Report
The lead up to the race was saddened by the death of Alfa Romeo driver Patrick Depailler. The two-time Grand Prix winner was killed when his Alfa Romeo 179 crashed at the Hockenheim in pre-event testing.
In qualifying, Jones managed to beat Renault RE20 driver Jean-Pierre Jabouille to the pole by four-hundredths of a second. Both drivers averaged 231 km/h (143.5 mph) around the circuit. They were followed by René Arnoux in the other Renault, Jones's Argentine teammate Carlos Reutemann, French driver Jacques Laffite, Brazilian Nelson Piquet (Brabham BT49), Frenchman Didier Pironi (Ligier JS11/15), and Finn Keke Rosberg in a Fittipaldi F8.
The very high speed Hockenheimring favored more powerful turbocharged engines, and was expected to be a Renault circuit. Jean-Pierre Jabouille led early with Arnoux third behind Jones. Both engines in the Renault RE20s failed within a lap of each other leaving Jones to lead until he stopped after he punctured a tyre after the second chicane, dropping behind Laffite and Reutemann.
Nelson Piquet finished fourth in his Brabham BT49 ahead of the only Alfa Romeo enterred, that of Bruno Giacomelli. Canadian Gilles Villeneuve collected just his fourth point for the year in the blighted Ferrari 312T5. In his 100th race start, West German driver Jochen Mass finished eighth in his Arrows A3, behind Mario Andretti (Lotus 81).
Jones expanded his points lead over Piquet to seven. Reutemann was up to third, 15 points behind and Laffite was up to fourth, 16 points down on Jones. The Renault drivers had faded and Ferrari drivers were completely out of the picture. Williams' lead over Ligier in the Constructors' Championship was now 19 points, with the rest over 30 points behind.
Read more about this topic: 1980 German Grand Prix
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