1991 Italian Grand Prix

The 1991 Italian Grand Prix (formally the Coca-Cola 62º Gran Premio d'Italia[1]) was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 8 September 1991. It was the twelfth race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship.

1991 Italian Grand Prix
Race 12 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 8 September 1991
Official name Coca-Cola 62º Gran Premio d'Italia
Location Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
Monza, Lombardy, Italy
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.800 km (3.604 miles)
Distance 53 laps, 307.400 km (191.01 miles)
Weather Sunny and warm
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:21.114
Fastest lap
Driver Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda
Time 1:26.061 on lap 41
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second McLaren-Honda
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 53-lap race was won by British driver Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, after he started from second position. Drivers' Championship leader, Brazilian Ayrton Senna, finished second in his McLaren-Honda, having started from pole position, with Frenchman Alain Prost third in a Ferrari. The win, Mansell's fourth of the season, enabled him to reduce Senna's championship lead to 18 points with four races remaining.

Pre-race

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The big news between the Belgian and Italian Grands Prix revolved around young Michael Schumacher, who had made his debut for Jordan in Belgium. Schumacher had signed for Benetton while still being under contract to Jordan. After much legal wrangling the German was confirmed at Benetton, while Roberto Moreno went the other way, taking Schumacher's place at Jordan. Elsewhere Michael Bartels was back at Lotus, as Johnny Herbert had more commitments in Japanese Formula 3000.

Qualifying

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Pre-qualifying report

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It was a third 1–2 in a row for Brabham in the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, with Mark Blundell back on top of the time sheets, eight tenths of a second faster than Martin Brundle. Olivier Grouillard was again third fastest for Fondmetal, his fifth pre-qualifying success of the season. Michele Alboreto took the last pre-qualification position in the Footwork, 1.5 seconds off Blundell's pace.

In his best pre-qualifying performance in his four attempts so far, Fabrizio Barbazza just missed out in fifth place in the AGS, albeit 1.6 seconds slower than Alboreto. His team-mate Gabriele Tarquini debuted the new JH27 car, but its engine failed on the first lap. Tarquini reverted to the JH25B, but could only manage sixth fastest. Alex Caffi was a couple of tenths of a second further back in seventh in the other Footwork, while Pedro Chaves remained stuck in the pits after the worn engine in his Coloni refused to start.[2]

Pre-qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 8   Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:24.271
2 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:25.117 +0.846
3 14   Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:25.556 +1.285
4 9   Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:25.771 +1.500
5 18   Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:27.392 +3.121
6 17   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:27.401 +3.130
7 10   Alex Caffi Footwork-Ford 1:27.608 +3.337
8 31   Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford

Qualifying report

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In qualifying, Ayrton Senna took pole again, with title rival Nigel Mansell second, the Englishman complaining of traffic on his final two hot laps. Gerhard Berger was third, followed by Riccardo Patrese, Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, Schumacher, Nelson Piquet, in his 200th Grand Prix, Moreno, and Pierluigi Martini, in the Ferrari powered Minardi.

Qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:21.114 1:21.245
2 5   Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:21.328 1:21.247 +0.133
3 2   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:21.360 1:21.346 +0.232
4 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:21.619 1:21.372 +0.258
5 27   Alain Prost Ferrari 1:22.080 1:21.825 +0.711
6 28   Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:21.956 1:21.890 +0.776
7 19   Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:22.471 1:22.553 +1.357
8 20   Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:23.176 1:22.726 +1.612
9 32   Roberto Moreno Jordan-Ford 1:23.102 1:23.447 +1.988
10 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:23.294 1:23.789 +2.180
11 8   Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:23.473 1:24.400 +2.359
12 16   Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:23.674 1:24.755 +2.560
13 4   Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:24.457 1:23.701 +2.587
14 33   Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:24.060 1:23.921 +2.807
15 3   Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:24.464 1:24.265 +3.151
16 21   Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:24.584 1:24.282 +3.168
17 24   Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:24.287 1:25.223 +3.173
18 15   Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:24.391 1:25.023 +3.277
19 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:24.713 1:24.643 +3.529
20 22   JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:24.733 1:24.725 +3.611
21 25   Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:26.133 1:25.177 +4.063
22 26   Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:25.478 1:25.420 +4.306
23 34   Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:25.717 1:25.934 +4.603
24 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:26.325 1:25.871 +4.757
25 11   Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:26.701 1:25.941 +4.827
26 14   Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:26.416 1:26.805 +5.302
27 9   Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:26.563 1:27.198 +5.449
28 12   Michael Bartels Lotus-Judd 1:27.169 1:26.829 +5.715
29 35   Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:27.110 1:27.099 +5.985
30 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:27.257 18:14.470 +6.143

