1991 Brazilian Grand Prix

Last updated
1991 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 2 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
Circuit Interlagos.svg
Race details
Date24 March 1991
Location Autódromo José Carlos Pace
São Paulo, Brazil
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.325 km (2.687 miles)
Distance 71 laps, 307.075 km (190.808 miles)
Weather Cloudy at start, rainy later. Ambient temperature: 29.4°C (85°F).
Humidity: 95%.
Wind speed: 33.7 km/h (21 mph).
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:16.392
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault
Time 1:20.436 on lap 35
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second Williams-Renault
Third McLaren-Honda
Lap leaders
  • 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos on 24 March 1991. It was the second race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship.

Contents

The 71-lap race was won from pole position by local driver Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda. It was the first time Senna had won his home Grand Prix, in his eighth season of F1. Italian Riccardo Patrese finished second in a Williams-Renault, with Senna's Austrian teammate Gerhard Berger third.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, a Dallara was again the fastest car, but this time it was JJ Lehto who topped the time sheets. He was six tenths of a second ahead of the Jordan of Andrea de Cesaris, who was a fraction faster than his team-mate Bertrand Gachot in third. The fourth pre-qualifier was the other Scuderia Italia Dallara, driven by Emanuele Pirro.

The two Modena Lambos missed out in fifth and sixth, with Eric van de Poele over a second slower than Pirro, with Nicola Larini another second further back. Seventh was Pedro Chaves in the Coloni, followed by Olivier Grouillard in the Fondmetal. Grouillard had initially used an interim chassis, with an eye to the team's new car which was still being completed, and was running well until the suspension broke. He was forced to revert to an older chassis, and was unable to match the times of his opponents. [1]

Pre-qualifying classification

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap
122 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:19.540
233 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:20.150+0.610
332 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:20.184+0.644
421 Flag of Italy.svg Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:20.567+1.027
535 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:21.919+2.379
634 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:22.944+3.404
731 Flag of Portugal.svg Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:23.231+3.691
814 Flag of France.svg Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:23.951+4.411

Qualifying report

Qualifying classification

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
11 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:18.7111:16.392
26 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:22.0691:16.775+0.383
35 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:20.0561:16.843+0.451
42 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:19.5571:17.471+1.079
528 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:19.3501:17.601+1.209
627 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost Ferrari 1:20.0791:17.739+1.347
720 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:20.1051:18.577+2.185
815 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:22.1961:18.664+2.272
94 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:21.7091:18.847+2.455
1032 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:21.4931:18.882+2.490
1129 Flag of France.svg Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:22.1271:19.291+2.899
1221 Flag of Italy.svg Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:21.2861:19.305+2.913
1333 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:21.7101:19.339+2.947
1419 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:21.2661:19.360+2.968
1516 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:21.1711:19.517+3.125
163 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:21.8251:19.546+3.154
1730 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:22.2811:19.832+3.440
1825 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:23.1971:19.868+3.476
1922 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:22.2431:19.954+3.562
2023 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:22.8521:20.175+3.783
2124 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:26.1471:20.502+4.110
2211 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:25.5871:20.611+4.219
2326 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:22.6821:21.168+4.776
2417 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:23.6181:21.219+4.827
258 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:23.5471:21.230+4.838
267 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:23.2711:21.280+4.888
2710 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche 1:25.5551:22.190+5.798
2818 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson AGS-Ford 1:24.6981:22.432+6.040
299 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 1:25.7951:22.739+6.347
3012 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd 1:24.9471:23.590+7.198

Race

Race report

The podium, fltr: Riccardo Patrese, Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger Ayrton senna podio trofeo.jpg
The podium, fltr: Riccardo Patrese, Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger

Ayrton Senna made a perfect start to lead from Nigel Mansell, Riccardo Patrese, Jean Alesi, Gerhard Berger and Alain Prost, building up a lead of three seconds by lap eight. However Mansell was closing and by lap 20 the gap was down to 0.7s. On lap 17 Prost pitted for new tyres, keen to avoid being stuck behind Nelson Piquet's Benetton. Mansell pitted on lap 26, but the stop was terrible - lasting over 14 seconds. This returned him to the race in fifth place behind Patrese, Alesi and Berger.

After Senna and Patrese had made their stops, Mansell was seven seconds behind the lead McLaren. There seemed no doubt that Senna would be caught but the chance never arose as on lap 50 Mansell had to stop for a new set of tyres after a puncture caused by debris on the track. Unknown to observers, Senna's gearbox was failing, having lost fourth gear and by lap 60 the lead was halved and Mansell had set fastest lap. Yet it was Mansell's gearbox that gave way first, forcing the Williams into a spin and causing him to retire on lap 61. With just a couple of laps left, Senna had also lost fifth and third gears. Having to maintain sixth gear in slow and medium corners meant that several times he nearly stalled. Patrese was catching him rapidly, but with gearbox problems of his own he was unable to pass.

Senna won 2.9 seconds ahead of Patrese. When he crossed the finish line, he started to scream in celebration of achieving his dream of winning at home. The tremendous struggle of trying to keep the car under control caused him to have muscle cramps and fever. After stopping his car, Senna was almost unable to move on his own. He had to be lifted bodily from the car due to exhaustion and driven to the podium in the medical car. Despite a small fire on the grid and a sticking throttle, Berger claimed the final podium place from Prost, Piquet and Alesi. On the podium, after all that effort, Senna barely managed to lift the trophy.

Race classification

PosNoDriverConstructorTyreLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
11 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda G 711:38:28.128110
26 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault G 71+ 2.99126
32 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda G 71+ 5.41644
427 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost Ferrari G 71+ 18.36963
520 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford P 71+ 21.96072
628 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Ferrari G 71+ 23.64151
719 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford P 70+ 1 lap14
824 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari G 69+ 2 laps21
911 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd G 68+ 3 laps22
1025 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini G 68+ 3 laps18
1121 Flag of Italy.svg Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd P 68+ 3 laps12
127 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha P 67+ 4 laps26
1332 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford G 63Fuel system10
Ret5 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault G 59Gearbox3
Ret26 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini G 50Engine23
Ret23 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari G 47Spun off20
Ret8 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha P 34Engine25
Ret29 Flag of France.svg Éric Bernard Lola-Ford G 33Radiator11
Ret22 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd P 22Electrical19
Ret33 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford G 20Engine13
Ret4 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda P 19Gearbox9
Ret16 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor G 16Transmission15
Ret3 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda P 12Spun off16
Ret15 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor G 9Physical8
Ret17 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford G 0Suspension24
Ret30 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford G 0Fuel pump17
DNQ10 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche G
DNQ18 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson AGS-Ford G
DNQ9 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche G
DNQ12 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd G
DNPQ35 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini G
DNPQ34 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini G
DNPQ31 Flag of Portugal.svg Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford G
DNPQ14 Flag of France.svg Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford G
Source: [2] [3]

Championship standings after the race

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References

  1. Walker, Murray (1991). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 21–28. ISBN   0-905138-90-2.
  2. "1991 Brazilian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. "1991 Brazilian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 24 March 1991. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Brazil 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
Previous race:
1991 United States Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1991 season
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1991 San Marino Grand Prix
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1990 Brazilian Grand Prix
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1992 Brazilian Grand Prix