The Grand Prix that birthed modern Formula 1
It’s not often in Formula 1 that players see things the same way. In the early 1980s, the grid’s divide between the privately owned teams and the governing body caused serious issues with the running of the sport, but it was in the process of these issues being played out and (eventually) settling down, that modern, commercially-driven F1 was born.
The 1981 season was set to start on 7th February with the South African Grand Prix, and while a race took place that weekend, it wasn’t the FIA’s curtain-raiser.
A subcommittee of the sport’s governing body, the Jean-Marie Balestre-led Federation Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) was embroiled in a dispute with FOCA – the Formula One Constructors’ Association, spearheaded by the likes of Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley, Frank Williams and Ken Tyrrell to represent the interests of the privately owned teams, up against manufacturing giants like Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo.
After a decade of disagreement, FOCA members had many gripes with the FIA, namely commercial rights, an uneven distribution of revenue and a perceived bias towards the larger teams. A first battle between FISA and FOCA had taken place at the 1980 Spanish Grand Prix, where FISA fined most FOCA drivers for not attending briefings ahead of earlier races, the penalty for not paying the fines being the threat of drivers’ licenses being revoked.
A game of football broke out on track between the Williams and Brabham teams while the dispute was argued – the race only ended up going ahead at the insistence of the Spanish King, but as a non-championship event, FISA didn’t sanction the participation of the FOCA teams.
Detachment from the championship was a weapon that only sharpened in this war. The World Federation of Motorsport (WFMS) formed five months later, in November 1980. A rival championship with its own title and 18-race calendar which, like the FIA, intended to start its season in South Africa.
But the FIA’s race was curtailed; FISA pushed for a date change the race organisers – which involved Ecclestone – would not agree to, and so that February weekend saw the first event under the WFMS banner take place.
The Grand Prix was held under Formula Libre regulations, far more relaxed from those governing F1, and the cars were adapted accordingly, including the fitting of usually-prohibited sliding side skirts. With only FOCA teams partaking, all cars ran using Ford-Cosworth engines with used Avon tyres sourced by Ecclestone as FISA dealt with new supplier Michelin.
In total, 19 cars took part in the weekend, with the likes of Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Keke Rosberg and Alan Jones behind the wheel. Invited by Tyrrell to race on home soil, they were joined on the grid by Desiré Wilson who, in 1980, was the first woman to take outright victory at any FIA World Championship race and the first to win an F1 race with victory at Brands Hatch as part of British Formula 1.
Wilson qualified 16th and got up to sixth in the race before spinning out with gearbox troubles with a third of the race remaining. Seven other cars would retire, with victory claimed by Carlos Reutemann, ahead of that season’s eventual Drivers’ Champion Piquet, and Elio de Angelis – not that any of the points counted, of course.
Hopes for a separate championship lived and died with this Grand Prix. The absence of the major factory teams contributed to the limited fan and media engagement it received, thus demonstrating how unfeasible the breakaway plans would be. An agreement was made between FOCA and FISA for the private teams to return in time for the season opener, the United States Grand Prix West held in California the following month.
Part of what helped settle matters was the signing of the first Concorde Agreement in January 1981. Though this took place before the events in South Africa, this meeting, at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, saw FISA agree to (amongst other things) a more equal distribution of funds, while FOCA shared travel expenses equally between teams who scored points in a season. Importantly, teams agreed to take part in all races on the calendar, a welcome stability when it came to negotiating TV rights, as it assured there would be an event to broadcast.
Though the South Africa saga would follow, and disputes and boycotts would continue into the following year, these events emphasised the importance of the sport as a commercial asset and the assurances these settlements brought helped drive Formula 1 into the business we see today.
Amid questions of neutrality, FOCA would grow into the Formula One Group, the sport’s commercial rights holder until Liberty took over in 2017, while the Concorde Agreement continues to be in effect, the eighth and latest deal set to expire this year.
Now so richly sponsored and tightly governed, disputes still arise between drivers, teams and the governing bodies as the money pot grows increasingly larger. Politics will never be too far away from the track in Formula 1.
Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.
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