| 1990 Portuguese Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 13 of 16 in the1990 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details[1] | |||
| Date | 23 September 1990 | ||
| Official name | XIXGrande Premio de Portugal | ||
| Location | Autódromo do Estoril Estoril,Portugal | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.350 km (2.703 miles) | ||
| Distance | 61 laps, 265.35 km (164.88 miles) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 71 laps, 308.85 km (191.91 miles) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||
| Time | 1:13.557 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:18.306 on lap 56 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1990 Portuguese Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held on 23 September 1990 atAutódromo do Estoril. It was the thirteenth race of the1990 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race was the 19thPortuguese Grand Prix and the seventh to be held at Estoril. It was scheduled to be held over 71 laps of the 4.35-kilometre (2.70 mi) circuit but was stopped after 61 laps, a race distance of 265.35 kilometres (164.88 mi), after an accident involving theArrows ofAlex Caffi and theLola ofAguri Suzuki.
Nigel Mansell tookpole position in hisFerrari and was leading when the race was stopped, thus taking his only victory of the season and his last for the Ferrari team. Mansell finished 2.8 seconds ahead of Drivers' Championship leaderAyrton Senna in theMcLaren-Honda, who in turn finished 1.3 seconds ahead of rivalAlain Prost in the other Ferrari. Senna thus extended his lead over Prost to 18 points with three races remaining.
This also marked the first race in which an effectivetraction control system was used in Formula One.Scuderia Ferrari used the system on Prost'sFerrari 641; which gave the Frenchman an eventual third-place podium finish. Mansell's 641 was also equipped with the same traction control system; however, the Englishman decided to switch his system off for the race. Nonetheless, he still won the race.[2]
The Friday morning pre-qualifying session produced a similar result to the previous two races, with the same four cars pre-qualifying, albeit in a slightly different order.Olivier Grouillard was fastest for the third time in a row in theOsella, half a second ahead of theAGS ofYannick Dalmas. Now a regular pre-qualifier after the disastrous period with theSubaru engine,Bertrand Gachot was third fastest in theColoni, nearly a second ahead ofGabriele Tarquini in the other AGS.[3]
This left the now-usual trio missing out on pre-qualification. The twoEuroBruns ofRobert Moreno andClaudio Langes were again fifth and sixth, with Langes more than two seconds slower than his team-mate as the team began to lose touch with their rivals. TheLife team had finally abandoned their unreliable and vastly underpoweredW12 engine, and had fitted the L190 with a well-usedJudd CV V8. It had taken ten days to modify the chassis, and the car was now 80 kg lighter. But the engine cover now did not fit properly, and it flew off onBruno Giacomelli'sshakedown lap, halfway through the session. It was slightly damaged and the team had no replacement, so no further running was possible.[4]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 |  Olivier Grouillard | Osella-Ford | 1:19.384 | — |
| 2 | 18 | Yannick Dalmas | AGS-Ford | 1:19.885 | +0.501 |
| 3 | 31 |  Bertrand Gachot | Coloni-Ford | 1:20.000 | +0.616 |
| 4 | 17 | Gabriele Tarquini | AGS-Ford | 1:20.942 | +1.558 |
| 5 | 33 |  Roberto Moreno | EuroBrun-Judd | 1:21.188 | +1.804 |
| 6 | 34 | Claudio Langes | EuroBrun-Judd | 1:23.447 | +4.063 |
| 7 | 39 | Bruno Giacomelli | Life-Judd | no time | — |
Tyrrell'sSatoru Nakajima qualified 20th but withdrew due toinfluenza after crashing in the Sunday morning warm-up session. The grid was adjusted accordingly, although only 25 drivers started as no non-qualifier was reinstated.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |  Nigel Mansell | Ferrari | 1:14.861 | 1:13.557 | — |
| 2 | 1 | Alain Prost | Ferrari | 1:14.536 | 1:13.595 | +0.038 |
| 3 | 27 | Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:14.246 | 1:13.601 | +0.044 |
| 4 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger | McLaren-Honda | 1:14.552 | 1:14.292 | +0.735 |
