1991 Formula 1.5 Season

The 1991 Formula 1.5 Season was the 42nd season of the Formula 1.5 World Championship. Brazilian veteran Nelson Piquet took his third Drivers' Championship with Benetton-Ford, who captured their second Constructors' Championship in their first F1.5 season since 1987. It was a dominant display by the outfit that saw them rack up 9 wins out of 16 races and finish the year with nearly double the points of Constructors' standings runners-up, Jordan.

Reigning Drivers' Champion, Jean Alesi, signed with the Ferrari Formula 1 team for 1991 and so was unable to defend his first drivers' crown. Meanwhile reigning Constructors' Champions, Tyrrell, replaced Alesi with Brabham driver, Stefano Modena, and made a deal with Honda to run their V10 engines that had propelled McLaren to World Championships doubles in F1 the previous year. This created what was expected to be a dominant stable, reality however saw Tyrrell be anything but dominant. The team saw a major downturn in form and failed to win a race, mostly due to persistent balance issues.

Aside from the Tyrrell-Honda deal, the other big news was that Nelson Piquet had returned to F1.5 after a one year absence caused by him leaving Team Lotus and switching to Benetton at the end of 1989, Benetton at the time being an F1 team and not F1.5. His return could be viewed only as completely successful with him wrapping up a third World Drivers' Championship, taking six poles, fastest laps, and wins along the way. One of the six wins included an overall Grand Prix victory in Canada, the first time an F1.5 machine had done so since Gerhard Berger won the 1986 Mexican Grand Prix, also driving for Benetton. Nelson himself had once before achieved this feat with Brabham at the 1985 French Grand Prix.

## Entries

### Excluded teams

* Honda Marlboro McLaren, Canon Williams Team, and Scuderia Ferrari

### Team changes

* Reigning Constructors' Champions, Tyrrell, made a deal with Honda to run year old specifications of their V10 engines.
* Brabham switched engine supplier in the off-season, going from Judd V8 power to Yamaha's V12 unit.
* The Arrows team was renamed to Footwork after investment from their title sponsor the previous season increased. A Porsche engine deal was also secured for 1991, however results were poorer than expected, and after just six races, Footwork dropped Porsche and continued the season with Hart-built Ford engines.
* Team Lotus lost title sponsorship from Camel and suffered a management buyout. The engines changed too, with Judd V8's returning after the team chose to dump the ungainly Lamborghini V12 engine, only one season into their partnership.
* Osella's major sponsor, Fondmetal, took over the operation for 1991, although not much changed as Osella's driver, staff and car were retained under the new guise.
* Leyton House had a new engine supplier in Ilmor, their 72-degree V10, initially developed back in 1989, finally seeing competition.
* Benetton joined the F1.5 grid for the first time since their 1987 championship sweep. As essentially the works Ford outfit, getting exclusive use of the latest equipment, Benetton were at a decent advantage over most of the competition.
* Scuderia Italia continued their partnership with Dallara, however saw a change in engine supplier. After parting ways with Ford, the team obtained exclusive usage of Judd's new V10 engine. Capable of producing 660 bhp at the start of the season, and continual development bringing that number up to 700 bhp, the 'GV' V10 seemed a vast improvement over the old 'EV' V8 used by Lotus, which had a power cap of 640 bhp.
* Minardi also ceased using Ford engines, Giancarlo Minardi able to arrange a deal with the Ferrari F1 team to run their old V12's. Initially however the engines were a little older than Minardi had expected, Ferrari supplying 036 specification units, which the Scuderia hadn't used or given any development to since 1989. Eventually later in the season Minardi would acquire 037 specifications, engines that were used by Ferrari throughout 1990.
* Ligier, yet another team who partook in the exodus from Ford power, secured the use of V12 engines from Lamborghini, which had been used the previous season by Lotus and Larrousse. This was to be a stopgap measure as for 1992, the team would gain access to 1991 spec Renault V10's
* Larrousse followed Lotus in parting ways with Lamborghini, taking on the old Ford DFR unit.
* Three teams that started the 1990 season would not live to see the start of 1991: EuroBrun had failed to complete the previous season. Onyx 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.

There were two entirely new entrants for 1991;

* Jordan Grand Prix, a successful team in International Formula 3000 would enter their own chassis, the 191 for their debut season. Originally designed for the Judd V8, the 191 ended up being powered by a Ford Cosworth HB V8 engine, after Jordan arranged a customer supply deal though a Cosworth contact. On the sponsorship front, Camel cigarettes, who'd sponsored Jordan's F3000 team, partook in ultimately failed negotiations, leading Jordan to instead sign soft drink company, 7 Up, as the team's major sponsor. By November of 1990, the 191 was complete and its first test run was conducted by two time F1.5 champion, John Watson, with his initial feedback being relatively favourable.
* The other new entry was the Modena team. It originally began life in late 1990 as GLAS with Mexican investment. A deal had been brokered 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, saw it be relocated to Modena, Italy, and initiate the subsequent name-change. Although the team was a de facto factory effort, Lamborghini entered the team under a separate name to avoid being associated with a struggling outfit. This wouldn't stop journalists and fans alike from referring to the team as Lambo however. 1991 would be a very difficult year, as aside from the drivers regularly failing to qualify, finances quickly become an issue after Lamborghini's one off investment dried up. 1991 would in fact turn out to be the team's only season in the sport.

### Driver changes

While Satoru Nakajima would remain in the team as part of a deal to acquire Honda engines for 1991, Tyrrell lost their star driver, reigning World Drivers' Champion, Jean Alesi, to the Ferrari Formula 1 team. His replacement would be young Italian, Stefano Modena, who'd lead Brabham the year before, scoring all 19 of the teams points.

Brabham would replace the departing Stefano Modena with rookie, Mark Blundell, whilst the other car also saw a change of driver. Martin Brundle was drawn back to Formula 1.5 after spending a year out of Formula racing altogether, focussing on sportscars during 1990. Brundle replaced David Brabham who failed to find a seat, and subsequently, wouldn't race in Formula 1.5 again until 1994, appearing with Simtek.

Footwork, who'd been Arrows the previous season, maintained their all Italian line-up of 1982 Formula 1.5 champion, Michele Alboreto, and promising young talent, Alex Caffi. Caffi unfortunately, shortly following the Monaco Grand Prix, would suffer injuries in a road accident, causing him to miss four races. During his recovery period, Swedish veteran, Stefan Johansson, would fill his seat.

## Calendar

### Calendar changes

* The French Grand Prix was moved from the Circuit Paul Ricard to the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
* The Spanish Grand Prix was moved from the Circuito de Jerez to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

## Results & standings

### World Drivers' Championship standings

Points towards the 1991 World Championship of Drivers were awarded on a 10–6–4–3–2–1 basis for the first six positions in each race.

Legend: **Bold** = Pole Position; *Italics* = Fastest Lap

###### Notes:

\* - Half points were awarded as less than 75% of the scheduled distance was completed.

### World Constructors' Championship standings

Points towards the 1991 World Championship of Constructors were awarded on a 10–6–4–3–2–1 basis for the first six positions in each race.

Legend: **Bold** = Pole Position; *Italics* = Fastest Lap

###### Notes:

\* - Half points were awarded as less than 75% of the scheduled distance was completed.