The 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix was the second race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship and was held on 29 March 1981 at Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Formula One moved to the Jacarepaguá circuit in Rio de Janeiro from the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo, after safety concerns with the long Interlagos circuit and the growing slums of São Paulo being at odds with the glamorous image of Formula One.
The Argentine driver Carlos Reutemann won the race in contentious circumstances; he ignored his pit signals to give up the lead to his teammate and team leader Alan Jones. Jones, who finished second, did not show up on the podium afterwards.
Classification
Qualifying
Race
Carlos Reutemann, winner
Colombian driver Ricardo Londoño was denied a superlicense, was not allowed to participate in official practice, and unable to race.
Notes
This was the Formula One World Championship debut for Colombian driver Ricardo Londoño - the first Colombian to drive in Formula One.
This was the 10th pole position for a Brazilian driver.
This race marked the 1st fastest lap set by Ensign.
This was the 200th Grand Prix start for a Ford-powered car. In those 200 races, Ford-powered cars had won 138 Grands Prix, achieved 399 podium finishes, 124 pole positions, 122 fastest laps, 19 Grand Slams and had won 10 Driver's and 9 Constructor's Championships.
This was the 5th Brazilian Grand Prix win for a Ford-powered car.
Championship standings after the race
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
^Hamilton, Maurice, ed. (1981). AUTOCOURSE 1981–82. Hazleton Publishing Ltd. p. 98. ISBN 0-905138-17-1.
^"1981 Brazilian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
^ a b"Brazil 1981 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
Further reading
Lang, Mike (1992). Grand Prix! Vol 4. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 23–25. ISBN 0-85429-733-2.