| 5 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | 1:15.539 | 1:14.723 | +1.166 |
| 6 | 20 | Nelson Piquet | Benetton-Ford | 1:15.542 | 1:14.728 | +1.171 |
| 7 | 5 | Thierry Boutsen | Williams-Renault | 1:15.646 | 1:14.934 | +1.377 |
| 8 | 4 | Jean Alesi | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:16.092 | 1:15.112 | +1.555 |
| 9 | 19 | Alessandro Nannini | Benetton-Ford | 1:16.123 | 1:15.411 | +1.854 |
| 10 | 29 | Éric Bernard | Lola-Lamborghini | 1:16.477 | 1:15.673 | +2.116 |
| 11 | 30 |  Aguri Suzuki | Lola-Lamborghini | 1:17.189 | 1:16.012 | +2.455 |
| 12 | 16 | Ivan Capelli | Leyton House-Judd | 1:18.242 | 1:16.284 | +2.727 |
| 13 | 21 | Emanuele Pirro | Dallara-Ford | 1:17.653 | 1:16.290 | +2.733 |
| 14 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin | Leyton House-Judd | 1:17.569 | 1:16.296 | +2.739 |
| 15 | 12 | Martin Donnelly | Lotus-Lamborghini | 1:17.414 | 1:16.762 | +3.205 |
| 16 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ford | 1:17.045 | 1:16.795 | +3.238 |
| 17 | 10 | Alex Caffi | Arrows-Ford | 1:18.725 | 1:16.946 | +3.389 |
| 18 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Dallara-Ford | 1:17.252 | 1:17.066 | +3.509 |
| 19 | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Arrows-Ford | 1:18.630 | 1:17.081 | +3.524 |
| 20 | 3 | Satoru Nakajima | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:17.097 | no time | +3.540 |
| 21 | 26 | Philippe Alliot | Ligier-Ford | 1:17.330 | 1:17.120 | +3.563 |
| 22 | 11 | Derek Warwick | Lotus-Lamborghini | 1:17.904 | 1:17.259 | +3.702 |
| 23 | 25 | Nicola Larini | Ligier-Ford | 1:18.958 | 1:17.269 | +3.712 |
| 24 | 8 | Stefano Modena | Brabham-Judd | 1:17.962 | 1:17.341 | +3.784 |
| 25 | 18 | Yannick Dalmas | AGS-Ford | 1:18.581 | 1:17.621 | +4.064 |
| 26 | 7 |  David Brabham | Brabham-Judd | 1:18.967 | 1:17.715 | +4.158 |
| 27 | 14 | Olivier Grouillard | Osella-Ford | 1:18.512 | 1:17.775 | +4.218 |
| 28 | 24 | Paolo Barilla | Minardi-Ford | 1:18.669 | 1:18.280 | +4.723 |
| 29 | 17 | Gabriele Tarquini | AGS-Ford | 1:20.226 | 1:18.815 | +5.258 |
| 30 | 31 | Bertrand Gachot | Coloni-Ford | 1:20.662 | 1:20.516 | +6.959 |
At the start, with both Ferraris on the front row (Mansell on pole,Alain Prost second), Mansell got too much wheelspin and slid across the track towards Prost, who had to avoid being shunted into the pitwall. All of this allowed theMcLarens ofAyrton Senna andGerhard Berger to slip past Mansell and Prost to make it a McLaren 1–2 with Senna leading into the first corner. After all the mid race tyre stops, it was Senna who emerged as the race leader, followed by Mansell, Berger, and Prost. A few laps later Mansell had caught Senna and passed him into turn one (Senna letting him through, unlike the year before when they collided).
On lap 52, race leaderNigel Mansell was attempting to lap theLigier JS33B ofPhilippe Alliot when the Frenchman stuck to the racing line by driving inches in front of Mansell into the inside of "Curva 2" corner. However, the right rear wheel of his car hit the left front of Mansell's Ferrari and Alliot was sent spinning into theArmco barrier. Mansell came out unscathed from this incident, and eventually won the race which was stopped early due to an accident between Suzuki and Caffi.
Ferrari announced thatJean Alesi would partnerAlain Prost for 1991. Alesi was reported to have already signed a contract with Williams, but changed his mind when Ferrari showed an interest, feeling that this would give him a better chance of winning a championship.[citation needed]
By winning this race, Mansell tiedStirling Moss' longstanding record of most F1 Grand Prix wins without a Drivers' Championship, at 16. Mansell would then extend it to 29 across the next two years, until finally clinching the title at the1992 Hungarian Grand Prix, at which point Moss would have that record handed back to him.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Previous race: 1990 Italian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1990 season | Next race: 1990 Spanish Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix | Portuguese Grand Prix | Next race: 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix |
