1991 German Grand Prix

Last updated
1991 German Grand Prix
Race 9 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
Circuit Hockenheimring-1982.svg
Race details
Date28 July 1991
Official name Grosser Mobil 1 Preis von Deutschland
Location Hockenheimring, Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 6.802 km (4.227 miles)
Distance 45 laps, 306.090 km (190.195 miles)
Weather Hot and sunny
Pole position
Driver
 Williams-Renault
Time 1:37.087
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault
Time 1:43.569 on lap 35
Podium
First
 Williams-Renault
Second
 Williams-Renault
Third
 Ferrari
Lap leaders
  • 1991 German Grand Prix

The 1991 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Hockenheimring on 28 July 1991. It was the ninth race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship, and the first German Grand Prix to be held in Germany after the reunification between West and East Germany.

Contents

The 45-lap race was won from pole position by British driver Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault. It was Mansell's third consecutive Grand Prix victory. His Italian teammate Riccardo Patrese finished second, with Frenchman Jean Alesi third in a Ferrari.

Drivers' Championship leader, Brazilian Ayrton Senna, failed to score in his McLaren-Honda after running out of fuel for the second consecutive race, allowing Mansell to close to within eight points of him.

Pre-race

Ayrton Senna spent a night in a hospital in Mannheim after crashing during pre-race testing a week earlier. Senna suffered a tyre failure at the end of a long straight, causing the car to launch into the air and turn over several times. The McLaren-Honda went 15 feet into the air and was destroyed in the crash, according to witnesses. After regaining consciousness, Senna was taken to hospital with neck and chest bruising. [1] [2] [3] [4]

There were two changes to the entry list, the first was at Lotus where Johnny Herbert was replaced by young German Michael Bartels because of the former's Japanese Formula 3000 commitments, and the second was at Footwork where Alex Caffi was back in action after his road accident. Elsewhere Satoru Nakajima announced he would retire at the end of the year.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

The participants in the Friday morning pre-qualifying sessions were reshuffled prior to this event, the season having reached its mid-point. Scuderia Italia (Dallara) and Jordan had scored points, and were thus relieved of the requirement to pre-qualify, and could automatically join the rest of the field in the main qualifying sessions from here on. By virtue of Nicola Larini's seventh place finish at the first round in Phoenix, the Modena team were also lifted out of pre-qualifying, despite struggling in the sessions at recent Grands Prix. [5]

Taking their places during the Friday morning sessions were Brabham, AGS, and Footwork, who had all failed to score points so far in 1991, or match Modena Lambo's seventh place finish at any race. Fondmetal and Coloni were also still required to pre-qualify.

Here at Hockenheim, the fastest pre-qualifier was Martin Brundle in the Brabham BT60Y. He was over a second faster than the AGS JH25B of Gabriele Tarquini, with Michele Alboreto just a tenth behind in the Footwork FA12C, despite gearbox problems. The fourth pre-qualifier was the other Brabham of Mark Blundell. [5]

The four entrants missing out included Fondmetal driver Olivier Grouillard, who suffered an engine failure and finished fifth fastest, ahead of the second Footwork of Alex Caffi, who had returned to the cockpit after missing four races. The second AGS of Italian Fabrizio Barbazza was seventh, nearly a second ahead of regular backmarker Pedro Chaves for the cash-strapped Coloni team. [5]

Pre-qualifying classification

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap
17 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:42.810
217 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:43.939+1.129
39 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:44.034+1.224
48 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:44.257+1.447
514 Flag of France.svg Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:44.645+1.835
610 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Footwork-Ford 1:45.282+2.472
718 Flag of Italy.svg Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:46.604+3.794
831 Flag of Portugal.svg Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:47.546+4.736

Qualifying report

In Saturday practice Érik Comas had a massive accident at the Ostkurve chicane in his Ligier. The French driver was unhurt, but it raised questions about the safety of the second chicane. In qualifying, Nigel Mansell took pole from title rival Ayrton Senna. Gerhard Berger was third, followed by Riccardo Patrese- the Williams and McLaren cars were within 4 tenths of each other but were all nearly 2 seconds faster of the next fastest cars, the 2 Ferraris of Alain Prost and Jean Alesi, which were a second quicker than the next fastest car behind them. Then following the Ferraris were Andrea de Cesaris, Nelson Piquet, Roberto Moreno, and Pierluigi Martini in the Minardi, taking full advantage of his Ferrari engine around the high speed circuit.

