1990 Spanish Grand Prix

1990 Spanish Grand Prix
Race 14 of 16 in the 1990 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	30 September 1990
Official name	XXXI Gran Premio Tio Pepe de España
Location	Circuito Permanente de Jerez Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.218 km (2.6209 miles)
Distance	73 laps, 307.918 km (191.328 miles)
Weather	Dry, hot, sunny
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:18.387
Fastest lap
Driver	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault
Time	1:24.513 on lap 53
Podium
First	Alain Prost	Ferrari
Second	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari
Third	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1990 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jerez on 30 September 1990. It was the fourteenth race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship, and the fifth and last Spanish Grand Prix to be held at Jerez (though the circuit would host the European Grand Prix in 1994 and 1997).

The 73-lap race was won by Alain Prost, driving a Ferrari, with teammate Nigel Mansell second and Alessandro Nannini third in a Benetton-Ford. Prost's Drivers' Championship rival, Ayrton Senna, took the 50th pole position of his career in his McLaren-Honda, but retired with a failed radiator, allowing Prost to close to within nine points of him in the championship with two races remaining.

This would be the last Ferrari race win until the 1994 German Grand Prix and the last one-two victory until the 1998 French Grand Prix. Also for the all-time Grand Prix wins leader of the time in Prost, this would be his last win until the 1993 South African Grand Prix.

The event was marred by a serious incident during Friday practice, when Martin Donnelly crashed his Lotus at the high-speed Turn 14. Donnelly was thrown from the wreckage, suffering serious injuries that ended his Formula One career. This also turned out to be the last F1 race and podium for Nannini, who severed his right arm in a helicopter crash the following week (though he would return to racing as a touring car driver), as well as the last race for the back-marking EuroBrun and Life teams.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, the same four drivers went through to the main qualifying sessions as had progressed in the previous three events. This time it was Yannick Dalmas who topped the time sheets in his AGS, the first time he had done so this season. Gabriele Tarquini made it an AGS 1–2, just over a tenth of a second behind. Olivier Grouillard was a shade slower in third in the Osella, while Bertrand Gachot was nearly two seconds slower in the Coloni, back in fourth.

In fifth place, Roberto Moreno missed the cut by just 0.018 of a second in the EuroBrun, with Claudio Langes just over a second behind in sixth. Langes' gap to Gachot of 1.133 seconds represented the closest the Italian had come all season to successfully pre-qualifying, as he had failed to pre-qualify for all 14 races so far this season. This proved to be his last opportunity, as EuroBrun withdrew from Formula One after this event. ^[1]

It was also the last event for the hapless Life team, who also withdrew afterwards. Bruno Giacomelli managed two laps in the L190 before it stopped midway through the circuit, its new Judd engine apparently not providing much improvement. The car had never come within 12 seconds of pre-qualifying successfully at any of its 14 events. ^{[1] [2]} To make matters worse, the Life team did not bring a jack to Jerez, forcing mechanics to lift the L190 by its suspension arms. The absence of EuroBrun and Life at the last two Grands Prix of the season avoided the need for pre-qualifying at those events.

Pre-qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	18	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford	1:22.470	—
2	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	1:22.592	+0.122
3	14	Olivier Grouillard	Osella-Ford	1:22.708	+0.238
4	31	Bertrand Gachot	Coloni-Ford	1:24.603	+2.133
5	33	Roberto Moreno	EuroBrun-Judd	1:24.621	+2.151
6	34	Claudio Langes	EuroBrun-Judd	1:25.736	+3.266
7	39	Bruno Giacomelli	Life-Judd	1:42.699	+20.229

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	27	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:18.900	1:18.387	—
2	1	Alain Prost	Ferrari	1:20.026	1:18.824	+0.437
3	2	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	1:21.005	1:19.106	+0.719
4	4	Jean Alesi	Tyrrell-Ford	1:19.923	1:19.604	+1.217
5	28	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	1:19.643	1:19.618	+1.231
6	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:20.562	1:19.647	+1.260
7	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	1:20.721	1:19.689	+1.302
8	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford	1:21.111	1:19.700	+1.313
9	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:21.383	1:20.367	+1.980
10	11	Derek Warwick	Lotus-Lamborghini	1:22.111	1:20.610	+2.223
11	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:22.255	1:21.060	+2.673
12	15	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House-Judd	1:23.019	1:21.167	+2.780
13	26	Philippe Alliot	Ligier-Ford	1:23.783	1:21.170	+2.783
14	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell-Ford	1:22.690	1:21.215	+2.828
15	30	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Lamborghini	1:21.740	1:21.244	+2.857
16	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Ford	1:23.485	1:21.277	+2.890
17	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara-Ford	1:22.953	1:21.467	+3.080
18	29	Éric Bernard	Lola-Lamborghini	1:22.403	1:21.551	+3.164
19	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House-Judd	1:23.866	1:21.916	+3.529
20	25	Nicola Larini	Ligier-Ford	1:23.290	1:21.996	+3.609
21	14	Olivier Grouillard	Osella-Ford	1:24.784	1:22.288	+3.901
22	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	1:23.260	1:22.466	+4.079
23	12	Martin Donnelly	Lotus-Lamborghini	1:22.659	no time	+4.272
24	18	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford	1:23.249	1:22.716	+4.329
25	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	1:23.641	1:23.133	+4.746
26	9	Michele Alboreto	Arrows-Ford	1:24.043	1:23.161	+4.774
27	7	David Brabham	Brabham-Judd	1:25.899	1:23.163	+4.776
28	24	Paolo Barilla	Minardi-Ford	1:25.093	1:23.274	+4.887
29	10	Bernd Schneider	Arrows-Ford	1:24.675	1:23.924	+5.537
30	31	Bertrand Gachot	Coloni-Ford	1:26.593	1:25.114	+6.727

