1992 Portuguese Grand Prix

  1992 Portuguese Grand Prix

Race details
Race 14 of 16 in the 1992 Formula One season
Date	September 27, 1992
Official name	XXI Grande Premio de Portugal
Location	Autódromo do Estoril, Estoril, Portugal
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.349 km (2.703 mi)
Distance	71 laps, 308.779 km (191.913 mi)
Weather	Dry, sunny, windy
Pole position
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Time	1:13.041
Fastest lap
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:16.272 on lap 66
Podium
First	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Second	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda
Third	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda

The 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Autódromo do Estoril on September 27, 1992. It was the fourteenth round of the 1992 Formula One season.

Nigel Mansell won the race from pole position, in the process setting new records for most wins (nine) and most points (108) in one season, with McLaren drivers Gerhard Berger and Ayrton Senna second and third. However, the race is best remembered for the accident between Berger and Mansell's Williams team-mate Riccardo Patrese. Intending to make a pit stop, Berger moved towards the right side of the track at the beginning of the start/finish straight, with Patrese following in his slipstream. Failing to realise Berger's intentions, Patrese swerved to avoid him, but his right front wheel hit Berger's left rear and the Williams was launched into the air, almost hitting a pedestrian bridge over the track. Patrese escaped the accident shaken but unhurt, and neither driver was punished by the stewards. The debris from the crash, however, caused numerous other incidents, with Michael Schumacher and Pierluigi Martini suffering punctures, and JJ Lehto suffering slight injury as the driveshaft of the Williams went through the undertray of his Dallara, hitting him on the leg.

Before this race, the financially troubled Fondmetal team pulled out of the sport, the third team to do so this season after Brabham and Andrea Moda. That meant that there were only 26 cars on the entry list, and hence this Grand Prix was the first since 1987 in which all cars automatically qualified for the race, regardless of qualifying lap times.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	71	1:34:46.659	1	10
2	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	71	+ 37.533	4	6
3	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	70	+ 1 Lap	3	4
4	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	70	+ 1 Lap	6	3
5	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	70	+ 1 Lap	7	2
6	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	70	+ 1 Lap	8	1
7	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	69	+ 2 Laps	5
8	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	69	+ 2 Laps	11
9	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	69	+ 2 Laps	12
10	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	68	+ 3 Laps	17
11	17	Emanuele Naspetti	March-Ilmor	68	+ 3 Laps	23
12	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini	68	+ 3 Laps	26
13	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha	68	+ 3 Laps	24
14	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	68	+ 3 Laps	18
Ret	21	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Ferrari	51	Physical	19
Ret	16	Karl Wendlinger	March-Ilmor	48	Gearbox	22
Ret	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault	47	Engine	14
Ret	30	Ukyo Katayama	Larrousse-Lamborghini	46	Spun Off	25
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	43	Collision	2
Ret	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	43	Puncture	21
Ret	28	Ivan Capelli	Ferrari	34	Engine	16
Ret	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	27	Gearbox	15
Ret	29	Bertrand Gachot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	25	Engine	13
Ret	33	Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	19	Electrical	20
Ret	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	12	Spun Off	10
Ret	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	2	Accident	9

Standings after the race

• Bold text indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 108 2 Ayrton Senna 50 3 Michael Schumacher 47 4 Riccardo Patrese 46 5 Gerhard Berger 33

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 154 2 McLaren-Honda 83 3 Benetton-Ford 77 4 Ferrari 16 5 Lotus-Ford 13

• 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.