Following the conclusion of the 1980 Formula One Season, Formula One was in political turmoil. Since 1978, the FOCA teams, which primarily consisted of the engine customer teams of the Ford Cosworth DFV had increasingly managed to gain ground over the engine constructor teams. The revolution of ground effect in 1978 had seen a massive improvement in speed, where team's such as Lotus, Williams, Brabham and Ligier had proved in previous seasons that a powerful engine was not an essential requirement to be the fastest in Formula One.