1991 Formula One World Championship

The **1991 FIA Formula One World Championship** was the 45th season of FIA Formula One motor racing and the 42nd season of the Formula One World Championship. It featured the 1991 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1991 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 10 March and ended on 3 November. Ayrton Senna won his third and last Drivers' Championship, and McLaren-Honda won their fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship. Senna won seven of the sixteen races; his main challenger for the title was Nigel Mansell, who won five races in his first season back at Williams. Senna's fierce rival Alain Prost failed to win a race with Ferrari and was fired before the end of the season due to a dispute with the team. 1991 also saw the debuts of future world champions Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen, as well as the retirement of three-time champion Nelson Piquet.

## Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship.

#### Key:

**G** - Goodyear

**P** - Pirelli

### Team changes

**Eruobrun, Onyx and Life withdraw.** Three teams that started the 1990 season would not make the start of the 1991 season: EuroBrun had failed to complete the season. Onyx Grand Prix also pulled out during 1990, but went as far as designing a 1991 car before finally folding, while the absence of Life, a team that failed to prequalify for every race, surprised no-one.

**Osella -> Fondmetal.** The Osella team was now Fondmetal, though driver Olivier Grouillard was retained along with the 1989 Osella car and most of the staff.

**Arrows -> Footwork.** The Arrows team was renamed Footwork after an investment by Japanese businessman Wataru Ohashi, President of Footwork Express Co., Ltd.

**Jordan and Modena debut.** There were two entirely new entrants for the 1991 season; Jordan Grand Prix, a successful team in International Formula 3000. The other new team was the Modena Team. It originally began life in late 1990 as GLAS with Mexican investment. Former Arrows, Alfa Romeo and Spirit driver, Mauro Baldi, was one of the proposed drivers and they had brokered a deal with Lamborghini that would see the Italian marque, operating under Lamborghini Engineering, design and build a chassis for the team as well as supply their V12 engines. But, the Mexican investors pulled out before the season even began. Lamborghini stepped in and provided financial assistance to save the team and relocated the team to Modena, Italy and initiated the subsequent name-change. Although the team was a de facto factory effort by Lamborghini, Lamborghini entered the team under a separate name to avoid being associated with a struggling team. But this did not stop journalists and fans alike from referring to the team as Lambo though. 1991 would be a very difficult year for the team, as aside from the drivers regularly failing to qualify their cars, finances quickly become an issue after Lamborghini's once off investment in the team had dried up. 1991 would in fact turn out to be the team's only season in the sport.

### Driver changes

**Nigel Mansell: Ferrari -> Williams.** Williams re-signed their former driver Nigel Mansell on the promise that he would be the top driver in the team after several years as number two to Nelson Piquet at Williams and then Alain Prost at Ferrari.

**Jean Alesi: Tyrrell -> Ferrari.** Ferrari replaced the departed Mansell with Jean Alesi, a young driver who had impressed at Tyrrell.

**Mika Häkkinen debuts for Lotus, Julian Bailey to Lotus.** Former greats Lotus had had a torrid 1990 with a severe career-ending accident for Martin Donnelly (plus losing the experienced Derek Warwick who went back to sports car racing), loss of title sponsorship from Camel and a management buyout. The new cars, white and British Racing Green after decades of yellow or black, were piloted by rookie driver Mika Häkkinen, and Julian Bailey who had made his F1 debut with Tyrrell in 1988, though Bailey was eventually replaced by Johnny Herbert. Originally, the team had appointed Donnelly as 'number one driver' (partnering Häkkinen and Bailey) as Martin was hoped to come back racing by April 1991, though his 1990 crash at Jerez effectively ended his racing career. Lotus also went back to using Judd V8 power in 1991 after a dismal 1990 using the fast but fragile Lamborghini V12 engine.

**Stefano Modena: Brabham -> Tyrrell.** Tyrrell hired Stefano Modena to replace the Ferrari-bound Jean Alesi.

Brabham had an all-new, all British line-up of Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell.

## Calendar

### Calendar changes

* The French Grand Prix was moved from Circuit Paul Ricard to Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.

* The Spanish Grand Prix was moved from Circuito de Jerez to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

## Results and standings

### Points scoring system

Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race as follows:

### World Drivers' Championship standings

**Notes:**

* – Driver did not finish the Grand Prix but was classified, as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.
* ‡ – Half points were awarded at the Australian Grand Prix as less than 75% of the scheduled distance was completed.

### World Constructors' Championship standings

**Notes:**

* Half points were awarded at the Australian Grand Prix as less than 75% of the scheduled distance was completed.

### Non-championship event results

The 1991 season also included a single event which did not count towards the World Championship, the Formula One Indoor Trophy at the Bologna Motor Show.