1991 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1991 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on 25 August 1991. It was the eleventh race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship. The 44-lap race was won by Brazilian Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda, after he started from pole position. His Austrian teammate Gerhard Berger finished second, with another Brazilian, Nelson Piquet, third in a Benetton-Ford. Senna's Drivers' Championship rival, Briton Nigel Mansell, retired with an electrical failure, allowing Senna to extend his lead over him to 22 points with five races remaining.

1991 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 11 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 25 August 1991
Official name XL Grand Prix de Belgique
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 6.940 km (4.312 miles)
Distance 44 laps, 305.360 km (189.741 miles)
Weather Sunny and hot
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:47.811
Fastest lap
Driver Brazil Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford
Time 1:55.161 on lap 40
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second McLaren-Honda
Third Benetton-Ford
Lap leaders

The race marked the debut of future seven-time World Champion, German Michael Schumacher, driving a Jordan-Ford. Schumacher qualified seventh, which matched the team's season-best grid position, and Schumacher outqualified veteran Andrea de Cesaris. Although he retired on the opening lap with a clutch failure, Schumacher's debut impressed the paddock. His seventh place qualifying was done in a midfield car, the Jordan 191, which he drove half a day of testing and at a track he had never raced at.[1]

Pre-race edit

The Jordan team dominated the headlines leading up to the Belgian Grand Prix. Driver Bertrand Gachot was serving a two-month prison sentence in an English jail as a result of an altercation with a London taxi driver, so the team had decided to replace him with young German driver Michael Schumacher. Elsewhere, Johnny Herbert had returned to Lotus after having missed the previous two races due to Formula 3000 commitments in Japan.

Qualifying edit

Pre-qualifying report edit

As at the previous event in Hungary, the Friday morning pre-qualifying session was dominated by Brabham, who achieved their second 1–2 in succession. On this occasion, Martin Brundle was fastest, 1.5 seconds quicker than his team-mate Mark Blundell. Third, over 3.5 seconds slower than Brundle, was Olivier Grouillard for Fondmetal, the fourth time this season he had pre-qualified. Over a second behind Grouillard was Alex Caffi, pre-qualifying for the first time in three attempts for Footwork.

Missing out by 0.45 of a second in fifth place was Caffi's team-mate Michele Alboreto, the first time he had failed to pre-qualify in his three attempts. A fraction slower in sixth, after suffering a huge accident, was Gabriele Tarquini in the AGS, nearly two seconds ahead of Pedro Chaves in the Coloni. Bottom of the time sheets was the other AGS of Fabrizio Barbazza, who also crashed during the session.[2]

Pre-qualifying classification edit

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:54.929
2 8   Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:56.446 +1.517
3 14   Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:58.447 +3.518
4 10   Alex Caffi Footwork-Ford 1:59.460 +4.531
5 9   Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:59.910 +4.981
6 17   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:59.972 +5.043
7 31   Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 2:01.921 +6.992
8 18   Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 2:03.766 +8.837

Qualifying report edit

Ayrton Senna was fastest most of the weekend and duly took pole position, but Ferrari were right on his heels. Alain Prost qualified third on the road while Jean Alesi had set the fastest first and second sectors only to come across traffic at the end of the lap, resulting in a sixth place start, which would be elevated to fifth. Riccardo Patrese had originally qualified second, but after Saturday qualifying his car was found to not have a reverse gear as per the safety regulations and Patrese's Saturday times were wiped out, he had to start a disappointing seventeenth on the grid. Patrese's misfortune promoted Prost to second, with Nigel Mansell third, Gerhard Berger fourth, Alesi fifth, and Nelson Piquet sixth while the sensation of qualifying, Schumacher, was an amazing seventh for his first Grand Prix. The top ten was completed by Roberto Moreno in the second Benetton, Pierluigi Martini in a Minardi and the ever-impressive Stefano Modena in a Tyrrell.

Qualifying classification edit

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:49.100 1:47.811
2 27   Alain Prost Ferrari 1:51.369 1:48.821 +1.010
3 5   Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:50.666 1:48.828 +1.017
4 2   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:49.485 12:29.200 +1.674
5 28   Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:51.832 1:49.974 +2.163
6 20   Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:53.371 1:50.540 +2.729
7 32   Michael Schumacher Jordan-Ford 1:53.290 1:51.212 +3.401
8 19   Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:53.664 1:51.283 +3.472
9 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:53.460 1:51.299 +3.488
10 4   Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:52.899 1:51.307 +3.496
11 33   Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:54.186 1:51.986 +4.175
12 16   Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:53.603 1:52.113 +4.302
13 8   Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:54.814 1:52.377 +4.566
14 22   JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:54.211 1:52.417 +4.606
15 15   Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:56.027 1:52.623 +4.812
16 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:54.921 1:52.626 +4.815
17 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:52.646 no time +4.835
18 25   Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:54.446 1:52.709 +4.898
19 24   Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:57.232 1:52.896 +5.085
20 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:55.679 1:53.309 +5.498
21 12   Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd 1:55.523 1:53.361 +5.550
22 3   Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:55.874 1:53.494 +5.683
23 14   Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:55.945 1:53.628 +5.817
24 11   Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:55.483 1:53.799 +5.988
25 21   Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:56.131 1:53.839 +6.028
26 26   Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:56.218 1:53.847 +6.036
27 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:56.594 1:53.869 +6.058
28 34   Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:56.561 1:54.781 +6.970
29 10   Alex Caffi Footwork-Ford 1:57.556 1:57.338 +9.527
30 35   Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 35:03.624 1:57.746 +9.935

