1991 Brazilian Grand Prix

The  was the second race of the 1991 Formula One Championship, held at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, Brazil.'GRAND PRIX RESULTS: BRAZILIAN GP, 1991', grandprix.com, (Inside F1 Inc., 1999), http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr502.html, (Accessed 01/08/2015) The race represented the best chance for World Champion Ayrton Senna to win his home race, a feat he had not achieved so far in his Grand Prix career, his ultimate ambition.'Classic F1 - Brazilian Grand Prix 1991', bbc.co.uk, (British Broadcasting Company, 27/07/2011), http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9118867.stm, (Accessed 01/08/2015)
Indeed, Senna was not to be denied in his eighth Brazilian Grand Prix, as both rain and gearbox problems failed to prevent his victory. Riccardo Patrese pushed his hard to take second, with the rain hindering rather than aiding his late assault on Senna, with Gerhard Berger also on the podium.
==Background==
The short break between the US and Brazilian Grand Prix in 1991 meant that little had changed for the 34 drivers on the grid, as several teams got to grips with their new tech. Williams announced that both of their cars, using a new semi-automatic gearbox, were struggling with issues caused by it, but also made it clear that they were on top of them. Regardless, all 34 cars had been shipped straight from Phoenix to Sao Paulo, with the same field set to battle for victory.
There were no surprises in the Championship, as Ayrton Senna led Alain Prost by four points, courtesy of his victory in the US. Senna's compatriot, and legend, Nelson Piquet sat in third, while the two Tyrrell entries of Stefano Modena and Satoru Nakajima sat fourth and fifth. Last of the scorers in the US had been Aguri Suzuki for Larrousse F1.
 led the way in the Constructors Championship early on, with Senna's sole points enough for them to lead Ferrari. Tyrrell led Benetton by a solitary point, courtesy of their two point finishes to Benetton's podium, while (Larrousse) sat in fifth on one point. They had been the only constructors to score so far.
==Entry List==
The full entry list for the is shown below:
No.	Driver 	Entrant 	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model 	Tyre
1 	Ayrton Senna 	Honda Marlboro McLaren 	 	MP4/6 	 	RA121E V12 3.5 	
2 	Gerhard Berger 	Honda Marlboro McLaren 	 	MP4/6 	 	RA121E V12 3.5 	
3 	Satoru Nakajima 	Braun Tyrrell Honda 	 	020 	 	RA101E V10 3.5 	
4 	Stefano Modena 	Braun Tyrrell Honda 	 	020 	 	RA101E V10 3.5 	
5 	Nigel Mansell 	Canon Williams Team 	 	FW14 	 	RS3 V10 3.5 	
6 	Riccardo Patrese 	Canon Williams Team 	 	FW14 	 	RS3 V10 3.5 	
7 	Martin Brundle 	Motor Racing Developments Ltd. 	 	BT59Y 	 	OX99 V12 3.5 	
8 	Mark Blundell 	Motor Racing Developments Ltd. 	 	BT59Y 	 	OX99 V12 3.5 	
9 	Michele Alboreto 	Footwork Grand Prix International 	 	A11C 	 	Porsche V12 3.5	
10 	Alex Caffi 	Footwork Grand Prix International 	 	A11C 	 	Porsche V12 3.5	
11 	 	Team Lotus 	 	102B 	 	EV V8 3.5 	
12 	Julian Bailey 	Team Lotus 	 	201B 	 	EV V8 3.5 	
14 	Olivier Grouillard	Fondmetal F1 SpA 	 	FA1 M-E	 	DFR V8 3.5 	
15 	Maurício Gugelmin 	Leyton House Racing 	 	CG911 	 	LH10 V10 3.5 	
16 	Ivan Capelli 	Leyton House Racing 	 	CG911 	 	LH10 V10 3.5 	
17 	Gabriele Tarquini 	Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives	 	JH25B 	 	DFR V8 3.5 	
