1992 Japanese Grand Prix

1992 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 15 of 16 in the 1992 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	25 October 1992
Official name	XVIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.860 km (3.641 [1] miles)
Distance	53 laps, 310.580 km (192.985 miles)
Weather	Dry, warm, cloudy
Attendance	332,000 [2]
Pole position
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Time	1:37.360
Fastest lap
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Time	1:40.646 on lap 44
Podium
First	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault
Second	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda
Third	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1992 Japanese Grand Prix (formally the XVIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Suzuka on 25 October 1992. It was the fifteenth race of the 1992 Formula One World Championship.

The 53-lap race was won by Italian driver Riccardo Patrese, driving a Williams-Renault. It was Patrese's sixth and final Grand Prix victory, and the last win for an Italian driver for over a decade, until Giancarlo Fisichella won the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix. Austrian Gerhard Berger finished second in a McLaren-Honda, with Englishman Martin Brundle third in a Benetton-Ford.

Pre-race

Two driver changes took place before the race: Ferrari replaced Ivan Capelli with their test driver Nicola Larini, while Karl Wendlinger left March to join Sauber's preparatory program ahead of the Swiss team's debut in 1993. His place was taken by Jan Lammers, making his first F1 start for over 10 years. ^[3]

Qualifying

Qualifying report

In qualifying, Williams' Nigel Mansell took his 13th pole position of the season, equalling the record set by Ayrton Senna in 1988 and 1989. Team-mate Riccardo Patrese was alongside him on the front row, while the McLarens of Senna and Gerhard Berger filled the second row. Michael Schumacher in the Benetton was fifth, followed by the two Lotuses of Johnny Herbert and Mika Häkkinen. The top ten was completed by Érik Comas in the Ligier, Andrea de Cesaris in the Tyrrell and Thierry Boutsen in the second Ligier.

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	1:37.360	2:07.703	no time
2	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:38.219	2:13.971	+0.859
3	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:38.375	no time	+1.015
4	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	1:40.296	no time	+2.936
5	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	1:40.922	11:12.418	+3.562
6	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	1:41.030	no time	+3.670
7	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	1:41.415	no time	+4.055
8	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault	1:42.187	no time	+4.827
9	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	1:42.361	no time	+5.001
10	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	1:42.428	no time	+5.068
11	28	Nicola Larini	Ferrari	1:42.488	no time	+5.128
12	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini	1:42.617	no time	+5.257
13	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	1:42.626	no time	+5.266
14	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	1:42.627	2:10.260	+5.267
15	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:42.824	no time	+5.464
16	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:43.029	no time	+5.669
17	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha	1:43.117	2:19.944	+5.757
18	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi-Lamborghini	1:43.156	no time	+5.796
19	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	1:43.251	no time	+5.891
20	30	Ukyo Katayama	Venturi-Lamborghini	1:43.488	5:40.775	+6.128
21	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	1:43.941	no time	+6.581
22	21	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Ferrari	1:44.037	no time	+6.677
23	16	Jan Lammers	March-Ilmor	1:44.075	no time	+6.715
24	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:44.149	2:25.413	+6.789
25	33	Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	1:44.253	no time	+6.893
26	17	Emanuele Naspetti	March-Ilmor	1:47.303	no time	+9.943
Source: [4] [5] [6]

Race

Race report

Mansell made a fast start and at the end of the first lap led Patrese by three seconds. Senna held on to third before becoming the race's first retirement on lap 3 with an engine failure. Meanwhile, Larini, who had qualified 11th, stalled on the grid and fell to last, while Boutsen's gearbox failed on lap 4. Olivier Grouillard in the second Tyrrell spun off and crashed at Spoon curve on lap 7.

Berger made an early pit stop and rejoined the race in sixth place, behind Schumacher and the two Lotuses. On lap 13, Schumacher retired with gearbox failure, his only mechanical retirement of the year; Herbert's gearbox also failed two laps later. After the mid-race pit stops for tyres, Mansell retained a comfortable lead over Patrese, while Berger moved ahead of Häkkinen into third and Martin Brundle, who had only qualified 13th in the second Benetton, moved up to fifth ahead of Comas and de Cesaris. Maurício Gugelmin in the second Jordan had also spun off the track and crashed at 130R leaving debris on the track by lap 23.

On lap 36, Mansell slowed and Patrese moved ahead. The following lap, Comas retired with an engine failure. The two Venturi Larousse cars collided at the chicanes as they were both on lap 40 at the time as Bertrand Gachot hit his Japanese teammate Ukyo Katayama and went off into the gravel trap, who managed to carry on and pit in for fresh tyres (despite making contact). On lap 45, both Mansell and Häkkinen suffered engine failures of their own; this moved Berger and Brundle into second and third respectively. Patrese cruised to his sixth and final Grand Prix victory, finishing 13 seconds ahead of Berger with Brundle a further minute back; the top six was completed by de Cesaris, Jean Alesi in the second Ferrari and Christian Fittipaldi, who scored his first point in Formula One and the only point of the season for the Minardi team.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	53	1:33:09.533	2	10
2	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	53	+ 13.729	4	6
3	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	53	+ 1:15.503	13	4
4	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	52	+ 1 lap	9	3
5	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	52	+ 1 lap	15	2
6	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini	52	+ 1 lap	12	1
7	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha	52	+ 1 lap	17
8	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	52	+ 1 lap	16
9	21	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Ferrari	52	+ 1 lap	22
10	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	52	+ 1 lap	19
11	30	Ukyo Katayama	Venturi-Lamborghini	52	+ 1 lap	20
12	28	Nicola Larini	Ferrari	52	+ 1 lap	11
13	17	Emanuele Naspetti	March-Ilmor	51	+ 2 laps	26
14	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	51	+ 2 laps	14
15	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	51	+ 2 laps	24
Ret	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	44	Engine	1
Ret	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	44	Engine	7
Ret	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi-Lamborghini	39	Collision/Spun off	18
Ret	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault	36	Engine	8
Ret	16	Jan Lammers	March-Ilmor	27	Clutch	23
Ret	33	Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	22	Spun off	25
Ret	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	15	Gearbox	6
Ret	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	13	Gearbox	5
Ret	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	6	Spun off	21
Ret	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	3	Gearbox	10
Ret	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	2	Engine	3
Source: [7]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 108 2 2 Riccardo Patrese 56 1 3 Ayrton Senna 50 1 4 Michael Schumacher 47 5 Gerhard Berger 39 Source: [8]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 164 2 McLaren-Honda 89 3 Benetton-Ford 81 4 Ferrari 18 5 Lotus-Ford 13 Source: [8]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
• Bold text indicates the 1992 World Champions.

References

1. "1992 Japanese Grand Prix | Motorsport Database".
2. "Formula 1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2022 – Media Kit" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
3. "Jan Lammers - Biography". Formula One Rejects. Archived from the original on 21 March 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
4. "Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
5. "Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
6. "Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
7. "1992 Japanese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
8. "Japan 1992 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 4 March 2021.

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

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