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1990 San Marino Grand Prix

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1990 San Marino Grand Prix
Race 3 of 16 in the 1990 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 13 May 1990
Official name 10o 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, 307.44 km (191.034 miles)
Weather Warm, dry, sunny
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:23.220
Fastest lap
Driver Italy Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford
Time 1:27.156 on lap 60
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second McLaren-Honda
Third Benetton-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1990 San Marino Grand Prix (formally the 10o Gran Premio di San Marino[1]) was a Formula One motor race held on 13 May 1990 at Imola. It was the third race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship. The race was held over 61 laps of the 5.04-kilometre (3.13 mi) circuit for a race distance of 307.44 kilometres (191.03 mi).

The race was won by Italian driver Riccardo Patrese, driving a Williams-Renault. It was Patrese's third Grand Prix victory, and his first since the 1983 South African Grand Prix. As of May 2022 Patrese holds the record for the longest waiting period between two Grand Prix wins, at 6 years, 6 months and 28 days. The record of most Grands Prix between wins was also broken and would be retained by Patrese until the 2018 United States Grand Prix when Kimi Räikkönen took the record.[2] Austrian driver Gerhard Berger finished second in a McLaren-Honda, with Patrese's compatriot Alessandro Nannini third in a Benetton-Ford.

Background

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In the run-up to the first European race of the 1990 World Championship, there were a few changes to the grid. Brabham replaced Swiss driver Gregor Foitek with Australian driver David Brabham, the youngest son of team founder Sir Jack Brabham. Foitek moved over to the troubled Onyx team (part-run by his father Karl), replacing Stefan Johansson, who was unhappy at the way the team was being run. David Brabham's older brother Gary had quit the Life team, describing it as "totally disorganised and unprofessional",[3] and had been replaced by Italian veteran Bruno Giacomelli, who had last raced in F1 in 1983. Meanwhile, Emanuele Pirro returned to the Dallara team, having missed the first two races of the season due to hepatitis. Several teams unveiled new cars, with the Tyrrell 019 – designed by Harvey Postlethwaite – drawing much attention as the first F1 car to sport a "high-nose" design with downward-extending supports for the front wing.

Qualifying

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Pre-qualifying report

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The Friday morning pre-qualifying session took shape very soon into the one-hour session, after both AGS cars dropped out almost immediately. The team had brought their new JH25 car to this race, but Yannick Dalmas was withdrawn due to a hand injury he suffered in a testing accident, and Gabriele Tarquini's car failed on its first lap with a fuel pressure issue. This left seven cars in the session, three of which were uncompetitive.

The Larrousse-Lola team also brought a new car to the Grand Prix, the LC90. As at the previous race in Brazil, they finished first and second, with Éric Bernard nearly a second faster than his team-mate Aguri Suzuki. The updated Osella FA1ME of Olivier Grouillard was third fastest, a fraction ahead of Roberto Moreno in the EuroBrun.

Apart from the AGS cars, the other runners who failed to pre-qualify included Bertrand Gachot in the Coloni, which, despite revised aerodynamics and a 23kg weight reduction, was still seven seconds away from Bernard's time.[3] Even slower was Claudio Langes in the other EuroBrun, down in sixth place. At the Life team, Bruno Giacomelli drove the L190 for the first time, having replaced Gary Brabham. A drivebelt failed on the Italian's very slow first lap, and the car did not reappear for the rest of the session.[3]

Pre-qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 1:26.475
2 30 Japan Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini 1:27.344 +0.869
3 14 France Olivier Grouillard Osella-Ford 1:28.155 +1.680
4 33 Brazil Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd 1:28.178 +1.703
5 31 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Subaru 1:33.554 +7.079
6 34 Italy Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd 1:34.272 +7.797
7 39 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Life 7:16.212 +5:49.737
8 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford no time
9 18 France Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford no time

Qualifying report

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In practice, Benetton's Alessandro Nannini and Minardi's Pierluigi Martini both crashed heavily, Martini cracking his heel and withdrawing from the race as a result.

In the qualifying sessions, the McLarens filled the front row, with Ayrton Senna on pole and team-mate Gerhard Berger alongside him. The two Williams were on the second row with Riccardo Patrese ahead of Thierry Boutsen, while the two Ferraris made up the third row, Nigel Mansell ahead of Alain Prost. The top ten was completed by the Tyrrell of Jean Alesi, the Benettons of Nelson Piquet and Nannini, and the Lotus of Derek Warwick.

Qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 27 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:24.079 1:23.220
2 28 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:24.027 1:23.781 +0.561
3 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:24.486 1:24.444 +1.224
4 5 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 1:25.832 1:25.039 +1.819
5 2 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Ferrari 1:25.539 1:25.095 +1.875
6 1 France Alain Prost Ferrari 1:26.080 1:25.179 +1.959
7 4 France Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 1:26.138 1:25.230 +2.010
8 20 Brazil Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:26.316 1:25.761 +2.541
9 19 Italy Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:26.889 1:26.042 +2.822
10 11 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini 1:28.055 1:26.682 +3.462
11 12 United Kingdom Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini 1:27.151 1:26.714 +3.494
12 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd 1:29.339 1:26.836 +3.616
13 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 1:26.988 1:26.838 +3.618
14 8 Italy Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:28.763 1:27.008 +3.788
15 30 Japan Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini 1:27.211 1:27.068 +3.848
16 26 France Philippe Alliot Ligier-Ford 1:27.533 1:27.214 +3.994
17 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 1:27.570 1:27.217 +3.997
18 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd 1:29.904 1:27.521 +4.301
19 3 Japan Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Ford 1:27.746 1:27.532 +4.312
20 25 Italy Nicola Larini Ligier-Ford 1:27.642 1:27.564 +4.344
21 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Ford 1:27.849 1:27.613 +4.393
22 14 France Olivier Grouillard Osella-Ford 1:28.590 1:28.009 +4.789
23 35 Switzerland Gregor Foitek Onyx-Ford 1:28.111 1:28.435 +4.891
24 33 Brazil Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd 1:28.603 1:31.653 +5.383
25 36 Finland JJ Lehto Onyx-Ford 1:28.625 no time +5.405
26 24 Italy Paolo Barilla Minardi-Ford 1:29.566 1:28.667 +5.447
27 10 Italy Alex Caffi Arrows-Ford 1:29.242 1:28.699 +5.479
28 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Arrows-Ford 1:29.615 1:28.797 +5.577
29 7 Australia David Brabham Brabham-Judd 1:31.282 1:28.927 +5.707
WD 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:26.466 no time +3.246

Race

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Race report

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Pirro, who had qualified 21st, started from the back of the grid after his Dallara stalled at the start of the formation lap. At the start, Senna led away from Berger while Boutsen got ahead of Patrese. At Tamburello, Mansell ran wide and kicked up dust, which caused the Leyton House of Ivan Capelli and the second Tyrrell of Satoru Nakajima to collide with each other, while at Tosa Martin Donnelly spun his Lotus, narrowly avoiding other drivers. Meanwhile, Boutsen got past Berger but was unable to close on Senna. The order remained the same until lap 3 when Senna pulled off with a broken wheel rim, allowing Boutsen to take the lead with Berger close behind. Further back, Alesi collided with Piquet at Tosa; both drivers continued.

Boutsen led until his Renault engine blew on lap 17, which left Berger ahead of Patrese and Mansell. The Englishman passed Patrese going into Tosa, much to the delight of the Italian fans. Mansell continued to charge, despite being hit by Andrea de Cesaris while trying to lap him and challenged Berger for the lead. On the run up to Villeneuve, Mansell tried to go around the outside, but Berger closed the door, causing Mansell to spin dramatically. The Englishman avoided hitting anything and ended up pointing in the right direction, he continued in second place, however, dirt and debris had entered Mansell's engine, causing it to overheat and blow-up a few laps later.

Mansell's demise left Berger ahead of Patrese, who went through into the lead on lap 51. Nannini and Prost battled over third place, with Nannini winning out. Patrese duly won his first race since the 1983 South African Grand Prix, leading home Berger, Nannini, Prost, Piquet, and Alesi. With 98 races between victories, Patrese claimed the record for most starts between wins - a record that would be taken 28 years later by Kimi Räikkönen, who started 113 races between winning the 2013 Australian Grand Prix and the 2018 United States Grand Prix.

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 61 1:30:55.478 3 9
2 28 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 61 + 5.117 2 6
3 19 Italy Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 61 + 6.240 9 4
4 1 France Alain Prost Ferrari 61 + 6.843 6 3
5 20 Brazil Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 61 + 53.112 8 2
6 4 France Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 60 + 1 lap 7 1
7 11 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini 60 + 1 lap 10
8 12 United Kingdom Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini 60 + 1 lap 11
9 26 France Philippe Alliot Ligier-Ford 60 + 1 lap 16
10 25 Italy Nicola Larini Ligier-Ford 59 + 2 laps 20
11 24 Italy Paolo Barilla Minardi-Ford 59 + 2 laps 26
12 36 Finland JJ Lehto Onyx-Ford 59 + 2 laps 25
13 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 56 Clutch 13
Ret 14 France Olivier Grouillard Osella-Ford 52 Wheel 22
Ret 2 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Ferrari 38 Engine 5
Ret 35 Switzerland Gregor Foitek Onyx-Ford 35 Engine 23
Ret 8 Italy Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 31 Brakes 14
Ret 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 29 Wheel 17
Ret 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd 24 Electrical 12
Ret 5 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 17 Engine 4
Ret 30 Japan Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini 17 Clutch 15
Ret 27 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 3 Wheel 1
Ret 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Ford 2 Spun off 21
Ret 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd 0 Collision 18
Ret 3 Japan Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Ford 0 Collision 19
Ret 33 Brazil Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd 0 Throttle 24
DNS 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford Practice accident
DNQ 10 Italy Alex Caffi Arrows-Ford
DNQ 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Arrows-Ford
DNQ 7 Australia David Brabham Brabham-Judd
DNPQ 31 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Subaru
DNPQ 34 Italy Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ 39 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Life
DNPQ 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford
DNPQ 18 France Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford
Source:[4]

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. ^ "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1990". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  2. ^ "Statistics Drivers - Wins - Interval between two". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Walker, Murray (1990). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 31–38. ISBN 0-905138-82-1.
  4. ^ "1990 San Marino Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  5. ^ a b "San Marino 1990 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.


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1990 Brazilian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1990 season
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1990 Monaco Grand Prix
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1989 San Marino Grand Prix
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1991 San Marino Grand Prix