18 	Stefan Johansson 	Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives	 	JH25B 	 	DFR V8 3.5 	
19 	Roberto Moreno 	Camel Benetton Ford 	 	B190B 	 	HB V8 3.5 	
20 	Nelson Piquet 	Camel Benetton Ford 	 	B190B 	 	HB V8 3.5 	
21 	Emanuele Pirro 	BMS Scuderia Italia 	 	BMS-191	 	GV V10 3.5 	
22 	JJ Lehto 	BMS Scuderia Italia 	 	BMS-191	 	GV V10 3.5 	
23 	Pierluigi Martini 	Minardi Team 	 	M191 	 	F1-91 V12 3.5 	
24 	Gianni Morbidelli 	Minardi Team 	 	M191 	 	F1-91 V12 3.5 	
25 	Thierry Boutsen 	Ligier Gitanes 	 	JS35 	 	L3512 V12 3.5 	
26 	 	Ligier Gitanes 	 	JS35 	 	L3512 V12 3.5 	
27 	Alain Prost 	Scuderia Ferrari SpA 	 	642B 	 	F1-91 V12 3.5 	
28 	Jean Alesi 	Scuderia Ferrari SpA 	 	642B 	 	F1-91 V12 3.5 	
29 	 	Larrousse F1 	 	91 	 	DFR V8 3.5 	
30 	Aguri Suzuki 	Larrousse F1 	 	91 	 	DFR V8 3.5 	
31 	Pedro Chaves 	Coloni Racing Srl 	 	C4 	 	DFR V8 3.5 	
32 	Bertrand Gachot 	Team 7Up Jordan 	 	191 	 	HB V8 3.5 	
33 	Andrea de Cesaris 	Team 7Up Jordan 	 	191 	 	HB V8 3.5 	
34 	Nicola Larini 	Modena Team SpA 	 	291 	 	L3512 V12 3.5 	
35 	Eric van de Poele 	Modena Team SpA 	 	291 	 	L3512 V12 3.5 	
==Practice Overview==
==Qualifying==
As in the US, the 34 entries would be split into two groups before qualifying, with the lowest eight from the previous six months competing in Pre-Qualifying. The best four from these eight would join the other 26 in the main qualifying session, as the FIA maintained their recent safety decision despite using an established racing circuit in Brazil.
===Pre-Qualifying===
It was a Jordan and Dallara lock out of the four qualifying places, as JJ Lehto, Andrea de Cesaris, Bertrand Gachot and Emanuele Pirro all made it through to the main session. Their quartet was over a second faster than the rest of the Pre-Qualifiers, as Eric van de Poele, Nicola Larini, Pedro Chaves and Olivier Grouillard were all dumped out of qualifying before it had even begun. Lehto and co continued in the full session a few hours later.
===Report===
It was a strong showing by the Brazilian bunch of drivers on the grid, with three of the four making into the top ten, although all of the attention was on Ayrton Senna. Once again on pole (for the fifth race in a row), Brazil's brightest star was over a second quicker than team mate Gerhard Berger in fourth, as the two s split the s.Alain Prost was out-qualified by new team mate Jean Alesi for the first time, the two Ferraris down in fifth and sixth, followed by a brace of Brazilians, Nelson Piquet and Maurício Gugelmin.
Once again, the pre-qualifiers punched above their percieved weight as both Jordans and Dallaras forced their way onto the grid. Gachot was best placed, slotting into tenth in only Jordan's second race, while team mate de Cesaris was locked with Pirro for twelfth and thirteenth (the latter ahead by mere thousandths of a second). Lehto was down in nineteenth, although he was safely ahead of the final four places, as Brabham suffered a scare, almost losing both cars.
Ultimately, the two entries of Alex Caffi and Michele Alboreto were lost, as was the AGS of Stefan Johansson. Also out was Julian Bailey for Team Lotus, who was almost three seconds slower than rookiee team mate (who qualified in 22nd), suggesting that the young Finn had a bright future ahead, despite the struggling combination.
