The 1980 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 5, 1980 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. This event was also referred to as the United States Grand Prix East in order to distinguish it from the United States Grand Prix West held on March 30, 1980 in Long Beach, California.
It was the fourteenth and final race of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was the 30th United States Grand Prix, the 20th and last to be held at Watkins Glen, and the last to be held for nine years (other Formula One races were held in the United States during that time, but none were billed as the United States Grand Prix). The race was held over 59 laps of the circuit for a total race distance of .
The race was won by the new World Champion, Australian driver Alan Jones, driving a Williams FW07B. It was Jones' fifth World Championship Formula One victory of the season and the sixth of the seven Grands Prix (including Spain and Australia) he would win in his career defining season. Jones won by four seconds over his Argentine team mate Carlos Reutemann with French driver Didier Pironi finishing third in his Ligier JS11/15. Two former World Champions, Emerson Fittipaldi and Jody Scheckter, retired after the race, although Fittipaldi would later return to racing in the American CART series.
Summary
Frank Williams' first Championship season, his eleventh as an owner, ended in style with another victory by team leader and new Driver's Champion Alan Jones, but this was the last Grand Prix to be held on the historic Watkins Glen course in the wooded hills at the foot of Seneca Lake. The Glen's demise came about when attempts to resurface the track proved not to be enough, runoff areas became too short for the speeds produced, and attendance was not what it had been, for even this race had been in doubt until just a month before.
As the track's last Grand Prix weekend got under way, the big surprise of qualifying was the Alfa Romeo of Italian Bruno Giacomelli, who was quickest in both Friday's and Saturday's sessions, averaging . Giacomelli took the only pole of his 69-race career, and the first for Alfa Romeo since Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1951 Italian Grand Prix, by three-quarters of a second over a tightly-bunched group including Nelson Piquet's Brabham, Carlos Reutemann's Williams, Elio de Angelis' Lotus and Jones in the second Williams.
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Notes
- This was the 10th Grand Prix start for Osella.
- This was the 25th podium finish for Ligier.
Final championship standings
;Drivers' Championship standings
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
!
! Pos
! Driver
! Points
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 1
| Alan Jones
| 67 (71)
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 2
| Nelson Piquet
| 54
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 3
| Carlos Reutemann
| 42 (49)
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 4
| Jacques Laffite
| 34
|-
|align="left"| 10px 1
|align="center"| 5
| Didier Pironi
| 32
|-
!colspan=4|Source:
|}
;Constructors' Championship standings
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
!
! Pos
! Constructor
! Points
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 1
| Williams-Ford
| 120
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 2
| Ligier-Ford
| 66
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 3
| Brabham-Ford
| 55
|-
|align="left"| 10px
|align="center"| 4
| Renault
| 38
|-
|align="left"| 10px 4
|align="center"| 5
| Lotus-Ford
| 14
|-
!colspan=4|Source: