| 1991 German Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 9 of 16 in the1991 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 28 July 1991 | ||
| Official name | Grosser Mobil 1 Preis von Deutschland | ||
| Location | Hockenheimring,Hockenheim,Baden-Württemberg,Germany | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 6.802 km (4.227 miles) | ||
| Distance | 45 laps, 306.090 km (190.195 miles) | ||
| Weather | Hot and sunny | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:37.087 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:43.569 on lap 35 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||
| Second | Williams-Renault | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1991 German Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held at theHockenheimring on 28 July 1991. It was the ninth race of the1991 Formula One World Championship, and the first German Grand Prix to be held in Germany after thereunification betweenWest andEast Germany.
The 45-lap race was won frompole position by British driverNigel Mansell, driving aWilliams-Renault. It was Mansell's third consecutive Grand Prix victory. His Italian teammateRiccardo Patrese finished second, with FrenchmanJean Alesi third in aFerrari.
Drivers' Championship leader, BrazilianAyrton Senna, failed to score in hisMcLaren-Honda after running out of fuel for the second consecutive race, allowing Mansell to close to within eight points of him.
Ayrton Senna spent a night in a hospital in Mannheim after crashing during pre-race testing a week earlier. Senna suffered a tyre failure at the end of a long straight, causing the car to launch into the air and turn over several times. The McLaren-Honda went 15 feet into the air and was destroyed in the crash, according to witnesses. After regaining consciousness, Senna was taken to hospital with neck and chest bruising.[1][2][3][4]
There were two changes to the entry list, the first was at Lotus whereJohnny Herbert was replaced by young GermanMichael Bartels because of the former'sJapanese Formula 3000 commitments, and the second was atFootwork whereAlex Caffi was back in action after his road accident. ElsewhereSatoru Nakajima announced he would retire at the end of the year.
The participants in the Friday morning pre-qualifying sessions were reshuffled prior to this event, the season having reached its mid-point.Scuderia Italia (Dallara) andJordan had scored points, and were thus relieved of the requirement to pre-qualify, and could automatically join the rest of the field in the main qualifying sessions from here on. By virtue ofNicola Larini's seventh place finish at the first round inPhoenix, theModena team were also lifted out of pre-qualifying, despite struggling in the sessions at recent Grands Prix.[5]
Taking their places during the Friday morning sessions wereBrabham,AGS, andFootwork, who had all failed to score points so far in 1991, or match Modena Lambo's seventh place finish at any race.Fondmetal andColoni were also still required to pre-qualify.
Here at Hockenheim, the fastest pre-qualifier wasMartin Brundle in theBrabham BT60Y. He was over a second faster than theAGS JH25B ofGabriele Tarquini, withMichele Alboreto just a tenth behind in theFootwork FA12C, despite gearbox problems. The fourth pre-qualifier was the other Brabham ofMark Blundell.[5]
The four entrants missing out included Fondmetal driverOlivier Grouillard, who suffered an engine failure and finished fifth fastest, ahead of the second Footwork ofAlex Caffi, who had returned to the cockpit after missing four races. The second AGS of ItalianFabrizio Barbazza was seventh, nearly a second ahead of regular backmarkerPedro Chaves for the cash-strapped Coloni team.[5]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |  Martin Brundle | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:42.810 | |
| 2 | 17 | Gabriele Tarquini | AGS-Ford | 1:43.939 | +1.129 |
| 3 | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Footwork-Ford | 1:44.034 | +1.224 |
| 4 | 8 | Mark Blundell | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:44.257 | +1.447 |
| 5 | 14 |  Olivier Grouillard | Fondmetal-Ford | 1:44.645 | +1.835 |
| 6 | 10 | Alex Caffi | Footwork-Ford | 1:45.282 | +2.472 |
| 7 | 18 | Fabrizio Barbazza | AGS-Ford | 1:46.604 | +3.794 |
| 8 | 31 |  Pedro Chaves | Coloni-Ford | 1:47.546 | +4.736 |
In Saturday practiceÉrik Comas had a massive accident at the Ostkurve chicane in hisLigier. The French driver was unhurt, but it raised questions about the safety of the second chicane. In qualifying,Nigel Mansell took pole from title rivalAyrton Senna. Gerhard Berger was third, followed byRiccardo Patrese- the Williams and McLaren cars were within 4 tenths of each other but were all nearly 2 seconds faster of the next fastest cars, the 2 Ferraris ofAlain Prost andJean Alesi, which were a second quicker than the next fastest car behind them. Then following the Ferraris wereAndrea de Cesaris,Nelson Piquet,Roberto Moreno, andPierluigi Martini in theMinardi, taking full advantage of his Ferrari engine around the high speed circuit.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Renault | 1:37.467 | 1:37.087 | |
