The Lotus 81 was a Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 racing car built by Colin Chapman

Colin Chapman

Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE was an influential British designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars....

's Lotus

Team Lotus

Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing...

 team for the 1980 Formula One season

1980 Formula One season

The 1980 Formula One season was the 31st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1980 World Championship of Drivers and the 1980 International Cup for F1 Constructors which were contested concurrently from January 13 to October 5 over a fourteen race series...

. Unlike many of its illustrious Lotus forbears the 81 was not a terribly innovative or competitive car, coming as it did at a time when Chapman's interest in his racing activities was waning.

Instead it was a very standard ground effect design with sliding skirts and the ubiquitous Cosworth DFV

Cosworth DFV

The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. Named Four Valve because of the four valves per cylinder, and Double as it was a V8 development of the earlier, four-cylinder FVA , making it a Double Four Valve engine...

 3.0 litre V8 powerplant. The car was said to generate a great deal of downforce but suffered from excessive pitch sensitivity problems, ultimately leading Chapman to develop the innovative twin-chassis Lotus 88

Lotus 88

The Lotus 88 was an innovative ground effect Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman, Peter Wright, Tony Rudd and Martin Ogilvie of Lotus in an effort to maximise the downforce produced by ground effects cars.-History:...

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Mario Andretti

Mario Andretti

Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...

 and Elio de Angelis

Elio de Angelis

Elio de Angelis was an Italian racing driver who participated in Formula One between and , racing for the Shadow, Lotus and Brabham teams. He was killed during testing at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet in 1986...

 used the 81 in all 14 rounds of the 1980 Formula One world championship, and the car also gave Nigel Mansell

Nigel Mansell

Nigel Ernest James Mansell OBE is a British racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the CART Indy Car World Series...

 his Formula One debut, with the British driver lining up in a total of three races that season. The best result for the car was Elio de Angelis's 2nd place in Brazil.
Chapman had intended to use the Lotus 88 for the season, but a massive furore over the legality of the new car meant that the 81 was kept on as a stop gap for the first four races, with Mansell taking 3rd place in the Belgian Grand Prix and de Angelis claiming three points finishes, before car was replaced by the Lotus 87

Lotus 87

The Lotus 87 was a Formula One racing car used by Team Lotus in the second part of the 1981 Formula One season and in the first race of the 1982 season.-Formula One World Championship results:...

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Complete Formula One results

Year	Team	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Points	WCC
	Team Lotus	Ford Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...  Cosworth DFV Cosworth DFV The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. Named Four Valve because of the four valves per cylinder, and Double as it was a V8 development of the earlier, four-cylinder FVA , making it a Double Four Valve engine...			ARG 1980 Argentine Grand Prix The 1980 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on January 13, 1980 at the Autódromo Juan y Oscar Gálvez Circuit in Argentina. It was the first race of the 1980 Formula One season...	BRA 1980 Brazilian Grand Prix The 1980 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos on January 27, 1980.- Classification :-Notes:*Lap leaders: Gilles Villeneuve , Jean-Pierre Jabouille , René Arnoux...	RSA 1980 South African Grand Prix The 1980 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on March 1, 1980.Alain Prost and Marc Surer both crashed in separate incidents during qualifying: Prost broke his wrist and Surer suffered serious injuries to his legs. Neither started the race, with Prost also missing...	USW 1980 United States Grand Prix West The 1980 United States Grand Prix West was a Formula One race held on March 30, 1980 at Long Beach, California.__FORCETOC__-Summary:Nelson Piquet took pole, fastest lap and his first career race win to dominate the weekend in his gleaming blue and white Brabham...	BEL 1980 Belgian Grand Prix The 1980 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on May 4, 1980.- Classification :-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standingsConstructors' Championship standings...	MON 1980 Monaco Grand Prix The 1980 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on May 18, 1980. It was won by Carlos Reutemann driving a Williams-Cosworth...	FRA 1980 French Grand Prix The 1980 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on June 29, 1980.Financial problems meant that this was the last race contested by the Shadow team.- Classification :-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standings...	GBR 1980 British Grand Prix The 1980 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on July 13, 1980.This race proved to be Patrick Depailler's final Grand Prix...	GER 1980 German Grand Prix The 1980 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Hockenheimring on August 10, 1980. It was the ninth round of the 1980 Formula One season...	AUT 1980 Austrian Grand Prix The 1980 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on August 17, 1980 at the Österreichring circuit in Austria. It was the tenth race of the 1980 Formula One season.- Classification :- Notes :*Milestones:...	NED 1980 Dutch Grand Prix The 1980 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on August 31, 1980 at the Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands. It was the eleventh race of the 1980 Formula One season.- Classification :- Notes :* Milestones...	ITA 1980 Italian Grand Prix The 1980 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on September 14, 1980 at the Imola Circuit in Italy. It was the twelfth race of the 1980 Formula One season.- Classification :- Notes :* Milestones:...	CAN 1980 Canadian Grand Prix The 1980 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on September 28, 1980, at the Montreal Circuit in Canada. It was the thirteenth race of the 1980 Formula One season.- Classification :- Notes :* Milestones:...	USA 1980 United States Grand Prix The 1980 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on October 5, 1980 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York...		17	5th
				Mario Andretti Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	6
				Elio de Angelis Elio de Angelis Elio de Angelis was an Italian racing driver who participated in Formula One between and , racing for the Shadow, Lotus and Brabham teams. He was killed during testing at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet in 1986...	Ret	2	Ret	Ret	10	9	Ret	Ret	16	6	Ret	4	10	4
				Nigel Mansell Nigel Mansell Nigel Ernest James Mansell OBE is a British racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the CART Indy Car World Series...										Ret	Ret	DNQ
	Team Lotus	Ford Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...  Cosworth DFV Cosworth DFV The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. Named Four Valve because of the four valves per cylinder, and Double as it was a V8 development of the earlier, four-cylinder FVA , making it a Double Four Valve engine...			USW 1981 United States Grand Prix West The 1981 United States Grand Prix West was a Formula One race held on March 15, 1981 at Long Beach, California.__FORCETOC__-Summary:Defending World Champion Alan Jones finished nine seconds ahead of teammate Carlos Reutemann, and won his first Long Beach Grand Prix, as the 1981 season finally began...	BRA 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix The 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix was the second race of the 1981 Formula One season and was held on March 29, 1981 at Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.-Classification:Results from the 1981 Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix:- Notes :...	ARG 1981 Argentine Grand Prix The 1981 Argentine Grand Prix was the third race of the 1981 Formula One season and was held at the Buenos Aires circuit in Argentina on April 12, 1981. This was the last Argentine Grand Prix until the 1995 Argentine Grand Prix...	SMR 1981 San Marino Grand Prix The 1981 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Imola on May 3, 1981.The race was the first to bear the title "San Marino Grand Prix", although several non-championship Formula One races and the 1980 Italian Grand Prix had previously been held at the circuit.The Lotus team...	BEL 1981 Belgian Grand Prix The 1981 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Zolder on May 17, 1981.-Mechanic safety:The Belgian Grand Prix of 1981 was marred by two serious incidents involving mechanics, one fatal. In Friday practice a mechanic from the Osella team, Giovanni Amadeo, stumbled off the pitwall...	MON 1981 Monaco Grand Prix The 1981 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on May 31, 1981.-Race:Nelson Piquet led for much of the race, but crashed out late on...	ESP 1981 Spanish Grand Prix The 1981 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 21, 1981, at the Circuito Permanente Del Jarama, Jarama, Spain.-Summary:...	FRA 1981 French Grand Prix The 1981 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Dijon on July 5, 1981.- Classification :- Notes :*Alain Prost's first F1 victory*Race was stopped after 58 laps due to rain...	GBR 1981 British Grand Prix The 1981 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on July 18, 1981. John Watson won his first race for five years, and McLaren's first since James Hunt's victory at the 1977 United States Grand Prix...	GER 1981 German Grand Prix The 1981 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Hockenheimring on August 2, 1981. The race was notable for a memorable battle between Alain Prost and Alan Jones.-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standings...	AUT 1981 Austrian Grand Prix The 1981 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on August 16, 1981.The Fittipaldi team was not present because it did not have enough engines.- Classification :- Notes :*Pole position: René Arnoux - 1:32.018...	NED 1981 Dutch Grand Prix The 1981 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Zandvoort on August 30, 1981.- Classification :-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standingsConstructors' Championship standings...	ITA 1981 Italian Grand Prix The 1981 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on September 13, 1981.- Classification :-Trivia:*John Watson had a huge accident at the Lesmo curves when he went wide coming out of the second Lesmo curve, touched the grass and spun across the track, and his carbon-fibre...	CAN 1981 Canadian Grand Prix The 1981 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on September 27, 1981, at Montreal. Jacques Laffite won the race driving for Ligier. It would prove to be Ligier's last race win for fifteen years, until the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix...	CPL	22*	7th
				Nigel Mansell Nigel Mansell Nigel Ernest James Mansell OBE is a British racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the CART Indy Car World Series...	Ret	11	Ret		3
				Elio de Angelis Elio de Angelis Elio de Angelis was an Italian racing driver who participated in Formula One between and , racing for the Shadow, Lotus and Brabham teams. He was killed during testing at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet in 1986...	Ret	5	6		5

* Of those, 9 points were scored with the 81 model.