1980 Spanish Grand Prix - Practice and Qualifying

Practice and Qualifying

The first practice session had begun at 10:00 am local time (UTC+2). FOCA teams did not take part, leaving only the manufacturer teams of Renault, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo contesting. Because of the statement made by RACE, this session was halted after half an hour by the organizers. The Guardia Civil then escorted FISA officials out of the circuit. Practice got underway again at 12:30 pm, this time consisting of all the teams with the exception of Renault, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Osella. Citing fear of further sanctions in other forms of motorsport should they take part in a race deemed illegal by FISA, these four teams withdrew from practice, although all remained at the circuit in case a compromise deal was brokered before the race.

Two qualifying sessions were held to determine the starting order for the race; the first on Friday afternoon and the second on Saturday afternoon. The fastest laptime set by a driver in either session was used to determine grid placings. There were 26 starting positions available for the race, and the qualifying sessions would normally be used to decide which drivers would miss out, but with the cars from Renault, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo not taking part, the remaining 22 drivers couldn't fail to qualify for the race.

In the Friday qualifying session, Ligier driver Jacques Laffite was fastest with a time of 1:12.647, which was over a second and a half quicker than the pole position time set the previous year. Didier Pironi, Laffite's team-mate at Ligier, finished second with Williams drivers Carlos Reutemann and Alan Jones taking third and fourth places in the session.

The two Osella cars, who had not taken part in any running on Friday did compete on Saturday, following a decision by team owner Enzo Osella to loan the cars and drivers to his sponsors, Denim Aftershave. The cars were entered by a team named after the sponsor, which Osella believed would avoid any sanctions against the Osella teams' licence, and in a bid to keep up the pretense, Osella was also not present in the pitlane. The Saturday qualifying session took place in hotter temperatures, which meant that cars were approximately half-a-second slower per lap than they had been on Friday. In this second session, Williams driver Alan Jones switched to his spare car and improved on his Friday time, which secured him second position on the grid and displaced Pironi to third and Reutemann to fourth. The guaranteed qualification meant that this was the only race in the 1980 season where both cars entered by the Shadow team would start a race.

Speaking prior to the race, Rene Arnoux, the Renault driver expressed his view that it was "inadmissible that we can't drive". Arnoux, who was placed second in the championship at the start of the weekend, was of the opinion that "if only FOCA cars take part in the race, then it can't count for championship points".