1980 United States Grand Prix / Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport / Waether: Scorching / 8th June 1980First of all, apologies for this being so late (blame exams) and also apologies for this being a short review, as it's been so long I've shamefully forgotten most of the action. Sorry.
Pre-raceDue to
Callum McAllister's minor injury last time out in Dijon, up and coming Frenchman
Guilliame Gauthier has been drafted in to fill his seat at
Williams. The vacant seat at
McLaren will be taken by
Derek Warwick, who impressed in testing.
Arrows management has finally had enough of
Riccardo Patrese, with the Italian being benched in favour of German rookie
Olivier KunzNiki Lauda has been given the sack by Audi; the veteran Austrian has been let out to pasture in favour of German
Jochen Mass, who failed to get a seat last year.
Qualifying
Jody Scheckter took an impressive pole by 6 tenths ahead of new team mate Gauthier, the South Afircan racking up his second pole of the season, and in doing so ensuring himself the best chance of closing the gap at the front of the championship to the two Lotii. A task made easier by the off-colour qualifying session from the Essex-liveried machines. Alan Jones managed a respectable fourth, behind JPJ, but Harvey could only manage 14th! A great performance from Fittipaldi put him in 5th, ahead of the two Brabhams, Villeneuve, and the ever-impressive Jeremy-Etienne Voeckler.
Further down the grid, Andretti couldn't seem to get it together in the Merzario, with strong sessions for JLD and Arrows, Laffite was off-colour, and the Monaco Messiah Thomas Nurmester dragging the Osella kicking and screaming all the way up to 22nd place! It was a great session for Osella, with Stohr also making the grid! Somehow, Rene Arnoux could only mange 26th place on the grid, with Villeneuve managing to get into the top 10, and Deyan Rangelov makes his second successive F1 start on the bounce. O'Connell sneaked onto the gird for the first time since Monaco, Nicchi had a 'mare in 29th, with Davey Clarke being the last man to take the start. Rossler, Ghinzani, Pironi, Surer, Prost, Mansell, Daly, Lammers, de Cesaris, and Brancatelli all failed to qualify, with RAM still evidently struggling to get any sort of performance out of their Hart engines
Race / 66 lapsThe first 10 of the 66 laps proved to be the most entertaining. Scheckter made a decent start, but Gauthier had a cracking getaway, and was alongisde the South African into the first corner. Gauthier leaped down the inside and into the lead; if anyone had told him to keep back he'd ignored them, as he barged Scheckter out of his way, allowing, JPJ through into 2nd! At the back, things were kicking off; Padraig O'Connell outbraked himself and clattered into Arnoux, putting both men out on the spot. And if that wasnt bad enough, Padraig pulled off the track in front of Davey Clarke, who had nowhere to go and speared the Rebaque, putting him out of the race too!
Jean-Pierre Jabouille couldn't keep Scheckter behind for long, with their positions being reversed by the time they came across the line, and Peter Brock fancied a look at Emerson Fittipaldi. But like O'Connell, the Aussie misjudged everything completely, and clattered into the back of the Merzario! The pair crawled back to the pits minus a front and rear wing respectively, and were a lap down by the time they re-emerged.
Laffite and Andretti's engines cried enough before the lap counter reached 6, in disappointing weekends for them. Williams still had a 1-2, with Jean-Pieere Jabouille 3rd ahead of Jones and Perkins. However, Peter Brock had rejoined in front of them, and refused to be lapped. In scenes reminiscent of Horford's antics at Monaco, Brock did all he could to make his car wider than a 747 and to keep the trio behind. His behaviour was bound to result in tears for someone, and unfortunately for Brock that someone was him - on lap 12 he pushed too hard an ended up in the wall, race over.
By this time the race had settled down, with Gauthier leading Scheckter, JPJ, Perkins, and Alan Jones. This is the way it would stay to the flag; Scheckter got close but never close enough to take the lead, Perkins managed to pip JPJ for the final podium position, and both Lotuses succumbed to mechanical gremlins for a change.
Ed Kevin had a strong race, with 5th place being his reward, and Reutemann made it a double points finish for Renault, despite being a lap down. Shadow finished 7th and 8th, Brancatelli notched up a valuable finish for the reliability-struck Restov team, and Rangelov finished 10th for the second time in a row. JLD recorded a double finish, and Thomas Nurmester came home 14th, ahead of Fittipaldi, who also took fastest lap. Siegfried Sthor was prevented from finishing last by the lacklustre McLaren of Warwick.
Driver's ChampionshipScheckter's 2nd place allows him to move closer to the front of the standings, and Perkins leapfrogs McAllister but aside from that not much has changed at the sharp end of the table. Gauthier leaps to 6th with an emphatic win.
1. Alan Jones - 37
2. Harvey Jones - 31
3. Larry Perkins - 23
4. Callum McAllister - 22
5. Jody Scheckter - 19
6. Guilliame Gauthier - 14
7. Jean-Pierre Jabouille - 13
= Edward Kevin - 13
9. Nelson Piquet - 12
10 Jacques Laffite - 8
11. Mario Andretti - 7
12. Stefan Bellof - 6
13. Carlos Reutemann - 5
14. Rene Arnoux - 3
= Peter Brock - 3
= Padraig O'Connell - 3
17. Jan Lammers - 2
= Jeremy-Etienne Voeckler - 2
= Thomas Nurmester - 2
Constructor's ChampionshipWilliams get closer to Lotus, and Brabham, Renault, and Ligier build their scores; but the positions remain the same
1. Lotus-Renault -64
2. Williams-Honda - 51
3. Brabham-Renault - 38
4. Ligier-Talbot - 21
5. Renault - 18
6. Shadow-Ford - 8
7. Merzario-Lamborghini - 7
8. McLaren-Ford - 4
9. Ferrari - 3
10. Rebaque-Ford - 3
11. RAM-Ferrari - 2
= Osella-Alfa - 2
. Just a heads up to reduce any possible historical inaccuracies.