===Full Qualifying Result===
The full qualifying result for the is displayed below:
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Time'1991 Brazilian Grand Prix', wikipedia.org, (WikiMedia, 28/07/2015), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Brazilian_Grand_Prix, (Accessed 01/08/2015)	Time'1991 Brazilian Grand Prix', wikipedia.org, (WikiMedia, 28/07/2015), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Brazilian_Grand_Prix, (Accessed 01/08/2015)	Gap
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Q1 	Q2 	Gap
1 	1 	Ayrton Senna 	 	1:18.711 	1:16.392 	
2 	6 	Riccardo Patrese 	 	1:22.069 	1:16.775 	+0.383s
3 	5 	Nigel Mansell 	 	1:20.056 	1:16.843 	+0.451s
4 	2 	Gerhard Berger 	 	1:19.557 	1:17.471 	+1.079s
5 	28 	Jean Alesi 	 	1:19.350 	1:17.601 	+1.209s
6 	27 	Alain Prost 	 	1:20.079 	1:17.739 	+1.347s
7 	20 	Nelson Piquet 	 	1:20.105 	1:18.577 	+2.185s
8 	15 	Maurício Gugelmin 	 	1:22.196 	1:18.664 	+2.272s
9 	4 	Stefano Modena 	 	1:21.709 	1:18.847 	+2.455s
10 	32 	Bertrand Gachot 	 	1:21.493 	1:18.882 	+2.490s
11 	29 	 	 	1:22.127 	1:19.291 	+2.899s
12 	21 	Emanuele Pirro 	 	1:21.286 	1:19.305 	+2.913s
13 	33 	Andrea de Cesaris 	 	1:21.710 	1:19.339 	+2.947s
14 	19 	Roberto Moreno 	 	1:21.266 	1:19.360 	+2.968s
15 	16 	Ivan Capelli 	 	1:21.171 	1:19.517 	+3.125s
16 	3 	Satoru Nakajima 	 	1:21.825 	1:19.546 	+3.154s
17 	30 	Aguri Suzuki 	 	1:22.281 	1:19.832 	+3.440s
18 	25 	Thierry Boutsen 	 	1:23.197 	1:19.868 	+3.476s
19 	22 	JJ Lehto 	 	1:22.243 	1:19.954 	+3.562s
20 	23 	Pierluigi Martini 	 	1:22.852 	1:20.175 	+3.783s
21 	24 	Gianni Morbidelli 	 	1:26.147 	1:20.502 	+4.110s
22 	11 	 	 	1:25.587 	1:20.611 	+4.219s
23 	26 	 	 	1:22.682 	1:21.168 	+4.776s
24 	17 	Gabriele Tarquini 	 	1:23.618 	1:21.219 	+4.827s
25 	8 	Mark Blundell 	 	1:23.547 	1:21.230 	+4.838s
26 	7 	Martin Brundle 	 	1:23.271 	1:21.280 	+4.888s
DNQ 	10 	Alex Caffi 	 	1:25.555 	1:22.190 	+5.798s
DNQ 	18 	Stefan Johansson 	 	1:24.698 	1:22.432 	+6.040s
DNQ 	9 	Michele Alboreto 	 	1:25.795 	1:22.739 	+6.347s
DNQ 	12 	Julian Bailey 	 	1:24.947 	1:23.590 	+7.198s
DNPQ	35 	Eric van de Poele 	 	1:21.919 	1:21.919 	1:21.919
DNPQ	34 	Nicola Larini 	 	1:22.944 	1:22.944 	1:22.944
DNPQ	31 	Pedro Chaves 	 	1:23.231 	1:23.231 	1:23.231
DNPQ	14 	Olivier Grouillard	 	1:23.951 	1:23.951 	1:23.951
===Grid===
The starting grid for the may be seen below:
==Race==
There were no changes to the starting order after the warm up on Sunday, meaning all of the attention was on Ayrton Senna, as he tried to bring victory for Brazil by a Brazilian in Brazil for the first time since 1986. He was under potential threat from the fast starting behind with their new gearboxes, but national pride was on the line. His Brazilian countryman, Mauricio Gugelmin took the start in severe pain, badly burned after his cockpit fire extinguisher had exploded during the warm up.
