RECAP SCROLL TO BEGIN

1981 / PIQUET

A scrolling recap of 1981 in six acts. The champion, the constructor, the bump chart, and the race-by-race podiums.

ACT 1 CUMULATIVE TRAJECTORY

The points reel out, race after race.

Every line is a driver's running championship total. The heaviest three at the top are the ones who mattered. Nelson Piquet closed the year on 50 points, a 1-point gap over P2.

DATA TABLE · CUMULATIVE POINTS

Cumulative points by driver and round for 1981
DRIVER	R01	R02	R03	R04	R05	R06	R07	R08	R09	R10	R11	R12	R13	R14	R15
Nelson Piquet	4	4	13	22	22	22	22	26	26	35	39	45	46	48	50
Carlos Reutemann	6	15	21	25	34	34	37	37	43	43	45	45	49	49	49
Alan Jones	9	15	18	18	18	24	24	24	24	24	27	31	37	37	46
Jacques Laffite	0	1	1	1	7	11	17	17	21	25	34	34	34	43	44
Alain Prost	0	0	4	4	4	4	4	13	13	19	19	28	37	37	43
John Watson	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	10	19	20	21	21	21	27	27
Gilles Villeneuve	0	0	0	0	3	12	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	25	25
Elio de Angelis	0	2	3	3	5	5	7	8	8	8	8	10	13	14	14
Héctor Rebaque	0	0	0	3	3	3	3	3	5	8	8	11	11	11	11
René Arnoux	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	5	5	5	11	11	11	11	11

ACT 2 CONSTRUCTORS

Two-car teams, one trophy.

The constructors' championship is a different game — both cars score. A team can win it with consistent doubles even when neither driver leads the standings. Williams–Ford ended on 95 points.

DATA

Constructor championship standings for 1981
POS	CONSTRUCTOR	PTS
P1	WILLIAMS–FORD	95
P2	BRABHAM–FORD	61
P3	RENAULT	54
P4	LIGIER–MATRA	44
P5	FERRARI	34
P6	MCLAREN–FORD	28
P7	LOTUS–FORD	22
P8	ARROWS–FORD	10
P9	ALFA ROMEO	10
P10	TYRRELL–FORD	10
P11	ENSIGN–FORD	5
P12	THEODORE–FORD	1
P12	ATS–FORD	1

ACT 3 STANDINGS BUMP

Position by position, week to week.

Cumulative points hide where the order actually changed. The bump chart ranks every driver after each race — every crossing of lines is somebody passing somebody in the table.

DRIVER TRACES · TAP TO ISOLATE

DATA TABLE · OFFICIAL RANK BY ROUND

Official championship rank by driver and round for 1981
DRIVER	R01	R02	R03	R04	R05	R06	R07	R08	R09	R10	R11	R12	R13	R14	R15
Nelson Piquet	P3	P3	P3	P2	P2	P3	P3	P2	P2	P2	P2	P1	P2	P2	P1
Carlos Reutemann	P2	P1	P1	P1	P1	P1	P1	P1	P1	P1	P1	P2	P1	P1	P2
Alan Jones	P1	P1	P2	P3	P3	P2	P2	P3	P3	P4	P4	P4	P4	P5	P3
Jacques Laffite	—	P9	P11	P13	P5	P5	P5	P5	P5	P3	P3	P3	P5	P3	P4
Alain Prost	—	—	P4	P5	P7	P10	P11	P6	P7	P7	P7	P5	P3	P4	P5
John Watson	—	—	—	—	—	—	P11	P7	P6	P6	P6	P7	P7	P6	P6
Gilles Villeneuve	—	—	—	—	P9	P4	P4	P4	P4	P5	P5	P6	P6	P7	P7
Elio de Angelis	—	P7	P8	P9	P6	P8	P7	P9	P10	P11	P12	P12	P8	P8	P8
René Arnoux	—	—	P9	P10	P14	P15	P16	P12	P13	P14	P8	P8	P9	P9	P9
Héctor Rebaque	—	—	—	P6	P9	P13	P14	P15	P13	P10	P11	P9	P10	P10	P10
Riccardo Patrese	—	P3	P4	P4	P4	P6	P6	P7	P8	P8	P9	P10	P11	P11	P11
Eddie Cheever	P5	P7	P9	P10	P13	P8	P10	P13	P9	P9	P10	P11	P12	P12	P12
Didier Pironi	—	—	—	P10	P14	P7	P9	P10	P11	P12	P13	P13	P13	P13	P13
Nigel Mansell	—	—	—	—	P7	P10	P8	P11	P12	P13	P14	P14	P14	P14	P14
Bruno Giacomelli	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	P16	P15

ACT 4 RACE-BY-RACE

11 drivers stood on a podium.

