1991 Hungarian Grand Prix

In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, a Brabham topped the time sheets for the second Grand Prix in succession. However, this time it was Mark Blundell who was fastest, over 1.4 seconds faster than his team-mate Martin Brundle in second. Third was Olivier Grouillard for Fondmetal, the third time the Frenchman had pre-qualified this season. The fourth pre-qualifier was Michele Alboreto in the Footwork.

The four entrants who failed to pre-qualify were, unusually, within two seconds of the slowest pre-qualifier. Fifth was Gabriele Tarquini in the AGS, less than two tenths of a second slower than Alboreto. Alex Caffi was sixth in the other Footwork, 1.4 seconds behind Tarquini. Just a tenth further back was the other AGS of Fabrizio Barbazza, who was only two tenths faster than the Coloni of Pedro Chaves. It was the Portuguese driver's tenth failure to pre-qualify from ten attempts this season.[1]

Nigel Mansell and Williams were on a roll as Formula One arrived in Hungary, while Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were ordered by FISA to work out their differences following their confrontation in the German Grand Prix. Senna was also angry with his McLaren team after he had run out of fuel in the two previous races, losing valuable points to Mansell. During the practice session, McLaren made the first test for the semi-automatic gearbox on their car. Senna proceeded to dominate qualifying, taking pole by over a second from Riccardo Patrese, Mansell, Prost, Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi, Emanuele Pirro, Stefano Modena, Ivan Capelli, and Martin Brundle.

At the start, Senna and Patrese both got away well, but Senna managed to keep the lead, with Mansell, Prost, Berger, and Alesi rounding out the top six. Mansell followed and hounded his teammate, but Senna was unable to pull out a significant gap. Meanwhile, Prost's day ended early with an engine failure, just adding to the misery that was the 1991 season for the three time champion. Mansell eventually got past Patrese and set off after Senna, but on a track that is not conducive to passing, he had to settle for second. Senna duly won from Mansell, Patrese, Berger, Alesi, and Capelli. Senna now led the world championship by 12 points as the teams packed up and headed to Belgium. Senna dedicated this victory to the late Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda, who died days before the Grand Prix weekend.