===Report===
Drama ensued at the start of the warm-up lap as Aguri Suzuki's points-scoring failed to pull away from the dummy grid after a fuel pump failure, causing him to retire without even taking the start. Then, as the cars took their places on the grid, a small fire broke out at the back of Berger's McLaren. A perfect start by Senna saw him streak away at the head of the field as he had done two weeks earlier, as team mate Gerhard Berger tumbled down the order with an engine issue. Riccardo Patrese and Nigel Mansell left the grid cleanly too, with the Brit seizing the initative into the first corner to take second, while Jean Alesi sneaked into fourth around the seemingly troubled Berger. Alain Prost, meanwhile, got caught behind Berger of the line, and so saw Nelson Piquet cruise past into the first corner. Berger's fire seemed to blow itself out, while back in the midfield, Gugelmin swerved across the path of Gachot's Jordan, causing the Belgian driver to slow suddenly. Pirro swerved to avoid the Jordan and was forced onto the grass at the bottom of the Senna 's', damaging the Dallara's nose section and dropping him to the back of the field. A few moments later, Gabriele Tarquini lost control entering Descida do Lago, spinning onto the grass and into retirement. Gugelmin fell down the order quickly from 8th position on the grid, the pain from his burns in the warm-up becoming too much to bear. He pulled into the pits and retired on lap 10.
Prost and Piquet duelled until the Ferrari driver opted to pit for tyres on lap 22, while Senna continued to stroke out a lead, Mansell being his nearest challenger. The Brit pitted on lap 25 to try to gain an advantage on fresh rubber. but was hampered when his new gearbox refused to select first gear, turning a six second tyre stop into a fourteen second torture session for the Englishman. Once back in the race, Mansell set about chasing down Senna, having to come through Alesi and Patrese first.
Senna, Patrese and Alesi were all in in short order, leaving Mansell seven seconds behind the lead McLaren with 30 laps to go. He was steadily closing the gap too, with the home crowd sensing that their star Senna would be denied once again. cost the Brazilian some time as he was lapped on lap 42, although Mansell could not close the gap any further than he had done by that point, his tyres beginning to suffer. 
Martini spun his Minardi into retirement on lap 47, beaching the car on the curbing on the exit of Junçao, while Comas retired from his first grand prix three laps later at Ferradura, the back of his Ligier burning furiously. Roberto Moreno nearly retired at the same moment after running into Comas' oil and understeering onto the grass. It was not long after that Mansell was out of the race too, suffering an almost identical problem to Patrese in the US, whereby his gearbox slammed the car into neutral and then into second, causing him to spin at the first corner. Mansell managed to spin-turn the car and re-start, but as he attempted to change gears to accelerate back to racing speed, the gearbox finally failed, causing him to retire.
By that stage, Senna's pace was beginning to tumble too, suffering from an as-yet undiagnosed gearbox issue, costing him fourth gear. Senna's problems eventually worsened to the point that the McLaren became stuck in sixth gear, costing him valuable time as he desperately tried to prevent his car from stalling in the turns. That put Patrese in the prime position for victory, as his Williams remained as-yet unafflicted with the gearbox issues of two weeks before. He was taking two seconds a lap out of the Brazilian as the chequered flag neared, until the gods played their hand.
Senna had already, and consistently, demonstrated his masterful control in wet conditions, and as the clouds broke over Interlagos, the gap stabilised over the final two laps. By this time, Patrese was beginning to develop gearbox problems of his own, while third-placed Berger was struggling with a sticking throttle. Gesturing to the race officials as he crossed the line to start the final lap, Senna still wanted the race to be called to a halt early, but did not get his wish. Regardless, he still had a three second advantage over Patrese as he completed the final lap, claiming his first Brazilian Grand Prix victory, a life time goal achieved for the motor racing legend.
Patrese finished a frustrated second, a potential victory lost due to the late shower, while Berger finished third, having leap-frogged Alesi in the pits earlier in the race. Prost forced his way past Piquet at the stops to take fourth from the Brazilian legend, while Alesi was the last man on the lead lap in sixth. Other highlights from the finishers was a ninth place for Hakkinen in his second Grand Prix, eleventh for Emanuele Pirro in his pre-qualified , while Bertrand Gachot was classified as a finisher once again for Jordan, despite retiring eight laps from the end.
