1991 Brazilian Grand Prix

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1991 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 2 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 24 March 1991
Location Autódromo José Carlos Pace
São Paulo, Brazil
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.325 km (2.687 miles)
Distance 71 laps, 307.075 km (190.808 miles)
Weather Cloudy at start, rainy later. 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
Lap leaders

The 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos on 24 March 1991. It was the second race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship.

The 71-lap race was won from pole position by local driver Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda. It was the first time Senna had won his home Grand Prix, in his eighth season of F1. Italian Riccardo Patrese finished second in a Williams-Renault, with Senna's Austrian teammate Gerhard Berger third.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, a Dallara was again the fastest car, but this time it was JJ Lehto who topped the time sheets. He was six tenths of a second ahead of the Jordan of Andrea de Cesaris, who was a fraction faster than his team-mate Bertrand Gachot in third. The fourth pre-qualifier was the other Scuderia Italia Dallara, driven by Emanuele Pirro.

The two Modena Lambos missed out in fifth and sixth, with Eric van de Poele over a second slower than Pirro, with Nicola Larini another second further back. Seventh was Pedro Chaves in the Coloni, followed by Olivier Grouillard in the Fondmetal. Grouillard had initially used an interim chassis, with an eye to the team's new car which was still being completed, and was running well until the suspension broke. He was forced to revert to an older chassis, and was unable to match the times of his opponents.[1]

Pre-qualifying classification

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 report

Qualifying classification

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

Race report

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 three seconds by lap eight. However Mansell was closing and by lap 20 the gap was down to 0.7s. On lap 17 Prost pitted for new tyres, 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 fifth place behind Patrese, Alesi and Berger.

After Senna and Patrese had made their stops, Mansell was seven 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 tyres 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 it was Mansell's gearbox that gave way first, forcing the Williams into a spin and 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.

Senna won 2.9 seconds ahead of 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. On the podium, after all that effort, Senna barely managed to lift the trophy.

Race classification

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

Championship standings after the race

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

References

  1. ^ Walker, Murray (1991). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 21–28. ISBN 0-905138-90-2.
  2. ^ "1991 Brazilian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ "1991 Brazilian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 24 March 1991. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Brazil 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.


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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