1991 Brazilian Grand Prix

Brazil  1991 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 2 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One season
Date 24 March 1991
Location Autódromo José Carlos Pace
São Paulo, Brazil
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.325 km (2.687 mi)
Distance 71 laps, 307.075 km (190.807 mi)
Weather Cloudy. Ambient temperature: 29.4°C (85°F).
Humidity: 95%.
Wind speed: 33.7 km/h (21 mph).
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:16.392
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault
Time 1:20.436 on lap 35
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second Williams-Renault
Third McLaren-Honda

The 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos on 24 March 1991.

Race summary

Ayrton Senna made a perfect start to lead from Nigel Mansell, Riccardo Patrese, Jean Alesi, Gerhard Berger and Alain Prost, building up a lead of some 3 seconds by lap 8. However Mansell was closing and by lap 20 the gap was down to 0.7s. On lap 17 Prost pitted for new tires, keen to avoid being stuck behind Nelson Piquet's Benetton. Mansell pitted on lap 26, but the stop was terrible - lasting over 14 seconds. This returned him to the race in 4th place behind Patrese and Alesi. After Senna and Patrese had made their stops, Mansell was some 7 seconds behind the lead McLaren. There seemed no doubt that Senna would be caught but the chance never arose as on lap 50 Mansell had to stop for a new set of tires after a puncture caused by debris on the track. Unknown to observers, Senna's gearbox was failing, having lost fourth gear and by lap 60 the lead was halved and Mansell had set fastest lap. Yet ironically it was Mansell's gearbox that gave way first, causing him to retire on lap 61. With just a couple of laps left, Senna had also lost fifth and third gears. Having to maintain sixth gear in slow and medium corners meant that several times he nearly stalled. Patrese was catching him rapidly, but with gearbox problems of his own he was unable to pass. As the weather deteriorated Senna began gesturing to stewards to stop the race, an act he repeated in Adelaide later in the season.

Senna won by a mere 2.9 seconds from Patrese. When he crossed the finish line, he started to scream in celebration of achieving his dream of winning at home. The tremendous struggle of trying to keep the car under control, caused him to have muscle cramps and fever. After stopping his car, Senna was almost unable to move on his own. He had to be lifted bodily from the car due to exhaustion and driven to the podium in the medical car. Despite a small fire on the grid and a sticking throttle, Berger claimed the final podium place from Prost, Piquet and Alesi.

Classification

Pre Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:19.540
2 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:20.150 +0.610
3 32 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:20.184 +0.644
4 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:20.567 +1.027
5 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:21.919 +2.379
6 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:22.944 +3.404
7 31 Portugal Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:23.231 +3.691
8 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:23.951 +4.411

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 1 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:18.711 1:16.392
2 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:22.069 1.16.775 +0.383
3 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:20.056 1.16.843 +0.451
4 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:19.557 1.17.471 +1.079
5 28 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:19.350 1:17.601 +1.209
6 27 France Alain Prost Ferrari 1:20.079 1.17.739 +1.347
7 20 Brazil Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:20.105 1.18.577 +2.185
8 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:22.196 1.18.664 +2.272
9 4 Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:21.709 1.18.847 +2.455
10 32 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:21.493 1.18.882 +2.490
11 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:22.127 1.19.291 +2.899
12 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:21.286 1.19.305 +2.913
13 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:21.710 1.19.339 +2.947
14 19 Brazil Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:21.266 1.19.360 +2.968
15 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:21.171 1.19.517 +3.125
16 3 Japan Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:21.825 1.19.546 +3.154
17 30 Japan Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:22.281 1.19.832 +3.440
18 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:23.197 1.19.868 +3.476
19 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:22.243 1.19.954 +3.562
20 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:22.852 1.20.175 +3.783
21 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:26.147 1.20.502 +4.110
22 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:25.587 1.20.611 +4.219
23 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:22.682 1.21.168 +4.776
24 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:23.618 1.21.219 +4.827
25 8 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:23.547 1.21.230 +4.838
26 7 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:23.271 1.21.280 +4.888
27 10 Italy Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche 1:25.555 1.22.190 +5.798
28 18 Sweden Stefan Johansson AGS-Ford 1:24.698 1.22.432 +6.040
29 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 1:25.795 1.22.739 +6.347
30 12 United Kingdom Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd 1:24.947 1.23.590 +7.198

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 71 1:38:28.128 1 10
2 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 71 + 2.991 2 6
3 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 71 + 5.416 4 4
4 27 France Alain Prost Ferrari 71 + 18.369 6 3
5 20 Brazil Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 71 + 21.960 7 2
6 28 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 71 + 23.641 5 1
7 19 Brazil Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 70 + 1 Lap 14  
8 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 69 + 2 Laps 21  
9 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 68 + 3 Laps 22  
10 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 68 + 3 Laps 18  
11 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 68 + 3 Laps 12  
12 7 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 67 + 4 Laps 26  
13 32 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 63 Fuel System 10  
Ret 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 59 Gearbox 3  
Ret 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 50 Engine 23  
Ret 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 47 Spun Off 20  
Ret 8 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 34 Engine 25  
Ret 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 33 Radiator 11  
Ret 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 22 Electrical 19  
Ret 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 20 Engine 13  
Ret 4 Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 19 Gearbox 9  
Ret 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 16 Transmission 15  
Ret 3 Japan Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 12 Spun Off 16  
Ret 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 9 Physical 8  
Ret 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 0 Suspension 24  
Ret 30 Japan Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 0 Fuel Pump 17  
DNQ 10 Italy Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche    
DNQ 18 Sweden Stefan Johansson AGS-Ford    
DNQ 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche    
DNQ 12 United Kingdom Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd    
DNPQ 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford    
DNPQ 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini    
DNPQ 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini    
DNPQ 31 Portugal Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford    
Source:[1]

Notes

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Brazil Ayrton Senna 20
2 France Alain Prost 9
3 Italy Riccardo Patrese 6
4 Brazil Nelson Piquet 6
5 Austria Gerhard Berger 4

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 United Kingdom McLaren-Honda 24
2 Italy Ferrari 10
3 United Kingdom Williams-Renault 6
4 United Kingdom Benetton-Ford 6
5 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Honda 5

References

  1. "1991 Brazilian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
Previous race:
1991 United States Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1991 season
Next race:
1991 San Marino Grand Prix
Previous race:
1990 Brazilian Grand Prix
Brazilian Grand Prix Next race:
1992 Brazilian Grand Prix
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