From: aghao@sersun2.essex.ac.uk (Aghanya O A)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport
Subject: F1: Portugese GP Q2 report
Date: 26 Sep 92 15:06:14 GMT
Reply-To: aghao@sersun2.essex.ac.uk (Aghanya O A)
Organization: University of Essex, Colchester, UK

Hi there.

It was sunny at Estoril once again, although overnight rain meant that the
track had been washed clear of the rubber from Friday, and there was 
consequently less grip available.

Once again, Brundle was the first to take to the track, swiftly followed by
his team mate.  Martin's 1st flyer was worth 1:22.672, and his next one was
very smooth, +1.586s down at the 1st split (S1), +3.269 at the 2nd split (S2)
for 1:17.229.  Schumacher worked his way down to a 1:16.8, and then had a 
cooling down lap.  Patrese and Alesi were running, as was the McLaren of 
Senna, after 8 mins.

Comas was straining to improve on 14th place, but his time of 1:17.510 was a 
disapointment.  Senna was also looking threatening, along with Patrese and
Gugelmin.  At S1, the Brazilian was +0.662, S2 +0.793, and over the line
clocked 1:14.503 to take third.  He then backed off.  Patrese managed a 
1:14.343, and then backed off himself.  Berger came out 15 mins into the 
session, and look *very* committed all round his hot lap - S1 +0.693, S2 +1.4
and 1:15.215 to stay 4th.

Alesi was on the charge (as always! :-), and fought his F92A round to a 
1:16.884.  He was set fair for a possible improvement, but was thwarted by 
waving yellows at the corner where  Gianni Morbidelli crashed his Minardi
hard into the armco.  The Italian has lost it under braking for a tight right
hander, and slammed hard into the barrier backwards.  His car then bounced
back onto the track ('cos the barrier was ~3m away from the track edge), and
brought mud, debris, water and oil onto the surface.  He was thankfully
uninjured, and was able to walk away from it.  The crash damaged the supporting
posts for the armco, though, and the session was red-flagged while repairs were
effected.  So, 20 mins into the session, we had to wait for an additional 50
mins to see the rest of it out.

Just to stop us from falling asleep, John Watson speculated awhile about various
rumours, including one which suggested that Frank Williams would be revealing
details of his 93 driver line-up after Sunday's GP.  He also said that Senna
had driven up to the Williams motorhome in his red Honda (Acura) NSX, and had
spent 1.5 hours with Frank.  I wonder what they were talking about?  There was
also talk of Jan Lammers in the March - I guess he'll replace one of the 
regular drivers, whose last race for the team this is.

Apparently, Mansell's off on Friday was caused by Hydraulic pump failure, which
caused the suspension to collapse, and also locked the gearbox.  It recurred
this morning, with the gearbox jamming in 6th in Nigel's spare car.  Could
this be the start of reliability worries for Williams?

The leading positions at this time were Mansell, Patrese, Senna, Berger, 
Schumacher, Hakkinen, Alboreto, Herbert, Brundle, Alesi, Boutsen, DeCesaris,
Suzuki, Comas, Morbidelli, Grouillard, Gachot, Martini, Lehto, and Gugelmin.

At the restart, Fittipaldi, Schumacher, Katayama, Boutsen and Modena were the 
first drivers to take to the track, Mansell joining them soon after.  The 
Williams and Benetton drivers both started flyers soon after one another.  
Mansell was quickly into his stride, and at S1 was +0.495.  He was baulked by
Morbidelli, though and aborted that lap.  Next time round S1 was +0.7, S2 +1.1,
and posted 1:14.660.  His 3rd flyer was aborted because of heavy traffic.  He
gave it one more go, got blocked again, and then gave up, making for the pits.
Brundle and Capelli were running hard, with the Ferrari driver having a dismal
session.  His best up to that point was 1:18.124.

Senna then decided, with 24 mins to go, that it was high time he had a *proper*
shot at pole.  He picked his moment to perfection, and also pick up his car 
while he was at it.  1st flyer clocked 1:14.522, and on the next one we were
privileged once again to witness vintage Senna at work.  He put *everything*
into that lap, and at S1 was +0.472, S2 +0.668, stopping the clocks in 1:14.258.
That was good enough for 3rd, and was the fastest time of the session by a long
way.  Schumacher was also on a hot one, but made for the pits after being held
up.

With 20 mins to go, Brundle had another go.  He was looking good through the
splits, but had to back off after Alboreto held him up.  Alesi tried just a 
little too hard under braking for a turn, and speared off into the the run-off.
He managed to keep him momentum up, though, and slowly drove back to the pits.

Berger was also fired up (perhaps by Ayrton's performance? :-), and was pushing
very hard.  On his flyer with 15 mins left, he was sideways, up the kerbs,
very untidy, and this was reflected in the times.  S1 was +1.336, S2 +2.529, 
and he was saved the embarassment of posting a time by Martini, who held him
up.

Patrese had a go too, but gave up after doing a 1:15.548 (S1 +0.997, 
S2 +2.202).  As he entered the pitlane, Mansell flew by to start another hot 
one with 10 mins to go.  S1 was +0.422, S2 +0.627, and he clocked 1:13.996.
As he slowed down, Brundle improved to 6th, unseen by us, and Capelli climbed
up to 16th.  Schumacher posted a 1:16.378, and forced on.  His next hot lap
was +1.104 at S1, +2.148 at S2, but out of the last turn his Benetton had
a large wiggle and almost spat him off.  He saved it, but the time was clearly
gone.

With 5 mins left, the track was busy.  Hakkinen, Herbert and Gugelmin were
on hot laps, but Herbert blotted his copybook with a trip into the gravel trap.
Berger was also pushing, but gave up when he was held up by Patrese and 
Schumacher.  Patrese then left the track in a manner which suggested mechanical
failure - gearbox locked again.  A worrying trend for Williams.

With 2 mins left, Mansell was making a last gasp effort to improve on his time.
He was +0.7 at S1, +1.2 at S2 and 1:14.848 over the line.  He then had 1 slow 
lap, and then wound himself up for a final dash.  He was fully committed to 
the task, sliding, using the kerbs.  -0.343 at S1, the timer disappeared just
before S2 but I thought he was up, and then nothing over the line, as he met
the chequer.  First the commentators said he dipped into the 1:12s, then said 
he was credited with 1:13.961.  I'm not sure of the true position.

Anyway, the leading grid positions are

Mansell
Patrese
Senna
Berger
Schumacher
Brundle
Hakkinen
Alboreto
Herbert
Alesi
Boutsen
De Cesaris
Gachot
Comas
Grouillard
Capelli

Hope the race is good.  I've got the VCR on standby!!

Cheers,

	Obi.

PS I won't say anything about 'Our Nige' this time!! :-)

===============================================================================
    .-----,   .           !    Obi Aghanya
   /     /   /        @   !    Fault Tolerant Systems Research Group
  /     /   /----,   /    !    Dept. of Comp. Sci, University of Essex
 /     /   /    /   /     !    Colchester  CO4 3SQ,  UK
(_____'   (____'   (__    !    EMAIL : aghao@essex.ac.uk
       (Waterloo in '92 - for Ayrton! :-) [Told you so! :-)]
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport