1991 Mexican Grand Prix

The 1991 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City, on 16 June 1991. It was the sixth race of the 1991 Formula One season. As of 2020 it is the most recent Formula One race to feature a Porsche-powered vehicle.

1991 Mexican Grand Prix
Race 6 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 16 June 1991
Location Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez
Mexico City, Mexico
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.421 km (2.747 mi)
Distance 67 laps, 296.207 km (184.049 mi)
Scheduled distance 69 laps, 305.049 km (189.549 mi)
Weather Mostly Cloudy
24 °C (75 °F)[1]
Pole position
Driver
Williams-Renault
Time 1:16.696
Fastest lap
Driver Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault
Time 1:16.788 on lap 61 (lap record)
Podium
First
Williams-Renault
Second
Williams-Renault
Third
McLaren-Honda

Pre-race

In the run-up to the race, Tyrrell had lost talented designer Harvey Postlethwaite to the Mercedes-Benz sportscar team. Meanwhile, Ayrton Senna had been injured in a jet-ski incident, but he also suffered a big accident at the high speed Peraltada corner during qualifying, in which the car rolled and landed upside down, but thankfully he emerged unscathed.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, JJ Lehto was fastest for Scuderia Italia for the third time this season. His Dallara was over half a second faster than the second-placed runner, Fondmetal's Olivier Grouillard. It was the first time this season that Grouillard had pre-qualified and progressed to the main qualifying sessions. Initially, the third fastest driver was Nicola Larini in the Modena Lambo, but he was later excluded when his rear wing was found to be too high. This promoted the two Jordans one position each, with Andrea de Cesaris taking third, a second faster than Bertrand Gachot in fourth.[2]

Missing out in fifth place was Eric van de Poele in the other Lambo, just 0.056 of a second behind Gachot. Over six seconds behind van de Poele was Pedro Chaves in the Coloni, with the team suffering from financial problems. Emanuele Pirro was seventh in the other Dallara, having not posted a representative lap time.[2]

Pre-qualifying classification
PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap
1 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:28.381 —
2 14 Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:28.959 +0.578
3 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:29.545 +1.164
4 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:30.599 +2.218
5 35 Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:30.655 +2.274
6 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:37.144 +8.763
7 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:40.164 +11.783
EX 34 Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini —

Qualifying report

For the second race in succession, the Williams team filled the front row with Riccardo Patrese ahead of Nigel Mansell. Senna recovered from his dramatic accident on the Friday to take third on Saturday, with Jean Alesi fourth for Ferrari. Senna's McLaren team-mate Gerhard Berger was fifth ahead of Benetton's Nelson Piquet, the winner of the previous race in Canada. The top ten was completed by Alain Prost in the second Ferrari, Stefano Modena in the Tyrrell, Roberto Moreno in the second Benetton and, remarkably, Olivier Grouillard in the Fondmetal. The latter seven drivers were separated by little more than 0.3 of a second.

Qualifying classification
PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
1 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:16.696 1:17.192 —
2 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:16.978 1:18.346 +0.282
3 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:17.264 1:18.711 +0.568
4 28 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:18.129 1:19.581 +1.433
5 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:18.156 1:18.980 +1.460
6 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:18.168 1:19.117 +1.472
7 27 Alain Prost Ferrari 1:18.183 1:20.778 +1.487
8 4 Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:18.911 1:18.216 +1.520
9 19 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:18.589 1:18.375 +1.679
10 14 Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:18.453 1:29.560 +1.757
11 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:20.053 1:18.935 +2.239
12 8 Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:19.064 49:28.503 +2.368
13 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:19.971 1:19.092 +2.396
14 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:20.978 1:19.201 +2.505
15 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:19.215 1:19.878 +2.519
16 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:19.291 1:20.029 +2.595
17 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:20.378 1:19.647 +2.951
18 29 Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:20.442 1:19.785 +3.089
19 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:21.737 1:20.049 +3.353
20 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:20.050 1:20.551 +3.354
21 15 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:20.200 1:20.535 +3.504
22 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:20.252 1:21.053 +3.556
23 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:21.257 1:20.322 +3.626
24 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:20.823 1:22.072 +4.127
25 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd 1:20.830 1:22.964 +4.134
26 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 1:21.429 1:21.178 +4.482
27 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:21.737 1:21.225 +4.529
28 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:22.258 1:22.398 +5.562
29 10 Stefan Johansson Footwork-Porsche 1:22.938 1:22.598 +5.902
30 18 Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:22.899 1:23.920 +6.203

