1981 Elite Racing League season

All information on this page is not part of canon.

1981 Elite Racing League season
Previous: 1980	Next: 1982

Drivers Champion	Manufacturers Champion
Template:FRA Alain Prost	Ferrari

The 1981 Elite Racing League season was the 22nd season of the FIA's Formula One motor racing support series (the series would remain a support series until 1997.) The Drivers Championship would be won by future F1 legend Alain Prost who won the title at the Canadian Grand Prix after rivals Gilles Vileneuve retired on the first lap through reliability issues and Nigel Mansell only finishing 6th in the race.

Ferrari would win the Manufacturers Championship after being locked in a heated rivalry with Renault throughout the season with the reigning champions Fittipaldi Automotive finishing 3rd with pundits speculating that they will slowly go down to the order in future seasons.

This year would be the second of the F1/ERL merge.

Season Review

• The Belgian Grand Prix debuted at Circuit Zolder
• The Brazilian Grand Prix moved to the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet for the first time.
• The British Grand Prix returned to Silverstone after a year's absence.
• The Caesars Palace Grand Prix was added as a replacement for the cancelled United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, the race was held at the Caesars Palace parking lot in Las Vegas. It was the first time that a race was held at Caesars Palace and was a joint F1-ERL contract.
• The French Grand Prix moved from Circuit to Paul Ricard to Dijon-Prenois for a year in a move to see if the ERL could also strike an F1-esque deal with the track.
• The Italian Grand Prix moved back to Monza
• The San Marino Grand Prix was run for the first time in 1981.

South African Grand Prix controversy

Despite the ongoing dispute between the FIA and FOCA, the ERL still ran it's South Africa round as a championship event despite protests not to by team members in a politically inspired stunt to tell people that they were different to F1 - they did this by having the race two weeks after the California round.

Rnd	Race	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Constructor
1	Template:USA California Grand Prix	Long Beach Street Circuit	Gilles Vileneuve	Keke Rosberg	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford
2	South African Grand Prix	Kyalami Circuit	Gilles Vileneuve	Nelson Piquet	Gilles Vileneuve	Ferrari
3	Argentine Grand Prix	Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Gilles Vileneuve	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford
4	Brazilian Grand Prix	Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR Lotus-Ford
5	San Marino Grand Prix	Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari	Template:USA Mario Andretti	Template:FRA Rene Arnoux	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Template:FRA Renault
6	Template:BEL Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit Zolder	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Gilles Vileneuve	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Template:FRA Renault
7	Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco	Template:AUS Alan Jones	Template:USA Mario Andretti	Template:USA Mario Andretti	Ferrari
8	Template:FRA French Grand Prix	Dijon-Prenois	Template:AUS Alan Jones	Keke Rosberg	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR Lotus-Ford
9	Spanish Grand Prix	Circuito del Jarama	Template:USA Mario Andretti	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Template:FRA Renault
10	Template:GBR British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit	Gilles Vileneuve	Gilles Vileneuve	Gilles Vileneuve	Ferrari
11	Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Nelson Piquet	Template:USA Mario Andretti	Ferrari
12	German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring	Keke Rosberg	Template:FRA Didier Pironi	Template:AUS Alan Jones	Template:GBR Williams-Ford
13	Template:AUT Austrian Grand Prix	Osterreichring	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Andrea de Cesaris	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	Template:GBR Lotus-Ford
14	Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	Template:AUS Alan Jones	Template:FRA Alain Prost	Template:AUS Alan Jones	Template:GBR Williams-Ford
15	Canadian Grand Prix	Ile Notre-Dame Circuit - Montreal	Keke Rosberg	Template:USA Mario Andretti	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford
16	Template:USA Caesars Palace Grand Prix	Caesars Palace	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	Gilles Vileneuve	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	Template:FRA Talbot Ligier-Matra

Teams and Drivers

• Matra made its constructor debut supplying the Talbot Ligier team with engines.
• Due to the joint F1 contract system - future world champions Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell appeared on the grid this season
• Ensign and Osella withdrew their one car entries from this season due to money issues.
• Michelin became the only tyre supplier for the series.

Team	Constructor	Engine	Tyres	#	Driver	Rounds
Template:GBR Ragno Arrows Beta Racing Team	Arrows-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Michelin	1	Riccardo Patrese	All
				2	Template:SUI Marc Surer	All
Template:GBR Parmalat Racing Team	Brabham-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Michelin	3	Nelson Piquet	All
				4	Hector Rebaque	All
Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	Ferrari 015 3.0 F12	Template:Michelin	5	Gilles Vileneuve	All
				6	Template:USA Mario Andretti	All
Fittipaldi Automotive	Fittipaldi-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Michelin	7	Keke Rosberg	All
				8	Chico Serra	All
Template:FRA Equipe Talbot Gitanes	Talbot Ligier-Matra	Matra MS81 3.0 V12	Template:Michelin	9	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	All
				10	Template:FRA Didier Pironi	All
Template:GBR Team Essex Lotus	Lotus-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Michelin	11	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	All
				12	Template:GBR Derek Warwick	All
Template:GBR Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Michelin	13	Template:GBR John Watson	All
				14	Andrea de Cesaris	All
Template:FRA Elf Equipe Renault	Renault	Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 V6 t	Template:Michelin	15	Template:FRA Alain Prost	All
				16	Template:FRA Rene Arnoux	All
Template:GBR Candy Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Michelin	17	Template:USA Eddie Cheever	All
				18	Derek Daly	All
Template:GBR Albilad Williams Racing Team	Williams-Ford	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	Template:Michelin	19	Template:AUS Alan Jones	All
				20	Carlos Reutemann	All

Drivers Championship

Pos.	Driver	Points
1	Template:FRA Alain Prost	51
2	Template:USA Mario Andretti	43
3	Gilles Vileneuve	43
4	Template:GBR Nigel Mansell	41
5	Keke Rosberg	39
6	Template:FRA Jacques Laffite	34
7	Template:AUS Alan Jones	22
8	Chico Serra	20
9	Template:FRA Rene Arnoux	17
10	Carlos Reutemann	15
11	Template:FRA Didier Pironi	13
12	Hector Rebaque	13
13	Nelson Piquet	11
14	Template:USA Eddie Cheever	10
15	Andrea de Cesaris	10
16	Derek Daly	6
17	Template:SUI Marc Surer	6
18	Riccardo Patrese	3
19	Template:GBR John Watson	2
20	Template:GBR Derek Warwick	1

Teams Championship

Pos.	Driver	Points
1	Ferrari	86
2	Template:FRA Renault	68
3	Fittipaldi-Ford	59
4	Template:FRA Talbot Ligier-Matra	47
5	Template:GBR Lotus-Ford	42
6	Template:GBR Williams-Ford	37
7	Template:GBR Brabham-Ford	24
8	Template:GBR Tyrrell-Ford	16
9	Template:GBR McLaren-Ford	12
10	Template:GBR Arrows-Ford	9