1992 Belgian Grand Prix

  1992 Belgian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 12 of 16 in the 1992 Formula One season
Date	August 30, 1992
Official name	L Grand Prix de Belgique
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility 6.940 km (4.312 mi)
Distance	44 laps, 305.341 km (189.730 mi)
Weather	Overcast, brief rain mid-race
Pole position
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Time	1:50.545
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford
Time	1:53.791 on lap 39
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford
Second	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Third	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault

The 1992 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on August 30, 1992. It was the twelfth round of the 1992 Formula One season. The race was won by Benetton's Michael Schumacher, it was the first of his record 91 Grand Prix wins. The Benetton B192's win also marks as the last F1 car to win a Grand Prix while sporting a H-Pattern manual gearbox. Second and third for Williams drivers Nigel Mansell (who survived a collision with Jean Alesi at the first corner) and Riccardo Patrese, secured for the team their first Constructor's title since 1987.

Eighteen cars finished, the highest number of finishers for the season, despite Érik Comas not making the start after being injured in a crash during practice. Emanuele Naspetti made his Grand Prix debut for the March team. Pre-qualifying was not held for the first time in 1992 after Brabham failed to arrive, bringing an end to the 30-year history of the team.

It was also the race where Ayrton Senna stopped on the race track to help Comas after his crash by cutting off the engine, preventing a fire as Comas had passed out in the car. During the race, he had a strong pace in the opening laps. However, he gambled the rain would stop and therefore did not need to change to rain tyres. This failed then he went to the pits to change his tyres, which dropped him to 12th place and made a famous overtaking move on Mika Häkkinen's Lotus for 5th place from the outside on lap 43 (just right before Michael Schumacher started his final lap) and finished 5th.

Johnny Herbert retired his Lotus due to an engine problem while he was in 8th place. He retired just 10 seconds before Michael Schumacher crossed the line for his first win in his career. But, he still classified in 13th place.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	44	1:36:10.721	3	10
2	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	44	+36.595	1	6
3	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	44	+43.897	4	4
4	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	44	+46.059	9	3
5	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	44	+1:08.369	2	2
6	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	44	+1:10.030	8	1
7	21	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Ferrari	44	+1:38.237	16
8	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	43	+1 lap	13
9	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	43	+1 lap	25
10	14	Eric van de Poele	Fondmetal-Ford	43	+1 lap	15
11	16	Karl Wendlinger	March-Ilmor	43	+1 lap	18
12	17	Emanuele Naspetti	March-Ilmor	43	+1 lap	21
13	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	43	Engine	10
14	33	Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	42	+2 laps	24
15	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha	42	+2 laps	17
16	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	42	+2 laps	23
17	30	Ukyo Katayama	Larrousse-Lamborghini	42	+2 laps	26
18	29	Bertrand Gachot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	40	Spun off	20
Ret	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	27	Spun off	7
Ret	28	Ivan Capelli	Ferrari	25	Engine	12
Ret	15	Gabriele Tarquini	Fondmetal-Ford	25	Engine	11
Ret	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	20	Gearbox	14
Ret	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	7	Puncture	5
Ret	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	1	Accident	22
Ret	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	0	Transmission	6
Ret	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	0	Spun off	19
DNQ	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini
DNQ	34	Roberto Moreno	Moda-Judd
DNQ	35	Perry McCarthy	Moda-Judd
DNQ	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault		Accident in practice

Standings after the race

• Bold text indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 98 2 Riccardo Patrese 44 3 Michael Schumacher 43 4 Ayrton Senna 36 5 Gerhard Berger 24

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 142 2 Benetton-Ford 64 3 McLaren-Honda 60 4 Ferrari 16 5 Lotus-Ford 11

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

References

• "The Official Formula 1 website". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-26. 
• Henry, Alan (1992). AUTOCOURSE 1992-93. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 0-905138-96-1.