1991 Spanish Grand Prix

F1 Spanish Spain Catalunya1994.png XXXIII Gran Premio Tío Pepe de España 29 September 1991 14 16 Circuit de CatalunyaMontmeló, Catalonia. Spain1991 Spanish Grand Prix https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/database/races/1991-spanish-grand-prix/ Motor Sport 31 May 2022 Permanent racing facility 2.950 4.747 65 191.727 308.555 Warm and overcast, drying 60,000 Gerhard Berger Austria McLaren-Honda 1:18.751 Riccardo Patrese Italy Williams-Renault 1:22.837 63 Nigel Mansell UK Williams-Renault Alain Prost France Ferrari Riccardo Patrese Italy Williams-Renault ESP The 1991 Spanish Grand Prix (formally the XXXIII Gran Premio Tío Pepe de España) was a Formula One motor race held on 29 September 1991 at the Circuit de Catalunya. It was the fourteenth race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship, and the first Spanish Grand Prix to be held at Circuit de Catalunya. The 65-lap race was won by British driver Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, after he started from second position. Frenchman Alain Prost finished second in a Ferrari, with Mansell's Italian teammate Riccardo Patrese third. Mansell's Drivers' Championship rival, Brazilian Ayrton Senna, finished fifth in his McLaren-Honda, meaning that he led Mansell by 16 points with two races remaining. Pre-race There was a lot of action in the backrooms in the week separating the Portuguese and Spanish Grands Prix with the big news being that Max Mosley was elected president of the FISA, replacing Jean-Marie Balestre. There were also changes in the driver line-ups as Michael Bartels returned to Lotus replacing Johnny Herbert who had obligations in the Japanese Formula 3000. Jordan had replaced Roberto Moreno with young Italian rookie Alessandro Zanardi, and Fondmetal had sacked Olivier Grouillard and replaced him with Gabriele Tarquini of AGS, Grouillard promptly taking Tarquini's old seat. Championship challenger Nigel Mansell was limping all weekend, the Williams driver having injured his ankle in a football match.May 2020 Qualifying Pre-qualifying report The pre-qualifying pool in Spain was reduced to seven entrants when Coloni driver Pedro Chaves refused to drive the car, frustrated at the lack of testing and the non-payment of his retainer. The team were unable to find another driver to attempt to pre-qualify the C4, so it stayed in the garage.Walker Murray 1991 Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year Hazleton Publishing 117–124 0-905138-90-2 Chaves had failed to pre-qualify on all 13 of his attempts this season, and did not drive for the team again. Brabham secured their fifth consecutive 1–2 in the pre-qualifying session, with Martin Brundle a couple of tenths of a second faster than Mark Blundell. The third placed pre-qualifier, Michele Alboreto in the Footwork, was over two seconds behind Blundell. On his first outing for Fondmetal after the sacking of Olivier Grouillard, Gabriele Tarquini took the last pre-qualifying spot in the Fomet-1, 0.25 seconds behind Alboreto. Alex Caffi missed out again in fifth place in the other Footwork, just 0.062 seconds slower than Tarquini. It was his fifth failure to pre-qualify in six attempts. Sixth was Fabrizio Barbazza in the AGS, just over half a second faster than his new team-mate Grouillard. It was to be their last appearances for the team as AGS withdrew from Formula One before the next event, having spent six seasons at the top level. Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 7 UK Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:21.504 — 2 8 UK Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:21.727 +0.223 3 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:23.744 +2.240 4 14 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 1:23.994 +2.490 5 10 Italy Alex Caffi Footwork-Ford 1:24.056 +2.552 6 18 Italy Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:24.744 +3.240 7 17 France Olivier Grouillard AGS-Ford 1:25.305 +3.801 Qualifying report In qualifying Gerhard Berger did a favour to teammate Ayrton Senna by taking pole position from Mansell, Senna, Riccardo Patrese, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, Ivan Capelli, Emanuele Pirro and Nelson Piquet. Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:18.751 1:21.208 — 2 5 UK Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:18.970 1:19.971 +0.219 3 1 Brazil 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:19.474 1:19.064 +0.313 4 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:19.643 1:20.392 +0.892 5 19 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:19.733 1:20.779 +0.982 6 27 France Alain Prost Ferrari 1:20.245 1:19.936 +1.185 7 28 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:20.197 1:20.690 +1.446 8 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:21.682 1:20.584 +1.833 9 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:21.250 1:20.651 +1.900 10 20 Brazil 1968 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:20.853 1:20.676 +1.925 11 7 UK Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:21.415 1:20.677 +1.926 12 8 UK Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:21.021 1:20.724 +1.973 13 15 Brazil 1968 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:21.319 1:20.743 +1.992 14 4 Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:20.788 1:21.576 +2.037 15 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:22.249 1:20.967 +2.216 16 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:21.801 1:22.523 +3.050 17 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:21.865 1:22.992 +3.114 18 3 Japan 1947 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:22.480 1:22.114 +3.363 19 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:22.575 1:22.510 +3.759 20 32 Italy Alessandro Zanardi Jordan-Ford 1:22.580 1:23.448 +3.829 21 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:22.646 1:23.407 +3.895 22 14 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 1:22.837 1:26.214 +4.086 23 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:22.944 1:23.883 +4.193 24 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:23.145 1:23.868 +4.394 25 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:23.359 