Qualifying classification

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
15 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:37.4671:37.087
21 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:38.2081:37.274+0.187
32 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:37.9461:37.393+0.306
46 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:38.1461:37.435+0.348
527 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost Ferrari 1:39.4221:39.034+1.947
628 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:39.3911:39.042+1.955
733 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:40.3871:40.239+3.152
820 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:40.5601:40.878+3.473
919 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:41.9681:40.957+3.870
1023 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:40.9981:41.373+3.911
1132 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:41.4431:41.308+4.221
1216 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:42.0251:41.330+4.243
133 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:41.5151:41.390+4.303
144 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:41.5661:41.952+4.479
157 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:42.2941:41.615+4.528
1615 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor no time1:41.735+4.648
1725 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:41.8231:41.929+4.736
1821 Flag of Italy.svg Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:42.0211:42.672+4.934
1924 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:42.1321:42.058+4.971
2022 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:42.1711:42.708+5.084
218 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:43.4141:42.216+5.129
2230 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:45.0371:42.474+5.387
2311 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:44.8161:42.726+5.639
2434 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:44.5961:43.035+5.948
2529 Flag of France.svg Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:43.7971:43.321+6.234
2626 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:43.8031:43.364+6.277
279 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:44.3621:43.409+6.322
2812 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Bartels Lotus-Judd 1:46.4091:43.624+6.537
2917 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:43.7871:43.918+6.700
3035 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:44.4891:44.207+7.120

Race

Race report

On Sunday, a couple of hours before the race, there was a FIA driver's meeting and Senna requested to race director Roland Bruynseraede that the tyre walls at the chicanes be replaced with traffic cones because of the possibility of hitting the tyres and rolling; that happened to him during qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix, and this heated up when FIA president Jean-Marie Balestre, Senna and a few other drivers had a brief argument over the regulations involving safety. Balestre then instigated a democratic vote, and the vote went towards removing the tyre walls and replacing them with traffic cones.

At the start of the race, Mansell made a great start while Berger slotted into second ahead of team-mate Senna, with Prost, Patrese, and Alesi rounding out the top six. At the back Mark Blundell spun but continued, although Larini spun off into retirement in his attempt to avoid the Brabham. Berger made a bad pit-stop and fell back to tenth, while Prost started to reel in Senna. Mansell was running away at the front and when he pitted for tyres he dropped just behind Alesi, but did not waste time in changing the situation and passed Alesi two laps later to re-take the lead. While Mansell was surging away, a tremendous battle developed for third place between Senna, Prost, and Patrese, with Riccardo beating both men before setting off after Alesi. Senna and Prost continued to squabble over fourth and the major talking point came on lap 37 when Prost attempted to pass Senna going into the first chicane. Prost was faster and tried to go around the outside, Senna would not give way and Prost went off and proceeded to stall the engine. Prost blamed Senna and said he would not be so forgiving the next time while Senna accused Prost of complaining for the sake of complaining. Prost's comments would earn him a one-race suspended ban, while the FIA ordered a sit-down meeting between the two men at the next race. Meanwhile, Mansell cruised to his third straight win, leading home Patrese, Alesi, Berger, de Cesaris, and Gachot, Senna having run out of fuel on the last lap for the second straight race and being classified seventh, allowing Mansell to close to within eight points of Senna in the drivers championship.

Race classification

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
15 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 451:19:29.661 [6] 110
26 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 45+ 13.77946
328 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Ferrari 45+ 17.61864
42 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 45+ 32.65133
533 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 45+ 1:17.53772
632 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 45+ 1:40.605111
71 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 44Out of fuel2
819 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 44+ 1 lap9
925 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 44+ 1 lap17
1021 Flag of Italy.svg Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 44+ 1 lap18
117 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 43+ 2 laps15
128 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 43+ 2 laps21
134 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 41+ 4 laps14
Ret27 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost Ferrari 37Spun off5
Ret16 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 36Engine12
Ret22 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 35Engine20
Ret20 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 27Engine8
Ret3 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 26Gearbox13
Ret26 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 22Engine26
Ret15 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 21Gearbox16
Ret11 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 19Engine23
Ret30 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 15Engine22
Ret24 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 14Differential19
Ret23 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 11Differential10
Ret29 Flag of France.svg Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 9Transmission25
Ret34 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 0Spun off24
DNQ9 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford
DNQ12 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Bartels Lotus-Judd
DNQ17 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford
DNQ35 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ14 Flag of France.svg Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford
DNPQ10 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Footwork-Ford
DNPQ18 Flag of Italy.svg Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford
DNPQ31 Flag of Portugal.svg Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford
Source: [7]

Championship standings after the race

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References

  1. ↑ "AUTO RACING; Senna Hospitalized". New York Times. 1991-07-20.
  2. ↑ "Senna Crashes in Test, Escapes Serious Injury". Los Angeles Times. 1991-07-20.
  3. ↑ "Senna to compete at German Grand Prix despite crash". UPI. 1991-07-20.
  4. ↑ "Senna injured at Hockenheim". UPI. 1991-07-19.
  5. 1 2 3 Walker, Murray (1991). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 77–84. ISBN   0-905138-90-2.
  6. ↑ Henry, Alan (1991). AUTOCOURSE 1991-92. Hazleton Publishing. p. 183. ISBN   0-905138-87-2.
  7. ↑ "1991 German Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Germany 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
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