1991 Hungarian Grand Prix Explained

Type:F1
Grand Prix:Hungarian
Country:Hungary
Official Name:VII Magyar Nagydíj
Date:11 August
Year:1991
Race No:10
Season No:16
Location:Hungaroring
Mogyoród, Pest, Hungary[1]
Course:Permanent racing facility
Course Mi:2.466
Course Km:3.968
Distance Laps:77
Distance Mi:189.850
Distance Km:305.536
Weather:Hot dry, sunny
Pole Driver:Ayrton Senna
Pole Country:Brazil
Pole Flag Suffix:1968
Pole Team:McLaren-Honda
Pole Time:1:16.147
Fast Driver:Bertrand Gachot
Fast Country:Belgium
Fast Team:Jordan-Ford
Fast Time:1:21.547
Fast Lap:71
First Driver:Ayrton Senna
First Country:Brazil
First Flag Suffix:1968
First Team:McLaren-Honda
Second Driver:Nigel Mansell
Second Country:UK
Second Team:Williams-Renault
Third Driver:Riccardo Patrese
Third Country:Italy
Third Team:Williams-Renault

The 1991 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Hungaroring on 11 August 1991. It was the tenth race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship. The 77-lap race was won from pole position by Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda, with the Williams-Renaults of Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese second and third respectively.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, a Brabham topped the time sheets for the second Grand Prix in succession. However, this time it was Mark Blundell who was fastest, over 1.4 seconds faster than his team-mate Martin Brundle in second. Third was Olivier Grouillard for Fondmetal, the third time the Frenchman had pre-qualified this season. The fourth pre-qualifier was Michele Alboreto in the Footwork.

The four entrants who failed to pre-qualify were, unusually, within two seconds of the slowest pre-qualifier. Fifth was Gabriele Tarquini in the AGS, less than two tenths of a second slower than Alboreto. Alex Caffi was sixth in the other Footwork, 1.4 seconds behind Tarquini. Just a tenth further back was the other AGS of Fabrizio Barbazza, who was only two tenths faster than the Coloni of Pedro Chaves. It was the Portuguese driver's tenth failure to pre-qualify from ten attempts this season.[2]

Pre-qualifying classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
18 Mark BlundellBrabham-Yamaha1:22.290 -
27 Martin BrundleBrabham-Yamaha1:23.716+1.426
314 Olivier GrouillardFondmetal-Ford1:24.816+2.526
49 Michele AlboretoFootwork-Ford1:25.045+2.755
517 Gabriele TarquiniAGS-Ford1:25.230+2.940
610 Alex CaffiFootwork-Ford1:26.637+4.347
718 Fabrizio BarbazzaAGS-Ford1:26.740+4.450
831 Pedro ChavesColoni-Ford1:26.945 +4.655

Qualifying report

Nigel Mansell and Williams were on a roll as Formula One arrived in Hungary, while Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were ordered by FISA to work out their differences following their confrontation in the German Grand Prix. Senna was also angry with his McLaren team after he had run out of fuel in the two previous races, losing valuable points to Mansell. During the practice session, McLaren made the first test for the semi-automatic gearbox on their car. Senna proceeded to dominate qualifying, taking pole by over a second from Riccardo Patrese, Mansell, Prost, Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi, Emanuele Pirro, Stefano Modena, Ivan Capelli, and Martin Brundle.

Qualifying classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
11 Ayrton SennaMcLaren-Honda1:18.5491:16.147 -
26 Riccardo PatreseWilliams-Renault1:20.1031:17.379+1.232
35 Nigel MansellWilliams-Renault1:19.8181:17.389+1.242
427 Alain ProstFerrari1:19.3261:17.690+1.543
52 Gerhard BergerMcLaren-Honda1:18.2381:17.705+1.558
628 Jean Alesi1:19.5521:18.410+2.263
721 Emanuele PirroDallara-Judd1:21.7511:19.334+3.187
84 Stefano ModenaTyrrell-Honda1:20.4881:19.748+3.601
916 Ivan CapelliLeyton House-Ilmor1:21.0681:19.794+3.647
107 Martin BrundleBrabham-Yamaha1:21.3451:19.976+3.829
1120 Nelson Piquet1:21.5421:19.984+3.837
1222 JJ Lehto1:21.9911:20.014+3.867
1315 Maurício GugelminLeyton House-Ilmor1:21.5491:20.024+3.877
143 Satoru Nakajima1:22.9921:20.565+4.418
1519 Roberto MorenoBenetton-Ford1:22.0771:20.584+4.437
1632 Bertrand GachotJordan-Ford1:21.8841:20.655+4.508
1733 Andrea de CesarisJordan-Ford1:22.1431:20.805+4.658
1823 Pierluigi Martini1:22.4291:20.823+4.676
1925 Thierry Boutsen1:22.4081:20.870+4.723
208 Mark BlundellBrabham-Yamaha1:21.1251:20.954+4.807
2129 Éric BernardLola-Ford1:22.6801:21.267+5.120
2230 Aguri SuzukiLola-Ford1:22.7621:21.601+5.454
2324 Gianni MorbidelliMinardi-Ferrari1:23.2011:21.654+5.507
2434 Nicola LariniLambo-Lamborghini1:24.3161:21.896+5.749
2526 Érik Comas1:24.4641:22.258+6.111
2611 Mika HäkkinenLotus-Judd1:25.2241:22.335+6.188
2714 Olivier GrouillardFondmetal-Ford1:23.5931:22.438+6.291
289 Michele AlboretoFootwork-Ford1:24.5931:22.521+6.374
2935 Eric van de PoeleLambo-Lamborghini1:27.3391:23.162+7.015
3012 Michael BartelsLotus-Judd1:24.7461:23.248+7.101

