1980 rFactor Alternate Formula One season

The 1980 Formula One season will be the 31st in the history of the championship. Jacques Laffite and Ligier started the season reigning champions, looking to improve after an up-and-down 1979.

Mid-Season Changes

 * 1 Beppe Gabbiani was banned for one race after his antics during the 1980 South African Grand Prix. Restov Racing's test and reserve driver Valentino Nicchi stepped in to replace him. Gabbiani was banned again, this time for six races after the Belgian Grand Prix. Nicchi was promoted to the second race seat.
 * 2 After holding a test session at Silverstone after the 1980 South African Grand Prix, Restov Racing decided to replace the under performing Elio de Angelis with Gianfranco Brancatelli, who drove for RAM in 1979.
 * 3 After poor performance at the South African GP, Eddie Cheever's Osella seat was under threat. The team organized a private test to see if the team's reserve driver Siegfried Stohr was any better, which he was and so he replaced Cheever. Cheever later found new employment as Arrows' test and reserve driver.
 * 4 Ladislav Sedlak was injured in the 1979 Australian Grand Prix. He missed the start of the season due to this injury.
 * 5 Nelson Piquet was severely injured in a testing accident on Silverstone. The Brazilian suffered career-ending injuries to his legs and ankles after a high speed impact with the wall.
 * 6 Pierre Depault opted to retire to a management role after a run of poor results. JLD test driver Michael Bleekemolen took over.
 * 7 Brian Henton was fired in favour of Jeremy-Etienne Voeckler
 * 8 Roberto Horford was banned following the 1980 Monaco Grand Prix. He was replaced by Alfa Romeo test driver Andrea de Cesaris.
 * 9 Callum McAllister was injured after a brake failure on lap 1 of the Swiss Grand Prix, ruling him out of the United States Grand Prix. Guillaume Gauthier was tapped as his replacement, with Derek Warwick taking over the Frenchman's seat at McLaren.
 * 10 Niki Lauda retired from Formula One after a series of poor results. He was replaced by Jochen Mass
 * 11 Riccardo Patrese was fired from Arrows after failing to match his team mate. He was replaced by German rookie Olivier Kunz
 * 12 Emerson Fittipaldi was released from Merzario after failing to score a point, compared to the results of team mate Mario Andretti. Alfa Romeo driver Alain Prost filled his seat at Merzario, with Fittipaldi going to Alfa Romeo.
 * 13 Thomas Nurmester was suddenly fired from the Osella team, citing "an ongoing breakdown in the working relationship between the team and driver". He was replaced by Italian Michele Alboreto.

Team Changes

 * Fittipaldi Automotive and Jenkins Industries F1 Team did not return to start 1980, with Jenkins going bust with 3 races to go in 1979 and Fittipaldi pulling out of Formula One.
 * Osella Squadre Corse were the first of the new teams to be granted an entry to the sport, mid way through 1979. The Italian squad secured the old Williams FW06 chassis used by Jenkins after the team went bust, and signed a deal with Alfa Romeo to receive engines from the Italian manufacturer in exchange for a choice over one of their drivers starting from 1981 onwards.
 * Audi Sport were the second of the new teams to be announced for 1980. The squad, after having their entry confirmed before the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, spent most of 1979 testing their car in secret, but when the car did break cover it emerged that someone had found the blueprints to the Brabham BT48 in a skip and copied them. To power their chassis, the German manufacturer developed their own in-line 6 turbocharged engine.
 * Restov Racing were the next squad to be announced. The Anglo-Russian squad founded by businessman Edward Restov quickly secured a deal with Renault to run their old RS11 chassis and engines, to be re badged as Ladas. Restov also showed his business acumen by signing Russian company Gazprom into a lucrative title sponsorship deal.
 * Renault offered a supply of engines to all teams, with Brabham, Lotus, Renault, Restov, and Wolf taking delivery of Renault engines.
 * ATS Racing was renamed to JLD Racing following the latter's take over of the former.
 * Ensign signed a deal with Honda for a supply of engines.
 * RAM Racing rebadged their normally aspirated Ferrari engines to FIATs after a request from Ferrari.

Changed Teams

 * Thomas Nurmester, who drove in place of an ill Geoff Lees for Tyrrell at the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix, moved to Osella, where he would receive a full-time drive. However, he was also retained by Tyrrell as a test and reserve driver.
 * Mario Andretti moved to Merzario after ebing sacked by the McLaren team, along with Emerson Fittipaldi after his family team left the sport.
 * After being left without a drive after the Jenkins team pulled out, Rupert Keegan joined JLD
 * 1979's journeyman, Beppe Gabbiani, moved to his third team in 14 months, Restov, ahead of the 1980 season.
 * Niki Lauda was dropped by Brabham after a lacklustre 1979, with the Austrian joining Audi.
 * Marc Surer recovered from his horrific back injuries he suffered at the 1979 German Grand Prix to join Audi.

Entered Formula One

 * Along with Formula One's first team from behind the Iron curtain, Bulgaria's Deyan Rangelov proved to be Formula One's first Eastern European driver.
 * Larry Perkins joined Brabham after winning Australia's Rothmans International Series.
 * Nigel Mansell joined RAM full-time after serving as their test driver in 1979.
 * Briton Brian Henton joined Shadow Ford Racing after finishing second in European Formula Two in 1979.
 * American Eddie Cheever joined Osella's F1 effort after a successful campaign with them in European Formula Two.

Left Formula One

 * Danny Ongais was left with no drive after Fittipaldi pulled out of the sport, and returned to race in America.
 * Marshal Jenkins did not return along with his team.
 * Geoff Lees, after being sacked by Tyrrell before the 1979 Australian Grand Prix, did not find a drive for 1980.
 * Gianfranco Brancatelli was not kept on at RAM, being replaced by Nigel Mansell. However, he was to return after just two racing driving for Restov Racing.

Politics
The aftermath of the 1980 South African Grand Prix saw many new political unions spring up amongst the constructors, after FISA proposed radical new rule changes that were detrimental to the sport.

Association des Constructeurs de Formule Une (ACF) was the first of these groups to be set up, with Ligier the founding member. Ligier was soon joined by teams up and down the pitlane, and before the 1980 Brazilian Grand Prix]], Osella, Renault, Williams, JLD, Restov Racing and McLaren were all members.

In response to this, and the perceived manufacturer bias according to RAM, the British team formed the Union of Independent Teams (UIT) to stand for the smaller, independant teams. Ensign joined quickly after it's inception.

A third constructor's association, namely the Constructor's Assembly (CA), which in the eyes of Ken Tyrrell, the founding member, is a "more liberal and more open F1 constructors association". The CA immeadiately placed a restriciton on membership to those teams who were not aligned to either ACF or UIT.

Team Merzario, on the other hand, set up the Sit on the Fence Association (SOFA) which was "for those teams who don't wish to align themselves with ACF, UIT or the CA". The purpose of SOFA was for teams who didn't want to align themselves to ACF, UIT or the CA to have a united voice if major trouble should kick off between FISA and the unions in the future.

Driver's Championship

 * † denotes that a driver did not finish a race, but was classified due to completing more than 90% of the race distance