1981 South African Grand Prix
The 1981 South African Grand Prix was a Formula Libre motor race held on 7 February 1981 at Kyalami featuring the FOCA-aligned Formula One teams and Formula One chassis.
The race was originally scheduled to be the opening round of the 1981 FIA Formula One World Championship. However, the ongoing war between Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile and the Formula One Constructors' Association resulted in FISA insisting on a date change which was not acceptable to the race organisers. Approval was ultimately given for the race to go ahead on its original date, but as a Formula Libre race rather than as a round of the Formula One World Championship. The downgraded race was supported by the teams affiliated with FOCA, but not by the manufacturer teams, all of whom were aligned with FISA.. The eleven teams present all fielded cars fitted with sliding side skirts, aerodynamic devices which were illegal in Formula One for 1981 but acceptable under Formula Libre regulations. The absence of the manufacturer teams meant that all 19 cars in the race were powered by Ford Cosworth engines. Due to tyre manufacturer Goodyear's retirement from the sport at the end of the previous season and Michelin's alignment with FISA, the cars ran equipped with old Avon tyres supplied by Bernie Ecclestone.
The race began in very wet conditions but the rain stopped, and the track soon dried. The race was eventually won by Carlos Reutemann, driving a Williams. Reutemann was the only driver to make the bold choice to start the race on slick tyres, which proved very effective in the drying conditions. Nelson Piquet, who led early, was second in a Brabham and Elio de Angelis third in a Lotus.
Reutemann summed up the unsettled political climate of the weekend by saying, "I raced for nothing. No points, no money, no trophy."