| 1992 Spanish Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 4 of 16 in the1992 Formula One World Championship | |||
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| Race details | |||
| Date | 3 May 1992 | ||
| Official name | Gran Premio Tío Pepe de España | ||
| Location | Circuit de Catalunya,Montmeló,Catalonia,Spain[1] | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.747 km (2.950 miles) | ||
| Distance | 65 laps, 308.555 km (191.727 miles) | ||
| Weather | Dry at start, wet later | ||
| Attendance | 28,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:20.190 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Nigel Mansell | Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:42.503 on lap 10 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||
| Second | Benetton-Ford | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1992 Spanish Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held on 3 May 1992 at theCircuit de Catalunya,Montmeló. The 65-lap race was the fourth round of the1992 Formula One World Championship and was won byNigel Mansell driving aWilliams-Renault and scoring the thirdgrand chelem of his career.
The race was also advertised as theGrand Prix of the Olympic Games. The race was moved up from its former September date, and held just months before the1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
The Friday morning pre-qualifying session was a similar story to the previous session inBrazil. TheAndrea Moda cars were well behind the performance of the other entrants in the session, who all pre-qualified easily.Perry McCarthy had regained hisSuper Licence so was able to compete for the team alongsideRoberto Moreno. Team bossAndrea Sassetti had been approached byEnrico Bertaggia, whom Sassetti had sacked after theMexican Grand Prix, but who now wanted to return to the team with $1 million in sponsorship. Sassetti wanted to fire McCarthy and rehire Bertaggia, but was told that the team had already reached its maximum number of driver changes for the season, so was forced to retain McCarthy.[2][3]
In the session itself,Bertrand Gachot was again fastest forLarrousse, less than a tenth of a second faster thanMichele Alboreto in theFootwork. Third was Gachot's team-mateUkyo Katayama, 1.4 seconds ahead of the last pre-qualifier,Andrea Chiesa in theFondmetal.
McCarthy took to the track for Andrea Moda, but his engine cut out just four metres after the pitlane exit line.[2][4] Moreno managed three laps in his car before it also suffered an engine failure. McCarthy's car was brought back for Moreno to use, but the Brazilian was still unable to pre-qualify.[4]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 29 |  Bertrand Gachot | Venturi-Lamborghini | 1:26.032 | — |
| 2 | 9 |  Michele Alboreto | Footwork-Mugen-Honda | 1:26.120 | +0.088 |
| 3 | 30 |  Ukyo Katayama | Venturi-Lamborghini | 1:26.484 | +0.452 |
| 4 | 14 |  Andrea Chiesa | Fondmetal-Ford | 1:27.902 | +1.870 |
| 5 | 34 |  Roberto Moreno | Andrea Moda-Judd | 1:37.155 | +11.123 |
| 6 | 35 | Perry McCarthy | Andrea Moda-Judd | no time | — |
Damon Hill, son of former world championGraham Hill, made his debut withBrabham, replacingGiovanna Amati who was dismissed from the team, but did not qualify for the race. As in the three previous races, Mansell qualified inpole position, ahead ofMichael Schumacher,Ayrton Senna,Riccardo Patrese,Ivan Capelli andMartin Brundle.
At the start of the race, in damp conditions, Patrese got by Schumacher and Senna.Ferrari driverJean Alesi made a good start from eighth on the grid to third into the first corner on the first lap, forcing other drivers to take defensive actions and drop back. Senna dropped from third all the way to seventh, he recovered two positions to fifth during the first lap. The order was: Mansell, Patrese, Alesi, Schumacher, Senna and Capelli.
Andrea de Cesaris became the first retirement in the Tyrrell with an engine problem on lap 3 where he retired in the pits. Brundle meanwhile had spun off on the main straight into retirement with a clutch problem by lap 5. Schumacher attacked and passed Alesi on lap 7. Berger tried to do the same but tipped Alesi into a spin, putting the Frenchman behind Senna and Capelli as well. By, now the rain intensified, and Patrese spun off on lap 20 while trying to lap a backmarker. This put Mansell ahead of Schumacher, Senna, Berger, Capelli and Alesi.Maurício Gugelmin had spun into the pit wall on lap 25 meaning more disaster for theJordan team, as he was the only one to qualify for the race.
Alesi pitted for fresh tyres halfway through the race, and soon began to charge up through the field as the rain intensified despite making contact with bothGerhard Berger in the McLaren andMika Häkkinen in the Lotus forcing the Finn to spin off the track whilst trying to lap him, who eventually retired after 56 laps from spinning off. He cruised past Berger for fourth and began to close in quickly on Senna and Schumacher. With two laps to go Senna spun off and into the wall trying to lap Martini, although he was still classified ninth; he had already spun and recovered a few laps earlier. At the same time, Capelli spun off as well (The Italian was classified tenth).
Mansell continued his perfect record in 1992 with his fourth win of the season from Schumacher, Alesi, Berger, Alboreto andPierluigi Martini, but for the first time in the season his Williams team did not score a 1-2 finish. Martin Brundle scored his fourth consecutive retirement of the season in his Benetton, it was proven to be a clutch failure by lap 2 causing the Benetton to eventually spin into retirement on lap 5.
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| Previous race: 1992 Brazilian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1992 season | Next race: 1992 San Marino Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1991 Spanish Grand Prix | Spanish Grand Prix | Next race: 1993 Spanish Grand Prix |
