1980 Spanish Grand Prix

The Spanish Grand Prix was originally scheduled to be the seventh round of the 1980 World Championships . Coming into the race, Brabham driver Nelson Piquet led the World Championship of Drivers , one point ahead of Renault's René Arnoux . Williams driver Alan Jones was third, a further two points behind and Ligier driver Didier Pironi was fourth, two points behind Jones. The Constructors' Championship was led by Williams with 34 points, with second place Ligier five points behind. Brabham were ...

In the previous rounds of the championships, there had been disputes between motorsports' governing body, the FISA, and the body representing the independent constructors competing in the championship, the FOCA. 12 of the 15 constructors competing in the championship were members of FOCA. The three constructors that were not affiliated to FOCA, Renault, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo, were all owned and operated by a manufacturer . The FOCA teams perceived FISA as showing a bias towards the manufacturer...

As part of the dispute, drivers from FOCA affiliated teams had been advised to boycott the driver briefings at the Belgium and Monaco Grands Prix, the preceding rounds of the championship. The compulsory 45-minute briefings had been announced by FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre in February, but FOCA's lawyers had noticed that the requirement for drivers to attend had not been included in the rulebook. [ 3 ] Nevertheless, FISA issued fines of approximately $2000 [ 4 ] to the drivers that did no...

The Jarama circuit had been modified from the year before, with the run-up to the Bugatti curve shortened to increase run-off area there.

The first practice session had begun at 10:00 am local time (UTC+2). FOCA teams did not take part, leaving only the manufacturer teams of Renault, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo contesting. Because of the statement made by RACE, this session was halted after half an hour by the organizers. The Guardia Civil then escorted FISA officials out of the circuit. Practice got underway again at 12:30 pm, this time consisting of all the teams with the exception of Renault, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Osella. Citing f...

Eddie Cheever, driving the sole Osella entry, had not taken part in any running on Friday but did compete on Saturday, following a decision by team owner Enzo Osella to loan the cars and driver to his sponsors, Denim Aftershave. Cheever was entered by a team named after the sponsor, which Osella believed would avoid any sanctions against the Osella team's licence, and in a bid to keep up the pretense, Osella himself was also not present in the pitlane. [ 6 ] The Saturday qualifying session took ...

Pironi had opted to use a harder rear-left tyre than his rear-right and by lap three he was struggling with the handling of the car. In addition, he was having problems with his brakes. A slight mistake allowed Piquet to overtake him for fourth place. Alain Prost, running in 12th place was forced to retire on lap five with engine problems. Both Keke Rosberg and Derek Daly suffered brake failure causing them to crash, neither were hurt. A missed gearshift by Jones on lap 13 saw him drop three pla...

Jan Lammers was running in fourth place, when brake problems forced him to come into the pits. He rejoined, but suffered electrical problems and pitted again where the ATS team took the decision to retire the car. Mario Andretti pulled into the pits to retire on lap 29 with a broken engine, and one lap later Riccardo Patrese retired from the race with a broken gearbox, having stopped for a lengthy pitstop five laps previously which had dropped him down the order.

On lap 35, the leaders came up to lap Emilio de Villota . De Villota attempted to move out of the way of Reutemann by taking the inside line through the corner, allowing Reutemann to go around him. Laffite saw an opportunity to get past Reutemann by going inside of de Villota. Instead he collided with de Villota which caused him to bounce off and hit Reutemann as well. Both Reutemann and Laffite retired on the spot and although de Villota was able to carry on to the pits, his suspension was beyo...

When coming up to lap Patrick Gaillard , John Watson misjudged Gaillard's braking point and hit him. Watson's McLaren was launched into the air over Gaillard's Ensign. Gaillard continued after a pitstop to replace some of the Ensign car's body panels however Watson's race was over.

Pironi was 15 laps from the end, when he noticed a front wheel wobble on his Ligier. He slowed the car to approx 50 km/h (30 mph) before the wheel came off, and he pulled off the track at the end of the start/finish straight to retire, giving Jones the lead. Jones continued to keep a fairly constant distance between himself and second placed Jochen Mass to win the race, with Elio de Angelis , the only other car to be on the lead lap, finishing third. Jean-Pierre Jarier and Emerson Fittipaldi fin...

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), FISA's parent organization, held an extraordinary meeting of its executive committee in Athens on the day following the race. [ 10 ] At the meeting it was decided that the race would not count for championship points. [ 11 ] The FIA committee also decided that FOCA's seat on the FISA executive committee would be withdrawn. FIA president Paul Alfons von Metternich-Winneburg commented after the meeting that "it was time to decide who runs motor ...

In the meantime, the fines that were outstanding prior to the Spanish Grand Prix had been paid off before the next scheduled event in the championship, the French Grand Prix , which resulted in the drivers' having their racing licences returned and the event proceeding with a full entry of teams and drivers. [ 16 ] Despite not being awarded points for his victory in the Spanish Grand Prix, Jones would go on to win the 1980 World Championship of Drivers. Speaking after the conclusion of the seaso...

40°37′1.6″N 3°35′8.1″W  /  40.617111°N 3.585583°W  / 40.617111; -3.585583