1991 Formula One Season

### Enginesuppliers

Ferrari, Ford Cosworth, Honda, Ilmor, Judd, Lamborghini, Porsche, Renault, Yamaha

## World Drivers' Championship

### Champion

 Joey Davies
 69 points

### Runner-Up

 Nigel Mansell
 68 points

### 3rd

 Alain Prost
 54 points

## World Constructors' Championship

### Champion

 McLaren–Honda
 128 points

### Runner-Up

 Williams–Renault
 105 points

### 3rd

 Ferrari
 90 points

The **1991 Formula One season** was the 42nd season of the FIA Formula One World Championship. The championship comprised of sixteen races, with the Drivers' Championship being won by British driver Joey Davies of McLaren, and the Constructors' Championship being won by McLaren–Honda.

In a highly competitive and controversial season, Davies prevailed over his former Williams teammate Nigel Mansell after a move on the final corner of the final lap of the final race of the season. Davies and his McLaren–Honda teammate, four-time World Champion, Alain Prost, combined for eight victories, helping them to win the Constructors' Championship. Ayrton Senna's title defence was dogged by retiring from seven races, although Ferrari had a new star in Michael Andretti, who became the newest F1 race winner this season.

After returning to the sport in 1989, this was Pirelli's last season as a tyre supplier for the Formula One World Championship.

## Technical and rules changes

The most significant change this season was to the points scoring system. A win increased from 9 to 10 points, and all results now count in both Drivers' and Constructors' championships, instead of a Drivers' best 11 scores.

The FIA continued to work on making the sport safer, with more stringent testing of survival cell, including seat belts, fuel tanks and rollbar. Front wings were narrowed from 1,500 mm (59 in) to 1,400 mm (55 in) and rear overhang was reduced from 600 mm (24 in) to 500 mm (20 in).

## Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship. All engines' displacement is 3.5 litres (210 cubic inches).

### Team changes

* After failing to find financial backing to help clear its debts, the EuroBrun team closed at the end of the 1990 season.
* After first becoming the team's major sponsor, then the team's majority shareholder, Fondmetal owner Gabriele Rumi took over the whole operation of the Osella team, renaming it after the alloy wheel business.
* Footwork completed its rebrand of the Arrows team.
* Lotus lost title sponsor Camel to Benetton. After using the fast, but fragile, Lamborghini V12, the team returned to using Judd V8 engines.
* Brabham, meanwhile, would switch from Judd to Yamaha, using the Japanese marque's new V12 engine.
* Leyton House also switched engine suppliers, going from Judd to the Ilmor V10 that had impressed for Arrows the previous season.
* Scuderia Italia were the beneficaries of a brand-new, more powerful V10 Judd engine, as John Judd and his team felt that the ten and twelve cylinder engines were proving more powerful than V8s under the current regulations. The Italian team had exclusive use of the units this season.
* Giancarlo Minardi arranged a supply of Ferrari V12 engines to replace the Ford Cosworth V8s that Minardi had used since 1988.
* After spending all of 1990 failing to qualify for a single race, the Coloni team ditched the Subaru engine, and reverted to the Ford Cosworth *DFR* instead.
* Two new teams joined the grid:
	+ Formula 3000 team Eddie Jordan Racing graduated to Formula One, renaming the team Jordan Grand Prix. Team owner Eddie Jordan selected veteran Italian pilot Andrea de Cesaris, and Belgian Bertrand Gachot, who spent the previous season unsuccessfully trying to get the Coloni team out of pre-qualifying. The team would use customer Ford engines. The Gary Anderson-designed 191 was widely regarded as the prettiest car on the 1991 grid.
	+ 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.

