1981 Classic GP Manager
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Don't forget the big and pretigious March team!Arrows
Dunno on which drugs Ingo was that race, man that was brilliant! At the same time, disappointing from Laffite. But it's nice to have a double points finish, the only other team to achieve that apart from McLaren
1981 Belgian Grand Prix
Circuit Zolder hosted the fifth round of the 1981 F1 championship season. Previous round at Imola had been a popular choice to present new cars by certain teams but Shadow had just missed the opportunity. This week the British team's new DN11 chassis was ready and drivers Alain Prost and Ricardo Zunino eager to try it out. Especially Prost, 6th in the standings, was delighted with the chance of even more performance.
However, it seemed unlikely Shadow would contest for wins or podiums with the new chassis. McLaren and Tyrrell have been clearly the two fastest teams this season with McLaren barely in front thanks to better reliability. Arrows' Jacques Laffite and Williams drivers Elio de Angelis and Michele Alboreto have been the next best this season but will have to up their game to seriously challenge the top two teams.
With mid-season cut-off for pre-qualifying also nearing, each race will be ever more important for the teams in the lower third of the championship. March is currently the only one of the current pre-qualifying teams to be classified after results of 14th, 15th and 16th.
Pre-qualifying
Toleman's Derek Warwick was in excellent form in the Friday morning pre-qualifying session taking his second win of the season in these sessions. A rather big gap of 0,3 seconds to second-places Derek Daly was a great proof of the rookie driver's potential. Daly would have liked his young teammate Stefan Johansson to show similar potential to Warwick's. The Swede was only 7th fastest (still faster than Toleman's Binder!) but the combined time wasn't enough for Rebaque to qualify.
Instead of Rebaque, Theodore Racing made their way out of pre-qualifying for the second time this season. Rupert Keegan has began to find his pace lately which has helped the team establish itself as pre-qualifying top-runners. Despite getting both cars to finish line in the previous race, March Engineering was left with nothing this time. 6th and 9th fastest times in pre-qualifying meant a short end to their weekend.
Qualifying
Didier Pironi has been the force in qualifying this season and continued his fine performances. Fourth pole of the season would have to wait though as this time teammate Jody Scheckter edged out in front leaving Pironi being second fastest. McLarens would start from second row as some expected while fifth fastest was Arrows' Ingo Hoffmann. The Brazilian found a perfect setup for his car in San Marino and is certainly looking to build on the third-place finish achieved there.
Sixth fastest in qualifying was Alain Prost who was of course driving the brand new Shadow DN11. Surprisingly the better Williams, Elio de Angelis was only in 7th position while Copersucar Fittipaldis made the top-10 again. Laffite completed the top-10 with his Arrows, leaving both Ferraris once again far down the grid.
Nelson Piquet was the faster of Ferraris this time in 11th while Carlos Reutemann "improved" Piquet record of worst Ferrari qualifying in 8 years, 1979 World champion was only 18th fastest. No other major talking points in the grid. Both pre-qualifying teams got one car in as Toleman's Derek Warwick was an impressive 22nd and Theodore's Rupert Keegan 26th fastest.
Race
Tyrrells got well off the line and lead into turn 1. Hoffmann got a good start and climbed to third ahead of Mansell, de Angelis and Rosberg. McLarens looked to be struggling for some reason early on as the top three managed to build a small gap right away. Rosberg was even overtaken by Prost. Behind them the Fittipaldis were more interested in battling each other which helped everyone in front get away.
However, the leading pack would shrink a lot very soon. De Angelis was the first to bake his engine on lap 2 and two laps later Hoffmann and Scheckter joined the Italian. Pironi was now leading with a gap few second gap to Mansell while Rosberg had re-passed Prost for third. Tambay and Depailler in 5th and 6th were already over 20s behind the leader. Laffite, Alboreto, Thackwell and Zunino were right behind the Fittipaldi duo. Tightest battle on track was out of top-10, for 11th: Alfa Romeo's Giacomelli lead bot h Ferraris, both Ligiers, Arnoux, Warwick and Cheever in an extremely tight pack.
Next ten laps would see another stack of top drivers retire from the race. Alboreto's gearbox broke in pieces on lap 11, shutting the doors of Williams garage for today. Depailler was under huge pressure from Laffite, couldn't handle it and crashed out on lap 13. Laffite couldn't rejoice for long as he lost the oil pressure simultaneously with Prost four laps later. After only 17 laps of the 54 lap race, three Cosworth engines had had a oil leak!
On lap 20, before first pit stops the order was: Pironi leading Mansell by 20 seconds. Rosberg was further 7s behind and all the following drivers had at least three seconds between them: Tambay, Thackwell, Zunino, Reutemann, Giacomelli, de Cesaris and Cogan in 10th. Nelson Piquet was the first one to pit on this lap and he rejoined in 15th, just ahead of lapping Pironi.
