1981 Formula One standings
1981 season resultsPrevious year | Next year
| Rank | Driver | Points | Starts | Poles | Wins | Podiums | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish | Races Led | Races Led Most | X Led | Laps Led | Races Led Points | Avg % Led | % Beat | Fastest Laps | Laps | Not Classified |
| 1 | Nelson Piquet | 50 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 3.80 | 7.27 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 185 | 2 | 18.74 | 72.35 | 1 | 824 | 4 |
| 2 | Carlos Reutemann | 49 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 3.53 | 6.67 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 104 | 11 | 11.14 | 75.00 | 2 | 858 | 3 |
| 3 | Alan Jones | 46 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4.73 | 8.27 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 188 | 2 | 17.67 | 67.94 | 5 | 836 | 3 |
| 4 | Jacques Laffite | 44 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9.33 | 9.13 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 66 | 0 | 7.28 | 64.12 | 1 | 734 | 6 |
| 5 | Alain Prost | 43 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4.80 | 11.93 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 212 | 0 | 23.38 | 51.76 | 1 | 571 | 9 |
| 6 | John Watson | 27 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8.87 | 8.33 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0.78 | 67.65 | 1 | 815 | 5 |
| 7 | Gilles Villeneuve | 25 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7.00 | 13.53 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 86 | 0 | 7.62 | 44.71 | 1 | 548 | 9 |
| 8 | Elio de Angelis | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.29 | 9.21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 63.72 | 0 | 686 | 4 |
| 9 | René Arnoux | 11 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 6.79 | 12.43 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 56 | 0 | 6.24 | 49.53 | 1 | 585 | 6 |
| 10 | Héctor Rebaque | 11 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.86 | 13.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 47.66 | 0 | 603 | 9 |
| 11 | Riccardo Patrese | 10 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10.27 | 14.47 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 2.00 | 40.59 | 0 | 582 | 9 |
| 12 | Eddie Cheever | 10 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16.36 | 12.71 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 48.26 | 0 | 666 | 7 |
| 13 | Didier Pironi | 9 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.67 | 13.00 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 44 | 0 | 4.89 | 47.06 | 1 | 657 | 7 |
| 14 | Nigel Mansell | 8 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10.85 | 14.15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 41.84 | 0 | 500 | 8 |
| 15 | Bruno Giacomelli | 7 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12.87 | 12.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 50.59 | 0 | 715 | 7 |
| 16 | Marc Surer | 4 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 | 12.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 51.36 | 1 | 668 | 4 |
| 17 | Mario Andretti | 3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.60 | 11.93 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 51.76 | 0 | 717 | 8 |
| 18 | Andrea de Cesaris | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.57 | 15.71 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 35.02 | 0 | 465 | 8 |
| 19 | Patrick Tambay | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.79 | 15.71 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 35.02 | 0 | 513 | 9 |
| 20 | Slim Borgudd | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21.57 | 13.86 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 44.10 | 0 | 321 | 4 |
| 21 | Eliseo Salazar | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23.11 | 15.78 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 35.44 | 0 | 355 | 7 |
| 22 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.22 | 12.11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 51.69 | 0 | 391 | 4 |
| 23 | Siegfried Stohr | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19.67 | 16.89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 29.56 | 0 | 269 | 6 |
| 24 | Derek Daly | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19.63 | 14.25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 42.08 | 0 | 360 | 4 |
| 25 | Chico Serra | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20.20 | 15.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 38.26 | 0 | 216 | 3 |
| 26 | Keke Rosberg | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.22 | 16.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 34.47 | 0 | 352 | 6 |
| 27 | Michele Alboreto | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20.60 | 14.30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 40.89 | 0 | 468 | 5 |
| 28 | Brian Henton | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23.00 | 10.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 60.87 | 0 | 49 | 0 |
| 29 | Jan Lammers | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22.00 | 14.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 43.48 | 0 | 92 | 2 |
| 30 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24.00 | 13.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 47.83 | 0 | 57 | 0 |
| 31 | Ricardo Zunino | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24.00 | 13.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 47.83 | 0 | 108 | 0 |
| 32 | Beppe Gabbiani | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22.00 | 17.33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 28.99 | 0 | 88 | 3 |
| 33 | Jean-Pierre Jabouille | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17.67 | 15.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 36.23 | 0 | 134 | 3 |
| 34 | Derek Warwick | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22.00 | 15.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 39.13 | 0 | 43 | 1 |
| 35 | Miguel Ángel Guerra | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22.00 | 24.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 36 | Emilio de Villota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Jacques Villeneuve, Sr. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Kevin Cogan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Ricardo Londoño | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Giorgio Francia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

