1992 French Grand Prix

Last updated
1992 French Grand Prix
Race 8 of 16 in the 1992 Formula One World Championship
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours (1992-2002).svg
Race details
Date5 July 1992
Official name Rhône-Poulenc Grand Prix de France
Location Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
Magny-Cours, France
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.250 km (2.651 miles)
Distance 69 laps, 293.250 km (182.938 miles)
Scheduled distance 72 laps, 306.000 km (190.892 miles)
Weather Dry, then raining
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:13.864
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault
Time 1:17.070 on lap 37
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second Williams-Renault
Third Benetton-Ford
Lap leaders
  • 1992 French Grand Prix

The 1992 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Magny-Cours on 5 July 1992. It was the eighth race of the 1992 Formula One World Championship.

Contents

The 69-lap race was won by Briton Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, after he started from pole position. Mansell took his sixth victory of the season by 46 seconds from his Italian teammate, Riccardo Patrese, who led the first 18 laps. Another Briton, Martin Brundle, finished third in a Benetton-Ford. Friday's planned pre-qualifying session for the event was cancelled after the Andrea Moda team failed to turn up at the circuit.

Pre-race

The usual Friday morning pre-qualifying session was cancelled when the Andrea Moda Formula team failed to arrive at the circuit. The team's transporter had been stuck in traffic due to a blockade by French lorry drivers, and although all the other teams had also been affected, Andrea Moda were the only team to fail to arrive. [1] [2] The remaining four cars in the pre-qualifying pool therefore progressed automatically to the main qualifying sessions. [3]

Qualifying

Qualifying report

Again the Williams-Renaults filled the front row of the grid, Nigel Mansell taking pole position by nearly half a second from Riccardo Patrese. On the second row were the McLaren-Hondas of Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger, Senna's time over 1.3 seconds slower than Mansell's. On the third row were Michael Schumacher in the Benetton and Jean Alesi in the Ferrari, and on the fourth row were their respective teammates, Martin Brundle and Ivan Capelli. In the Ligier team's home race, Thierry Boutsen and Érik Comas filled the fifth row, and on the sixth were the Lotuses of Mika Häkkinen and Johnny Herbert.

Christian Fittipaldi failed to qualify after he crashed his Minardi heavily at the Imola chicane, fracturing his fifth vertebra. [4] He was joined in non-qualification by Paul Belmondo in the March and the two Brabhams of Eric van de Poele and Damon Hill.

Qualifying classification

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
15 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:15.0471:13.864
26 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:15.5511:14.332+0.468
31 Flag of Brazil.svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:16.8921:15.199+1.335
42 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:16.9441:15.316+1.452
519 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:16.9691:15.569+1.705
627 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:17.6861:16.118+2.254
720 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 1:17.6381:16.151+2.287
828 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli Ferrari 1:18.1521:16.443+2.579
925 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 1:18.1791:16.806+2.942
1026 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 1:17.6371:16.938+3.074
1111 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 1:18.3271:16.999+3.135
1212 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:18.1681:17.257+3.393
1329 Flag of France.svg Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 1:18.8641:17.442+3.578
149 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:19.2911:17.508+3.644
1510 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:19.0221:17.548+3.684
1624 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 1:19.1101:17.667+3.803
1721 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 1:19.2791:17.677+3.813
1830 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 1:19.8191:17.709+3.845
194 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:20.0291:17.868+4.004
2032 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 1:18.9051:17.901+4.037
2116 Flag of Austria.svg Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 1:18.5961:17.937+4.073
223 Flag of France.svg Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:19.2041:17.989+4.125
2315 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 1:19.1461:17.993+4.129
2433 Flag of Brazil.svg Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 1:19.5741:18.337+4.473
2522 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 1:18.6341:18.586+4.722
2614 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 1:19.8351:18.701+4.837
2717 Flag of France.svg Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor 1:19.9631:19.354+5.490
2823 Flag of Brazil.svg Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Lamborghini 1:20.062no time+6.198
297 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd 1:21.5941:20.139+6.275
308 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Damon Hill Brabham-Judd 1:21.4121:22.495+7.548
Source: [5] [6] [7]

Race

Race report

At the start, Patrese got by Mansell while Berger got ahead of Senna and Martin Brundle was able to sneak by Alesi. At the Adelaide hairpin, Schumacher tried to pass Senna but instead hit him, taking Senna out and forcing himself to pit. Meanwhile, Patrese and Mansell were side by side but Patrese kept the lead. Patrese led Mansell, Berger, Brundle, Alesi and Häkkinen.

