AJ battling at the sand dunes, 1980 Dutch Grand Prix.
#Title Deciders
1981 was going down to the wire. World Champion Alan Jones was out of the title race, but his team mate Carlos Reutemann lead Brazilian youngster Nelson Piquet by a single point, with Frenchman Jacques Laffite six points behind Reutemann on 53 points.
After movements on the first lap, Piquet found himself directly behind rival Reutemann in points positions as Jones went off to dominate the race en route to victory. Reutemann was eventually passed by Piquet and many others and have a poor race finishing out of the points. Piquet, dogged by fatigue all weekend due to the weather, was visibly effected and his neck unable to hold up to the high speed anti-clockewise circuit (most circuits are clockwise and neck strength is commonly built up on one side) and was overtaken by Brit Nigel Mansell dropping to fifth but still holding on for the points to win. Laffite finished sixth with one points, Reutemann finished a lap down on his team mate and in eight position. Piquet won the title and despite Reutemann losing the title the Williams team celebrated the quintessential Williams driver Alain Jones’ victory (and I don’t mean that as a metaphor or hyperbole, both Patrick Head and Sir Frank have said he was Williams embodied).
