Alt-F1 1981 - Season Preview Part II

[pasta_maldonado]

Formula One 1981: Season Preview - Part One

John Player Team Lotus (Lotus-Renault)
1980: 1st, 134 points
Impressive form in the last quarter of 1979 was seen as temporary by many, but Lotus - with the aid of star driver and reigning world champion Alan Jones - kept on moving forwards to take the championship by form. Last year's stand out car, the 79B, has been updated yet againn, but question marks remain as to how much more performance can be dragged out of the design. The chassis is once again being partnered with a Renault engine, however, the Renault-Gordini EF2 is reportedly down on power. On the driver front, world champion Alan Jones has been retained, with the talented Stefan Bellof moving to fill the seat vacated by Harvey Jones' sabbatical. Despite this, Lotus will find it much harder to remain at the front of the field in 1981.

1) Alan Jones (AUS)
1980: 1st, 71 points
Taking five victories across the season, Alan Jones was easily one of the most consistent drivers of 1980. Retirements cost the Aussie further good results, especially in Brazil, where he was denied a guaranteed win. Despite this, Jones made every finish count, never finishing below second position. A determined drive in Monaco to snatch the victory from the jaws of his team mate was the highlight of a season where mistakes were few and far between. Having to choose a low point, it would be crashing out of the Austrian Grand Prix, but all in all Jones provided a textbook season.

2) Stefan Bellof (GER)
1980: 8th, 20 points
At just 24 years of age, the young German has been given an opportunity at Lotus to develop the pace he has shown in a season and a half for the Shadow team. Bellof scored an impressive three podiums over the course of the season, including a measured drive in the attrition-hit Austrian Grand Prix to finish second. Despite making original team mate Brian Henton look amateur, rookie Jeremy-Etienne Voeckler seemed to get the better of him in the 4 races they competed for Shadow. More of the same impressive performances are expected from Bellof at Lotus.

Team Tyrrell (Tyrrell-Cosworth)
1980: 18th, 0 points
1980 was Tyrrell's worst season in Formula One, but improvement this year is looking incredibly unlikely. Ken Tyrrell has so far failed to reach an agreement with any of the engine manufacturers regarding a turbo engine deal, leaving Tyrrell stuck with their Cosworth lumps. Chico Serra and Eliseo Salazar have been recruited in an all South American line-up, but their services will be increasingly in vain this season with an extremely underpowered engine. Unless an engine contract can be agreed on, the team will find themselves stuck in Pre-Qualifying - and unable to escape.

3) Chico Serra (BRA)
1980: N/A
The 1979 British F3 champio has thus far failed to make much of an impact on the grid, despite being reasonably competitive in his role as McLaren test driver for 1980. However, the rookie Brazilian is set to be thrown in at the deep end with Tyrrell, which may very well see his career progression grind to a halt

4) Eliseo Salazar (CHI)
1980: N/A
Moving to England to compete in the British Aurora Championship may have netted him a win in Silverstone, but in his eagerness to attract attention he may very well have ended his Formula One career. Only a huge result can save his season now.

Parmalat Team Datsun (Brabham-Renault)
1980: 4th, 50 points
Rocked by the horrific injuries to star driver Nelson Piquet, Brabham failed to deliver on the early season promise in 1980 - a promise they're keen to fulfil this time around. Datsun/Nissan backing has bolstered the team's coffers, money which appears to have gone on improving the car, with the team retaining Larry Perkins and bringing in Riccardo Patrese from redundancy. An extension to their Renault deal has ensured much needed stability within the team. Big results are not being asked of the team, which may thrive in the pressure-off environment

5) Larry Perkins (AUS)
1980: 6th, 33 points
Larry Perkins was the stand out rookie of 1980. Seen as an also-ran in comparison to team leader Nelson Piquet, the Australian shocked by taking Brabham's first victory of the season in Brazil. Team leadership was inadvertently thrust into his hands when Piquet suffered career-ending injuries in a testing accident at Silverstone, and Perkins stood up to the challenge superbly, taking a second victory in Canada. However, pace disappeared in the latter half of the season, and any damage limitation was ruled out of the question by crippling reliability. Perkins now finds himself in the limelight, but shouldn't fail to meet expectations.

