[go: up one dir, main page]

1991 Monaco Grand Prix

The 1991 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 12 May 1991. It was the fourth race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship.

1991 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 4 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 12 May 1991
Official name XLIX Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco
Location Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo
Course Street circuit
Course length 3.328 km (2.068 miles)
Distance 78 laps, 259.584 km (161.298 miles)
Weather Cloudy, mild, dry
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:20.344
Fastest lap
Driver France Alain Prost Ferrari
Time 1:24.368 on lap 77
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second Williams-Renault
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders
The race was won by Ayrton Senna in the McLaren.
Nigel Mansell finished in second place, scoring his first points of the season.
Mansell's team-mate, Riccardo Patrese, ran in third place until crashing on oil dropped by Stefano Modena, whose engine expired just ahead of him.
Alain Prost finished in fifth position after being delayed by a slow late-race pit stop.

The 78-lap race was won from pole position by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda. It was Senna's fourth victory from the first four races of the season, and his fourth Monaco win. Englishman Nigel Mansell finished second in a Williams-Renault, with Frenchman Jean Alesi third in a Ferrari.

Qualifying

edit

Pre-qualifying report

edit

The pre-qualifying session on Thursday morning ended up being somewhat straightforward for Dallara and Jordan. JJ Lehto was fastest for Dallara, with Emanuele Pirro in third, with Jordan's Andrea de Cesaris and Bertrand Gachot second and fourth.

Gachot was over a second faster than the fifth-placed car, the Modena Lambo of Nicola Larini. The other Lambo of Eric van de Poele was sixth, with Pedro Chaves seventh in the Coloni on his first experience of the Monaco circuit. Olivier Grouillard propped up the time sheets for Fondmetal as he continued to gain experience in the new Fomet car.[1]

Pre-qualifying classification

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 22 Finland  JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:23.260
2 33 Italy  Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:23.538 +0.278
3 21 Italy  Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:24.421 +1.161
4 32 Belgium  Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:24.802 +1.542
5 34 Italy  Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:25.893 +2.633
6 35 Belgium  Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:26.282 +3.022
7 31 Portugal  Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:27.389 +4.129
8 14 France  Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:27.759 +4.499

Qualifying report

edit

Ayrton Senna shocked no-one by taking pole position, but second place was a surprise with Stefano Modena taking full advantage of the superior Pirelli qualifying tyres to be second, followed by Patrese, Piquet, a disappointed Mansell, Berger, Prost, Moreno, Alesi, and de Cesaris. Alex Caffi had a huge accident in the swimming pool section on Saturday, after missing Thursday qualifying with a gearbox problem, and did not participate in the race. Elsewhere Martin Brundle was excluded for missing a weight check in Thursday practice.

Qualifying classification

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 1 Brazil  Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:20.508 1:20.344
2 4 Italy  Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:23.442 1:20.809 +0.465
3 6 Italy  Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:22.057 1:20.973 +0.629
4 20 Brazil  Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:22.816 1:21.159 +0.815
5 5 United Kingdom  Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:23.274 1:21.205 +0.861
6 2 Austria  Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:21.222 1:21.583 +0.878
7 27 France  Alain Prost Ferrari 1:22.113 1:21.455 +1.111
8 19 Brazil  Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:23.476 1:21.804 +1.460
9 28 France  Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:22.966 1:21.910 +1.566
10 33 Italy  Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:24.257 1:22.764 +2.420
11 3 Japan  Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:24.435 1:22.972 +2.628
12 21 Italy  Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:23.311 1:23.022 +2.678
13 22 Finland  JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:23.023 1:23.983 +2.679
14 23 Italy  Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:24.101 1:23.064 +2.720
15 15 Brazil  Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:24.920 1:23.394 +3.050
16 25 Belgium  Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:24.728 1:23.431 +3.087
17 24 Italy  Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:24.481 1:23.584 +3.240
18 16 Italy  Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:25.040 1:23.642 +3.298
19 30 Japan  Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:26.380 1:23.898 +3.554
20 17 Italy  Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:25.078 1:23.909 +3.565
21 29 France  Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:25.370 1:24.079 +3.735
22 8 United Kingdom  Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:25.500 1:24.109 +3.765
23 26 France  Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:24.747 1:24.151 +3.807
24 32 Belgium  Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:24.540 1:24.208 +3.864
25 9 Italy  Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 1:27.843 1:24.606 +4.262
26 11 Finland  Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:24.868 1:24.829 +4.485
27 12 United Kingdom  Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd 1:28.772 1:26.995 +6.651
28 18 Italy  Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:28.060 1:27.079 +6.735
29 10 Italy  Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche no time no time
EX 7 United Kingdom  Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha

