mario Andretti
12
23 Bruno Giacomelli
13
6 Hector Rebaque
14
26 Jacques Laffite
14
20 Keke Rosberg
15
25 Patrick Tambay
17
17 Derek Daly
18
30 Siegfried Stohr
19
4 Michele Alboreto
20
32 Jean-Pierre Jarier
21
9 Slim Borgudd
22
11 Elio de Angelis
23
3 Eddie Cheever
24
33 Marc Surer
Final grid as classified, including any pit lane starts. Source: Jolpica-F1. The arrow compares the grid slot with the qualifying classification; hover a drop to see the stewards document behind it.
No data for this session.
Not collected for this era — the source only covers 1996 onwards.
Not collected for this era — the source only covers 2012 onwards.
Not collected for this era — the source only covers 2023 onwards.
Not collected for this era — the source only covers 1996 onwards.
Not collected for this era — the source only covers 2023 onwards.
Not collected for this era — the source only covers 2019 onwards.
Record Basis · Calculation basis
Race order is the final classification(post-race penalties applied) · qualifying session data 2003+ · lap times 1996+ · pit stops 2012+ (pit-lane transit, not stationary time) · DNF = Finished(Finished·+N Laps) non-Finished statuses
Data sources: Jolpica-F1 (Ergast compatible API) · weather·Race Control OpenF1 (2023+) · Last fetched: 2026-09-05 14:15