Nothing changed until lap 11 when Berger's engine failed. Soon afterwards it began to rain so heavily that the race was stopped. After some time the rain decreased and the grid formed up again. The race would be decided on the aggregate times of both parts of the race. Patrese took the lead again with Alesi getting ahead of Mika Häkkinen's Lotus as well. Mansell tried to pass his teammate again but Patrese defended and once again kept the lead. Further back, Schumacher again tried too hard, hitting Stefano Modena in the Jordan, dropping out of the race with a broken front suspension. Patrese led Mansell, Brundle, Alesi, Häkkinen and Comas on aggregate. Patrese then waved Mansell through on track and soon Mansell got ahead on aggregate. When Patrese was quizzed after the race on whether team orders existed in the Williams team he refused to comment.

It began to rain again and everyone pitted for wets with Alesi leaving the change too late and dropping down to sixth. His engine failed on lap 61. Mansell won with Patrese making it a Williams 1-2 ahead of Brundle, Häkkinen, Comas and Herbert. This was Brundle's first podium; he had been disqualified from his podium finish at the 1984 Detroit Grand Prix.

Thus, at the halfway stage of the season, Mansell led the championship with 66 points compared to Patrese's 34. Schumacher was third with 26, Senna was fourth with 18, Berger was fifth with 18, Alesi was sixth with 11, Brundle was seventh with nine and Alboreto was eighth with five. In the constructors championship, Williams had 100 points and were well ahead of the field: McLaren were second with 36, Benetton were third with 35 and Ferrari were fourth with 13.

Due to his sabbatical from Formula One in 1992, the race was only the second time since he first appeared on the podium for his home race in 1981 that Alain Prost was not on the podium for the French Grand Prix. Prost had won the French GP in 1981, 1983, 1988, 1989 and 1990. He was second in 1982, 1986 and 1991, and finished third in 1985 and 1987. The only podium he missed from 1981-1991 was at Dijon in 1984 when he finished seventh after problems with a loose wheel.

Race classification

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
15 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 691:38:08.459110
26 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 69+ 46.44726
320 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 69+ 1:12.57974
411 Flag of Finland.svg Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 68+ 1 lap113
526 Flag of France.svg Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 68+ 1 lap102
612 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 68+ 1 lap121
79 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 68+ 1 lap14
824 Flag of Italy.svg Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 68+ 1 lap16
921 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 67+ 2 laps17
1022 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 67+ 2 laps25
113 Flag of France.svg Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 66+ 3 laps22
Ret27 Flag of France.svg Jean Alesi Ferrari 61Engine6
Ret4 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 51Spun off19
Ret30 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 49Engine18
Ret25 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 46Spun off9
Ret28 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli Ferrari 38Engine8
Ret16 Flag of Austria.svg Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 33Gearbox21
Ret32 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 25Engine20
Ret10 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 20Spun off15
Ret19 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 17Collision5
Ret2 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 10Engine4
Ret15 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 6Throttle23
Ret1 Flag of Brazil.svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 0Collision3
Ret29 Flag of France.svg Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 0Collision13
Ret33 Flag of Brazil.svg Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 0Collision24
Ret14 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 0Collision26
DNQ17 Flag of France.svg Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor
DNQ23 Flag of Brazil.svg Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Lamborghini
DNQ7 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd
DNQ8 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Damon Hill Brabham-Judd
Source: [8]

Championship standings after the race

References

  1. McCarthy, Perry (2003). Flat Out, Flat Broke. Haynes. pp. 190–191. ISBN   1-84425-018-0.
  2. "French GP, 1992". grandprix.com. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  3. Walker, Murray (1992). Murray Walker's 1992 Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 69–76. ISBN   0-905138-99-6.
  4. Collings, Timothy (5 July 1992). "Mansell leads the way with lap best". The Sunday Telegraph . London. p. 38.
  5. "Rhone Poulenc French Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  6. "Rhone Poulenc French Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  7. "Rhone Poulenc French Grand Prix - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  8. "1992 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  9. 1 2 "France 1992 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
Previous race:
1992 Canadian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1992 season
Next race:
1992 British Grand Prix
Previous race:
1991 French Grand Prix
French Grand Prix Next race:
1993 French Grand Prix
Awards
Preceded by
1991 French Grand Prix
Formula One Promotional Trophy
for Race Promoter

1992
Succeeded by
1993 European Grand Prix