6) Riccardo Patrese (ITA)
1980: 50th, 0 points
After a run of 5 DNQ's saw Patrese sacked from Arrows after 7 races, a Brabham seat will be his chance to prove the F1 world he can cut it at the very top. 1981 will prove to be a make-or-break for the Italian.

[SeedStriker]

Pasta, if you allow it, I'm going onto the waiting list

[pasta_maldonado]

Pasta, if you allow it, I'm going onto the waiting list

Sure.

Formula One 1981: Season Preview - Part II


Equipe Ligier Gitanes (Ligier-Matra)
1980: 5th, 47 points
Ligier's title defence was a huge disappointment, if it were not for late season improvements in pace and a measured drive from Laffite to claim victory in Austria, they would have ended the season without taking a single victory. For 1981, it's all change: Talbot are gone, to be replaced by Matra, and Laffite and Ed Kevin both leaving the team, with Jody Scheckter and Eddie Cheever replacing them. Last season's weak link - the gutlessness of the Talbot turbo - has been remedied in the Matra MS81, the new engine is very, very impressive in terms of horsepower. However, reliability questions are knocking on the door, and it remains to be seen how much Cheever - very much the weakest link in the chain - will let the team down.

7) Jody Scheckter (AUS)
1980: 2nd, 52 points
Scheckter's season was ruined by reliability woes, racking up 7 retirements in 8 races between Belgium and Britain. When the car reached the line, Scheckter more often than not extracted the most from the car, but he will want to avoid any repeats of the Monza incident. Moving from Williams may be an inspired move, provided he can mould the team around him.

8) Eddie Cheever (USA)
1980: Not classified, 0 starts
Eddie Cheever started the season for Osella, but was let go after two races of failing to match his team mate. Ligier have offered a career lifeline - if he cannot come reasonably close to Scheckter, he may very well be out of Formula One for good.

RAM Racing (RAM-Hart)
1980: 22nd, 0 points
The final remnants of RAM's tenuous link with Ferrari have disappeared, with the new Hart engine poised to be an improvement on last year's unrefined lump. On the driver front, Jan Lammers has of course been retained, with Kiwi Mike Thackwell brought in to make his debut in the team. The RAM 01 will finally be entered this year, after numerous setbacks and the arrival of Hart pushed back the debut of the new chassis. Being one of only a few teams to build a new chassis for this season, RAM should be firmly in the midfield.

9) Jan Lammers (NED)
1980: 23rd, 2 points
The 1979 Spanish Grand Prix winner had a mostly torrid season in 1980. Despite scoring a fifth place at the French Grand Prix, the new Hart engine had teething problem after teething problem, killing any competitiveness the team had. Lammers could have done better to haul the car out of the DNQ zone - team mate Mansell recording 4 DNQs to Lammers' 8 - but is expected to bounce back this season.

10) Mike Thackwell (NZE)
1980: N/A
Thackwell comes to Formula One with a season of Formula Two under his belt, where he finished 8th. He has an experienced team mate to learn from in Lammers, but the Kiwi is expected to be distinctly average and nothing more.

Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC (Ferrari)
1980: 8th, 17 points
What a fall from grace. Ferrari fell from challenging for both titles in 1979, to struggling to pick up minor points and finish races in 1980. Embarrassingly, Rene Arnoux even failed to make the grid in Ireland. Things look to be improving - there were signs of improvement towards the end of last season, and for this season, an all-new engine. However, the chassis is still outdated, but remains with major rule changes on the horizon. Ferrari cannot return to winning ways until the 312T series heads to the retirement home, save for a miracle.

11) Jacques Laffite (FRA)
1980: 7th, 29 points
Whilst the least consistent of the two Ligier drivers last season, Laffite still ended the year with more points, more podiums and Ligier's only win. Still, Ferrari will be bearing this and his impressive form in 1979 in mind. It'll be hard for him to really shine this season, but this partnership could go places in the future.

12) Gilles Villeneuve (CAN)
1980: 16th, 7 points
Anytime the Ferrari was remotely on the pace in 1980, and Villeneuve was dragging it by the scruff of it's neck to places it didn't deserve to be. Gracing the podium in Japan on merit alone was the drive of his career, a drive that established himself as one of the very best on the grid. It will take a miracle to pull off big results in 1981, but if anyone can do it, it'll be this man.