| 1991 San Marino Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 3 of 16 in the1991 Formula One World Championship | |||
 The Imola circuit in its 1991 configuration | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 28 April 1991 | ||
| Official name | XI Gran Premio di San Marino | ||
| Location | Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola,Emilia-Romagna,Italy | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.040 km (3.132 miles) | ||
| Distance | 61 laps, 307.440 km (191.034 miles) | ||
| Weather | Wet at start, dry by finish | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:21.877 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Gerhard Berger | McLaren-Honda | |
| Time | 1:26.531 on lap 55 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Second | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Third | Dallara-Judd | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1991 San Marino Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held atImola on 28 April 1991. It was the third race of the1991 Formula One World Championship.
The 61-lap race was won by BrazilianAyrton Senna, driving aMcLaren-Honda, after he started frompole position. His Austrian teammateGerhard Berger finished second, with FinnJJ Lehto third in aDallara-Judd. It was also McLaren's first 1-2 finish since the1989 Belgian Grand Prix.
With the team under new management having been sold byCyril De Rouvre,Stefan Johansson was replaced atAGS by Formula One debutantFabrizio Barbazza.
In the pre-qualifying session on Friday morning,Andrea de Cesaris was fastest in theJordan, just under four tenths of a second faster thanJJ Lehto'sDallara in second. De Cesaris' team-mateBertrand Gachot was third, just a few hundredths behind Lehto. The fourth pre-qualifier wasEric van de Poele in theLambo, who edged out the second Dallara ofEmanuele Pirro. It was van de Poele's first progression through to the main qualifying sessions, and the first time in 1991 that a Dallara had failed to pre-qualify.[1]
Apart from Pirro, those who failed to pre-qualify includedOlivier Grouillard in the new British-builtFomet-1 chassis debuted by theFondmetal team. Despite teething troubles which prevented him from progressing any further, Grouillard said he was happy with the new car.[1] Seventh was the other Lambo ofNicola Larini, and bottom of the time sheets wasPedro Chaves in the soleColoni, who suffered a gearbox failure during the session.[1]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33 |  Andrea de Cesaris | Jordan-Ford | 1:25.535 | — |
| 2 | 22 |  JJ Lehto | Dallara-Judd | 1:25.923 | +0.388 |
| 3 | 32 |  Bertrand Gachot | Jordan-Ford | 1:25.980 | +0.445 |
| 4 | 35 | Eric van de Poele | Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:26.117 | +0.582 |
| 5 | 21 | Emanuele Pirro | Dallara-Judd | 1:26.305 | +0.770 |
| 6 | 14 |  Olivier Grouillard | Fondmetal-Ford | 1:26.789 | +1.254 |
| 7 | 34 | Nicola Larini | Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:26.886 | +1.351 |
| 8 | 31 |  Pedro Chaves | Coloni-Ford | 1:31.239 | +5.704 |
Ayrton Senna claimed his 55th pole position fromRiccardo Patrese,Alain Prost,Nigel Mansell andGerhard Berger.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:21.877 | 1:43.633 | — |
| 2 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | 1:21.957 | 1:42.455 | +0.080 |
| 3 | 27 | Alain Prost | Ferrari | 1:22.195 | 1:42.429 | +0.318 |
| 4 | 5 |  Nigel Mansell | Williams-Renault | 1:22.366 | 1:41.878 | +0.489 |
| 5 | 2 | Gerhard Berger | McLaren-Honda | 1:22.567 | 1:40.322 | +0.690 |
| 6 | 4 | Stefano Modena | Tyrrell-Honda | 1:23.511 | 1:44.613 | +1.634 |
| 7 | 28 | Jean Alesi | Ferrari | 1:23.945 | 1:41.149 | +2.068 |
| 8 | 24 | Gianni Morbidelli | Minardi-Ferrari | 1:24.762 | no time | +2.885 |
| 9 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ferrari | 1:24.807 | no time | +2.930 |
| 10 | 3 |  Satoru Nakajima | Tyrrell-Honda | 1:25.345 | 1:42.063 | +3.468 |
| 11 | 33 | Andrea de Cesaris | Jordan-Ford | 1:25.491 | 1:44.118 | +3.614 |
| 12 | 32 | Bertrand Gachot | Jordan-Ford | 1:25.531 | 1:44.897 | +3.654 |
| 13 | 19 | Roberto Moreno | Benetton-Ford | 1:25.655 | 1:45.216 | +3.778 |
| 14 | 20 | Nelson Piquet | Benetton-Ford | 1:25.809 | 1:42.911 | +3.932 |
| 15 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin | Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:25.841 | no time | +3.964 |