Race

Race report

On the start Patrese collided with Jean Alesi, and sending the Frenchman into a heavy spin at turn 1 into the gravel trap and then retired as a result. As it was Senna who lead the early stages before lap 27 as Nelson Piquet then took the lead for two laps as a result of not pitting before Prost then took the lead on lap 29, Piquet who pitted after 40 laps would eventually retire with battery problems after 48 laps, Ayrton Senna would also retire with the result of a punctured radiator on lap 54 forcing the Brazilian into retirement, as did Gerhard Berger after colliding with Thierry Boutsen on Lap 57. From there the Ferrari drivers eventually dominated the race with reigning world champion Alain Prost leading his teammate Nigel Mansell home by 22 seconds for a 1-2 finish. British Team Lotus driver Martin Donnelly had a horrific crash during Friday practice at the very fast Turn 14; the seat of his Lotus 102 broke free and was flung clear of the wreck. Donnelly received serious injuries that took months of recovery, bringing an end to his Formula One career, although he later returned to racing. Team Lotus decided not to retire from the race, and Derek Warwick was close to the point-scoring positions when he became the race's final retirement on lap 63 with a broken gearbox in the other Lotus 102. Donnelly attributed his survival to safety improvements made after Riccardo Paletti's fatal accident at the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix.

The race also turned out to be the last race of Alessandro Nannini's Formula One career. Nannini claimed the final podium position of the race in his Benetton B190, the ninth podium of his career, finishing ahead of the Williams pair of Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo Patrese. One week after the race, his right arm was severed in a helicopter accident. Nannini recovered and returned to racing as a touring car driver.

At the start of the race, Gerhard Berger, desperate to move up from his fifth place on the grid, gave Jean Alesi no room, resulting in Alesi moving to the outside, where he was hit and put out of the race by Riccardo Patrese.

The Larrousse-Lola of Aguri Suzuki claimed the final championship point of the race, continuing an encouraging season for the French team. It was an encouraging race for another French team, Yannick Dalmas and Gabriele Tarquini both qualified in AGS JH25s in a first for the team, but AGS never again got two cars onto a Formula One grid. Dalmas finished in ninth position, the highlight of the season for the small French team. The ninth-placed finish saved the team from pre-qualifying for the first half of 1991 as it moved them up to a crucial 13th place in the Constructors Championship. As a consequence, Scuderia Italia dropped into pre-qualifying, as they failed to finish higher than 10th all season.

McLaren driver Ayrton Senna's lap 53 retirement with a failed radiator reduced his lead in the world championship over Prost to nine points with just the Japanese and Australian Grands Prix remaining in the season.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Alain Prost	Ferrari	73	1:48:01.461	2	9
2	2	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	73	+ 22.064	3	6
3	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	73	+ 34.874	9	4
4	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	73	+ 43.296	7	3
5	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	73	+ 57.530	6	2
6	30	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Lamborghini	73	+ 1:03.728	15	1
7	25	Nicola Larini	Ligier-Ford	72	+ 1 lap	20
8	15	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House-Judd	72	+ 1 lap	12
9	18	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford	72	+ 1 lap	23
10	9	Michele Alboreto	Arrows-Ford	71	+ 2 laps	25
Ret	11	Derek Warwick	Lotus-Lamborghini	63	Gearbox	10
Ret	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House-Judd	59	Physical	19
Ret	28	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	56	Collision	5
Ret	27	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	53	Radiator	1
Ret	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford	47	Battery	8
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara-Ford	47	Engine	17
Ret	14	Olivier Grouillard	Osella-Ford	45	Wheel bearing	21
Ret	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	41	Spun off	11
Ret	26	Philippe Alliot	Ligier-Ford	22	Spun off	13
Ret	29	Éric Bernard	Lola-Lamborghini	20	Gearbox	18
Ret	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell-Ford	13	Spun off	14
Ret	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	5	Engine	22
Ret	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	5	Collision	24
Ret	4	Jean Alesi	Tyrrell-Ford	0	Spun off	4
Ret	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Ford	0	Throttle	16
DNS	12	Martin Donnelly	Lotus-Lamborghini		Driver injured
DNQ	7	David Brabham	Brabham-Judd
DNQ	24	Paolo Barilla	Minardi-Ford
DNQ	10	Bernd Schneider	Arrows-Ford
DNQ	31	Bertrand Gachot	Coloni-Ford
DNPQ	33	Roberto Moreno	EuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ	34	Claudio Langes	EuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ	39	Bruno Giacomelli	Life-Judd
Source: [3]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Ayrton Senna 78 2 Alain Prost 69 3 Gerhard Berger 40 4 Nigel Mansell 31 5 Thierry Boutsen 30 Source: [4]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 118 2 Ferrari 100 3 Williams-Renault 49 4 Benetton-Ford 47 5 Tyrrell-Ford 15 Source: [4]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. Walker, Murray (1990). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 119–126. ISBN   0-905138-82-1.
2. "Motoring News". 3 October 1990.
3. "1990 Spanish Grand Prix". Formula One. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
4. "Spain 1990 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.

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