1981 Argentine Grand Prix
Race 3 of 15 in the 1981 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	12 April 1981
Official name	XVII Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina
Location	Autodromo Municipal Ciudad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.968 km (3.708 miles)
Distance	53 laps, 316.304 km (196.542 miles)
Weather	Sunny, dry
Pole position
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford
Time	1:42.665
Fastest lap
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford
Time	1:45.287 on lap 6
Podium
First	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford
Second	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford
Third	Alain Prost	Renault
Lap leaders

The 1981 Argentine Grand Prix was the third race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship and was held at the Buenos Aires circuit in Argentina on 12 April 1981. This was the last Argentine Grand Prix until 1995. Thanks to designer Gordon Murray's alternative solution to flexible side skirts, the Brabham cars of Nelson Piquet and Héctor Rebaque were dominant in this race, with Piquet (who took pole at an average speed of 130.029 mph (209.261 km/h)) taking the lead immediately from Alan Jones on the back straight and Rebaque climbing up from 5th to 2nd over 23 laps.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	1:42.665	1:44.364	—
2	15	Alain Prost	Renault	1:42.981	1:43.748	+0.316
3	1	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	1:44.662	1:43.638	+0.973
4	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	1:43.935	1:44.094	+1.270
5	16	René Arnoux	Renault	1:43.997	1:44.080	+1.332
6	6	Héctor Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	1:44.712	1:44.100	+1.435
7	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	1:44.236	1:44.132	+1.467
8	20	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:45.273	1:44.191	+1.526
9	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	1:45.008	1:45.357	+2.343
10	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	1:45.252	1:45.065	+2.400
11	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	1:45.073	1:45.202	+2.408
12	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	1:45.108	1:45.599	+2.443
13	3	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	1:45.117	1:45.357	+2.452
14	33	Patrick Tambay	Theodore-Ford	1:46.872	1:45.297	+2.632
15	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	1:45.369	1:45.790	+2.704
16	14	Marc Surer	Ensign-Ford	1:45.734	1:46.188	+3.069
17	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	1:46.329	1:46.059	+3.394
18	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	1:46.387	1:46.663	+3.722
19	30	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows-Ford	1:47.342	1:46.444	+3.779
20	21	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	1:46.743	1:46.706	+4.041
21	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1:46.854	1:47.594	+4.189
22	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	1:47.109	1:46.918	+4.253
23	9	Jan Lammers	ATS-Ford	1:47.174	1:47.576	+4.509
24	4	Ricardo Zunino	Tyrrell-Ford	1:47.464	1:48.143	+4.799
25	31	Miguel Angel Guerra	Osella-Ford	1:47.609	1:48.571	+4.944
26	32	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford	1:48.121	1:48.203	+5.456
27	17	Derek Daly	March-Ford	1:48.191	1:49.571	+5.526
28	25	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Ligier-Matra	1:49.581	1:50.226	+6.916
29	18	Eliseo Salazar	March-Ford	no time	1:51.086	+8.421
Source:[1]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-Ford	53	1:34:32.74	1	9
2	2	Carlos Reutemann	Williams-Ford	53	+ 26.61	4	6
3	15	Alain Prost	Renault	53	+ 49.98	2	4
4	1	Alan Jones	Williams-Ford	53	+ 1:07.88	3	3
5	16	René Arnoux	Renault	53	+ 1:31.85	5	2
6	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Ford	52	+ 1 Lap	10	1
7	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows-Ford	52	+ 1 Lap	9
8	22	Mario Andretti	Alfa Romeo	52	+ 1 Lap	17
9	30	Siegfried Stohr	Arrows-Ford	52	+ 1 Lap	19
10	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	51	Out of Fuel	22
11	8	Andrea de Cesaris	McLaren-Ford	51	+ 2 Laps	18
12	9	Jan Lammers	ATS-Ford	51	+ 2 Laps	23
13	4	Ricardo Zunino	Tyrrell-Ford	51	+ 2 Laps	24
Ret	27	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	40	Transmission	7
Ret	33	Patrick Tambay	Theodore-Ford	36	Oil Leak	14
Ret	7	John Watson	McLaren-Ford	36	Transmission	11
Ret	6	Héctor Rebaque	Brabham-Ford	32	Electrical	6
Ret	21	Chico Serra	Fittipaldi-Ford	28	Gearbox	20
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	19	Handling	21
Ret	14	Marc Surer	Ensign-Ford	14	Engine	16
Ret	20	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi-Ford	4	Fuel System	8
Ret	12	Nigel Mansell	Lotus-Ford	3	Engine	15
Ret	28	Didier Pironi	Ferrari	3	Engine	12
Ret	3	Eddie Cheever	Tyrrell-Ford	1	Clutch	13
DNQ	31	Miguel Ángel Guerra	Osella-Ford
DNQ	32	Beppe Gabbiani	Osella-Ford
DNQ	17	Derek Daly	March-Ford
DNQ	25	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Ligier-Matra
DNQ	18	Eliseo Salazar	March-Ford
Source:[2]

• This was the 5th Grand Slam for Brabham.
• This was the 400th and 401st podium finish for a Ford-powered car.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Carlos Reutemann 21 2 Alan Jones 18 3 Nelson Piquet 13 4 Riccardo Patrese 4 5 Alain Prost 4 Source:[3]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Ford 39 2 Brabham-Ford 13 3 Renault 6 4 Arrows-Ford 4 5 Alfa Romeo 3 Source:[3]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

• Lang, Mike (1992). Grand Prix! Vol 4. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 26–28. ISBN 0-85429-733-2.