 the 1991 japanese grand prix was a formula one race held at suzuka on october 20, 1991. it was the fifteenth round of the 1991 formula one season. == report == formula one moved to japan with the fight for the title still open; this was the fifth year in a row that the title would be decided at the suzuka circuit. the organizers were hoping that the events of 1990 would not repeat themselves. both championship contenders ayrton senna and nigel mansell knew exactly what they needed to do, mansell had to win with help and senna needed to beat mansell. there were several changes to the driver lineup, the most notable being at leyton house where ivan capelli had been replaced by young austrian karl wendlinger. elsewhere ags had run out of money and did not make the voyage to japan, while fellow stragglers coloni had hired local driver naoki hattori, but he failed to pre-qualify. johnny herbert was back behind the wheel of the lotus after having missed a few races in the second half of the season due to japanese formula 3000 commitments. qualifying saw many large accidents, including young sensation michael schumacher and ferrari driver jean alesi. the biggest of these accidents was the one that befell Ãric bernard who broke his ankle and would not take any further part in the race. at the end of the qualifying sessions it was a mclaren front row with gerhard berger ahead of ayrton senna. mansell was third followed by the unhappy alain prost, riccardo patrese, jean alesi, pierluigi martini, gianni morbidelli, michael schumacher, and nelson piquet. senna was right where he wanted to be, while mansell knew he had his work cut out for him. at the start of the race berger got away well and senna blocke
1991_Formula_One_races 1991_in_Japanese_motorsport Japanese_Grand_Prix