1991 French Grand Prix

Last updated
1991 French Grand Prix
Race 7 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours (1991).svg
Race details
Date7 July 1991
Location Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
Magny-Cours, France
Course Permanent circuit
Course length 4.250 km (2.651 miles)
Distance 72 laps, 306.000 km (190.892 miles)
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:14.559 [1]
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault
Time 1:19.168 on lap 49 [2]
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second Ferrari
Third McLaren-Honda
Lap leaders
  • 1991 French Grand Prix

The 1991 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Magny-Cours on 7 July 1991. It was the seventh race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship, and the first French Grand Prix to be held at Magny-Cours. The 72-lap race was won by Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, with local driver Alain Prost second in a Ferrari and Ayrton Senna third in a McLaren-Honda.

Contents

Pre-race

The French Grand Prix had moved from the Circuit Paul Ricard near Marseille to the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in the centre of France, to mixed reviews. There were no changes in the driver line-up, but the Footwork team had decided to abandon the disastrous Porsche V12 engine project in favour of a return to Ford engines, while Ferrari introduced a new car, the 643.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

In the Friday morning pre-qualification session, Andrea de Cesaris was fastest in the Jordan for the second time this season. He was four tenths of a second faster than JJ Lehto in the Dallara, with Olivier Grouillard third fastest for Fondmetal at his home race, the second time in a row the Frenchman had pre-qualified. The fourth pre-qualifier was Bertrand Gachot in the other Jordan.

Those failing to progress to the main qualifying sessions included the other Dallara of Emanuele Pirro in fifth, just a couple of tenths slower than Gachot. The two Modena Lambos were sixth and seventh, with Nicola Larini outpacing Eric van de Poele, and bottom of the time sheets was Pedro Chaves in the Coloni. This was the seventh consecutive Grand Prix in which the Portuguese driver had failed to pre-qualify. [3]

Pre-qualifying classification

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap
133 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:19.729
222 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:20.172+0.443
314 Flag of France.svg Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:20.227+0.498
432 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:20.309+0.580
521 Flag of Italy.svg Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:20.539+0.810
634 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:20.628+0.899
735 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:21.304+1.575
831 Flag of Portugal.svg Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:22.229+2.500

Qualifying report

In qualifying, local driver Alain Prost impressed and was set to score Ferrari's first pole position of the season, but in the dying minutes Riccardo Patrese in the Williams-Renault came through to pip the French driver to the pole. Championship leader Ayrton Senna spun on Olivier Grouillard's oil on his final qualifying attempt and had to settle for third alongside Nigel Mansell in the second Williams, with the rest of the top ten starting spots occupied by Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi, Nelson Piquet, Roberto Moreno, Maurício Gugelmin, and the impressive Gianni Morbidelli in a Minardi.

Qualifying classification

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
16 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:17.4721:14.559-
227 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost Ferrari 1:17.3861:14.789+0.230
31 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:16.5571:14.857+0.298
45 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:17.0951:14.895+0.336
52 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:18.0871:15.376+0.817
628 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:17.3031:15.877+1.318
720 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:20.4491:16.816+2.257
819 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:19.7111:16.961+2.402
915 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:19.7281:17.015+2.456
1024 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:20.6351:17.020+2.461
114 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:19.5301:17.114+2.555
1223 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:19.4261:17.149+2.590
1333 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:20.0971:17.163+2.604
1426 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:20.4271:17.504+2.945
1516 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:19.5551:17.533+2.974
1625 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:19.1871:17.775+3.216
178 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:22.2771:17.836+3.277
183 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:21.0201:18.144+3.585
1932 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:20.3741:18.150+3.591
2012 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd 1:21.2301:18.185+3.626
2114 Flag of France.svg Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:20.6401:18.210+3.651
2230 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:22.0581:18.224+3.665
2329 Flag of France.svg Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:21.6131:18.540+3.981
247 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:20.9991:18.826+4.267
259 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:21.9661:18.846+4.287
2622 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:21.3231:19.267+4.708
2711 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:22.2741:19.491+4.932
2818 Flag of Italy.svg Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:22.3191:20.110+5.551
2917 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:22.7371:20.262+5.703
3010 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson Footwork-Ford 1:24.1141:21.000+6.441

Race

Race report

At the start Patrese made a disastrous start and dropped to 10th position on lap 1, so Prost led from Mansell, Senna, Berger, and Alesi, while Bertrand Gachot spun off on the first lap in his Jordan. Berger was the first of the big boys to go out when his engine failed on lap 6, his third consecutive retirement due to engine problems. Patrese started another recovery drive by passing both Piquet and Morbidelli in one fell swoop when Morbidelli botched an overtaking attempt, taking himself out of the running. At the front Mansell pressured Prost and on Lap 21 he made his move taking advantage of traffic to out-brake the French star going into the hairpin. Mansell slowly pulled away but problems at his first tyre stop dropped him back behind Prost. Mansell once again closed on Prost and the two battled it out until Mansell finally managed to take advantage of traffic, again, and took the lead on Lap 54 by this time outbraking Prost around the outside at the hairpin. Mansell pulled away and scored his first win of the season, Prost was second followed by Senna, Alesi, Patrese, and de Cesaris.

This was the 17th win of Mansell's career, thus breaking the record of Grand Prix wins by an English driver, previously held by Stirling Moss.

Race classification

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
15 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 721:38:00.056410
227 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost Ferrari 72+ 5.00326
31 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 72+ 34.93434
428 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Ferrari 72+ 35.92063
56 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 71+ 1 lap12
633 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 71+ 1 lap131
715 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 70+ 2 laps9
820 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 70+ 2 laps7
923 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 70+ 2 laps12
1012 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd 70+ 2 laps20
1126 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 70+ 2 laps14
1225 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 69+ 3 laps16
Ret19 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 63Physical8
Ret4 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 57Gearbox11
Ret14 Flag of France.svg Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 47Oil leak21
Ret29 Flag of France.svg Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 43Transmission23
Ret22 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 39Tyre26
Ret8 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 36Spun off17
Ret30 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 32Transmission22
Ret9 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 31Gearbox25
Ret7 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 21Gearbox24
Ret3 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 12Spun off18
Ret24 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 8Collision10
Ret16 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 7Spun off15
Ret2 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 6Engine5
Ret32 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 0Spun off19
DNQ11 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd
DNQ18 Flag of Italy.svg Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford
DNQ17 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford
DNQ10 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson Footwork-Ford
DNPQ21 Flag of Italy.svg Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd
DNPQ34 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ35 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ31 Flag of Portugal.svg Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford
Source: [4]

Championship standings after the race

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References

  1. Henry, Alan (1991). AUTOCOURSE 1991-92. Hazleton Publishing. p. 162. ISBN   0-905138-87-2.
  2. Henry, Alan (1991). AUTOCOURSE 1991-92. Hazleton Publishing. p. 163. ISBN   0-905138-87-2.
  3. Walker, Murray (1991). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 61–68. ISBN   0-905138-90-2.
  4. "1991 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  5. 1 2 "France 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
Previous race:
1991 Mexican Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1991 season
Next race:
1991 British Grand Prix
Previous race:
1990 French Grand Prix
French Grand Prix Next race:
1992 French Grand Prix
Awards
Preceded by
1990 Australian Grand Prix
Formula One Promotional Trophy
for Race Promoter

1991
Succeeded by
1992 French Grand Prix