1991 Italian Grand Prix

1991 Italian Grand Prix
Race details
	Race 12 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One season
	;
Date	September 8, 1991
Official name	LXII Coca-Cola Gran Premio d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility ; 5.80 km (3.603 mi)
Distance	51 laps, 301.600 km (187.404 mi)
Weather	Sunny and warm
Pole position
Time	1:21.114
Fastest lap
Time	1:26.061 on lap 41
Podium

The 1991 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Monza on September 8, 1991. It was the twelfth round of the 1991 Formula One season.

Report[]

The big news between the Belgian and Italian Grands Prix revolved around young Michael Schumacher, who had made his debut for Jordan in Belgium. Schumacher had signed for Benetton while still being under contract to Jordan. After much legal wrangling the German was confirmed in a Benetton, while regular Benetton driver Roberto Moreno had been sacked and went the other way, becoming a Jordan driver. The whole episode was very messy and it made both the Benetton team and Schumacher's managers look bad. Elsewhere Michael Bartels was back at Lotus, as Johnny Herbert had more commitments in Japanese Formula 3000.

In qualifying, Ayrton Senna took pole again, with title rival Nigel Mansell second, the Englishman complaining of traffic on his final two hot laps. Gerhard Berger was third, followed by Riccardo Patrese, Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, the impressive Schumacher, Nelson Piquet, in his 200th Grand Prix, Moreno, and Pierluigi Martini, in the Ferrari powered Minardi.

At the start Senna got away well from Mansell, Berger, Patrese, and Alesi, with everyone making it through the often-eventful double chicane. Moreno was an early casualty as he spun off on lap 2, making for a disappointing Jordan debut.

Patrese at the front started to charge, first he disposed of Berger, and then Mansell. On lap 26 he passed Senna at the Ascari chicane, but on the following lap a gearbox failure took him out. Senna now led from Mansell and Berger, with Mansell pressuring Senna for the lead, and on lap 34 he took it with a perfectly timed out-braking manoeuvre going into the Ascari chicane. Senna proceeded to pit for tyres and emerged down in fifth place, but in no mood to stay there. Senna proceeded to pass Schumacher going into Ascari, and then slipstreamed passed Berger into the first corner, and got back to second by passing arch-rival Prost going into the second chicane. Mansell meanwhile cruised to victory from Senna, Prost, Berger, Schumacher, and Piquet, Alesi having retired with a blown engine. With four races to go Senna still led Mansell by 18 points, but this race confirmed that Mansell and Williams could beat Senna's McLaren in a straight fight.

Classification[]

Pre Qualifying[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	8	Mark Blundell	Brabham-Yamaha	1:24.271	—
2	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Yamaha	1:25.117	+0.846
3	14	Olivier Grouillard	Fondmetal-Ford	1:25.556	+1.285
4	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Ford	1:25.771	+1.500
5	18	Fabrizio Barbazza	AGS-Ford	1:27.392	+3.121
6	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	1:27.401	+3.130
7	10	Alex Caffi	Footwork-Ford	1:27.608	+3.337
8	31	Pedro Chaves	Coloni-Ford	—	Did Not Start

