Prost, first

The 1981 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Dijon-Prenois on 5 July 1981. Prior to the race, Jean-Pierre Jabouille decided to retire from racing, having not fully recovered from the leg injuries he had sustained in Canada the previous year.  His place at Ligier was taken for the rest of the season by the promising Patrick Tambay, who moved from Theodore.

The 80-lap race was won by Alain Prost, driving a Renault RE32. On home soil, Prost scored the first of an eventual 51 Grand Prix victories, in a race that was stopped due to heavy rain, and restarted. John Watson finished second in his McLaren-Ford, while Nelson Piquet, who had been leading in his Brabham-Ford when the race was stopped, finished third.

Picture above: Alain Prost celebrates the first F1 win of his career, while Nelson Piquet on the left, is clearly dissatisfied by the turn of events.

Alain Prost declared: “It was only my second season in F1, but I could have won earlier. I felt a continuous pressure, because I had a car capable of winning. But as long as you haven’t done it, you don’t know if you are capable of really doing it. That day, was such an important milestone, it took away the pressure, and more importantly, it changed the perception I had of the next races.”