7 different drivers won a race. Tap any chip to pin a driver's appearances across the calendar — the matching tiles light up. Empty bars mean a race where the chosen driver missed the top three.

PODIUM DRIVERS

R01 UNITED S

1 JONES

2 REUTEMANN

3 PIQUET

R02 BRAZIL

1 REUTEMANN

2 JONES

3 PATRESE

R03 ARGENTIN

1 PIQUET

2 REUTEMANN

3 PROST

R04 SAN MARI

1 PIQUET

2 PATRESE

3 REUTEMANN

R05 BELGIUM

1 REUTEMANN

2 LAFFITE

3 MANSELL

R06 MONACO

1 VILLENEUVE

2 JONES

3 LAFFITE

R07 SPAIN

1 VILLENEUVE

2 LAFFITE

3 WATSON

R08 FRANCE

1 PROST

2 WATSON

3 PIQUET

R09 GREAT BR

1 WATSON

2 REUTEMANN

3 LAFFITE

R10 GERMANY

1 PIQUET

2 PROST

3 LAFFITE

R11 AUSTRIA

1 LAFFITE

2 ARNOUX

3 PIQUET

R12 NETHERLA

1 PROST

2 PIQUET

3 JONES

R13 ITALY

1 PROST

2 JONES

3 REUTEMANN

R14 CANADA

1 LAFFITE

2 WATSON

3 VILLENEUVE

R15 CAESARS

1 JONES

2 PROST

3 GIACOMELLI

DATA TABLE · RACE PODIUMS

Race-by-race podium finishers for 1981
ROUND	RACE	P1	P2	P3
R01 · 1981 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	1981 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	JONES	REUTEMANN	PIQUET
R02 · Grande Prêmio do Brasil 1981	Grande Prêmio do Brasil 1981	REUTEMANN	JONES	PATRESE
R03 · Gran Premio de Argentina 1981	Gran Premio de Argentina 1981	PIQUET	REUTEMANN	PROST
R04 · Gran Premio di San Marino 1981	Gran Premio di San Marino 1981	PIQUET	PATRESE	REUTEMANN
R05 · 1981 Belgian Grand Prix	1981 Belgian Grand Prix	REUTEMANN	LAFFITE	MANSELL
R06 · Grand Prix de Monaco 1981	Grand Prix de Monaco 1981	VILLENEUVE	JONES	LAFFITE
R07 · Gran Premio de España 1981	Gran Premio de España 1981	VILLENEUVE	LAFFITE	WATSON
R08 · Grand Prix de France 1981	Grand Prix de France 1981	PROST	WATSON	PIQUET
R09 · 1981 Marlboro British Grand Prix	1981 Marlboro British Grand Prix	WATSON	REUTEMANN	LAFFITE
R10 · Grosser Preis von Deutschland 1981	Grosser Preis von Deutschland 1981	PIQUET	PROST	LAFFITE
R11 · Grosser Preis von Österreich 1981	Grosser Preis von Österreich 1981	LAFFITE	ARNOUX	PIQUET
R12 · Grote Prijs van Nederland 1981	Grote Prijs van Nederland 1981	PROST	PIQUET	JONES
R13 · Gran Premio d'Italia 1981	Gran Premio d'Italia 1981	PROST	JONES	REUTEMANN
R14 · Grand Prix Labatt du Canada 1981	Grand Prix Labatt du Canada 1981	LAFFITE	WATSON	VILLENEUVE
R15 · 1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix	1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix	JONES	PROST	GIACOMELLI

EPILOGUE BY THE NUMBERS

The year in five numbers.

ROUNDS

15

DRIVERS

21

WINNERS

7

PODIUM·DRIVERS

11

POINTS·SHARED

375

CHAMPION

Nelson Piquet

50 PTS · 3 WINS

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