The 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos on 24 March 1991. It was the second race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship.
The 71-lap race was won from pole position by local driver Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda. It was the first time Senna had won his home Grand Prix, in his eighth season of F1. Italian Riccardo Patrese finished second in a Williams-Renault, with Senna's Austrian teammate Gerhard Berger third.
Qualifying Pre-qualifying report In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, a Dallara was again the fastest car, but this time it was JJ Lehto who topped the time sheets. He was six tenths of a second ahead of the Jordan of Andrea de Cesaris, who was a fraction faster than his team-mate Bertrand Gachot in third. The fourth pre-qualifier was the other Scuderia Italia Dallara, driven by Emanuele Pirro.
The two Modena Lambos missed out in fifth and sixth, with Eric van de Poele over a second slower than Pirro, with Nicola Larini another second further back. Seventh was Pedro Chaves in the Coloni, followed by Olivier Grouillard in the Fondmetal. Grouillard had initially used an interim chassis, with an eye to the team's new car which was still being completed, and was running well until the suspension broke. He was forced to revert to an older chassis, and was unable to match the times of his opponents.
Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:19.540 2 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:20.150 +0.610 3 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:20.184 +0.644 4 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:20.567 +1.027 5 35 Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:21.919 +2.379 6 34 Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:22.944 +3.404 7 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:23.231 +3.691 8 14 Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:23.951 +4.411
Qualifying report
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:18.711 1:16.392 2 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:22.069 1:16.775 +0.383 3 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:20.056 1:16.843 +0.451 4 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:19.557 1:17.471 +1.079 5 28 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:19.350 1:17.601 +1.209 6 27 Alain Prost Ferrari 1:20.079 1:17.739 +1.347 7 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:20.105 1:18.577 +2.185 8 15 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:22.196 1:18.664 +2.272 9 4 Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:21.709 1:18.847 +2.455 10 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:21.493 1:18.882 +2.490 11 29 Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:22.127 1:19.291 +2.899 12 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:21.286 1:19.305 +2.913 13 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:21.710 1:19.339 +2.947 14 19 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:21.266 1:19.360 +2.968 15 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:21.171 1:19.517 +3.125 16 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:21.825 1:19.546 +3.154 17 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:22.281 1:19.832 +3.440 18 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:23.197 1:19.868 +3.476 19 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:22.243 1:19.954 +3.562 20 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:22.852 1:20.175 +3.783 21 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:26.147 1:20.502 +4.110 22 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:25.587 1:20.611 +4.219 23 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:22.682 1:21.168 +4.776 24 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:23.618 1:21.219 +4.827 25 8 Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:23.547 1:21.230 +4.838 26 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:23.271 1:21.280 +4.888 27 10 Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche 1:25.555 1:22.190 +5.798 28 18 Stefan Johansson AGS-Ford 1:24.698 1:22.432 +6.040 29 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 1:25.795 1:22.739 +6.347 30 12 Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd 1:24.947 1:23.590 +7.198
Race Race report Ayrton Senna made a perfect start to lead from Nigel Mansell, Riccardo Patrese, Jean Alesi, Gerhard Berger and Alain Prost, building up a lead of three seconds by lap eight. However Mansell was closing and by lap 20 the gap was down to 0.7s. On lap 17 Prost pitted for new tyres, keen to avoid being stuck behind Nelson Piquet's Benetton. Mansell pitted on lap 26, but the stop was terrible - lasting over 14 seconds. This returned him to the race in fifth place behind Patrese, Alesi and Berger.
After Senna and Patrese had made their stops, Mansell was seven seconds behind the lead McLaren. There seemed no doubt that Senna would be caught but the chance never arose as on lap 50 Mansell had to stop for a new set of tyres after a puncture caused by debris on the track. Unknown to observers, Senna's gearbox was failing, having lost fourth gear and by lap 60 the lead was halved and Mansell had set fastest lap. Yet it was Mansell's gearbox that gave way first, forcing the Williams into a spin and causing him to retire on lap 61. With just a couple of laps left, Senna had also lost fifth and third gears. Having to maintain sixth gear in slow and medium corners meant that several times he nearly stalled. Patrese was catching him rapidly, but with gearbox problems of his own he was unable to pass.
Senna won 2.9 seconds ahead of Patrese. When he crossed the finish line, he started to scream in celebration of achieving his dream of winning at home. The tremendous struggle of trying to keep the car under control caused him to have muscle cramps and fever. After stopping his car, Senna was almost unable to move on his own. He had to be lifted bodily from the car due to exhaustion and driven to the podium in the medical car. Despite a small fire on the grid and a sticking throttle, Berger claimed the final podium place from Prost, Piquet and Alesi. On the podium, after all that effort, Senna barely managed to lift the trophy.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 71 1:38:28.128 1 10 2 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 71 + 2.991 2 6 3 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 71 + 5.416 4 4 4 27 Alain Prost Ferrari 71 + 18.369 6 3 5 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 71 + 21.960 7 2 6 28 Jean Alesi Ferrari 71 + 23.641 5 1 7 19 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 70 + 1 lap 14 8 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 69 + 2 laps 21 9 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 68 + 3 laps 22 10 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 68 + 3 laps 18 11 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 68 + 3 laps 12 12 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 67 + 4 laps 26 13 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 63 Fuel system 10 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 59 Gearbox 3 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 50 Engine 23 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 47 Spun off 20 8 Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 34 Engine 25 29 Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 33 Radiator 11 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 22 Electrical 19 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 20 Engine 13 4 Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 19 Gearbox 9 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 16 Transmission 15 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 12 Spun off 16 15 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 9 Physical 8 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 0 Suspension 24 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 0 Fuel pump 17 10 Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche 18 Stefan Johansson AGS-Ford 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 12 Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd 35 Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 34 Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 14 Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Ayrton Senna 20 2 Alain Prost 9 11 3 Riccardo Patrese 6 1 4 Nelson Piquet 6 14 5 Gerhard Berger 4Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 24 2 Ferrari 10 10 3 Williams-Renault 6 1 4 Benetton-Ford 6 1 5 Tyrrell-Honda 5Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References