The 1991 Belgian Grand Prix was the eleventh race of the 1991 Formula One Season, held at the world renowned Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.[1] The race would go down in history as the debut for a driver whom would go on to become a legend within the sport, Michael Schumacher.
Although Schumacher retired, the race was still action packed, and saw a high attrition cruely prevent Schumacher's team mate, Andrea de Cesaris from taking a first podium for Jordan.[1] Surviving the longest was Ayrton Senna, who won from team mate Gerhard Berger and Nelson Piquet, while Mark Blundell secured the first points for Brabham in 1991.[1]
Background
The big story surronding the Belgian race concerned the new Jordan Grand Prix team, who lost the services of Bertrand Gachot.[1] Gachot was jailed by the British courts for assault, beginning a two month prison sentence, with Eddie Jordan left to search for a new driver.[1] In the week before the race, Mercedes-Benz agreed a £200,000 fee so that their promising talent Michael Schumacher could race with the team in Belgium.[1] Schumacher himself paid £50,000 of the fee to Jordan to secure the drive, meaning he joined Andrea de Cesaris in the 191.
Elsewhere, Honda believed that their recent developments were race ready, handing over supposedly stronger engines to McLaren, although the semi-automatic gearbox was still being refined.[2] At Team Lotus, meanwhile, Michael Bartels was bumped out of the second seat by the returning Johnny Herbert, whose Asian exploits brought a little more sponsorship to the team.[1] Circuit wise, the Spa Francorchamps circuit had been partially resurfaced since the 1990 Belgian Grand Prix, Blanchimont in particular.[1]
The title battle was fast becoming a duel of two, as Ayrton Senna pulled a twelve point advantage to Belgium, with Nigel Mansell in second. The Brit had a seventeen point advantage over team mate Riccardo Patrese, with Gerhard Berger and Alain Prost seemingly in a battle for fourth, Prost being 40 points behind his arch-rival with only five races to go.
McLaren-Honda had restored their lead in the Constructors' Championship in Hungary, now with Williams-Renault behind by two points. Ferrari were an increasingly distant, but secure, third ahead of Benetton, while the Jordan team completed the top five, their recent scoring run having ended in Budapest. At the bottom of the points table were Leyton House, with a single point to their name, meaning they were ahead of Brabham, who were yet to score.
Entry List
The full entry list for the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix is shown below:
Practice Overview
Qualifying
With 34 entries at every race in 1991, the FIA had opted to adopt a policy of limiting the number of cars on any circuit at any one time to 30. This meant that a pre-qualifying session was introduced that removed four of the slowest eight cars from the previous half season.[1] Since the half-season switch, Brabham had managed to get both of their cars through, combined with one of the Footwork and/or AGS entries.[1] Brabham were once again expected to breeze through, but there were no guarentees.
Pre-qualifying
As many predicted, Brabham were the team to watch from pre-qualifying, as Martin Brundle beat team mate Mark Blundell by one and a half seconds.[1] They were to be joined by Olivier Grouillard and Alex Caffi, who got into qualifying for the first time since his return.[1] Therefore out went Michele Alboreto and Pedro Chaves, as well as the two AGS entries, with Gabriele Tarquini suffering in particular.[1] The Italian was braving the bumps through the resurfaced Blanchimont corner when his suspension failed, throwing the AGS into the barrier although thankfully Tarquini was uninjured.[1]
Report
Ayrton Senna put the Honda modifications to good use, taking his second consecutive pole by over a second, as Alain Prost rediscovered some of his lost form to take second.[1] Nigel Mansell missed out on a front row start by just seven thousandths of a second, having to settle for third alongside Gerhard Berger who failed to set a competitive time on Saturday.[1] Jean Alesi took fifth ahead of Nelson Piquet, while debutant Michael Schumacher set a stunning lap to take seventh, equalling Jordan's best grid start of the season.[1]
The two Brabhams made the cut to get into the race, Blundell now the quicker of the two, with Grouillard also joining them on raceday.[1] Caffi, meanwhile, failed to qualify for the race on his quali return, joined by Nicola Larini, a surprise Aguri Suzuki and Eric van de Poele.[1] The Friday session had seen a huge crash for van de Poele too, who had a similar accident to Tarquini, although he ended up smacking the concrete wall.[1] The Belgian racer was sent to hospital overnight, but was fit enough to drive on Saturday, although he failed to get through.
