1991 French Grand Prix

F1 France French Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours (1991).svg 7 July 1991 7 16 Permanent circuit Circuit de Nevers Magny-CoursMagny-Cours, France 2.651 4.250 72 190.892 306.000 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault ITA 1:14.559Henry Alan Alan Henry AUTOCOURSE 1991-92 Hazleton Publishing 1991 0-905138-87-2 162 Nigel Mansell UK Williams-Renault 1:19.168 49Henry Alan Alan Henry AUTOCOURSE 1991-92 Hazleton Publishing 1991 0-905138-87-2 163 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault UK Alain Prost Ferrari FRA Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda BRA 1968 FRA The 1991 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Magny-Cours on 7 July 1991. It was the seventh race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship, and the first French Grand Prix to be held at Magny-Cours. The 72-lap race was won by Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, with local driver Alain Prost second in a Ferrari and Ayrton Senna third in a McLaren-Honda. Pre-race January 2024 The French Grand Prix had moved from the Circuit Paul Ricard near Marseille to the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in the centre of France, to mixed reviews. There were no changes in the driver line-up, but the Footwork team had decided to abandon the disastrous Porsche V12 engine project in favour of a return to Ford engines, while Ferrari introduced a new car, the 643. Qualifying Pre-qualifying report In the Friday morning pre-qualification session, Andrea de Cesaris was fastest in the Jordan for the second time this season. He was four tenths of a second faster than JJ Lehto in the Dallara, with Olivier Grouillard third fastest for Fondmetal at his home race, the second time in a row the Frenchman had pre-qualified. The fourth pre-qualifier was Bertrand Gachot in the other Jordan. Those failing to progress to the main qualifying sessions included the other Dallara of Emanuele Pirro in fifth, just a couple of tenths slower than Gachot. The two Modena Lambos were sixth and seventh, with Nicola Larini outpacing Eric van de Poele, and bottom of the time sheets was Pedro Chaves in the Coloni. This was the seventh consecutive Grand Prix in which the Portuguese driver had failed to pre-qualify.Walker Murray 1991 Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year Hazleton Publishing 61–68 0-905138-90-2 Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:19.729 — 2 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:20.172 +0.443 3 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:20.227 +0.498 4 32 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:20.309 +0.580 5 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:20.539 +0.810 6 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:20.628 +0.899 7 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:21.304 +1.575 8 31 Portugal Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:22.229 +2.500 Qualifying report In qualifying, local driver Alain Prost impressed and was set to score Ferrari's first pole position of the season, but in the dying minutes Riccardo Patrese in the Williams-Renault came through to pip the French driver to the pole. Championship leader Ayrton Senna spun on Olivier Grouillard's oil on his final qualifying attempt and had to settle for third alongside Nigel Mansell in the second Williams, with the rest of the top ten starting spots occupied by Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi, Nelson Piquet, Roberto Moreno, Maurício Gugelmin, and the impressive Gianni Morbidelli in a Minardi. Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 6Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:17.472 1:14.559 - 2 27France Alain Prost Ferrari 1:17.386 1:14.789 +0.230 3 1Brazil 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:16.557 1:14.857 +0.298 4 5UK Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:17.095 1:14.895 +0.336 5 2Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:18.087 1:15.376 +0.817 6 28France Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:17.303 1:15.877 +1.318 7 20Brazil 1968 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:20.449 1:16.816 +2.257 8 19Brazil 1968 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:19.711 1:16.961 +2.402 9 15Brazil 1968 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:19.728 1:17.015 +2.456 10 24Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:20.635 1:17.020 +2.461 11 4Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:19.530 1:17.114 +2.555 12 23Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:19.426 1:17.149 +2.590 13 33Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:20.097 1:17.163 +2.604 14 26France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:20.427 1:17.504 +2.945 15 16Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:19.555 1:17.533 +2.974 16 25Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:19.187 1:17.775 +3.216 17 8UK Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:22.277 1:17.836 +3.277 18 3Japan 1947 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:21.020 1:18.144 +3.585 19 32Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:20.374 1:18.150 +3.591 20 12UK Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd 1:21.230 1:18.185 +3.626 21 14France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:20.640 1:18.210 +3.651 22 30Japan 1947 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:22.058 1:18.224 +3.665 23 