Race edit

Race report edit

At the start both Senna and Prost got away well and the Brazilian led into the first corner. Mansell was third followed by Berger, Piquet, and Schumacher. The German's luck however would run dry just after Eau Rouge when his clutch failed. Out at the front Senna continued to lead but Prost's day ended on lap three when his Ferrari caught on fire, leaving Mansell in second. The determined Englishman proceeded to go after Senna and the two battled lap after lap until Senna pitted for new tyres on lap 15. The stop was a bad one and when Mansell pitted two laps later he was able to emerge ahead of Senna, but just behind Berger who had yet to stop. These stops left Piquet in the lead for one lap before he made his stop.

Mansell quickly closed in on Berger and managed to sweep past into Les Fagnes. When Berger stopped a lap later he had problems and then spun on the pit exit and came back right in front of Modena, nearly causing a bad accident. Mansell's big lead would not last, however as on lap 22 his car stopped, having succumbed to electronic problems, his championship hopes taking a major hit.

 
Ayrton Senna during the race in Spa-Francorchamps on August 25, 1991.

Mansell's misery was Alesi's jubilation as the young Frenchman took the lead with Senna closing. Senna continued to close until he had a small problem and lost ten seconds, putting him into the clutches of Piquet's Benetton. The Piquet-Senna battle was soon joined by Patrese and de Cesaris, who had been battling over fourth. Senna led the quartet, but could not pull away because he was suffering from gearbox problems. Alesi had planned to do the entire race without stopping and his strategy was looking very good until lap 30 when his engine expired. This left Senna ahead of Piquet, de Cesaris, and Patrese, who had gone off the track trying to pass Piquet.

On Lap 31 de Cesaris managed to out brake Piquet into Les Combes and was looking good for Jordan's first podium finish in second place. Meanwhile, Patrese got past Piquet as well and set off after the Jordan. In the late stages Berger got past Piquet and then moved into third when Patrese started to suffer from gearbox problems. De Cesaris's fairy tale run ended just three laps from the end when his engine blew, promoting Berger to second and Piquet to third; it was triple World Champion Piquet's final podium of his career. Up front Senna limped home to his second consecutive win despite serious gearbox issues. Moreno was fourth, followed by Patrese and Mark Blundell, who scored Brabham's first point of the year (also the team's best result since Stefano Modena finished fifth in a Judd powered BT58 in the 1990 United States Grand Prix). The Fondmetal team and its driver Olivier Grouillard scored their first finish of 1991.

Race classification edit

Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda G 44 1:27:17.669 1 10
2 2   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda G 44 + 1.901 4 6
3 20   Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford P 44 + 32.176 6 4
4 19   Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford P 44 + 37.310 8 3
5 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault G 44 + 57.187 17 2
6 8   Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha P 44 + 1:40.035 13 1
7 12   Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd G 44 + 1:44.599 21
8 21   Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd P 43 + 1 lap 25
9 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha P 43 + 1 lap 16
10 14   Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford G 43 + 1 lap 23
11 25   Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini G 43 + 1 lap 18
12 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari G 42 Gearbox 9
13 33   Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford G 41 Engine 11
Ret 4   Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda P 33 Oil leak 10
Ret 22   JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd P 33 Oil pressure 14
Ret 28   Jean Alesi Ferrari G 30 Engine 5
Ret 24   Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari G 29 Gearbox 19
Ret 11   Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd G 25 Engine/Spun off 24
Ret 26   Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini G 25 Engine 26
Ret 5   Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault G 22 Electrical 3
Ret 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Ford G 21 Gearbox 20
Ret 16   Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor G 13 Engine 12
Ret 3   Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda P 7 Spun off 22
Ret 27   Alain Prost Ferrari G 2 Fuel leak 2
Ret 15   Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor G 1 Engine 15
Ret 32   Michael Schumacher Jordan-Ford G 0 Clutch 7
DNQ 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford G
DNQ 34   Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini G
DNQ 10   Alex Caffi Footwork-Ford G
DNQ 35   Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini G
DNPQ 9   Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford G
DNPQ 17   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford G
DNPQ 31   Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford G
DNPQ 18   Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford G
Source:[3][4]

Championship standings after the race edit

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

References edit

  1. ^ Chandhok, Karun (27 August 2021). "Driving the F1 icon that launched Schumacher's career". Autosport.com. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  2. ^ Walker, Murray (1991). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 93–100. ISBN 0-905138-90-2.
  3. ^ "1991 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  4. ^ "1991 Belgian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 25 August 1991. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Belgium 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.


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1991 Hungarian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1991 season
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1991 Italian Grand Prix
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1990 Belgian Grand Prix
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1992 Belgian Grand Prix