### Driver changes

* Ferrari retained defending World Champion, Ayrton Senna, and he was partnered by 28-year-old American, Michael Andretti. The son of 1978 World Champion, and former Ferrari driver, Mario, Andretti had tested for Williams in 1989, and was in the frame to replace Joey Davies when he was suspended for the opening two races of the 1990 season. Despite pressure from F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, Williams chose their test driver, Mark Blundell, for the role. In June 1990, Andretti was spotted testing for Ferrari at the team's private Fiorano test track, and in September, Andretti was confirmed to drive for the Scuderia on a 2-year deal. Andretti had completed a successful season in the CART Indy Car World Series, taking second place to Al Unser Jr.
* Four-time World Champion Alain Prost was partnered at McLaren by Joey Davies, who had left Williams after a fractious two seasons.
* Nigel Mansell remained as the team leader at Williams, joined by the highly-rated Frenchman, Jean Alesi.
* Brabham dropped both David Brabham and Stefano Modena, replacing them with Damon Hill, the son of late double World Champion, Graham Hill, and with former Williams test driver, Mark Blundell, who spent the majority of 1990 at Ligier.
* Lotus retained Martin Donnelly, and he was joined by British Formula Three champion Mika Häkkinen, who replaced Alessandro Nannini at Benetton for the final two races of 1990.
* Fondmetal kept Olivier Grouillard, who had recovered from his injuries suffered in a pre-qualifying crash at the 1990 British Grand Prix, and he was joined by Oscar Larrauri, who had been left without a drive after the demise of the EuroBrun squad.
* Benetton partnered double World Champion Nelson Piquet with Derek Warwick, who left Lotus.
* Minardi stalwart Pierluigi Martini was partnered by another Italian, Gianni Morbidelli, who made his debut the previous season covering for Olivier Grouillard at Fondmetal.
* Ligier signed veteran Thierry Boutsen to partner Érik Comas.
* Joest Racing signed two recent race winners to help with the next step of their development: Gerhard Berger joined from Ferrari, and Riccardo Patrese from Benetton.
* Hoping to put his most recent stint at a pre-qualifying team (Ligier) behind him, Michele Alboreto signed on at Coloni, joined by British Formula 3000 champion, Pedro Chaves.

### Mid-season changes

* With mounting debts and having failed to get out of pre-qualifying all season, AGS announced that they would not attend the final two races of the season. After a four-year stint, they dropped off the grid.
* Despite two fourth-place finishes, Derek Warwick fell out with Benetton boss Flavio Briatore, and with his teammate Nelson Piquet. This was highlighted by an incident on lap 3 of the Canadian Grand Prix, where Warwick lost control of his car, and collided with Piquet. Piquet recovered to finish fifth, and Warwick eighth. Roberto Moreno was signed from the Modena team to replace Warwick for the rest of the season, beginning at the German Grand Prix. After Moreno was picked up by Benetton, Giovanna Amati replaced him at Modena for the rest of the season.
* Bertrand Gachot was given an 18-month prison sentence following an incident in December 1990 with a London taxi driver. Charged with actual bodily harm (ABH) and possession of a prohibited weapon, the trial was scheduled for the week before the Belgian Grand Prix, his home race. Expecting a fine or a suspended sentence, Gachot was instead found guilty after an unsuccessful appeal. Jordan scrambled to find a replacement, and eventually settled on German Formula Three and Macau Grand Prix winner, Michael Schumacher. Schumacher stayed with the team for the rest of the season, despite interest from several other teams.

## Season calendar

Sixteen races were scheduled for the 1991 season.

### Calendar changes

* The United States Grand Prix continued it's nomadic recent existence, taking place on it's fourth different circuit in as many years. The Road America event suffered from it's place in the schedule, as the frigid Wisconsin weather contributed to low attendance at the race. Despite being one of the coldest Formula One races on record, the event was described by drivers and spectators alike as "boring". As the Grand Prix remained the opening meeting of the season, Bernie Ecclestone decided to end the agreement after just one season of a three-year deal, returning the event to it's spiritual home of Watkins Glen. This would be the first race at "the Glen" in over a decade.
* After several high-profile accidents at the circuit (including, but not limited to, Nigel Mansell's high-speed crash during qualifying for the 1985 event, that was echoed by the fatal accident of Pierre-Henri Raphanel at the same corner four years later; Elio de Angelis passing away after a May 1986 test, and Roberto Moreno's heavy crash in the 1990 pre-season), the mounting concerns over safety (including the standard of marshalling at the venue) would see the French Grand Prix move from Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of the country. The newly inaugurated Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, surrounded by charming countryside in the centre of the country, was the event's new home.
* The Spanish Grand Prix returned to the calendar, taking place at the new, purpose-built, Circuit de Catalunya. It replaced the European Grand Prix, which was dropped from the calendar as the Birmingham Superprix event continued to mount financial losses.
* The South African Grand Prix was removed from the calendar after planning permission was granted to construct a new layout. It returned to the calendar, with it's updated layout, in 1992.

## Season Results

### Points scoring system

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

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.f1technical.net/articles/62