Qualifying[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:21.114	1:21.245	—
2	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	1:21.328	1:21.247	+0.133
3	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	1:21.360	1:21.346	+0.232
4	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:21.619	1:21.372	+0.258
5	27	Alain Prost	Ferrari	1:22.080	1:21.825	+0.711
6	28	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:21.956	1:21.890	+0.776
7	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	1:22.471	1:22.553	+1.357
8	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford	1:23.176	1:22.726	+1.612
9	32	Roberto Moreno	Jordan-Ford	1:23.102	1:23.447	+1.988
10	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ferrari	1:23.294	1:23.789	+2.180
11	8	Mark Blundell	Brabham-Yamaha	1:23.473	1:24.400	+2.359
12	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House-Ilmor	1:23.674	1:24.755	+2.560
13	4	Stefano Modena	Tyrrell-Honda	1:24.457	1:23.701	+2.587
14	33	Andrea de Cesaris	Jordan-Ford	1:24.060	1:23.921	+2.807
15	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell-Honda	1:24.464	1:24.265	+3.151
16	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Judd	1:24.584	1:24.282	+3.168
17	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Ferrari	1:24.287	1:25.223	+3.173
18	15	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House-Ilmor	1:24.391	1:25.023	+3.277
19	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Yamaha	1:24.713	1:24.643	+3.529
20	22	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Judd	1:24.733	1:24.725	+3.611
21	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Lamborghini	1:26.133	1:25.177	+4.063
22	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Lamborghini	1:25.478	1:25.420	+4.306
23	34	Nicola Larini	Lambo-Lamborghini	1:25.717	1:25.934	+4.603
24	29	Éric Bernard	Lola-Ford	1:26.325	1:25.871	+4.757
25	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Judd	1:26.701	1:25.941	+4.827
26	14	Olivier Grouillard	Fondmetal-Ford	1:26.416	1:26.805	+5.302
27	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Ford	1:26.563	1:27.198	+5.449
28	12	Michael Bartels	Lotus-Judd	1:27.169	1:26.829	+5.715
29	35	Eric van de Poele	Lambo-Lamborghini	1:27.110	1:27.099	+5.985
30	30	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Ford	1:27.257	18:14.470	+6.143

Race[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	53	1:17:54.319	2	10
2	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	53	+ 16.262	1	6
3	27	Alain Prost	Ferrari	53	+ 16.829	5	4
4	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	53	+ 27.719	3	3
5	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	53	+ 34.463	7	2
6	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford	53	+ 45.600	8	1
7	33	Andrea de Cesaris	Jordan-Ford	53	+ 51.136	14
8	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House-Ilmor	53	+ 1:15.019	12
9	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Ferrari	52	+ 1 Lap	17
10	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Judd	52	+ 1 Lap	16
11	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Lamborghini	52	+ 1 Lap	22
12	8	Mark Blundell	Brabham-Yamaha	52	+ 1 Lap	11
13	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Yamaha	52	+ 1 Lap	19
14	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Judd	49	+ 4 Laps	25
15	15	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House-Ilmor	49	+ 4 Laps	18
16	34	Nicola Larini	Lambo-Lamborghini	48	+ 5 Laps	23
Ret	14	Olivier Grouillard	Fondmetal-Ford	46	Engine	26
Ret	22	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Judd	35	Overheating	20
Ret	4	Stefano Modena	Tyrrell-Honda	32	Engine	13
Ret	28	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	29	Engine	6
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	27	Gearbox	4
Ret	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell-Honda	24	Throttle	15
Ret	29	Éric Bernard	Lola-Ford	21	Engine	24
Ret	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ferrari	8	Spun Off	10
Ret	32	Roberto Moreno	Jordan-Ford	2	Spun Off	9
Ret	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Lamborghini	1	Spun off	21
DNQ	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Ford
DNQ	12	Michael Bartels	Lotus-Judd
DNQ	35	Eric van de Poele	Lambo-Lamborghini
DNQ	30	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Ford
DNPQ	18	Fabrizio Barbazza	AGS-Ford
DNPQ	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford
DNPQ	10	Alex Caffi	Footwork-Ford
DNPQ	31	Pedro Chaves	Coloni-Ford

Notes[]

First points: Michael Schumacher (2nd race)
200th Grand Prix: Nelson Piquet
Five of the six pointscorers were former or future World Champions, who would eventually amass 18 titles between them.

Standings after Grand Prix[]

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Ayrton Senna	77
2	Nigel Mansell	59
3	Riccardo Patrese	34
4	Gerhard Berger	31
5	Alain Prost	25

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	McLaren-Honda	108
2	Williams-Renault	93
3	Ferrari	39
4	Benetton-Ford	33
5	Jordan-Ford	13

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[]

Henry, Alan (1991). AUTOCOURSE 1991-92. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 206–207.

"The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1991/210/. Retrieved 2007-08-08.

Previous race: 1991 Belgian Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1991 season	Next race: 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix
Previous race: 1990 Italian Grand Prix	Italian Grand Prix	Next race: 1992 Italian Grand Prix

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1991 Italian Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.