1980 Monaco F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results

Event: Monaco Grand Prix
Track: Monaco Circuit

Weather: overcast, dry start, rain from lap 40

Carlos Reutemann won his 10th F1 World Championship race at the 1980 Monaco Grand Prix. The Williams-Ford Cosworth driver started from 2nd on the grid and won on the Monaco circuit for the 1st time. It was also his 1st win of the season and the 7th win for the Williams F1 team.

Pironi’s lost win

The 1980 Monaco Grand Prix could and should have been a second consecutive win for Didier Pironi. He took his first pole position, led for 54 laps, and was holding a 6-second margin when the rain started. On lap 55 his Ligier’s third gear popped out of mesh at the Casino, the car slid into the barriers at the Casino square, and although he restarted he was forced to retire at Mirabeau with a bent suspension. Reutemann inherited the lead and won.

Carnage at the start

The first lap was Daly’s ride over Giacomelli, Prost and Jarier at Sainte-Devote, a four-car pileup at almost no speed. Jones’s differential failed on lap 26 from second. Depailler’s Alfa engine blew on lap 51 from fourth. The rain became heavy with 14 laps to go; Laffite waved at the pit wall to ask for a red flag but didn’t get one.

Laffite second after a torrid wet drive; Piquet third for Brabham and the championship lead (22 to Arnoux’s 21). Mass fourth for Arrows, Villeneuve fifth for Ferrari, Fittipaldi sixth for his own team. Arnoux and Patrese tangled on lap 56, the Renault crashed out, Patrese got a puncture; Arnoux was furious. Watson failed to qualify for the first time in his career.

Classification 1980 Monaco F1 GP

Pos	#	Driver	Team	Time	Laps	Grid	Pts
1	28	Carlos Reutemann	Williams	1:55:34.365	76	2	9
2	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	1:56:47.994	76	5	6
3	5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham	1:56:52.091	76	4	4
4	30	Jochen Mass	Arrows	+1 lap	75	15	3
5	2	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	+1 lap	75	6	2
6	20	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi	+2 laps	74	18	1
7	11	Mario Andretti	Team Lotus	+3 laps	73	19	0
8	29	Riccardo Patrese	Arrows	+3 laps	73	11	0
9	12	Elio de Angelis	Team Lotus	Accident	68	14	0
NC	9	Jan Lammers	ATS	Not Classified	64	13	0
DNF	25	Didier Pironi	Ligier	Accident	54	1	0
DNF	16	René Arnoux	Renault	Accident	53	20	0
DNF	22	Patrick Depailler	Alfa Romeo	Engine	50	7	0
DNF	1	Jody Scheckter	Ferrari	Handling	27	17	0
DNF	15	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	Gearbox	25	16	0
DNF	27	Alan Jones	Williams	Differential	24	3	0
DNF	23	Bruno Giacomelli	Alfa Romeo	Accident	0	8	0
DNF	3	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Tyrrell	Accident	0	9	0
DNF	8	Alain Prost	McLaren	Accident	0	10	0
DNF	4	Derek Daly	Tyrrell	Accident	0	12	0
DNQ	7	John Watson	McLaren	No Time	0		0
DNQ	31	Eddie Cheever	Osella	No Time	0		0
DNQ	17	Geoff Lees	Shadow	No Time	0		0
DNQ	21	Keke Rosberg	Fittipaldi	No Time	0		0
DNQ	6	Ricardo Zunino	Brabham	No Time	0		0
DNQ	14	Tiff Needell	Ensign	No Time	0		0
DNQ	18	Dave Kennedy	Shadow	No Time	0		0

Fastest lap: 1:27.418 min by Carlos Reutemann (Williams FW07B) in lap 40

✅ Check out 1980 F1 Championship Standings
✅ Check out 1980 F1 Teams & Drivers

✅ Check out All Time F1 Drivers Rankings
✅ Check out All Time F1 Driver Records
✅ Check out All Time F1 Teams Rankings

About the author

Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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