PROFILPELAJAR.COM

1991 Italian Grand Prix
1991 Italian Grand Prix
Race 12 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	8 September 1991
Official name	Coca-Cola 62º Gran Premio d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza; Monza, Lombardy, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.800 km (3.604 miles)
Distance	53 laps, 307.400 km (191.01 miles)
Weather	Sunny and warm
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna;
Time	1:21.114
Fastest lap
Driver	Ayrton Senna
Time	1:26.061 on lap 41
Podium
First	Nigel Mansell;
Second	Ayrton Senna;
Third	Alain Prost;
	Lap leaders ;

The 1991 Italian Grand Prix (formally the Coca-Cola 62º Gran Premio d'Italia^[1]) was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 8 September 1991. It was the twelfth race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship.

The 53-lap race was won by British driver Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, after he started from second position. Drivers' Championship leader, Brazilian Ayrton Senna, finished second in his McLaren-Honda, having started from pole position, with Frenchman Alain Prost third in a Ferrari. The win, Mansell's fourth of the season, enabled him to reduce Senna's championship lead to 18 points with four races remaining.

Pre-race

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 at Benetton, while Roberto Moreno went the other way, taking Schumacher's place at Jordan. Elsewhere Michael Bartels was back at Lotus, as Johnny Herbert had more commitments in Japanese Formula 3000.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

It was a third 1–2 in a row for Brabham in the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, with Mark Blundell back on top of the time sheets, eight tenths of a second faster than Martin Brundle. Olivier Grouillard was again third fastest for Fondmetal, his fifth pre-qualifying success of the season. Michele Alboreto took the last pre-qualification position in the Footwork, 1.5 seconds off Blundell's pace.

In his best pre-qualifying performance in his four attempts so far, Fabrizio Barbazza just missed out in fifth place in the AGS, albeit 1.6 seconds slower than Alboreto. His team-mate Gabriele Tarquini debuted the new JH27 car, but its engine failed on the first lap. Tarquini reverted to the JH25B, but could only manage sixth fastest. Alex Caffi was a couple of tenths of a second further back in seventh in the other Footwork, while Pedro Chaves remained stuck in the pits after the worn engine in his Coloni refused to start.^[2]

Pre-qualifying classification

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	—	—

Qualifying report

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, Schumacher, Nelson Piquet, in his 200th Grand Prix, Moreno, and Pierluigi Martini, in the Ferrari powered Minardi.

Qualifying classification

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

Race report

At the start Senna got away well from Mansell, Berger, Patrese, and Alesi, with everyone making it through the Rettifilo double chicane. Moreno was an early casualty as he spun off on lap 2 with the Jordan's suspension breaking just before the spin also just behind the leaders.

Patrese at the front started to charge, first he disposed of Berger, and then Mansell. Martini had spun off in the Minardi by lap 8 at Roggia behind the leaders. On lap 26 Patrese 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 (despite pulling off just after the start/finish line with electrical problems), 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.

Race classification

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
Source:^[3]

Championship standings after the race

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
Source: ^[4]

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
Source: ^[4]

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

References

^ "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1991". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
^ Walker, Murray (1991). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 101–108. ISBN 0-905138-90-2.
^ "1991 Italian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Italy 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.

Henry, Alan (1991). AUTOCOURSE 1991-92. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 206–207. ISBN 0-905138-87-2.

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