Race

edit

Race report

edit

At the start, Senna got away well followed by Modena, Patrese, Mansell, and Prost. In the usual first corner mayhem Berger ran into the back of Piquet, dropping the Austrian to the back of the pack and breaking Piquet's suspension, Berger would later crash out. Senna quickly built up a huge lead over Modena and Patrese. Meanwhile, Andrea de Cesaris in the Jordan was eventually catching up to Jean Alesi and just outside the points in 7th place before retiring shortly after battling with the second Ferrari with a sticking throttle. Meanwhile, Aguri Suzuki in the Lola hit the wall at St. Devote on lap 25 with braking problems, as Modena's teammate Satoru Nakajima had spun and retired at the Nouvelle Chicane after making contact with Martini. Stefano Modena was blocked for a few laps by Emanuele Pirro in the Dallara who ignored blue flags, leading to BBC Commentator James Hunt saying "This is disgraceful driving by Emanuele Pirro". Most of Senna's chasers were eliminated on lap 42 when Modena's engine blew in the tunnel, spreading oil on the track which caused Patrese to crash. Alboreto also retired with engine failure at the same time. Just after taking 10th place from Eric Bernard, Blundell's Brabham lost control because of the oil from Modena's Tyrrell and crashed at the chicane. Senna now had a huge lead over Prost and Mansell, but the Englishman passed Prost with a daring move going into the chicane, and eventually started flying despite having problems earlier in the race. Prost would later pit to repair a damaged wheel causing a slow puncture, but the stop was very long and he dropped down to fifth.

Senna won his fourth Monaco Grand Prix in five years by 18 seconds over Mansell, Alesi, Moreno, Prost, and Pirro. The second-place finish was Nigel Mansell's first points of the season. Curiously, as Senna was slowing down after finishing the race, the pit crew mistakenly ordered him to take another lap, believing that he had crossed for the final lap.

Race classification

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Brazil  Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 78 1:53:02.334 1 10
2 5 United Kingdom  Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 78 + 18.348 5 6
3 28 France  Jean Alesi Ferrari 78 + 47.455 9 4
4 19 Brazil  Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 77 + 1 lap 8 3
5 27 France  Alain Prost Ferrari 77 + 1 lap 7 2
6 21 Italy  Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 77 + 1 lap 12 1
7 25 Belgium  Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 76 + 2 laps 16
8 32 Belgium  Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 76 + 2 laps 24
9 29 France  Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 76 + 2 laps 21
10 26 France  Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 76 + 2 laps 23
11 22 Finland  JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 75 + 3 laps 13
12 23 Italy  Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 72 + 6 laps 14
Ret 11 Finland  Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 64 Oil leak 26
Ret 24 Italy  Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 49 Gearbox 17
Ret 15 Brazil  Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 43 Throttle 15
Ret 4 Italy  Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 42 Engine/Oil leak 2
Ret 6 Italy  Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 42 Accident 3
Ret 8 United Kingdom  Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 41 Spun off 22
Ret 9 Italy  Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 39 Engine 25
Ret 3 Japan  Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 35 Spun off 11
Ret 30 Japan  Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 24 Brakes 19
Ret 33 Italy  Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 21 Throttle 10
Ret 16 Italy  Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 12 Brakes 18
Ret 17 Italy  Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 9 Gearbox 20
Ret 2 Austria  Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 9 Accident 6
Ret 20 Brazil  Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 0 Suspension 4
DNQ 12 United Kingdom  Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd
DNQ 18 Italy  Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford
DNQ 10 Italy  Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche
EX 7 United Kingdom  Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha
DNPQ 34 Italy  Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ 35 Belgium  Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ 31 Portugal  Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford
DNPQ 14 France  Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race

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

References

edit
  1. ^ Walker, Murray (1991). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 37–44. ISBN 0-905138-90-2.
  2. ^ "1991 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Monaco 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.


Previous race:
1991 San Marino Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1991 season
Next race:
1991 Canadian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1990 Monaco Grand Prix
Monaco Grand Prix Next race:
1992 Monaco Grand Prix

43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333