1992 Spanish Grand Prix

  1992 Spanish Grand Prix

Race details
Race 4 of 16 in the 1992 Formula One season
Date	May 3, 1992
Official name	Gran Premio Tío Pepe de España
Location	Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.747 km (2.950 mi)
Distance	65 laps, 308.555 km (191.727 mi)
Weather	Wet
Pole position
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Time	1:20.190
Fastest lap
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Time	1:42.503 on lap 10
Podium
First	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Second	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford
Third	Jean Alesi	Ferrari

The 1992 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on May 3, 1992 at the Circuit de Catalunya. It was the fourth round of the 1992 Formula One season.

Race

The race was also advertised as the Grand Prix of the Olympic Games. The race was moved up from its former September date, and held just months before the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

British driver Perry McCarthy was allowed to compete for the first time and his Andrea Moda car was entered for the pre-qualifying session before the race, but the engine blew up and the car rolled to a halt 18 metres later having barely left the garage. Damon Hill, son of former world champion Graham Hill, made his debut with the Brabham team, but did not qualify for the race. As in the three previous races, Mansell qualified in pole position, ahead of Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Riccardo Patrese, Ivan Capelli and Martin Brundle.

At the start of the race, in torrential wet conditions, Patrese got by Schumacher and Senna. Ferrari driver Jean Alesi made a good start from 8th on the grid to 3rd into the first corner on the first lap, forcing other drivers to take defensive actions and drop back. Senna dropped from 3rd all the way to 7th. But, he recovered 2 positions to 5th during the first lap. The order was: Mansell, Patrese, Alesi, Schumacher, Senna and Capelli.

Schumacher attacked and passed Alesi on lap 7. Berger tried to do the same but tipped Alesi into a spin, putting the Frenchman behind Senna and Capelli as well. By, now the rain intensified, and Patrese spun off on lap 20 while trying to lap a backmarker. This put Mansell ahead of Schumacher, Senna, Berger, Capelli and Alesi.

Alesi pitted for fresh tyres halfway through the race, and soon began to charge up through the field as the rain intensified. He cruised past Berger for fourth and began to close in quickly on Senna and Schumacher. With two laps to go Senna spun off trying to lap Martini, although he was still classified 9th. At the same time, Capelli spun off as well.

Mansell continued his perfect record in 1992 with his fourth win of the season from Schumacher, Alesi, Berger, Alboreto and Pierluigi Martini, but for the first time in the season his Williams team did not score a 1-2 finish. Martin Brundle scored his 4th consecutive retirement of the season in his Benetton.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	65	1:56:10.674	1	10
2	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	65	+ 23.914	2	6
3	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	65	+ 26.462	8	4
4	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	65	+ 1:20.647	7	3
5	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	64	+ 1 Lap	16	2
6	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	63	+ 2 Laps	13	1
7	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	63	+ 2 Laps	19
8	16	Karl Wendlinger	March-Ilmor	63	+ 2 Laps	9
9	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	62	Spun Off	3
10	28	Ivan Capelli	Ferrari	62	Spun Off	5
11	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini	61	+ 4 Laps	22
12	17	Paul Belmondo	March-Ilmor	61	+ 4 Laps	23
Ret	21	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Ferrari	56	Spun Off	12
Ret	15	Gabriele Tarquini	Fondmetal-Ford	56	Spun Off	18
Ret	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	56	Spun Off	21
Ret	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault	55	Spun Off	10
Ret	29	Bertrand Gachot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	35	Engine	24
Ret	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	30	Spun Off	15
Ret	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	26	Handling	25
Ret	33	Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	24	Spun Off	17
Ret	14	Andrea Chiesa	Fondmetal-Ford	22	Spun Off	20
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	19	Spun Off	4
Ret	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	13	Spun Off	26
Ret	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	11	Engine	14
Ret	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	4	Spun Off	6
Ret	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	2	Engine	11
DNQ	30	Ukyo Katayama	Larrousse-Lamborghini
DNQ	7	Eric van de Poele	Brabham-Judd
DNQ	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha
DNQ	8	Damon Hill	Brabham-Judd
DNPQ	34	Roberto Moreno	Moda-Judd
DNPQ	35	Perry McCarthy	Moda-Judd

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 40 2 Riccardo Patrese 18 3 Michael Schumacher 17 4 Gerhard Berger 8 5 Jean Alesi 7

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 58 2 Benetton-Ford 17 3 McLaren-Honda 12 4 Ferrari 9 5 Footwork-Mugen-Honda 3

• 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 2007-08-25. 
• Henry, Alan (1992). AUTOCOURSE 1992-93. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 0-905138-96-1.