On this day in 1981: F1?s fiasco at Zolder | Grand Prix flashback

17 May 2011 by Cari Jones

Nigel Mansell, Carlos Reutemann, Jacques Laffite, Zolder, 1981

F1 counted the cost of a tragic and shambolic weekend at Zolder 30 years ago today.

Osella mechanic Giovanni Amadeo lost his life in an accident during practice. And viewers looked on in horror as the race began as another mechanic, Dave Luckett, was still on the grid, and was struck by one of his team?s cars.

The row over ?ground effect?

The 1981 season began with the FIA fighting a battle with many teams over ?ground effect? aerodynamics.

The sport?s governing body wanted to ban the skirts used to generate increasingly high cornering speeds. Rules had been drawn up stating the gap between bodywork and road must be no less than six centimetres with suspension at its lowest point.

But by the time of the fifth race of the year at Zolder in Belgium, the reality was virtually every car on the grid failed to conform to the new regulations. Most passed the scrutineers? checks in the pit but were clearly illegal on track.

A ban on skirts, if successful, would put greater emphasis on engine power to the detriment of those teams using customer Cosworth V8s, such as Lotus, Williams and Brabham. These teams, under the banner of the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA), wanted to ban the immensely powerful and expensive turbo engines which had been introduced by Renault and, for the first time in 1981, by Ferrari.

Beneath all of this lay a power struggle for control of the sport between the FIA, led by Jean-Marie Balestre, and FOCA, led by Brabham team owner Bernie Ecclestone. The FIA were siding with the manufacturer-run teams in an attempt to topple Ecclestone.

Giovanni Amadeo

Alan Jones, Williams, Zolder, 1981

The narrow pit lane at Zolder had long been criticised. Team managers and mechanics perched on a thin ledge while timing their cars and holding out pit signals. A few weeks before the 1981 race, its organisers announced that new pits and a wider pit lane would be built for 1982.

During Friday afternoon practice, Giovanni Amadeo was struck by Carlos Reutemann?s Williams in the pit-lane. He slipped from the ledge by the outer pit wall, and fell into Reutemann?s path.

The other half of the pit lane was taken up by parked race cars, mechanics and a sea of hangers-on. Reutemann had no time to brake and no room for him to swerve in avoidance.

Amadeo suffered a double skull fracture and, though attempts to resuscitate him in the ambulance were successful, he was not expected to survive. The sad announcement came after the race weekend had finished.

The order after Friday?s official session was Reutemann, Piquet, Pironi, Patrese, Watson, Jones, Villeneuve, Cheever, Laffite and Mansell. Saturday?s rain storm made this the grid.

1981 Belgian Grand Prix grid

Row 1			1. Carlos Reutemann Williams-ford
	2. Nelson Piquet Brabham-Ford
Row 2			3. Didier Pironi Ferrari
	4. Riccardo Patrese Arrows-Ford
Row 3			5. John Watson McLaren-Ford
	6. Alan Jones Williams-Ford
Row 4			7. Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari
	8. Eddie Cheever Tyrrell-Ford
Row 5			9. Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra
	10. Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford
Row 6			11. Keke Rosberg Fittipaldi-Ford
	12. Alain Prost Renault
Row 7			13. Siegfried Stohr Arrows-Ford
	14. Elio de Angelis Lotus-Ford
Row 8			15. Marc Surer Ensign-Ford
	16. Jean-Pierre Jabouille Ligier-Matra
Row 9			17. Bruno Giacomelli Alfa Romeo
	18. Mario Andretti Alfa Romeo
Row 10			19. Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford
	20. Chico Serra Fittipaldi-Ford
Row 11			21. Hector Rebaque Brabham-Ford
	22. Beppe Gabbiani Osella-Ford
Row 12			23. Andrea de Cesaris McLaren-Ford
	24. Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford

Dave Luckett

On Sunday things started to go wrong just before 3 o?clock ? at which time the race was scheduled to go live to the world.

After the drivers arrived at the grid, many climbed from their cars in protest with the aim of delaying the start. The drivers were unhappy with the organisers? refusal to listen to their requests the day before for the maximum number of cars allowed to take part in qualifying to be reduced from 30 to 26. This refusal was the final straw and mechanics and some team owners promptly joined them on track.

The delay and ensuing confusion caused many drivers to become agitated and engines began to overheat. By the time all the cars were on the gird, Ricardo Patrese?s Arrows had stalled and he began to wave his arms in warning to those behind him.

In a scene of pure horror, his mechanic Dave Luckett jumped down onto the track to help start the car just as the race was about to start.

Cars dodged around the stricken Arrows until, in a horrible coincidence, Patrese?s team mate Siegfried Stohr arrived, and ploughed into Patrese and Luckett.