| 16 | 22 | JJ Lehto | Dallara-Judd | 1:25.974 | 1:43.397 | +4.097 |
| 17 | 29 | Éric Bernard | Lola-Ford | 1:25.983 | no time | +4.106 |
| 18 | 7 | Martin Brundle | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:26.055 | no time | +4.178 |
| 19 | 26 | Érik Comas | Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:26.207 | 1:46.667 | +4.330 |
| 20 | 30 | Aguri Suzuki | Lola-Ford | 1:26.356 | no time | +4.479 |
| 21 | 35 | Eric van de Poele | Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:26.550 | 1:47.619 | +4.673 |
| 22 | 16 | Ivan Capelli | Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:26.602 | 1:52.949 | +4.725 |
| 23 | 8 | Mark Blundell | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:26.778 | 1:49.539 | +4.901 |
| 24 | 25 | Thierry Boutsen | Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:26.998 | 1:44.125 | +5.121 |
| 25 | 11 | Mika Häkkinen | Lotus-Judd | 1:27.324 | 1:47.444 | +5.447 |
| 26 | 12 | Julian Bailey | Lotus-Judd | 1:27.976 | 1:45.931 | +6.099 |
| 27 | 17 | Gabriele Tarquini | AGS-Ford | 1:28.175 | no time | +6.298 |
| 28 | 18 | Fabrizio Barbazza | AGS-Ford | 1:29.665 | no time | +7.788 |
| 29 | 10 | Alex Caffi | Footwork-Porsche | 1:30.280 | 2:06.589 | +8.403 |
| 30 | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Footwork-Porsche | 1:30.762 | 19:39.741 | +8.885 |
The formation lap saw two dramatic incidents: Prost spun off the track at Rivazza Turn, followed by Berger, who was able to continue. However Prost stalled the engine and did not take the start.
At the lights, Patrese took the lead ahead of Senna, whilst Mansell, already slow off the line with gearbox problems, retired near the end of lap 1 after a collision withMartin Brundle. He was followed out byNelson Piquet who spun off on lap 2,Aguri Suzuki who spun off on lap 3 behind the leaders andJean Alesi who also spun off on lap 3 attempting a rather foolhardy pass onStefano Modena.
In a strong lead, Patrese pitted for originally what appeared to be an early stop to slicks turned out to be more serious – a misfire with a faulty camshaft sensor. He restarted last before retiring for good 9 laps later.
Berger was catching Senna, lapping 1.5 seconds quicker than his teammate. The lead was soon down to 5 seconds, with Modena a superb third fromSatoru Nakajima and the twoMinardis ofPierluigi Martini andGianni Morbidelli.
BothMcLarens pitted for tyres with Senna maintaining his lead. Just after setting fastest lap, Berger was delayed in traffic, held up by the trio ofMaurício Gugelmin,Julian Bailey andThierry Boutsen. Bailey himself moved pastAndrea de Cesaris into 6th, whilst Nakajima retired with transmission problems.
Ivan Capelli spun into retirement from fourth to hand over toJJ Lehto'sDallara. Modena retired with transmission problems which meant that behind the two dominant McLarens, the order was nowRoberto Moreno, Lehto,Eric van de Poele for the littleModena team and Martini's Minardi. Meanwhile, de Cesaris eventually retired in the pits with gearbox problems on lap 38.
Moreno's gearbox broke on lap 52 causing him to retire, whilst Senna was having problems with oil pressure caused by the special high-torque Honda V12. As the Leyton House ofMaurício Gugelmin eventually retired with an engine failure on lap 58. Berger put in a series of fastest laps to cut Senna's lead to just 1.7s at the line.Eric van de Poele had retired on the last lap as the result of fuel pump problems.
Lehto was overjoyed to gain the first and only podium place of his career for Dallara, with Martini fourth. Van de Poele's drive ended when a fuel pump broke on the last lap – he was classified ninth overall. TheLotus drivers ofMika Häkkinen and Bailey took fifth and sixth, both scoring their first world championship points, an unexpected result for the troubled team since their cars had barely managed to get on to the grid with Häkkinen 25th and Bailey 26th. This race was also noted for being the only Formula One point forJulian Bailey.
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| Previous race: 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1991 season | Next race: 1991 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1990 San Marino Grand Prix | San Marino Grand Prix | Next race: 1992 San Marino Grand Prix |
