1992 Canadian Grand Prix

1992 Canadian Grand Prix
Race 7 of 16 in the 1992 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	14 June 1992
Official name	XXX Grand Prix Molson du Canada
Location	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Course	Temporary street circuit
Course length	4.430 km (2.753 miles)
Distance	69 laps, 305.670 km (189.935 miles)
Weather	Dry with temperatures reaching up to 25 °C (77 °F); Wind speeds up to 14 km/h (8.7 mph) [1]
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:19.775
Fastest lap
Driver	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:22.325 on lap 61
Podium
First	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda
Second	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford
Third	Jean Alesi	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1992 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal on 14 June 1992. It was the seventh race of the 1992 Formula One World Championship.

The 69-lap race was won by Austrian driver Gerhard Berger, driving a McLaren-Honda, after he started from fourth position. Berger's Brazilian teammate, Ayrton Senna, took pole position and led until he suffered an electrical failure on lap 38, while Drivers' Championship leader, Briton Nigel Mansell, spun off on lap 15 attempting to overtake Senna. German Michael Schumacher finished second in a Benetton-Ford, with Frenchman Jean Alesi third in a Ferrari.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, the Footwork of Michele Alboreto was fastest for the third consecutive Grand Prix. He was less than three tenths of a second faster than Larrousse driver Bertrand Gachot, with Gachot's team-mate Ukyo Katayama nearly two seconds slower in third. The fourth and final pre-qualifier was Andrea Chiesa in the Fondmetal, nearly 4.5 seconds off Alboreto's pace.

The Andrea Moda team failed to capitalise on the improvement made at the last race in Monaco, as both cars failed to pre-qualify. Although the team and drivers had arrived at the circuit, their Judd engines had not, having been withheld by the freight forwarding agent for non-payment of debts. ^[2] The team were able to borrow an engine from the Brabham team, which allowed Roberto Moreno to take part in the session, but he was nowhere near the required pace. There was no engine for Perry McCarthy's car, so he did not participate. ^{[2] [3]}

Pre-qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:25.068	—
2	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi-Lamborghini	1:25.358	+0.290
3	30	Ukyo Katayama	Venturi-Lamborghini	1:27:309	+2.241
4	14	Andrea Chiesa	Fondmetal-Ford	1:29.562	+4.494
5	34	Roberto Moreno	Andrea Moda-Judd	1:43.557	+18.489

Qualifying report

Qualifying produced a surprise as Ayrton Senna took pole position in his McLaren while championship leader Nigel Mansell could only manage third, behind Williams teammate Riccardo Patrese. This would turn out to be the only non-Williams pole of 1992, and one of only two not taken by Mansell that season. Rumours suggested that the English driver was under stress, as Williams were negotiating with Alain Prost for 1993. ^[4]

Gerhard Berger took fourth in the other McLaren, followed by Michael Schumacher in the Benetton. Johnny Herbert impressed in the Lotus and took sixth, ahead of Martin Brundle in the second Benetton. The top ten was completed by the Ferraris of Jean Alesi and Ivan Capelli, and Mika Häkkinen in the second Lotus.

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:19.775	1:20.590	—
2	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:19.872	1:21.075	+0.097
3	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	1:20.157	1:19.948	+0.173
4	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	1:20.145	1:21.038	+0.370
5	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	1:20.456	1:21.045	+0.681
6	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	1:21.645	1:23.043	+1.870
7	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	1:22.408	1:21.738	+1.963
8	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:21.777	1:22.033	+2.002
9	28	Ivan Capelli	Ferrari	1:22.297	1:26.259	+2.522
10	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	1:22.360	1:22.787	+2.585
11	30	Ukyo Katayama	Venturi-Lamborghini	1:22.510	1:33.438	+2.735
12	16	Karl Wendlinger	March-Ilmor	1:22.778	1:22.566	+2.791
13	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	1:22.594	1:23.028	+2.819
14	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	1:22.635	1:23.948	+2.860
15	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	1:24.144	1:22.850	+3.075
16	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:22.878	1:23.022	+3.103
17	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha	1:23.023	1:23.572	+3.248
18	15	Gabriele Tarquini	Fondmetal-Ford	1:24.281	1:23.063	+3.288
19	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi-Lamborghini	1:23.410	1:23.138	+3.363
20	17	Paul Belmondo	March-Ilmor	1:24.852	1:23.189	+3.414
21	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	1:23.425	1:23.203	+3.428
22	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault	1:23.537	1:23.212	+3.437
23	21	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Ferrari	1:23.793	1:23.249	+3.474
24	33	Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	1:23.431	1:24.640	+3.656
25	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini	1:23.759	1:23.433	+3.658
26	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	1:23.469	1:24.060	+3.694
27	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:23.958	1:23.721	+3.946
28	7	Eric van de Poele	Brabham-Judd	1:24.858	1:24.499	+4.724
29	14	Andrea Chiesa	Fondmetal-Ford	1:25.044	1:25.612	+5.837
30	8	Damon Hill	Brabham-Judd	1:26.641	1:25.812	+6.037
Sources: [5] [6] [7]