Nigel Mansell^[1] witnessed the carnage on track. In his autobiography, he said: ?I was right behind them and watched this horror show play out in front of me. I was sure the guy was dead and I thought he?d probably been chopped in half.

?I was numb in the car, my legs wouldn?t work, my arms wouldn?t work and I felt rigid with fear. I felt sick and I was crying my eyes out inside my helmet. I didn?t know what we were doing there. I thought, ?We?re driving these machines that kill people. That?s two people this weekend?.?

Despite Mansell?s fears, Luckett survived with broken legs.

Autosport?s race reported noted: ?It appears there was some confusion among the teams as to whether there would be another orderly, warm up lap, or the start of the race. Whichever, the track was out of bounds when Luckett went to restart Patrese?s car. In fact, the TV cameras clearly showed that Jones, behind the Arrows, was already reacting to the green light before Luckett reached Patrese.?

This video shows what happened:

No signal to stop

Nelson Piquet, Brabham, Zolder, 1981

An ambulance was on the scene within seconds but the race was allowed to continue. Yellow flags were waved but at the end of the second lap, Nelson Piquet^[2] was leading by more than ten seconds.

No signal was given for them to stop and it wasn?t until Ferrari?s^[3] Didier Pironi slowed down and stopped to applause from the pits, that the organisers were forced to stop the race.

Forty minutes later, when Luckett had been taken to hospital, the cars re-assembled on the gird, minus the two Arrows.

Reutemann led the re-start, but Pironi flew down the inside towards the first corner and was ahead. Piquet and Alan Jones squeezed through but it was short-lived, as Piquet crashed into the catch fencing at the chicane and stormed back to the pits. Jones? gearbox failed soon after and he ploughed into the barriers and badly burned his thigh when the gearbox oil leaked into the cockpit.

Reutemann regained the lead and kept it until, after 55 laps, rain began to fall and the Belgian Grand Prix was brought to an end. Two-thirds distance had been covered and full championship points were awarded. The rain had stopped by the time the half-hearted presentation took place.

It was Reutemann?s 15th consecutive points finish and his 12th and final victory. It was Mansell?s first podium finish.

In his autobiography, Nigel Mansell says: ?It began to rain and as the downpour got heavier the race was cut short. Carlos Reutemann was declared the winner with Jacques Laffite second in the Ligier and I was third. I felt on top of the world. It was an overwhelming experience. The swing of emotion I had experienced in two hours, from the shock and paralysing fear at the start to the ecstasy at the end, was enormous.?

Carlos Reutemann, Williams, Zolder, 1981

His car may have won, but Frank Williams was far from happy. He summed up the fury at the needless injury and bitter wrangling over the technical rules, saying: ?Why do people part with money to come in and watch this bloody fiasco any more? Can you give me an answer to that? Because I can?t give you one.

?And I?ll tell you something else. I can?t think of a good reason to persuade my sponsors to stay involved in it, either.

?You can only suppress hypocrisy and lies for so long in this world. Eventually it all bubbles to the surface, and we?ve got it now. We?re paying for the past.?

1981 Belgian Grand Prix results

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Difference
1	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	54	1:16:31.61
2	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	54	36.06
3	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	54	43.69
4	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	54	47.64
5	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	54	49.20
6	3	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	54	52.51
7	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	54	1:01.66
8	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	54	1:32.04
9	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	54	1:35.58
10	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	54	1 lap
11	14	Marc Surer	Ensign-Ford	53	2 laps
12	4	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	52	2 laps
13	31	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford	50	4 laps
	6	Hector Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	39	Accident
	25	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Ligier-Matra	35	Transmission
	21	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	29	Engine
	32	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford	22	Engine
	1	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	19	Accident
	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	11	Gearbox
	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	10	Accident
	20	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	10	Gearbox
	15	Alain Prost	Renault	2	Clutch
	30	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	0	Collision
	29	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows-Ford	0	Collision
DNQ	18	Derek Daly	March-Ford
DNQ	16	Ren? Arnoux	Renault
DNQ	17	Eliseo Salazar	March-Ford
DNQ	9	Slim Borgudd	ATS-Ford
DNQ	33	Patrick Tambay	Theodore-Ford
DNQ	36	Derek Warwick	Toleman-Hart
DNQ	35	Brian Henton	Toleman-Hart

Were you at this race? Do you remember it? Tell us about it in the comments.

F1 history

Browse all history articles^[4]

References

1. ^{^} Nigel Mansell (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
2. ^{^} Nelson Piquet (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
3. ^{^} Ferrari (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)
4. ^{^} Browse all history articles (www.f1fanatic.co.uk)

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les paul madhuri dixit achilles psn up cloverfield