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1991 Italian Grand Prix
Reference material by Wikipedia contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
March 2021
F1 Italian Italy Coca-Cola 62º Gran Premio d'Italia 8 September 1991 Monza 1976-1993.png 12 16 Autodromo Nazionale di MonzaMonza, Lombardy, Italy Permanent racing facility 3.604 5.800 53 191.01 307.400 Sunny and warm Ayrton Senna Brazil 1968 McLaren-Honda 1:21.114 Ayrton Senna Brazil 1968 McLaren-Honda 1:26.061 41 Nigel Mansell UK Williams-Renault Ayrton Senna Brazil 1968 McLaren-Honda Alain Prost France Ferrari ITA
The 1991 Italian Grand Prix (formally the Coca-Cola 62º Gran Premio d'ItaliaMotor Racing Programme Covers: 1991 http://www.progcovers.com/motor/monza910908.jpg The Programme Covers Project 13 November 2017) was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 8 September 1991. It was the twelfth race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship.
The 53-lap race was won by British driver Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, after he started from second position. Drivers' Championship leader, Brazilian Ayrton Senna, finished second in his McLaren-Honda, having started from pole position, with Frenchman Alain Prost third in a Ferrari. The win, Mansell's fourth of the season, enabled him to reduce Senna's championship lead to 18 points with four races remaining.
Pre-race
The big news between the Belgian and Italian Grands Prix revolved around young Michael Schumacher, who had made his debut for Jordan in Belgium. Schumacher had signed for Benetton while still being under contract to Jordan. After much legal wrangling the German was confirmed at Benetton, while Roberto Moreno went the other way, taking Schumacher's place at Jordan. Elsewhere Michael Bartels was back at Lotus, as Johnny Herbert had more commitments in Japanese Formula 3000.
Qualifying
Pre-qualifying report
It was a third 1–2 in a row for Brabham in the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, with Mark Blundell back on top of the time sheets, eight tenths of a second faster than Martin Brundle. Olivier Grouillard was again third fastest for Fondmetal, his fifth pre-qualifying success of the season. Michele Alboreto took the last pre-qualification position in the Footwork, 1.5 seconds off Blundell's pace.
In his best pre-qualifying performance in his four attempts so far, Fabrizio Barbazza just missed out in fifth place in the AGS, albeit 1.6 seconds slower than Alboreto. His team-mate Gabriele Tarquini debuted the new JH27 car, but its engine failed on the first lap. Tarquini reverted to the JH25B, but could only manage sixth fastest. Alex Caffi was a couple of tenths of a second further back in seventh in the other Footwork, while Pedro Chaves remained stuck in the pits after the worn engine in his Coloni refused to start.Walker Murray 1991 Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year Hazleton Publishing 101–108 0-905138-90-2
Pre-qualifying classification
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 8 UK Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:24.271 2 7 UK Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:25.117 +0.846 3 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:25.556 +1.285 4 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:25.771 +1.500 5 18 Italy Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:27.392 +3.121 6 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:27.401 +3.130 7 10 Italy Alex Caffi Footwork-Ford 1:27.608 +3.337 8 31 Portugal Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford — —
Qualifying report
In qualifying, Ayrton Senna took pole again, with title rival Nigel Mansell second, the Englishman complaining of traffic on his final two hot laps. Gerhard Berger was third, followed by Riccardo Patrese, Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, Schumacher, Nelson Piquet, in his 200th Grand Prix, Moreno, and Pierluigi Martini, in the Ferrari powered Minardi.
Qualifying classification
Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 Brazil 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:21.114 1:21.245 2 5 UK Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:21.328 1:21.247 +0.133 3 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:21.360 1:21.346 +0.232 4 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:21.619 1:21.372 +0.258 5 27 France Alain Prost Ferrari 1:22.080 1:21.825 +0.711 6 28 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:21.956 1:21.890 +0.776 7 19 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:22.471 1:22.553 +1.357 8 20 Brazil 1968 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:23.176 1:22.726 +1.612 9 32 Brazil 1968 Roberto Moreno Jordan-Ford 1:23.102 1:23.447 +1.988 10 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:23.294 1:23.789 +2.180 11 8 UK Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:23.473 1:24.400 +2.359 12 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:23.674 1:24.755 +2.560 13 4 Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:24.457 1:23.701 +2.587 14 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:24.060 1:23.921 +2.807 15 3 Japan 1947 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:24.464 1:24.265 +3.151 16 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:24.584 1:24.282 +3.168 17 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:24.287 1:25.223 +3.173 18 15 Brazil 1968 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:24.391 1:25.023 +3.277 19 7 UK Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:24.713 1:24.643 +3.529 20 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:24.733 1:24.725 +3.611 21 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:26.133 1:25.177 +4.063 22 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:25.478 1:25.420 +4.306 23 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:25.717 1:25.934 +4.603 24 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:26.325 1:25.871 +4.757 25 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:26.701 1:25.941 +4.827 26 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:26.416 1:26.805 +5.302 27 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:26.563 1:27.198 +5.449 28 12 Germany Michael Bartels Lotus-Judd 1:27.169 1:26.829 +5.715 29 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:27.110 1:27.099 +5.985 30 30 Japan 1947 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:27.257 18:14.470 +6.143
Race
Race report
At the start Senna got away well from Mansell, Berger, Patrese, and Alesi, with everyone making it through the Rettifilo double chicane. Moreno was an early casualty as he spun off on lap 2 with the Jordan's suspension breaking just before the spin also just behind the leaders.