Pironi made his pit stop soon after, dropping him only to second in the race, ahead of yet-to-pit Rosberg. McLarens and Cogan (now in 4th after most had pitted) looked to be running a much longer first stint than others. Their turn was around lap 35 when Mansell pitted. Rosberg came in a lap later but they were still over half a minute behind Pironi after their stops. Tambay and Thackwell were comfortably in 4th and 5th but the battle for 6th had turned into an interesting scrap between Reutemann, Giacomelli and Zunino. Just pitted Cogan was a little behind in ninth.
Mansell was able to take the lead back briefly when Pironi made his second stop but could do nothing to defend with his worn tyres when the Frenchman caught him again. No drama in the closing laps marked the second win of the season for Didier Pironi. McLaren's one stop strategy didn't quite work out today but another double-podium strenghtens their lead in the championship standings. The third one-stopper of the race, Ligier's Kevin Cogan on the other hand was able to capitalise on his strategy, earning Ligier their first point of the season. Ferrari and Carlos Reutemann were once again left with nothing after being lapped in the last laps by Pironi. Important results for Toleman and Theodore too after both teams had a driver finish the race. Rupert Keegan was 12th for Theodore while Derek Warwick's 10th place for Toleman is enough to climb to the ever-so-important 12th position in the constructors.
- - - - - -
The development market for the sixth race is open! You have until Monday 18:00 EET to make/modify your investments.
Circuit Zolder hosted the fifth round of the 1981 F1 championship season. Previous round at Imola had been a popular choice to present new cars by certain teams but Shadow had just missed the opportunity. This week the British team's new DN11 chassis was ready and drivers Alain Prost and Ricardo Zunino eager to try it out. Especially Prost, 6th in the standings, was delighted with the chance of even more performance.
However, it seemed unlikely Shadow would contest for wins or podiums with the new chassis. McLaren and Tyrrell have been clearly the two fastest teams this season with McLaren barely in front thanks to better reliability. Arrows' Jacques Laffite and Williams drivers Elio de Angelis and Michele Alboreto have been the next best this season but will have to up their game to seriously challenge the top two teams.
With mid-season cut-off for pre-qualifying also nearing, each race will be ever more important for the teams in the lower third of the championship. March is currently the only one of the current pre-qualifying teams to be classified after results of 14th, 15th and 16th.
Pre-qualifying
Toleman's Derek Warwick was in excellent form in the Friday morning pre-qualifying session taking his second win of the season in these sessions. A rather big gap of 0,3 seconds to second-places Derek Daly was a great proof of the rookie driver's potential. Daly would have liked his young teammate Stefan Johansson to show similar potential to Warwick's. The Swede was only 7th fastest (still faster than Toleman's Binder!) but the combined time wasn't enough for Rebaque to qualify.
Instead of Rebaque, Theodore Racing made their way out of pre-qualifying for the second time this season. Rupert Keegan has began to find his pace lately which has helped the team establish itself as pre-qualifying top-runners. Despite getting both cars to finish line in the previous race, March Engineering was left with nothing this time. 6th and 9th fastest times in pre-qualifying meant a short end to their weekend.
Qualifying
Didier Pironi has been the force in qualifying this season and continued his fine performances. Fourth pole of the season would have to wait though as this time teammate Jody Scheckter edged out in front leaving Pironi being second fastest. McLarens would start from second row as some expected while fifth fastest was Arrows' Ingo Hoffmann. The Brazilian found a perfect setup for his car in San Marino and is certainly looking to build on the third-place finish achieved there.
Sixth fastest in qualifying was Alain Prost who was of course driving the brand new Shadow DN11. Surprisingly the better Williams, Elio de Angelis was only in 7th position while Copersucar Fittipaldis made the top-10 again. Laffite completed the top-10 with his Arrows, leaving both Ferraris once again far down the grid.
Nelson Piquet was the faster of Ferraris this time in 11th while Carlos Reutemann "improved" Piquet record of worst Ferrari qualifying in 8 years, 1979 World champion was only 18th fastest. No other major talking points in the grid. Both pre-qualifying teams got one car in as Toleman's Derek Warwick was an impressive 22nd and Theodore's Rupert Keegan 26th fastest.
Race
Tyrrells got well off the line and lead into turn 1. Hoffmann got a good start and climbed to third ahead of Mansell, de Angelis and Rosberg. McLarens looked to be struggling for some reason early on as the top three managed to build a small gap right away. Rosberg was even overtaken by Prost. Behind them the Fittipaldis were more interested in battling each other which helped everyone in front get away.
