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1991 San Marino Grand Prix

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1991 San Marino Grand Prix
Race 3 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
The Imola circuit in its 1991 configuration
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 miles)
Distance 61 laps, 307.440 km (191.034 miles)
Weather Wet at start, dry by finish
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:21.877
Fastest lap
Driver Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda
Time 1:26.531 on lap 55
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second McLaren-Honda
Third Dallara-Judd
Lap leaders

The 1991 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Imola on 28 April 1991. It was the third race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship.

The 61-lap race was won by Brazilian Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda, after he started from pole position. His Austrian teammate Gerhard Berger finished second, with Finn JJ Lehto third in a Dallara-Judd. It was also McLaren's first 1-2 finish since the 1989 Belgian Grand Prix.

Pre-race

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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

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Pre-qualifying report

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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

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:25.535
2 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:25.923 +0.388
3 32 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:25.980 +0.445
4 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:26.117 +0.582
5 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:26.305 +0.770
6 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:26.789 +1.254
7 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:26.886 +1.351
8 31 Portugal Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:31.239 +5.704

Qualifying report

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

Qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 1 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:21.877 1:43.633
2 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:21.957 1:42.455 +0.080
3 27 France Alain Prost Ferrari 1:22.195 1:42.429 +0.318
4 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:22.366 1:41.878 +0.489
5 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:22.567 1:40.322 +0.690
6 4 Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:23.511 1:44.613 +1.634
7 28 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:23.945 1:41.149 +2.068
8 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:24.762 no time +2.885
9 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:24.807 no time +2.930
10 3 Japan Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:25.345 1:42.063 +3.468
11 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:25.491 1:44.118 +3.614
12 32 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:25.531 1:44.897 +3.654
13 19 Brazil Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:25.655 1:45.216 +3.778
14 20 Brazil Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:25.809 1:42.911 +3.932
15 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:25.841 no time +3.964
16 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:25.974 1:43.397 +4.097
17 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:25.983 no time +4.106
18 7 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:26.055 no time +4.178
19 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:26.207 1:46.667 +4.330
20 30 Japan Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:26.356 no time +4.479
21 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:26.550 1:47.619 +4.673
22 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:26.602 1:52.949 +4.725
23 8 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:26.778 1:49.539 +4.901
24 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:26.998 1:44.125 +5.121
25 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:27.324 1:47.444 +5.447
26 12 United Kingdom Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd 1:27.976 1:45.931 +6.099
27 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:28.175 no time +6.298
28 18 Italy Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:29.665 no time +7.788
29 10 Italy Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche 1:30.280 2:06.589 +8.403
30 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 1:30.762 19:39.741 +8.885

Race

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Race report

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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 and only 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

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 61 1:35:14.750[2] 1 10
2 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 61 + 1.675 5 6
3 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 60 + 1 lap 16 4
4 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 59 + 2 laps 9 3
5 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 58 + 3 laps 25 2
6 12 United Kingdom Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd 58 + 3 laps 26 1
7 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 58 + 3 laps 24
8 8 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 58 + 3 laps 23
9 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 57 Fuel pump 21
10 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 57 + 4 laps 19
11 7 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 57 + 4 laps 18
12 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 55 Engine 15
13 19 Brazil Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 54 Gearbox 13
Ret 4 Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 41 Transmission 6
Ret 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 37 Gearbox 11
Ret 32 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 37 Suspension 12
Ret 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 24 Spun off 22
Ret 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 17 Engine 17
Ret 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 17 Electrical misfire 2
Ret 3 Japan Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 15 Transmission 10
Ret 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 10 Gearbox 8
Ret 28 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 2 Spun off 7
Ret 30 Japan Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 2 Spun off 20
Ret 20 Brazil Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1 Spun off 14
Ret 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 0 Collision 4
DNS 27 France Alain Prost Ferrari 0 Spun off 3
DNQ 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford
DNQ 18 Italy Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford
DNQ 10 Italy Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche
DNQ 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche
DNPQ 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd
DNPQ 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford
DNPQ 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ 31 Portugal Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b "San Marino 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.


Previous race:
1991 Brazilian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1991 season
Next race:
1991 Monaco Grand Prix
Previous race:
1990 San Marino Grand Prix
San Marino Grand Prix Next race:
1992 San Marino Grand Prix