Editor Chris Balfe remembers the 1980 Canadian GP - Montreal, 28 September 1980

This probably wont mean a lot to those of our readers aged thirty-five or under, however I'd like you to imagine the recent post-Monaco GP fiasco, the contretemps involving Ron Dennis, Norbert Haug and Enrique Bernoldi, taking place at an earlier time! say, twenty years ago.

However instead of Enrique Bernoldi, imagine Ron and Norbert storming down to Alan Jones' garage to read the riot act. Actually, that's rather hard to imagine because Jones' reputation precedes him. Ron and Norbert would probably have thought better of the whole idea and simply fallen back on their more accustomed method of deriding David. For the sake of this hypothetical however, let's pretend that Jones was an unknown. With the backdrop in place, let us now replay the events of Monaco. Chances are it would have run something like this.

Ron would have strode up to Jones, struck an intimidating pose and raised a reproachful finger in preparation of his attack. Chances are that at exactly this moment, having not quite managed to verbalise his ire, he'd have found himself hoping that somewhere in the vast and affluent Monegasque crowd, would be a dental surgeon who could help with the refitting of the teeth which he now found himself recovering from the environs of the pit lane.

'Jonesy' was, and remains, a pure meat and potatoes, tell it like it is and screw the consequences, two fists of iron Aussie. Who not only refused to suffer fools, he refused to suffer anyone! except the 'Sheilas' and those with large and clearly marked bags of money. Our Antipodean correspondents, who are still blessed with the wisdom of Jones in his role as presenter for the local feed of the F1 coverage, assure us the years have not blunted Alan's distaste for all things other than his own opinion. Sir Les Patterson might well be the Australian Cultural Ambassador but it is Alan Jones who holds the self-appointed unofficial title of Minister for dispatching idiots".

The F1 circus arrived in Canada with Nelson Piquet (Brabham) leading Jones (Williams) by the slenderest of margins, one point. Victory for the young Brazilian in the Italian GP at Imola two weeks earlier followed wins at Long Beach and Zandvoort, while Jones had wins in Argentina, France and Britain to his credit.

With just one point between the two protagonists it was unlikely that the title would be decided in Canada, pitlane pundits believed the fight would go to the wire at Watkins Glen just seven days later. Piquet had enjoyed the sort consistency that wins world championships, a win here, a fifth there, a fourth there. Just as Alain Prost was to prove a few years later, every point counts, points win prizes.

The Brabham had been ultra-reliable with only two DNFs in Brazil and Belgium. Jones however had failed to finish in South Africa, Long Beach and Monaco, while finishing last in Holland. However his three wins combined with three seconds and a third ensured that the title race was still wide open.

With the Canadian and American races running on consecutive weekends, both Williams and Brabham brought four cars along, just in case.

The Canadian GP saw several drivers make their F1 debuts. Having spun out of the Italian GP Vittorio Brambilla retired from F1. His place in the Marlboro sponsored Alfa-Romeo would be taken by a young man whose father just happened to be the Marlboro importer for Italy, Andrea de Cesaris. Another driver making his debut was New Zealander Mike Thackwell. Mike had previously tried to qualify the Arrows in Holland, now he was to drive the third Tyrrell, but on the strict understanding that if needed, he would have to relinquish the car to regular drivers Jarier or Daly. When Mike started the Canadian GP he was 19yrs 5 months and 29 days old, thus beating the record established by Ricardo Rodriguez in 1961. When the Mexican lined up on the grid for the Italian GP he was 19y 6m 27d.