Race

Race report

At the start, Senna and Patrese both got away well, but Senna managed to keep the lead, with Mansell, Prost, Berger, and Alesi rounding out the top six. Mansell followed and hounded his teammate, but Senna was unable to pull out a significant gap. Meanwhile, Prost's day ended early with an engine failure, just adding to the misery that was the 1991 season for the three-time champion. Mansell eventually got past Patrese and set off after Senna, but on a track that is not conducive to passing, he had to settle for second. Senna duly won from Mansell, Patrese, Berger, Alesi, and Capelli. Senna now led the world championship by 12 points as the teams packed up and headed to Belgium. Senna dedicated this victory to the late Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda, who died days before the Grand Prix weekend.

Race classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
11 Ayrton SennaMcLaren-Honda771:49:12.796110
25 Nigel MansellWilliams-Renault77+ 4.59936
36 Riccardo PatreseWilliams-Renault77+ 15.59424
42 Gerhard BergerMcLaren-Honda77+ 21.85653
528 Jean AlesiFerrari77+ 31.38962
616 Ivan CapelliLeyton House-Ilmor76+ 1 lap91
733 Andrea de CesarisJordan-Ford76+ 1 lap17
819 Roberto MorenoBenetton-Ford76+ 1 lap15
932 Bertrand GachotJordan-Ford76+ 1 lap16
1026 Érik ComasLigier-Lamborghini75+ 2 laps25
1115 Maurício GugelminLeyton House-Ilmor75+ 2 laps13
124 Stefano ModenaTyrrell-Honda75+ 2 laps8
1324 Gianni MorbidelliMinardi-Ferrari75+ 2 laps23
1411 Mika HäkkinenLotus-Judd74+ 3 laps26
153 Satoru NakajimaTyrrell-Honda74+ 3 laps14
1634 Nicola LariniLambo-Lamborghini74+ 3 laps24
1725 Thierry BoutsenLigier-Lamborghini71Engine19
Ret23 Pierluigi MartiniMinardi-Ferrari65Engine18
Ret8 Mark BlundellBrabham-Yamaha62Tyre20
Ret7 Martin BrundleBrabham-Yamaha59Physical10
Ret22 JJ LehtoDallara-Judd49Engine12
Ret20 Nelson PiquetBenetton-Ford38Gearbox11
Ret29 Éric BernardLola-Ford38Engine21
Ret30 Aguri SuzukiLola-Ford38Engine22
Ret21 Emanuele PirroDallara-Judd37Engine7
Ret27 Alain ProstFerrari28Engine4
DNQ14 Olivier GrouillardFondmetal-Ford
DNQ9 Michele AlboretoFootwork-Ford
DNQ35 Eric van de PoeleLambo-Lamborghini
DNQ12 Michael BartelsLotus-Judd
DNPQ17 Gabriele TarquiniAGS-Ford
DNPQ10 Alex CaffiFootwork-Ford
DNPQ18 Fabrizio BarbazzaAGS-Ford
DNPQ31 Pedro ChavesColoni-Ford

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
161
2 Nigel Mansell49
3 Riccardo Patrese32
4 Gerhard Berger22
5 Alain Prost21
Source:[3]
Constructors' Championship standings
PosConstructorPoints
1 McLaren-Honda83
2 Williams-Renault81
3 Ferrari35
4 Benetton-Ford23
5 Jordan-Ford13
Source:

References

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1991 Hungarian Grand Prix. Motor Sport. 8 June 2022.
  2. Book: Walker, Murray . 1991 . Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year . Hazleton Publishing . 85–92 . 0-905138-90-2.
  3. Web site: Hungary 1991 - Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 18 March 2019.