Race

Race report

The actual race needed three attempts to get underway: the first start was aborted when a fire marshal thought he saw a fire in the back of JJ Lehto's Dallara and jumped onto the track, while Grouillard stalled at the second start and was relegated to the back of the grid.

At the third start, Patrese made a poor getaway and dropped to fourth behind Mansell, Alesi and Senna. Senna quickly overtook Alesi, while further back, Piquet and Prost dropped behind Modena and Prost also dropped behind the fast-starting Jordan of Andrea de Cesaris. Berger, meanwhile, suffered his third consecutive early retirement when his engine exploded on lap 5, the resulting oil causing Pierluigi Martini to spin off in his Minardi. Patrese started his recovery by overtaking Alesi and then out-braking Senna into turn 1, putting him into second behind Mansell. On lap 15, Patrese passed his team-mate, who was having engine overheating concerns, for the lead. Mansell fell back towards Senna, Piquet, de Cesaris, Moreno and Alesi (who had spun), but eventually the concerns faded and the Englishman pulled away again. Alesi passed Moreno and de Cesaris for fifth, only for his clutch to fail on lap 43, team-mate Prost having dropped out on lap 17 with an alternator failure. Piquet's race ended on lap 45 with a broken wheel bearing, and when Moreno had a pit stop go wrong, Bertrand Gachot found himself fifth in the second Jordan, before spinning off.

Patrese eventually finished 1.3 seconds ahead of Mansell, with Senna almost a minute further back. De Cesaris held on to fourth after his throttle failed on the last lap and he pushed his car over the line, the stewards deciding that he had not broken the rules by starting to push after the race had ended. Moreno recovered from his botched pit stop to take fifth, while Larrousse's Éric Bernard finished sixth, the last point scored by a chassis manufactured by Lola Cars.

Race classification
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 67 1:29:52.205 1 10
2 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 67 + 1.336 2 6
3 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 67 + 57.356 3 4
4 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 66 + 1 lap 11 3
5 19 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 66 + 1 lap 9 2
6 29 Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 66 + 1 lap 18 1
7 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 66 + 1 lap 23
8 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 65 + 2 laps 14
9 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 65 + 2 laps 24
10 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd 65 + 2 laps 25
11 4 Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 65 + 2 laps 8
12 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 64 + 3 laps 13
Ret 8 Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 54 Engine 12
Ret 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 51 Spun off 20
Ret 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 48 Gearbox 19
Ret 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 44 Wheel bearing 6
Ret 28 Jean Alesi Ferrari 42 Clutch 4
Ret 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 30 Engine 16
Ret 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 24 Engine 26
Ret 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 20 Wheel 17
Ret 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 19 Engine 22
Ret 27 Alain Prost Ferrari 16 Alternator 7
Ret 15 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 15 Engine 21
Ret 14 Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 13 Engine 10
Ret 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 5 Engine 5
Ret 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 4 Spun off 15
DNQ 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini
DNQ 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford
DNQ 10 Stefan Johansson Footwork-Porsche
DNQ 18 Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford
DNPQ 35 Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford
DNPQ 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd
EX 34 Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini Rear wing infringement
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
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References
  1. "History | Weather Underground". Wunderground.com. Retrieved 2013-10-26.
  2. Walker, Murray (1991). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. p. 53–60. ISBN 0 905138 90 2.
  3. "1991 Mexican Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  4. "Mexico 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
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1991 Canadian Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
1991 season		 Next race:
1991 French Grand Prix
Previous race:
1990 Mexican Grand Prix		 Mexican Grand Prix Next race:
1992 Mexican Grand Prix
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