1:23.755 +4.608 26 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:23.553 1:23.623 +4.802 27 30 Japan 1947 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:24.211 1:26.346 +5.460 28 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:25.330 1:26.109 +6.579 29 12 Germany Michael Bartels Lotus-Judd 1:25.640 1:25.392 +6.641 30 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:27.501 1:27.566 +8.750 Race Race report On race morning it was raining, but by start time it had stopped, although the track was still wet. At the start Senna got away well and challenged Berger, while Mansell was right on his tail. Toward the end of lap one Schumacher surprised Mansell to take third place. At the back Éric Bernard and Érik Comas collided, both men being out on the spot. The track was incredibly slippery and there was a lot of action at the front with Senna, Schumacher, Mansell, and Alesi all fighting over third place, while Berger started to scamper away in the lead. Mansell tried to chase the leader and forced his way past Schumacher before setting off after Senna. Eventually he pounced on the main straight, the two great rivals going wheel to wheel, just millimetres apart, with Mansell taking the position and setting off after Berger. Prost was the first front-runner to stop for dry tyres, followed shortly by leader Berger, who had a very bad stop. Mansell and Senna both stopped on the same lap and it was the McLaren team who won the confrontation, getting Senna out ahead and into the lead from Berger, Mansell, and Schumacher. On the following lap Senna let Berger through as Mansell was closing in. The rain returned and Senna had a dramatic spin at the last corner, dropping from second to fifth while Schumacher passed Prost for third. Mansell closed on Berger, and on lap 20 he made his way up the inside to take the lead and proceeded to pull away, while Berger came under pressure from the charging Schumacher. A close battle ended when Schumacher spun while trying to pass, he would stay in the race, but down in sixth place, which would become fifth when Berger retired with yet another electronic failure. The action continued for the major placings as Patrese passed Senna for third then Alesi blew past Senna for fourth after Schumacher pitted. Mansell duly took victory from Prost, Patrese, Alesi, Senna, and Schumacher, while the Minardi drivers ended the race red faced due to a last lap collision between Gianni Morbidelli and Pierluigi Martini. Mansell's win with Senna fifth meant that the title race was back on, but Senna still led by sixteen points as the teams headed on to Japan. Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 UK Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 65 1:38:41.541 2 10 2 27 France Alain Prost Ferrari 65 + 11.331 6 6 3 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 65 + 15.909 4 4 4 28 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 65 + 22.772 7 3 5 1 Brazil 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 65 + 1:02.402 3 2 6 19 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 65 + 1:19.468 5 1 7 15 Brazil 1968 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 64 + 1 lap 13 8 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 64 + 1 lap 15 9 32 Italy Alessandro Zanardi Jordan-Ford 64 + 1 lap 20 10 7 UK Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 63 + 2 laps 11 11 20 Brazil 1968 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 63 + 2 laps 10 12 14 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 63 + 2 laps 22 13 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 63 + 2 laps 19 14 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 62 Collision 16 15 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 62 + 3 laps 9 16 4 Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 62 + 3 laps 14 17 3 Japan 1947 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 62 + 3 laps 18 Ret Retired 8 UK Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 49 Engine 12 Ret Retired 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 36 Electrical 25 Ret Retired 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 33 Electrical 1 Ret Retired 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 23 Engine 24 Ret Retired 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 22 Electrical 17 Ret Retired 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 5 Spun off 21 Ret Retired 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1 Collision 8 Ret Retired 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 0 Collision 23 Ret Retired 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 0 Collision 26 DNQ Did not qualify 30 Japan 1947 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford DNQ Did not qualify 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini DNQ Did not qualify 12 Germany Michael Bartels Lotus-Judd DNQ Did not qualify 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 10 Italy Alex Caffi Footwork-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 18 Italy Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 17 France Olivier Grouillard AGS-FordSource:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1991/212/ 1991 Spanish Grand Prix formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20141103035524/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1991/212/ 3 November 2014 Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 10px 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna* 85 10px 2 GBR Nigel Mansell* 69 10px 3 ITA Riccardo Patrese 48 10px 2 4 FRA Alain Prost 31 10px 1 5 AUT Gerhard Berger 31Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1991/espagne/championnat.aspx Spain 1991 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 20 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 1 GBR Williams-Renault* 117 10px 1 2 GBR McLaren-Honda* 116 10px 3 ITA Ferrari 52 10px 4 GBR Benetton-Ford 37 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 222–223 0-905138-87-2 Spanish Grand Prix 1991 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix 1991 Japanese Grand Prix 1990 Spanish Grand Prix 1992 Spanish Grand Prix Spanish Grand Prix Category:Spanish Grand Prix Grand Prix