1991 San Marino Grand Prix

The 1991 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Imola on 28 April 1991. The 61-lap race was the third race of the 1991 Formula One season and was won from pole position by Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda, with team-mate Gerhard Berger second and JJ Lehto third in a Dallara-Judd.

1991 San Marino Grand Prix
Race 3 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
The Imola circuit in its 1991 configuration
Race details
Date 28 April 1991
Official name XI Gran Premio di San Marino
Location Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari,
Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.040 km (3.132 mi)
Distance 61 laps, 307.440 km (191.034 mi)
Weather Wet at start, dry by finish
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:21.877
Fastest lap
Driver Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda
Time 1:26.531 on lap 55
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second McLaren-Honda
Third Dallara-Judd

Pre-race

With the team under new management having been sold by Cyril De Rouvre, Stefan Johansson was replaced at AGS by Formula One debutant Fabrizio Barbazza.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

In the pre-qualifying session on Friday morning, Andrea de Cesaris was fastest in the Jordan, just under four tenths of a second faster than JJ Lehto's Dallara in second. De Cesaris' team-mate Bertrand Gachot was third, just a few hundredths behind Lehto. The fourth pre-qualifier was Eric van de Poele in the Lambo, who edged out the second Dallara of Emanuele Pirro. It was van de Poele's first progression through to the main qualifying sessions, and the first time in 1991 that a Dallara had failed to pre-qualify.[1]

Apart from Pirro, those who failed to pre-qualify included Olivier Grouillard in the new British-built Fomet-1 chassis debuted by the Fondmetal team. Despite teething troubles which prevented him from progressing any further, Grouillard said he was happy with the new car.[1] Seventh was the other Lambo of Nicola Larini, and bottom of the time sheets was Pedro Chaves in the sole Coloni, who suffered a gearbox failure during the session.[1]

Pre-qualifying classification

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap
1 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:25.535
2 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:25.923 +0.388
3 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:25.980 +0.445
4 35 Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:26.117 +0.582
5 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:26.305 +0.770
6 14 Olivier Grouillard Fomet-Ford 1:26.789 +1.254
7 34 Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:26.886 +1.351
8 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:31.239 +5.704

Qualifying report

Ayrton Senna claimed his 55th pole position from Riccardo Patrese, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Gerhard Berger.

Qualifying classification

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
1 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:21.877 1:43.633
2 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:21.957 1:42.455 +0.080
3 27 Alain Prost Ferrari 1:22.195 1:42.429 +0.318
4 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:22.366 1:41.878 +0.489
5 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:22.567 1:40.322 +0.690
6 4 Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:23.511 1:44.613 +1.634
7 28 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:23.945 1:41.149 +2.068
8 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:24.762 no time +2.885
9 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:24.807 no time +2.930
10 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:25.345 1:42.063 +3.468
11 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:25.491 1:44.118 +3.614
12 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:25.531 1:44.897 +3.654
13 19 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:25.655 1:45.216 +3.778
14 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:25.809 1:42.911 +3.932
15 15 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:25.841 no time +3.964
16 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:25.974 1:43.397 +4.097
17 29 Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:25.983 no time +4.106
18 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:26.055 no time +4.178
19 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:26.207 1:46.667 +4.330
20 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:26.356 no time +4.479
21 35 Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:26.550 1:47.619 +4.673
22 18 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:26.602 1:52.949 +4.725
23 8 Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:26.778 1:49.539 +4.901
24 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:26.998 1:44.125 +5.121
25 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:27.324 1:47.444 +5.447
26 12 Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd 1:27.976 1:45.931 +6.099
27 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:28.175 no time +6.298
28 18 Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:29.665 no time +7.788
29 10 Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche 1:30.280 2:06.589 +8.403
30 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 1:30.762 19:39.741 +8.885

Race

Race report

The formation lap saw two dramatic incidents: Prost spun off the track at Rivazza Turn, followed by Berger, who was able to continue. However Prost stalled the engine and did not take the start.