Race

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Race report

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At the start Senna got away well from Mansell, Berger, Patrese, and Alesi, with everyone making it through the Rettifilo double chicane. Moreno was an early casualty as he spun off on lap 2 with the Jordan's suspension breaking just before the spin also just behind the leaders.

Patrese at the front started to charge, first he disposed of Berger, and then Mansell. Martini had spun off in the Minardi by lap 8 at Roggia behind the leaders. On lap 26 Patrese passed Senna at the Ascari chicane, but on the following lap a gearbox failure took him out. Senna now led from Mansell and Berger, with Mansell pressuring Senna for the lead, and on lap 34 he took it with a perfectly timed out-braking manoeuvre going into the Ascari chicane. Senna proceeded to pit for tyres and emerged down in fifth place, but in no mood to stay there. Senna proceeded to pass Schumacher going into Ascari, and then slipstreamed passed Berger into the first corner, and got back to second by passing arch-rival Prost going into the second chicane. Mansell meanwhile cruised to victory from Senna, Prost, Berger (despite pulling off just after the start/finish line with electrical problems), Schumacher, and Piquet, Alesi having retired with a blown engine. With four races to go Senna still led Mansell by 18 points, but this race confirmed that Mansell and Williams could beat Senna's McLaren in a straight fight.

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5   Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 53 1:17:54.319 2 10
2 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 53 + 16.262 1 6
3 27   Alain Prost Ferrari 53 + 16.829 5 4
4 2   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 53 + 27.719 3 3
5 19   Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 53 + 34.463 7 2
6 20   Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 53 + 45.600 8 1
7 33   Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 53 + 51.136 14
8 16   Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 53 + 1:15.019 12
9 24   Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 52 + 1 lap 17
10 21   Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 52 + 1 lap 16
11 26   Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 52 + 1 lap 22
12 8   Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 52 + 1 lap 11
13 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 52 + 1 lap 19
14 11   Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 49 + 4 laps 25
15 15   Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 49 + 4 laps 18
16 34   Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 48 + 5 laps 23
Ret 14   Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 46 Engine 26
Ret 22   JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 35 Overheating 20
Ret 4   Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 32 Engine 13
Ret 28   Jean Alesi Ferrari 29 Engine 6
Ret 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 27 Gearbox 4
Ret 3   Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 24 Throttle 15
Ret 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 21 Engine 24
Ret 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 8 Spun off 10
Ret 32   Roberto Moreno Jordan-Ford 2 Spun off 9
Ret 25   Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1 Spun off 21
DNQ 9   Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford
DNQ 12   Michael Bartels Lotus-Judd
DNQ 35   Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini
DNQ 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford
DNPQ 18   Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford
DNPQ 17   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford
DNPQ 10   Alex Caffi Footwork-Ford
DNPQ 31   Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race

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

References

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  1. ^ "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1991". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  2. ^ Walker, Murray (1991). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 101–108. ISBN 0-905138-90-2.
  3. ^ "1991 Italian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Italy 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.


Previous race:
1991 Belgian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1991 season
Next race:
1991 Portuguese Grand Prix
Previous race:
1990 Italian Grand Prix
Italian Grand Prix Next race:
1992 Italian Grand Prix