Alan Jones clinched the 1980 Formula One World Drivers' Championship at this race, also delivering Williams their first drivers' title.
Key Facts
- Race laps
- 70
- Circuit length
- 4.41 km
- Total race distance
- 309 km
- Race number in season
- 13th of 15 (penultimate)
- Youngest GP starter record
- Mike Thackwell, held 29 years until 2009
- Jones championship margin
- Led Piquet by 8 points before race
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Alan Jones entered the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix leading Nelson Piquet by a narrow margin in the drivers' championship. A controversial first-start incident saw Piquet and Jones race side by side to the first corner, make contact, and send Piquet into the wall, forcing him to restart in his more fragile qualifying car.
The race was held on 28 September 1980 at Circuit Île Notre-Dame over 70 laps. Jones, driving a Williams FW07B, won his second consecutive Canadian Grand Prix. Piquet's Brabham BT49 retired due to a Cosworth DFV engine failure, ending the championship battle in Jones's favour.
Jones secured the 1980 World Drivers' Championship, becoming only the second Australian champion after Jack Brabham in 1966. Williams Grand Prix Engineering also claimed their first World Drivers' Championship, having already secured the Constructors' title two weeks earlier. Separately, Mike Thackwell set a record as the youngest driver to start a Grand Prix, standing for 29 years.