29France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:21.613 1:18.540 +3.981 24 7UK Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:20.999 1:18.826 +4.267 25 9Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:21.966 1:18.846 +4.287 26 22Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:21.323 1:19.267 +4.708 27 11Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:22.274 1:19.491 +4.932 28 18Italy Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:22.319 1:20.110 +5.551 29 17Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:22.737 1:20.262 +5.703 30 10Sweden Stefan Johansson Footwork-Ford 1:24.114 1:21.000 +6.441 Race Race report At the start Patrese made a disastrous start and dropped to 10th position on lap 1, so Prost led from Mansell, Senna, Berger, and Alesi, while Bertrand Gachot spun off on the first lap in his Jordan. Berger was out when his engine failed on lap 6, his third consecutive retirement due to engine problems. Patrese started another recovery drive by passing both Piquet and Morbidelli in one fell swoop when Morbidelli botched an overtaking attempt, taking himself out of the running. At the front Mansell pressured Prost and on Lap 21 he made his move taking advantage of traffic to out-brake the French star going into the hairpin. Mansell slowly pulled away but problems at his first tyre stop dropped him back behind Prost. Mansell once again closed on Prost and the two battled it out until Mansell finally managed to take advantage of traffic, again, and took the lead on Lap 54 by this time outbraking Prost around the outside at the hairpin. Mansell pulled away and scored his first win of the season, Prost was second followed by Senna, Alesi, Patrese, and de Cesaris. This was the 17th win of Mansell's career, thus breaking the record of Grand Prix wins by an English driver, previously held by Stirling Moss. Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 UK Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 72 1:38:00.056 4 10 2 27 France Alain Prost Ferrari 72 + 5.003 2 6 3 1 Brazil 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 72 + 34.934 3 4 4 28 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 72 + 35.920 6 3 5 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 71 + 1 lap 1 2 6 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 71 + 1 lap 13 1 7 15 Brazil 1968 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 70 + 2 laps 9 8 20 Brazil 1968 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 70 + 2 laps 7 9 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 70 + 2 laps 12 10 12 UK Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd 70 + 2 laps 20 11 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 70 + 2 laps 14 12 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 69 + 3 laps 16 Ret Retired 19 Brazil 1968 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 63 Physical 8 Ret Retired 4 Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 57 Gearbox 11 Ret Retired 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 47 Oil leak 21 Ret Retired 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 43 Transmission 23 Ret Retired 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 39 Tyre 26 Ret Retired 8 UK Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 36 Spun off 17 Ret Retired 30 Japan 1947 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 32 Transmission 22 Ret Retired 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 31 Gearbox 25 Ret Retired 7 UK Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 21 Gearbox 24 Ret Retired 3 Japan 1947 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 12 Spun off 18 Ret Retired 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 8 Collision 10 Ret Retired 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 7 Spun off 15 Ret Retired 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 6 Engine 5 Ret Retired 32 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 0 Spun off 19 DNQ Did not qualify 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd DNQ Did not qualify 18 Italy Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford DNQ Did not qualify 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford DNQ Did not qualify 10 Sweden Stefan Johansson Footwork-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 31 Portugal Pedro Chaves Coloni-FordSource:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1991/203/ 1991 French Grand Prix formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20141103035438/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1991/203/ 3 November 2014 Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 10px 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna 48 10px 2 2 GBR Nigel Mansell 23 10px 1 3 ITA Riccardo Patrese 22 10px 1 4 FRA Alain Prost 17 10px 2 5 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet 16Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1991/france/championnat.aspx France 1991 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 17 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 GBR McLaren-Honda 58 10px 2 GBR Williams-Renault 45 10px 1 3 ITA Ferrari 25 10px 1 4 GBR Benetton-Ford 21 10px 5 GBR Tyrrell-Honda 11Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References French Grand Prix 1991 1991 Mexican Grand Prix 1991 British Grand Prix 1990 French Grand Prix 1992 French Grand Prix 1990 Australian Grand Prix 1992 French Grand Prix French Grand Prix Grand Prix Category:French Grand Prix Category:July 1991 sports events in France