Patrese at the front started to charge, first he disposed of Berger, and then Mansell. Martini had spun off in the Minardi by lap 8 at Roggia behind the leaders. On lap 26 Patrese passed Senna at the Ascari chicane, but on the following lap a gearbox failure took him out. Senna now led from Mansell and Berger, with Mansell pressuring Senna for the lead, and on lap 34 he took it with a perfectly timed out-braking manoeuvre going into the Ascari chicane. Senna proceeded to pit for tyres and emerged down in fifth place, but in no mood to stay there. Senna proceeded to pass Schumacher going into Ascari, and then slipstreamed passed Berger into the first corner, and got back to second by passing arch-rival Prost going into the second chicane. Mansell meanwhile cruised to victory from Senna, Prost, Berger (despite pulling off just after the start/finish line with electrical problems), Schumacher, and Piquet, Alesi having retired with a blown engine. With four races to go Senna still led Mansell by 18 points, but this race confirmed that Mansell and Williams could beat Senna's McLaren in a straight fight.
Race classification
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 UK Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 53 1:17:54.319 2 10 2 1 Brazil 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 53 + 16.262 1 6 3 27 France Alain Prost Ferrari 53 + 16.829 5 4 4 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 53 + 27.719 3 3 5 19 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 53 + 34.463 7 2 6 20 Brazil 1968 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 53 + 45.600 8 1 7 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 53 + 51.136 14 8 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 53 + 1:15.019 12 9 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 52 + 1 lap 17 10 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 52 + 1 lap 16 11 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 52 + 1 lap 22 12 8 UK Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 52 + 1 lap 11 13 7 UK Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 52 + 1 lap 19 14 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 49 + 4 laps 25 15 15 Brazil 1968 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 49 + 4 laps 18 16 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 48 + 5 laps 23 Ret Retired 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 46 Engine 26 Ret Retired 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 35 Overheating 20 Ret Retired 4 Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 32 Engine 13 Ret Retired 28 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 29 Engine 6 Ret Retired 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 27 Gearbox 4 Ret Retired 3 Japan 1947 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 24 Throttle 15 Ret Retired 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 21 Engine 24 Ret Retired 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 8 Spun off 10 Ret Retired 32 Brazil 1968 Roberto Moreno Jordan-Ford 2 Spun off 9 Ret Retired 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1 Spun off 21 DNQ Did not qualify 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford DNQ Did not qualify 12 Germany Michael Bartels Lotus-Judd DNQ Did not qualify 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini DNQ Did not qualify 30 Japan 1947 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 18 Italy Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 10 Italy Alex Caffi Footwork-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 31 Portugal Pedro Chaves Coloni-FordSource:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1991/210/ 1991 Italian Grand Prix formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20141103035514/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1991/210/ 3 November 2014
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points 10px 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna* 77 10px 2 GBR Nigel Mansell* 59 10px 3 ITA Riccardo Patrese 34 10px 4 AUT Gerhard Berger 31 10px 1 5 FRA Alain Prost 25Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1991/italie/championnat.aspx Italy 1991 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 18 March 2019
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 GBR McLaren-Honda* 108 10px 2 GBR Williams-Renault* 93 10px 3 ITA Ferrari 39 10px 4 GBR Benetton-Ford 33 10px 5 IRE Jordan-Ford 13Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a mathematical chance of becoming World Champion.
References
Henry Alan Alan Henry AUTOCOURSE 1991-92 Hazleton Publishing 1991 206–207 0-905138-87-2
Italian Grand Prix 1991 1991 Belgian Grand Prix 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix 1990 Italian Grand Prix 1992 Italian Grand Prix
Italian Grand Prix
Category:Italian Grand Prix
Grand Prix
Italian Grand Prix