| 2 | 1 |  Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:38.208 | 1:37.274 | +0.187 |
| 3 | 2 |  Gerhard Berger | McLaren-Honda | 1:37.946 | 1:37.393 | +0.306 |
| 4 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | 1:38.146 | 1:37.435 | +0.348 |
| 5 | 27 | Alain Prost | Ferrari | 1:39.422 | 1:39.034 | +1.947 |
| 6 | 28 | Jean Alesi | Ferrari | 1:39.391 | 1:39.042 | +1.955 |
| 7 | 33 | Andrea de Cesaris | Jordan-Ford | 1:40.387 | 1:40.239 | +3.152 |
| 8 | 20 | Nelson Piquet | Benetton-Ford | 1:40.560 | 1:40.878 | +3.473 |
| 9 | 19 | Roberto Moreno | Benetton-Ford | 1:41.968 | 1:40.957 | +3.870 |
| 10 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ferrari | 1:40.998 | 1:41.373 | +3.911 |
| 11 | 32 |  Bertrand Gachot | Jordan-Ford | 1:41.443 | 1:41.308 | +4.221 |
| 12 | 16 | Ivan Capelli | Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:42.025 | 1:41.330 | +4.243 |
| 13 | 3 |  Satoru Nakajima | Tyrrell-Honda | 1:41.515 | 1:41.390 | +4.303 |
| 14 | 4 | Stefano Modena | Tyrrell-Honda | 1:41.566 | 1:41.952 | +4.479 |
| 15 | 7 | Martin Brundle | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:42.294 | 1:41.615 | +4.528 |
| 16 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin | Leyton House-Ilmor | no time | 1:41.735 | +4.648 |
| 17 | 25 | Thierry Boutsen | Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:41.823 | 1:41.929 | +4.736 |
| 18 | 21 | Emanuele Pirro | Dallara-Judd | 1:42.021 | 1:42.672 | +4.934 |
| 19 | 24 | Gianni Morbidelli | Minardi-Ferrari | 1:42.132 | 1:42.058 | +4.971 |
| 20 | 22 |  JJ Lehto | Dallara-Judd | 1:42.171 | 1:42.708 | +5.084 |
| 21 | 8 | Mark Blundell | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:43.414 | 1:42.216 | +5.129 |
| 22 | 30 | Aguri Suzuki | Lola-Ford | 1:45.037 | 1:42.474 | +5.387 |
| 23 | 11 | Mika Häkkinen | Lotus-Judd | 1:44.816 | 1:42.726 | +5.639 |
| 24 | 34 | Nicola Larini | Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:44.596 | 1:43.035 | +5.948 |
| 25 | 29 | Éric Bernard | Lola-Ford | 1:43.797 | 1:43.321 | +6.234 |
| 26 | 26 | Érik Comas | Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:43.803 | 1:43.364 | +6.277 |
| 27 | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Footwork-Ford | 1:44.362 | 1:43.409 | +6.322 |
| 28 | 12 |  Michael Bartels | Lotus-Judd | 1:46.409 | 1:43.624 | +6.537 |
| 29 | 17 | Gabriele Tarquini | AGS-Ford | 1:43.787 | 1:43.918 | +6.700 |
| 30 | 35 | Eric van de Poele | Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:44.489 | 1:44.207 | +7.120 |
On Sunday, a couple of hours before the race, there was a FIA driver's meeting and Senna requested to race directorRoland Bruynseraede that the tyre walls at the chicanes be replaced with traffic cones because of the possibility of hitting the tyres and rolling; that happened to him during qualifying for theMexican Grand Prix, and this heated up when FIA presidentJean-Marie Balestre, Senna and a few other drivers had a brief argument over the regulations involving safety. Balestre then instigated a democratic vote, and the vote went towards removing the tyre walls and replacing them with traffic cones.
At the start of the race, Mansell made a great start while Berger slotted into second ahead of team-mate Senna, with Prost, Patrese, and Alesi rounding out the top six. At the back Mark Blundell spun but continued, although Larini spun off into retirement in his attempt to avoid the Brabham. Berger made a bad pit-stop and fell back to tenth, while Prost started to reel in Senna. Mansell was running away at the front and when he pitted for tyres he dropped just behind Alesi, but did not waste time in changing the situation and passed Alesi two laps later to re-take the lead. While Mansell was surging away, a tremendous battle developed for third place between Senna, Prost, and Patrese, with Riccardo beating both men before setting off after Alesi. Senna and Prost continued to squabble over fourth and the major talking point came on lap 37 when Prost attempted to pass Senna going into the first chicane. Prost was faster and tried to go around the outside, Senna would not give way and Prost went off and proceeded to stall the engine. Prost blamed Senna and said he would not be so forgiving the next time while Senna accused Prost of complaining for the sake of complaining. Prost's comments would earn him a one-race suspended ban, while the FIA ordered a sit-down meeting between the two men at the next race. Meanwhile, Mansell cruised to his third straight win, leading home Patrese, Alesi, Berger, de Cesaris, and Gachot, Senna having run out of fuel on the last lap for the second straight race and being classified seventh, allowing Mansell to close to within eight points of Senna in the drivers championship.
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| Previous race: 1991 British Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1991 season | Next race: 1991 Hungarian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1990 German Grand Prix | German Grand Prix | Next race: 1992 German Grand Prix |