However, the leading pack would shrink a lot very soon. De Angelis was the first to bake his engine on lap 2 and two laps later Hoffmann and Scheckter joined the Italian. Pironi was now leading with a gap few second gap to Mansell while Rosberg had re-passed Prost for third. Tambay and Depailler in 5th and 6th were already over 20s behind the leader. Laffite, Alboreto, Thackwell and Zunino were right behind the Fittipaldi duo. Tightest battle on track was out of top-10, for 11th: Alfa Romeo's Giacomelli lead bot h Ferraris, both Ligiers, Arnoux, Warwick and Cheever in an extremely tight pack.
Next ten laps would see another stack of top drivers retire from the race. Alboreto's gearbox broke in pieces on lap 11, shutting the doors of Williams garage for today. Depailler was under huge pressure from Laffite, couldn't handle it and crashed out on lap 13. Laffite couldn't rejoice for long as he lost the oil pressure simultaneously with Prost four laps later. After only 17 laps of the 54 lap race, three Cosworth engines had had a oil leak!
On lap 20, before first pit stops the order was: Pironi leading Mansell by 20 seconds. Rosberg was further 7s behind and all the following drivers had at least three seconds between them: Tambay, Thackwell, Zunino, Reutemann, Giacomelli, de Cesaris and Cogan in 10th. Nelson Piquet was the first one to pit on this lap and he rejoined in 15th, just ahead of lapping Pironi.
Pironi made his pit stop soon after, dropping him only to second in the race, ahead of yet-to-pit Rosberg. McLarens and Cogan (now in 4th after most had pitted) looked to be running a much longer first stint than others. Their turn was around lap 35 when Mansell pitted. Rosberg came in a lap later but they were still over half a minute behind Pironi after their stops. Tambay and Thackwell were comfortably in 4th and 5th but the battle for 6th had turned into an interesting scrap between Reutemann, Giacomelli and Zunino. Just pitted Cogan was a little behind in ninth.
Mansell was able to take the lead back briefly when Pironi made his second stop but could do nothing to defend with his worn tyres when the Frenchman caught him again. No drama in the closing laps marked the second win of the season for Didier Pironi. McLaren's one stop strategy didn't quite work out today but another double-podium strenghtens their lead in the championship standings. The third one-stopper of the race, Ligier's Kevin Cogan on the other hand was able to capitalise on his strategy, earning Ligier their first point of the season. Ferrari and Carlos Reutemann were once again left with nothing after being lapped in the last laps by Pironi. Important results for Toleman and Theodore too after both teams had a driver finish the race. Rupert Keegan was 12th for Theodore while Derek Warwick's 10th place for Toleman is enough to climb to the ever-so-important 12th position in the constructors.
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The development market for the sixth race is open! You have until Monday 18:00 EET to make/modify your investments.
D
Deleted member 161052
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Deleted member 161052
Ligier Race Report - Belgian Grand Prix - 1981
LIgier are very pleased to finish 6th, and in the points, with Kevin Cogan. Cogan would master all on the circuit than commentators would believe he would do.
"We've successfully stepped it up, now we need to be flawless and quick enough to prove ourselves we're competitive every time", said the team manager after the race.
LIgier are very pleased to finish 6th, and in the points, with Kevin Cogan. Cogan would master all on the circuit than commentators would believe he would do.
"We've successfully stepped it up, now we need to be flawless and quick enough to prove ourselves we're competitive every time", said the team manager after the race.
McLaren
Fantastic work by Nige and Keke today, really good effort. We have upgrades waiting in the wings, and we hope to be a bit closer to the pace after today. We saw no point in overly risking the cars, and the pace we were looking at just worked for a one stop race.
Fantastic work by Nige and Keke today, really good effort. We have upgrades waiting in the wings, and we hope to be a bit closer to the pace after today. We saw no point in overly risking the cars, and the pace we were looking at just worked for a one stop race.
Toleman
Absolutely fantastic job by Derek there, unfortunately he has run out of sponsorship so we have to discuss his contract. Hans has unfortunately under performed yet again so we are unsure about his future races. Unfortunate that this has happened right after such a good race.
Absolutely fantastic job by Derek there, unfortunately he has run out of sponsorship so we have to discuss his contract. Hans has unfortunately under performed yet again so we are unsure about his future races. Unfortunate that this has happened right after such a good race.
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False informationit was always a risky call signing a former pay-driver as he may indeed lose sponsorship very early on
Pay-driver funds get reset between seasons and don't have any correlation.
Neither is there anything about pay-driver funds being carried from one season to another...
I'll add a point about it now so it won't be unclear anymore.
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