At the lights, Patrese took the lead ahead of Senna, whilst Mansell, already slow off the line with gearbox problems, retired at the end of lap 1 after a collision with Martin Brundle. He was followed out by Nelson Piquet who spun off on lap 2, Aguri Suzuki who spun off on lap 3 behind the leaders and Jean Alesi who also spun off on lap 3 attempting a rather foolhardy pass on Stefano Modena.

In a strong lead, Patrese pitted for originally what appeared to be an early stop to slicks turned out to be more serious – a misfire with a faulty camshaft sensor. He restarted last before retiring for good 9 laps later.

Berger was catching Senna, lapping 1.5 seconds quicker than his teammate. The lead was soon down to 5 seconds, with Modena a superb third from Satoru Nakajima and the two Minardis of Pierluigi Martini and Gianni Morbidelli.

Both McLarens pitted for tyres with Senna maintaining his lead. Just after setting fastest lap, Berger was delayed in traffic, held up by the trio of Maurício Gugelmin, Julian Bailey and Thierry Boutsen. Bailey himself moved past Andrea de Cesaris into 6th, whilst Nakajima retired with transmission problems.

Ivan Capelli spun into retirement from fourth to hand over to JJ Lehto's Dallara. Modena retired with transmission problems which meant that behind the two dominant McLarens, the order was now Roberto Moreno, Lehto, Eric van de Poele for the little Modena team and Martini's Minardi. Meanwhile, de Cesaris eventually retired in the pits with gearbox problems on lap 38.

Moreno's gearbox broke on lap 52 causing him to retire, whilst Senna was having problems with oil pressure caused by the special high-torque Honda V12. As the Leyton House of Maurício Gugelmin eventually retired with an engine failure on lap 58. Berger put in a series of fastest laps to cut Senna's lead to just 1.7s at the line. Eric van de Poele had retired on the last lap as the result of fuel pump problems.

Lehto was overjoyed to gain the first podium place of his career for Dallara, with Martini fourth. Van de Poele's drive ended when a fuel pump broke on the last lap – he was classified ninth overall. The Lotus drivers of Mika Häkkinen and Bailey took fifth and sixth, both scoring their first world championship points, an unexpected result for the troubled team since their cars had barely managed to get on to the grid with Häkkinen 25th and Bailey 26th. This race was also noted for being the only Formula One point for Julian Bailey.

Race classification

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 61 1:35:14.750[2] 1 10
2 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 61 + 1.675 5 6
3 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 60 + 1 lap 16 4
4 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 59 + 2 laps 9 3
5 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 58 + 3 laps 25 2
6 12 Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd 58 + 3 laps 26 1
7 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 58 + 3 laps 24
8 8 Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 58 + 3 laps 23
9 35 Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 57 Fuel pump 21
10 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 57 + 4 laps 19
11 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 57 + 4 laps 18
12 15 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 55 Engine 15
13 19 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 54 Gearbox 13
Ret 4 Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 41 Transmission 6
Ret 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 37 Gearbox 11
Ret 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 37 Suspension 12
Ret 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 24 Spun off 22
Ret 29 Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 17 Engine 17
Ret 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 17 Camshaft sensor 2
Ret 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 15 Transmission 10
Ret 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 10 Gearbox 8
Ret 28 Jean Alesi Ferrari 2 Spun off 7
Ret 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 2 Spun off 20
Ret 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1 Spun off 14
Ret 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 0 Collision 4
DNS 27 Alain Prost Ferrari 0 Spun off 3
DNQ 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford
DNQ 18 Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford
DNQ 10 Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche
DNQ 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche
DNPQ 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd
DNPQ 14 Olivier Grouillard Fomet-Ford
DNPQ 34 Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford
Source:[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. 29–36. ISBN 0 905138 90 2.
  2. Henry, Alan (1991). AUTOCOURSE 1991-92. Hazleton Publishing. p. 125. ISBN 0-905138-87-2.
  3. "1991 San Marino Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  4. "San Marino 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
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1991 Brazilian Grand Prix
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1991 Monaco Grand Prix
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1990 San Marino Grand Prix
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1992 San Marino Grand Prix
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