1980 British Grand Prix

In the two weeks between the French and British Grands Prix, Brabham decided to replace Ricardo Zunino with Mexican driver Héctor Rebaque, while the Shadow team closed down. There were still 27 cars on the entry list, as RAM Racing entered year-old Williams FW07s for Rupert Keegan and South African female racer Desiré Wilson.^[1]

For the third consecutive race, a Ligier driver took pole position, Didier Pironi setting a time some 5.8 seconds faster than the pole time set by Ronnie Peterson at the previous Grand Prix at Brands Hatch two years before. Pironi's teammate Jacques Laffite was alongside on the front row, while the works Williams filled the second row with championship leader Alan Jones ahead of Carlos Reutemann. On the third row were Nelson Piquet in the Brabham and Bruno Giacomelli in the Alfa Romeo, and on the fourth were Alain Prost in the McLaren and Patrick Depailler in the second Alfa Romeo. Mario Andretti in the Lotus and Derek Daly in the Tyrrell completed the top ten.

The Renaults and Ferraris had issues with their Michelin tyres,^[2] and Jean-Pierre Jabouille and René Arnoux could only manage 13th and 16th respectively for the French team, while Gilles Villeneuve and reigning champion Jody Scheckter struggled to 19th and 23rd respectively for the Italian outfit, and were both out-qualified by Keegan's private Williams. Wilson failed to qualify in the other private Williams.

At the start, Pironi led with Laffite holding off Jones and Piquet passing Reutemann for fourth. Pironi held a comfortable lead until lap 19, when he suffered a deflating front tyre followed by a long pit stop to replace it. Laffite led until he too suffered a deflating tyre, causing him to spin off into catch fencing at Hawthorn Bend on lap 31. Thereafter, Jones retained a comfortable advantage over Piquet and Reutemann, while Pironi made a charge from the back of the field, reaching fifth before suffering another tyre failure on lap 64. It was later established that the Ligiers' problems were caused by their wheel rims cracking.^[2]

Jones eventually took the chequered flag 11 seconds ahead of Piquet, for his fourth victory of the season and his third in succession (including the Spanish Grand Prix, which was subsequently stripped of its World Championship status). Reutemann, the last man on the lead lap, finished 2.2 seconds behind Piquet, with the minor points going to Daly, his Tyrrell teammate Jean-Pierre Jarier, and Prost.

In the Drivers' Championship, Jones doubled his lead over Piquet to six points, while in the Constructors' Championship Williams moved 18 points clear of Ligier.

This race turned out to be the last for Depailler, who died three weeks later while testing at Hockenheim ahead of the German Grand Prix.

• This was the Formula One World Championship debut for South African driver Desiré Wilson - the fourth woman to enter into Formula One after Maria Teresa de Filippis, Lella Lombardi and Divina Galica.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1   Alan Jones 37 2   Nelson Piquet 31 3   René Arnoux 23 4   Didier Pironi 23 5   Carlos Reutemann 20 Source:[6]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1   Williams-Ford 57 2   Ligier-Ford 39 3   Brabham-Ford 31 4   Renault 23 5   Arrows-Ford 11 Source:[6]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.