The 1980 F1 Italian Grand Prix was held at Imola around the 5-kilometre Autodromo Dino Ferrari. The 12th race of the 1980 season marked the first Italian Grand Prix since 1948 not to be hosted at the infamous Monza circuit.
The race was also Imola’s inaugural event as a Formula 1 World Championship circuit as it took Monza’s place due to the historic track receiving some necessary refurbishments at the time. Ronnie Peterson’s tragic death on the opening lap of the 1978 Italian GP had forced the FIA to call on Monza to improve its safety standards or face permanent removal from the F1 calendar.
The race at Imola took place on September 14th, 1980, with Alan Jones’ Williams-Ford holding a narrow two-point lead over Nelson Piquet’s Brabham-Ford. The Australian and his teammate Carlos Reutemann’s good form had put Williams into a comfortable position at the top of the Constructors’ Championship going into the final three races.
Jody Scheckter retires
Jody Scheckter had won the F1 World Drivers’ Championship in 1979 in his first season with Scuderia Ferrari as he clinched the championship with victory at the Italian GP.
However, the reigning world champion really struggled with the 1980 Ferrari, and he only managed to score two points across his entire title defence.
A heavy crash in the run down towards Tosa in practice at Imola seemed to be the last straw for the South African as he mysteriously vanished from the circuit following the incident. He returned the next day and announced his retirement from F1 at the end of the season.
Who qualified quickest?
It was the Renaults of Rene Arnoux and Jean-Pierre Jabouille who locked out the front row in qualifying around Imola as Arnoux was the only driver to set a lap time sub one minute and 34 seconds. His official time was a 1:33.988, just under seven tenths quicker than the next non-Renault car which was Carlos Reutemann’s Williams in third.
Around one and a half tenths separated the two championship protagonists as Piquet qualified ahead of the championship leader in fifth and sixth respectively.
Expected Arrows-Ford debutant Manfred Winkelhock, who was stepping in for the injured Jochen Mass, would not make the start of Sunday’s race as a crash with Nigel Mansell’s Lotus-Ford in qualifying would see them both out of the Italian GP.
The Renaults usurped off the start
Reutemann’s Williams was the quickest off the line on Sunday as he went from third on the grid to take the lead ahead of the two Renaults. But it was ultimately short-lived as his clutched seized which dropped him down the order, handing Arnoux back the lead.
After a couple of laps, however, the leading Frenchman began to struggle, and both his teammate and Piquet overtook him as he dropped to third.
On lap four, Piquet was close to Jabouille and going into the penultimate corner he made the move and put his Brabham into the lead of the Italian GP.
“The Monza Gorilla”
Vittorio Brambilla, also known as “the Monza Gorilla”, spun his Alfa Romeo on lap four, causing him to retire from the race.
This would be the one-time race winner’s last race in F1 as his career came to an end.
His unique nickname was due to his self-reliant characteristics, combative driving style and being born in Monza.
Ferrari’s miserable 1980 season continues
After Gilles Villeneuve’s impressive qualifying effort put his Ferrari in eighth on the grid, the Tifosi around Imola would’ve been hoping to see their team score points.
This wasn’t to be though as the Canadian crashed on lap six due to a tire failure, another accident in the run down towards Tosa. His Ferrari was heavily damaged and he faced instant retirement from the race. Bruno Giacomelli ran over some of Villeneuve’s debris and picked up a puncture as the second Alfa Romeo failed to finish, just minutes after his teammate Brambilla had spun off.
In an era where only the top six scored points, the newly announced retiree Scheckter was left to try and salvage some pride for the home faithful as he attempted to fight back from 16th on the grid.
The championship leader comes alive
20 laps into the race, Jones was running in fourth position, having been as low as seventh after all the opening lap endeavours.
However, the Australian slowly started to find some impressive pace as he made a move on Arnoux’s Renault to climb up into the podium places. The Frenchman would later suffer engine issues and subsequently drop down to tenth by the chequered flag.
On lap 29, Jones gained on the sister Renault of Jabouille and passed him to take second. Jones was now just one place behind his rival as the top two in the championship led the field, in reverse order.
Meanwhile, Reutemann had made his way back up into sixth knowing that he may have been in contention for the win, had his clutch not seized up after the start.
Would it be Piquet or Jones?
As Jabouille retired on lap 53 with a gearbox problem, Jones was giving it everything to see if he could catch his Brazilian rival with seven laps remaining of the Italian GP.
However, the laps ticked down and on lap 60, Piquet drove his Brabham home to take the win by a compelling 28 seconds. Over 60 laps around Imola, Piquet lapped all but two drivers.
Jones was one of them as he achieved damage limitation, only losing three points to Piquet, to finish in second. Reutemann was the other as he fought back from a tough start to make it a double Williams podium.
Italian Elio de Angelis claimed fourth in his Lotus, Keke Rosberg was fifth and Didier Pironi completed the top six.
Alain Prost’s McLaren-Ford missed out on points ahead of Scheckter’s Ferrari, who managed to salvage a P8 finish for the Imola crowd.
The championship repercussions
Despite Jones not taking home the winners’ trophy, Williams’ double podium finish earned them their maiden Constructors’ Championship with two races remaining. They were a huge 34 points clear of Ligier-Ford in second.
The Drivers’ Championship, however, was not so happy reading for the British outfit as Piquet’s three-point swing had given him a one-point championship lead over Jones. Jones had led the championship coming into Imola but now trailed on 53 points.
Brabham were third in the Constructors’ Championship with Piquet’s 54 points their only points on the board, highlighting the Brazilian’s highly impressive performances throughout the season.
What do drivers think of Imola?
Fernando Alonso speaking on Renault’s chances at the infamous 2005 F1 San Marino Grand Prix: “Historically, this has been quite a tough track for our team and so it is a nice surprise to be not only competitive, but fighting for pole position.”
In the 2024 F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc finished third which was Ferrari’s first podium at Imola since Michael Schumacher in 2006. In the FIA’s post-race press conference, he said: “I mean, it’s always very special to be on the podium here in Imola…the podium was very special, as it always is when we are in Italy.”
In the same press conference, Lando Norris responded to a question from Zsolt Godina (F1VILAG.hu) about the McLaren in slow corners by talking about some of the characteristics of the Imola circuit: “It’s such a fast circuit. It’s not like you kind of just turn the wheel slowly. You have to commit. You have to judge how close you’re going to get to the apexes and that kind of thing. So there’s a big element of risk. And when that comes into play, it kind of spreads out things a little bit too.”