Full Qualifying Result
The final result for the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix is outlined below:
Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Time[2] | Gap | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Q1 | Q2 | |||||
1 | 1 | Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:49.100 | 1:47.811 | — |
2 | 27 | Alain Prost | Ferrari | 1:51.369 | 1:48.821 | +1.010s |
3 | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Renault | 1:50.666 | 1:48.828 | +1.017s |
4 | 2 | Gerhard Berger | McLaren-Honda | 1:49.485 | No Time | +1.674s |
5 | 28 | Jean Alesi | Ferrari | 1:51.832 | 1:49.974 | +2.163s |
6 | 20 | Nelson Piquet | Benetton-Ford Cosworth | 1:53.371 | 1:50.540 | +2.729s |
7 | 32 | Michael Schumacher | Jordan-Ford Cosworth | 1:53.290 | 1:51.212 | +3.401s |
8 | 19 | Roberto Moreno | Benetton-Ford Cosworth | 1:53.664 | 1:51.283 | +3.472s |
9 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ferrari | 1:53.460 | 1:51.299 | +3.488s |
10 | 4 | Stefano Modena | Tyrrell-Honda | 1:52.899 | 1:51.307 | +3.496s |
11 | 33 | Andrea de Cesaris | Jordan-Ford Cosworth | 1:54.186 | 1:51.986 | +4.175s |
12 | 16 | Ivan Capelli | Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:53.603 | 1:52.113 | +4.302s |
13 | 8 | Mark Blundell | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:54.814 | 1:52.377 | +4.566s |
14 | 22 | JJ Lehto | Dallara-Judd | 1:54.211 | 1:52.417 | +4.606s |
15 | 15 | Mauricio Gugelmin | Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:56.027 | 1:52.623 | +4.812s |
16 | 7 | Martin Brundle | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:54.921 | 1:52.626 | +4.815s |
17 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | 1:52.646 | No Time | +4.835s |
18 | 25 | Thierry Boutsen | Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:54.446 | 1:52.709 | +4.898s |
19 | 24 | Gianni Morbidelli | Minardi-Ferrari | 1:57.232 | 1:52.896 | +5.085s |
20 | 29 | Éric Bernard | Lola-Ford Cosworth | 1:55.679 | 1:53.309 | +5.498s |
21 | 12 | Johnny Herbert | Lotus-Judd | 1:55.523 | 1:53.361 | +5.550s |
22 | 3 | Satoru Nakajima | Tyrrell-Honda | 1:55.874 | 1:53.494 | +5.683s |
23 | 14 | Olivier Grouillard | Fondmetal-Ford Cosworth | 1:55.945 | 1:53.628 | +5.817s |
24 | 11 | Mika Häkkinen | Lotus-Judd | 1:55.483 | 1:53.799 | +5.988s |
25 | 21 | Emanuele Pirro | Dallara-Judd | 1:56.131 | 1:53.839 | +6.028s |
26 | 26 | Érik Comas | Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:56.218 | 1:53.847 | +6.036s |
DNQ | 30 | Aguri Suzuki | Lola-Ford Cosworth | 1:56.594 | 1:53.869 | +6.058s |
DNQ | 34 | Nicola Larini | Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:56.561 | 1:54.781 | +6.970s |
DNQ | 10 | Alex Caffi | Footwork-Ford Cosworth | 1:57.556 | 1:57.338 | +9.527s |
DNQ | 35 | Eric van de Poele | Lambo-Lamborghini | No Time | 1:57.746 | +9.935s |
DNPQ | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Footwork-Ford Cosworth | 1:59.910 | ||
DNPQ | 17 | Gabriele Tarquini | AGS-Ford Cosworth | 1:59.972 | ||
DNPQ | 31 | Pedro Chaves | Coloni-Ford Cosworth | 2:01.921 | ||
DNPQ | 18 | Fabrizio Barbazza | AGS-Ford Cosworth | 2:03.766 |
Grid
The complete starting grid for the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix is shown below:
Pos. | Pos. | |
---|---|---|
Driver | Driver | |
______________ | ||
Row 1 | 1 | ______________ |
Ayrton Senna | 2 | |
______________ | Alain Prost | |
Row 2 | 3 | ______________ |
Nigel Mansell | 4 | |
______________ | Gerhard Berger | |
Row 3 | 5 | ______________ |
Jean Alesi | 6 | |
______________ | Nelson Piquet | |
Row 4 | 7 | ______________ |
Michael Schumacher | 8 | |
______________ | Roberto Moreno | |
Row 5 | 9 | ______________ |
Pierluigi Martini | 10 | |
______________ | Stefano Modena | |
Row 6 | 11 | ______________ |
Andrea de Cesaris | 12 | |
______________ | Ivan Capelli | |
Row 7 | 13 | ______________ |
Mark Blundell | 14 | |
______________ | JJ Lehto | |
Row 8 | 15 | ______________ |
Mauricio Gugelmin | 16 | |
______________ | Martin Brundle | |
Row 9 | 17 | ______________ |
Riccardo Patrese | 18 | |
______________ | Thierry Boutsen | |
Row 10 | 19 | ______________ |
Gianni Morbidelli | 20 | |
______________ | Éric Bernard | |
Row 11 | 21 | ______________ |
Johnny Herbert | 22 | |
______________ | Satoru Nakajima | |
Row 12 | 23 | ______________ |
Olivier Grouillard | 24 | |
______________ | Mika Häkkinen | |
Row 13 | 25 | ______________ |
Emanuele Pirro | 26 | |
______________ | Érik Comas |
Race
Report
Results
The final results for the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix are shown below:
Milestones
Standings
So, Ayrton Senna extended his Championship lead to 22 points, with only 50 available for the rest of the season. Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese retained second and third, while Gerhard Berger gained some breathing space in fourth. Nelson Piquet now completed the top five, as another day of problems ended Alain Prost's title hopes. Mark Blundell, meanwhile was finally on the board, climbing into seventeenth place.
McLaren-Honda left Belgium just on the cusp of the 100 point barrier, their one-two leaving them on 99 points. Williams-Renault looked as if they would need a little luck to aid their title bid, with Ferrari an ever distant third, and now under potential threat from Benetton. Jordan remained in the top five despite being cruelly denied a podium, with Brabham proping up the point scorers in twelfth.
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References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>
tag; no text was provided for refs namedGP
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 '1991 Hungarian Grand Prix', wikipedia.org, (WikiMedia, 03/08/2015), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Hungarian_Grand_Prix, (Accessed 09/08/2015)
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