Race

Race report

Stefano Modena started from the back of the grid after his car failed to start. ^[3]

At the start Senna took the lead from the two Williams-Renaults with Mansell getting ahead of Patrese then Berger, Schumacher, Herbert and Brundle. For the first 13 laps the top eight followed in close attention until next lap 14 Mansell tried to overtake Senna at the last chicane but the car ended off track and spun and came to a stop on the main straight. The Williams driver was out of the race and accusing Senna of pushing him off. As this was happening Berger had passed Patrese to make it a McLaren 1-2. On lap 18 Capelli crashed hard into the wall on the exit of turn four. Johnny Herbert retired on lap 34 with clutch problems and team-mate Mika Häkkinen retired one lap later when his gearbox failed meaning disaster for Lotus after both cars qualified in the top ten. On lap 37 Senna retired from the lead with electrical problems. Berger had by now pulled a couple of seconds lead on Patrese who was being chased by Brundle after the Englishman had taken advantage of Schumacher getting stuck behind Morbidelli's Minardi while lapping him. A few laps later Patrese was out as his gearbox failed making this the first double retirement for Williams. Brundle now chased after Berger and set fastest lap but then was also forced to retire with transmission problems with what was subsequently his fifth and final retirement of the season. Berger was in comfortable lead followed by Schumacher. Katayama was driving a good race but had to retire from fifth on lap 61 when his engine expired. Wendlinger finished fourth to score his first points in Formula One as well as the last points for the March team. With sixth place for Érik Comas, Ligier scored their first points since the 1989 French Grand Prix almost three years prior.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	69	1:37:08.299	4	10
2	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	69	+ 12.401	5	6
3	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	69	+ 1:07.327	8	4
4	16	Karl Wendlinger	March-Ilmor	68	+ 1 lap	12	3
5	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	68	+ 1 lap	14	2
6	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault	68	+ 1 lap	22	1
7	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	68	+ 1 lap	16
8	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	68	+ 1 lap	15
9	21	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Ferrari	68	+ 1 lap	23
10	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	67	+ 2 laps	21
11	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	67	+ 2 laps	13
12	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	67	+ 2 laps	26
13	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini	65	+ 4 laps	25
14	17	Paul Belmondo	March-Ilmor	64	+ 5 laps	20
Ret	30	Ukyo Katayama	Venturi-Lamborghini	61	Engine	11
Ret	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	45	Transmission	7
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	43	Gearbox	2
Ret	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	37	Electrical	1
Ret	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha	36	Transmission	17
Ret	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	35	Gearbox	10
Ret	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	34	Clutch	6
Ret	28	Ivan Capelli	Ferrari	18	Accident	9
Ret	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	14	Spun off	3
Ret	33	Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	14	Transmission	24
DSQ	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi-Lamborghini	14	Push start	19
Ret	15	Gabriele Tarquini	Fondmetal-Ford	0	Transmission	18
DNQ	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda
DNQ	7	Eric van de Poele	Brabham-Judd
DNQ	14	Andrea Chiesa	Fondmetal-Ford
DNQ	8	Damon Hill	Brabham-Judd
DNPQ	34	Roberto Moreno	Andrea Moda-Judd
Source: [8]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 56 2 Riccardo Patrese 28 3 Michael Schumacher 26 4 Ayrton Senna 18 5 Gerhard Berger 18 Source: [9]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 84 2 McLaren-Honda 36 3 Benetton-Ford 31 4 Ferrari 13 5 Footwork-Mugen-Honda 5 Source: [9]

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

References

1. "Weather information for the "1992 Canadian Grand Prix"". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
2. McCarthy, Perry (2003). Flat Out, Flat Broke. Haynes. p. 189. ISBN   1-84425-018-0.
3. Walker, Murray (1992). Murray Walker's 1992 Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 61–68. ISBN   0-905138-99-6.
4. "Grand Prix Results: Canadian GP, 1992". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
5. "Canada Grand Prix – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
6. "Canada Grand Prix – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
7. "1992 Canadian Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
8. "1992 Canadian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
9. "Canada 1992 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 March 2019.

• Henry, Alan (1992). AUTOCOURSE 1992-93. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN   0-905138-96-1.

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