===Results===
The complete results from the are outlined below:
Pos. 	No. 	Driver 	Constructor	Laps 	Time/Retired	Grid 	Points
1 	1 	Ayrton Senna 	 	71 	1:38:28.128 	1 	10
2 	6 	Riccardo Patrese 	 	71 	+2.991s 	2 	6
3 	2 	Gerhard Berger 	 	71 	+5.416s 	4 	4
4 	27 	Alain Prost 	 	71 	+19.369s 	6 	3
5 	20 	Nelson Piquet 	 	71 	+21.960s 	7 	2
6 	28 	Jean Alesi 	 	71 	+23.641s 	5 	1
7 	19 	Roberto Moreno 	 	70 	+1 lap 	14 	
8 	24 	Gianni Morbidelli 	 	69 	+2 laps 	21 	
9 	11 	 	 	68 	+3 laps 	22 	
10 	25 	Thierry Boutsen 	 	68 	+3 laps 	18 	
11 	21 	Emanuele Pirro 	 	68 	+3 laps 	12 	
12 	7 	Martin Brundle 	 	67 	+4 laps 	26 	
13 	32 	Bertrand Gachot 	 	63 	Fuel System 	10 	
Ret 	5 	Nigel Mansell 	 	59 	Gearbox 	3 	
Ret 	26 	 	 	50 	Engine 	23 	
Ret 	23 	Pierluigi Martini 	 	47 	Spin 	20 	
Ret 	8 	Mark Blundell 	 	34 	Engine 	25 	
Ret 	29 	 	 	33 	Engine 	11 	
Ret 	22 	JJ Lehto 	 	22 	Alternator 	19 	
Ret 	33 	Andrea de Cesaris 	 	20 	Electrical 	13 	
Ret 	4 	Stefano Modena 	 	19 	Gearbox 	9 	
Ret 	16 	Ivan Capelli 	 	16 	Transmission	15 	
Ret 	3 	Satoru Nakajima 	 	12 	Spin 	16 	
Ret 	15 	Maurício Gugelmin 	 	9 	Discomfort 	8 	
Ret 	17 	Gabriele Tarquini 	 	0 	Suspension 	24 	
Ret 	30 	Aguri Suzuki 	 	0 	Fuel Pump 	17 	
DNQ 	10 	Alex Caffi 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	18 	Stefan Johansson 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	9 	Michele Alboreto 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	12 	Julian Bailey 	 	 	 	 	
DNPQ 	35 	Eric van de Poele 	 	 	 	 	
DNPQ 	34 	Nicola Larini 	 	 	 	 	
DNPQ 	31 	Pedro Chaves 	 	 	 	 	
DNPQ 	14 	Olivier Grouillard	 	 	 	 	
Source	Source	Source 	Source 	Source	Source 	Source	Source
==Milestones==
==Standings==
So Ayrton Senna had already built a lead larger than a race win over his nearest challenger, Alain Prost, who'd recovered to fourth after a poor start in Brazil. Riccardo Patrese was now tied on points with former Brabham team mate Nelson Piquet on six, while Gerhard Berger completed the top five. Jean Alesi and Aguri Suzuki rounded out the point scorers, as Nigel Mansell failed to score again after reliability issues,
 also held the advantage in the Constructors Championship after their double podium, now fourteen points ahead of (with sixteen available each weekend). were catapulted into third after Patrese's podium, while dropped to fifth. , entered through Larrousse F1 completed the scorers with Suzuki's sole point.  
Drivers' World Championship	Drivers' World Championship	Drivers' World Championship	Drivers' World Championship
Pos. 	Driver 	Pts 	+/-
1 	Ayrton Senna 	20 	
2 	Alain Prost 	9 	
3 	Riccardo Patrese 	6 	4
4 	Nelson Piquet 	6 	1
5 	Gerhard Berger 	4 	2
6 	Stefano Modena 	3 	2
7 	Satoru Nakajima 	2 	2
8 	Jean Alesi 	1 	1
9 	Aguri Suzuki 	1 	3
Constructors' World Championship	Constructors' World Championship	Constructors' World Championship	Constructors' World Championship
Pos. 	Team 	Pts 	+/-
1 	 	24 	
2 	 	10 	
3 	 	6 	3
4 	 	6 	
5 	 	5 	2
6 	 	1 	1
==References==
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:1991 Grands Prix
Category:Brazilian Grand Prix
Category:Formula One races in Brazil