Race details | |||
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Race 8 of 14 in the 1980 Formula One season | |||
Date | 13 July 1980 | ||
Official name | XXXIII Marlboro British Grand Prix | ||
Location | Brands Hatch, Kent, Great Britain | ||
Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
Course length | 4.207 km (2.614 mi) | ||
Distance | 76 laps, 319.732 km (198.672 mi) | ||
Pole position | |||
Driver | Ligier-Ford | ||
Time | 1:11.004 | ||
Fastest lap | |||
Driver | Didier Pironi | Ligier-Ford | |
Time | 1:12.368 on lap 54 | ||
Podium | |||
First | Williams-Ford | ||
Second | Brabham-Ford | ||
Third | Williams-Ford | ||
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The 1980 British Grand Prix (formally the XXXIII Marlboro British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 13 July 1980. It was the eighth round of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was held over 76 laps of the 4.207-km (2.614-mile) circuit for a total race distance of 319.73 km (198.67 miles).
The race was won by Australian driver, Alan Jones driving a Williams FW07B. The win was Jones' eighth Formula One Grand Prix victory and his fourth of the year. Including the non-championship Spanish Grand Prix it was Jones' third victory in a row as he built his charge towards becoming the 1980 World Drivers' Champion. Jones won by eleven seconds over the man becoming his arch-rival, Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet driving a Brabham BT49. Third, and the only other car to finish on the lead lap, was Jones' Williams Grand Prix Engineering team mate, Argentinian driver Carlos Reutemann.
In the two weeks between the French and British Grands Prix, Brabham decided to replace Ricardo Zunino with Mexican driver Héctor Rebaque, while the Shadow team closed down. There were still 27 cars on the entry list, as RAM Racing entered year-old Williams FW07s for Rupert Keegan and South African female racer Desiré Wilson.
For the third consecutive race, a Ligier driver took pole position, Didier Pironi setting a time some 5.8 seconds faster than the pole time set by Ronnie Peterson at the previous Grand Prix at Brands Hatch two years before. Pironi's team-mate Jacques Laffite was alongside on the front row, while the works Williams filled the second row with championship leader Alan Jones ahead of Carlos Reutemann. On the third row were Nelson Piquet in the Brabham and Bruno Giacomelli in the Alfa Romeo, and on the fourth were Alain Prost in the McLaren and Patrick Depailler in the second Alfa Romeo. Mario Andretti in the Lotus and Derek Daly in the Tyrrell completed the top ten.