1991 San Marino Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 3 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One season | |||
 The Imola circuit in its 1991 configuration | |||
| 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 mi) | ||
| Distance | 61 laps, 307.440 km (191.034 mi) | ||
| Weather | Wet at start, dry by finish | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:21.877 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Gerhard Berger | McLaren-Honda | |
| Time | 1:26.531 on lap 55 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Second | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Third | Dallara-Judd | ||
|
| |||
The 1991 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Imola on 28 April 1991. The 61-lap race was the third round of the 1991 Formula One season and was won by Ayrton Senna driving a McLaren-Honda.
Background
Stefan Johansson was replaced at AGS by F1 debutant Fabrizio Barbazza. The team were under new management and their car colour was now red and blue having been usually white.
Race summary
Ayrton Senna claimed his 55th pole position from Riccardo Patrese, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Gerhard Berger. However, 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 on lap 2 and Jean Alesi who 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 4th 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 der Poele in for the little Modena team and Martini's Minardi.
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. Berger put in a series of fastest laps to cut Senna's lead to just 1.7s at the line.
Lehto was overjoyed to gain the first podium place of his career for Dallara, with Martini 4th. 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 5th and 6th, both scoring their first world championship points, an unexpected result for the troubled team since their cars had barely managed to enter the grid with Häkkinen 25th and Bailey 26th.
Classification
Pre-Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33 |  Andrea de Cesaris |
Jordan-Ford | 1:25.535 | — |
| 2 | 22 |  JJ Lehto |
Dallara-Judd | 1:25.923 | +0.388 |
| 3 | 32 | .svg.png){kind=small} Bertrand Gachot |
Jordan-Ford | 1:25.980 | +0.445 |
| 4 | 35 | Eric van de Poele |
Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:26.117 | +0.582 |
| 5 | 21 | Emanuele Pirro |
Dallara-Judd | 1:26.305 | +0.770 |
| 6 | 14 |  Olivier Grouillard |
Fondmetal-Ford | 1:26.789 | +1.254 |
| 7 | 34 | Nicola Larini |
Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:26.886 | +1.351 |
| 8 | 31 |  Pedro Chaves |
Coloni-Ford | 1:31.239 | +5.704 |
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Ayrton Senna |
McLaren-Honda | 1:21.877 | 1:43.633 | — |
| 2 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese |
Williams-Renault | 1:21.957 | 1:42.455 | +0.080 |
| 3 | 27 | Alain Prost |
Ferrari | 1:22.195 | 1:42.429 | +0.318 |
| 4 | 5 |  Nigel Mansell |
Williams-Renault | 1:22.366 | 1:41.878 | +0.489 |
| 5 | 2 | Gerhard Berger |
McLaren-Honda | 1:22.567 | 1:40.322 | +0.690 |
| 6 | 4 | Stefano Modena |
Tyrrell-Honda | 1:23.511 | 1:44.613 | +1.634 |
| 7 | 28 | Jean Alesi |
Ferrari | 1:23.945 | 1:41.149 | +2.068 |
| 8 | 24 | Gianni Morbidelli |
Minardi-Ferrari | 1:24.762 | no time | +2.885 |
| 9 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini |
Minardi-Ferrari | 1:24.807 | no time | +2.930 |
| 10 | 3 |  Satoru Nakajima |
Tyrrell-Honda | 1:25.345 | 1:42.063 | +3.468 |
| 11 | 33 | Andrea de Cesaris |
Jordan-Ford | 1:25.491 | 1:44.118 | +3.614 |
| 12 | 32 | Bertrand Gachot |
Jordan-Ford | 1:25.531 | 1:44.897 | +3.654 |
| 13 | 19 | Roberto Moreno |
Benetton-Ford | 1:25.655 | 1:45.216 | +3.778 |
| 14 | 20 | Nelson Piquet |
Benetton-Ford | 1:25.809 | 1:42.911 | +3.932 |
| 15 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin |
Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:25.841 | no time | +3.964 |
| 16 | 22 | JJ Lehto |
Dallara-Judd | 1:25.974 | 1:43.397 | +4.097 |
| 17 | 29 | Éric Bernard |
Lola-Ford | 1:25.983 | no time | +4.106 |
| 18 | 7 | Martin Brundle |
Brabham-Yamaha | 1:26.055 | no time | +4.178 |
| 19 | 26 | Érik Comas |
Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:26.207 | 1:46.667 | +4.330 |
| 20 | 30 | Aguri Suzuki |
Lola-Ford | 1:26.356 | no time | +4.479 |
| 21 | 35 | Eric van de Poele |
Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:26.550 | 1:47.619 | +4.673 |
| 22 | 18 | Ivan Capelli |
Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:26.602 | 1:52.949 | +4.725 |
| 23 | 8 | Mark Blundell |
Brabham-Yamaha | 1:26.778 | 1:49.539 | +4.901 |
| 24 | 25 | Thierry Boutsen |
Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:26.998 | 1:44.125 | +5.121 |
| 25 | 11 | Mika Häkkinen |
Lotus-Judd | 1:27.324 | 1:47.444 | +5.447 |
| 26 | 12 | Julian Bailey |
Lotus-Judd | 1:27.976 | 1:45.931 | +6.099 |
| 27 | 17 | Gabriele Tarquini |
AGS-Ford | 1:28.175 | no time | +6.298 |
| 28 | 18 | Fabrizio Barbazza |
AGS-Ford | 1:29.665 | no time | +7.788 |
| 29 | 10 | Alex Caffi |
Footwork-Porsche | 1:30.280 | 2:06.589 | +8.403 |
| 30 | 9 | Michele Alboreto |
Footwork-Porsche | 1:30.762 | 19:39.741 | +8.885 |
Race
Notes
- Lap leaders: Riccardo Patrese 9 (1-9), Ayrton Senna 52 (10-61)
- This was JJ Lehto's only podium in his career.
Championship standings after the race
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|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- ↑ Henry, Alan (1991). AUTOCOURSE 1991-92. Hazleton Publishing. p. 125. ISBN 0-905138-87-2.
- ↑ "1991 San Marino Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
| 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 |