1980 Formula One season

The 1980 Formula One season was the 31st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1980 World Championship of Drivers and the 1980 International Cup for F1 Constructors which were contested concurrently from 13 January to 5 October over a fourteen race series. The season also included one non-championship race, the 1980 Spanish Grand Prix.

Jones became the first (and so far as of 2016, the last) Australian to win the World Championship since Jack Brabham in 1966. The season saw a major change of guard in Formula One with Williams's first Drivers' and Constructors' titles, the emergence of Nelson Piquet as a championship contender, as well as reigning championship winners Ferrari and Jody Scheckter suffering a terrible podium-free season that saw Scheckter retire from the sport at the age of 30 and marking the first (and so far as of 2016, the last) season where Ferrari failed to score a podium finish since 1973. In addition, Frenchman Patrick Depailler lost his life while testing at Hockenheimring, just days before his 36th birthday.

The following drivers and constructors contested the 1980 World Championship of Drivers and the 1980 International Cup for F1 Constructors.

The 1980 Formula One season started in Argentina in January – where the teams escaped the cold misery of a European winter and into the intense heat of a South American summer. This event, held at the Buenos Aires Municipal Autodrome located in the sprawling Argentine capital, started off badly. After Friday's practice, due to the heat and the suction these ground-effect cars were creating, the track began to break up, and the drivers found conditions difficult and even dangerous. Led by Emerson Fittipaldi, the drivers staged a semi-unsuccessful protest – the organizers did actually fix the track, but not successfully – come race day, the track was still in a dreadful condition. The race went ahead anyway, and the Buenos Aires circuit, being one of the most varied and challenging circuits on the calendar, provided an ultra-exciting race, where many drivers were caught-out by the disintegration of the twisty arena infield section of the No.15 variant of the racing facility. After going off twice and dropping back to 4th after making a pit-stop to clean grass out of his car's radiators, Australian and title favorite Alan Jones took victory in his Williams-Ford/Cosworth. Brazilian Nelson Piquet, who also went off a few times finished 2nd, and Finn Keke Rosberg scored an excellent 3rd in his Fittipaldi. French rookie Alain Prost, in his first ever F1 race, finished 6th and scored his first ever World Championship point. Gilles Villeneuve, competitive throughout in his Ferrari, crashed heavily at the Toboggan left-right sequence of corners after his front suspension failed after possible damage caused to it after a number of off-track excursions the Canadian had during the race.

...
Wikipedia