Defending World Champion Alan Jones finished nine seconds ahead of teammate Carlos Reutemann, and won his first Long Beach Grand Prix, as the 1981 season finally began after a winter of controversy and legal battles.

After threatening to institute their own championship, FOCA agreed to the skirt ban on assurance of their continued control of the sport's finances and FISA's commitment to a four-year period of stability in the rules.

So, when the teams arrived in Long Beach for the first Championship race of the season, the Friday morning practice sessions were filled with frantic activity.

When the teams arrived in the Los Angeles area town of Long Beach, the demanding and tight street circuit had been slightly modified from the year before- the second left-hander on Pine Avenue had been made a single-apex corner instead of a double-apex.

The car was initially approved by the FISA technical staff and passed by the scrutineers, allowing it to take part in Friday practice.

On the track, in final qualifying, Riccardo Patrese and Alan Jones traded the top spot back and forth several times during the session.

Jones's Williams teammate Reutemann was third, followed by Nelson Piquet's Brabham, the Ferrari of Gilles Villeneuve and Mario Andretti in his first race for Alfa Romeo.

The all-American Tyrrell driver team had Eddie Cheever in eighth place, but Kevin Cogan missed the final qualifying spot by .07 seconds.

Villeneuve was able to gather it in and rejoin in fourth, but Andrea de Cesaris did not, as he ran his McLaren into the back of both Alain Prost and Héctor Rebaque approaching the hairpin.

Patrese's retirement left Reutemann with a three-second lead over teammate Jones, who immediately began closing the gap by half a second per lap.