| 1991 Australian Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 16 of 16 in the1991 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details | |||||
| Date | 3 November 1991 | ||||
| Official name | Foster's Australian Grand Prix | ||||
| Location | Adelaide Street Circuit,Adelaide,Australia | ||||
| Course | Temporary street circuit | ||||
| Course length | 3.780 km (2.362 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 14 laps, 52.92 km (32.88 miles) | ||||
| Scheduled distance | 81 laps, 306.18 km (190.23 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Torrential rain | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||||
| Time | 1:14.041 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Gerhard Berger | McLaren-Honda | |||
| Time | 1:41.141 on lap 14 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | McLaren-Honda | ||||
| Second | Williams-Renault | ||||
| Third | McLaren-Honda | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The1991 Australian Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held on 3 November 1991 at theAdelaide Street Circuit. It was the 16th and final race of the1991 Formula One World Championship. Torrential rain resulted in the race being stopped after just 16 of the scheduled 81 laps had been completed. The official results were declared from the end of the 14th lap, two laps before the race was suspended, in line with regulations. It holds the record for being the shortest Formula One World Championship race that was legally conducted under modern rules; the2021 Belgian Grand Prix, which ran two aborted formation laps that did not count and three laps under the safety car before it was red-flagged (two of which did not count under the countback rule), does not count under the post-2022 rule changes. From a timing standpoint, it is the shortest Formula One World Championship race in history, as the race lasted barely 30 minutes from formation lap to abandonment. (The 2021 Belgium race started with two formation laps began at 15.25, then delayed until 18.15 and abandoning the attempt at 18.25 after three more laps.)
The race was won byAyrton Senna, withNigel Mansell in second position, andGerhard Berger's third-place finish plus Senna's victory meant that the McLaren team clinched the Constructor's championship. Mansell was unable to take part in the post-racepodium ceremony, following a crash at the end of the race that left him requiring hospital treatment. Because less than seventy-five percent of the scheduled race distance had been completed, only half the normal World Championship points were awarded. This was also the final Formula One race for three time World ChampionNelson Piquet. It was the 60th pole position forAyrton Senna. It would also prove to be the final Grand Prix forSatoru Nakajima,Naoki Hattori,Alex Caffi, andEmanuele Pirro.
Ferrari terminatedAlain Prost's contract with the team following his public criticism of them.[1] His raceseat was taken byGianni Morbidelli, the Ferrari test driver. After being dropped by the Jordan team two races earlier,Roberto Moreno returned to Formula One to take Morbidelli's place at Minardi.Benetton did not renewNelson Piquet's contract with the team, and Australia would be his last Formula One race.Bertrand Gachot returned to Formula One after completing his jail sentence in Britain, replacingÉric Bernard atLarrousse, who had been injured at the previous race meeting in Japan. TheColoni team were entered for their final Grand Prix; new ownerAndrea Sassetti had confirmed that the team would be reborn asAndrea Moda Formula for the following season.[2] Williams also had a 'B'-spec version of the FW14 present, but elected not to use it in the race.
The one-hour pre-qualifying session took place in sunny and dry conditions on Thursday afternoon, instead of Friday morning to expand the race meeting to four days.[3] The session resulted in theBrabham andFootwork teams getting their cars through to the main qualifying sessions, withMartin Brundle's Brabham three tenths of a second faster thanAlex Caffi's Footwork.Mark Blundell was just four hundredths of a second behind in the other Brabham, withMichele Alboreto's Footwork just 0.002 of a second slower in fourth.[4]
Gabriele Tarquini narrowly failed to pre-qualify forFondmetal as his track time was limited after a left rear suspension failure on the exit of turn 11, which turned his car into the wall. It was his first failure to pre-qualify for Fondmetal in three attempts. Slowest wasNaoki Hattori in theColoni, over five seconds away from Brundle's pace. Coloni had failed to pre-qualify for every race in 1991, their last season at the highest level.[4] It also proved to be Hattori's last opportunity at this level.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |  Martin Brundle | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:17.707 | — |
| 2 | 10 |  Alex Caffi | Footwork-Ford | 1:18.007 | +0.300 |
| 3 | 8 | Mark Blundell | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:18.049 | +0.342 |
| 4 | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Footwork-Ford | 1:18.051 | +0.344 |
| 5 | 14 | Gabriele Tarquini | Fondmetal-Ford | 1:18.184 | +0.477 |
| 6 | 31 |  Naoki Hattori | Coloni-Ford | 1:22.852 | +5.145 |
The sunshine continued for both the remaining qualifying sessions on the Friday and Saturday.Aguri Suzuki crashed heavily at turn 1 which contributed to his failure to qualify. His new teammate Bertrand Gachot also did not progress through qualifying.Martin Brundle, having finished in the points in the last race and pre-qualified fastest on the Friday, surprisingly struggled and failed to qualify in his last race forBrabham-Yamaha.Stefano Modena also crashed in qualifying but was unhurt and able to take the race start on Sunday, having already set a time that was sufficient for him to secure a place on the grid.McLaren managed to qualify both their cars on the front row of the grid with Senna in pole position.Nigel Mansell andRiccardo Patrese, in the twoWilliams-Renault cars, occupied the second row. Benetton occupied the third row with Nelson Piquet out-qualifyingMichael Schumacher for the only time in the 1991 season.Gianni Morbidelli qualified in 8th position, only one place behindJean Alesi in his first race forFerrari. In his first race forMinardi-Ferrari,Roberto Moreno also managed to qualify 18th fastest.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:14.210 | 1:14.041 | — |
| 2 | 2 | Gerhard Berger | McLaren-Honda | 1:14.385 | 1:15.563 | +0.344 |
| 3 | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Renault | 1:14.822 | 1:14.897 | +0.781 |
| 4 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | 1:15.633 | 1:15.057 | +1.016 |
| 5 | 20 | Nelson Piquet | Benetton-Ford | 1:16.552 | 1:15.291 | +1.250 |
| 6 | 19 |  Michael Schumacher | Benetton-Ford | 1:15.840 | 1:15.508 | +1.467 |
| 7 | 28 |  Jean Alesi | Ferrari | 1:17.014 | 1:15.545 | +1.504 |
| 8 | 27 | Gianni Morbidelli | Ferrari | 1:16.203 | 1:17.679 | +2.162 |
| 9 | 4 | Stefano Modena | Tyrrell-Honda | 1:16.253 | 45:56.547 | +2.212 |
| 10 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ferrari | 1:17.614 | 1:16.359 | +2.318 |
| 11 | 22 |  JJ Lehto | Dallara-Judd | 1:17.665 | 1:16.871 | +2.830 |
| 12 | 33 | Andrea de Cesaris | Jordan-Ford | 1:17.073 | 1:17.050 | +3.009 |
| 13 | 21 | Emanuele Pirro | Dallara-Judd | 1:17.342 | 1:18.233 | +3.301 |
| 14 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin | Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:17.344 | 1:17.431 | +3.303 |
| 15 | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Footwork-Ford | 1:18.214 | 1:17.355 | +3.314 |
| 16 | 32 | Alessandro Zanardi | Jordan-Ford | 1:17.362 | 1:17.723 | +3.321 |
| 17 | 8 | Mark Blundell | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:17.867 | 1:17.365 | +3.324 |
| 18 | 24 | Roberto Moreno | Minardi-Ferrari | 1:19.752 | 1:17.639 | +3.598 |
| 19 | 34 | Nicola Larini | Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:19.076 | 1:17.936 | +3.895 |
| 20 | 25 |  Thierry Boutsen | Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:18.992 | 1:17.969 | +3.958 |
| 21 | 12 | Johnny Herbert | Lotus-Judd | 1:19.177 | 1:18.091 | +4.050 |
| 22 | 26 | Érik Comas | Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:19.678 | 1:18.112 | +4.071 |
| 23 | 10 | Alex Caffi | Footwork-Ford | 1:18.783 | 1:18.157 | +4.116 |
| 24 | 3 | Satoru Nakajima | Tyrrell-Honda | 1:18.216 | 1:18.307 | +4.175 |
| 25 | 11 | Mika Häkkinen | Lotus-Judd | 1:19.199 | 1:18.271 | +4.230 |
| 26 | 16 | Karl Wendlinger | Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:18.282 | 2:12.369 | +4.241 |
| 27 | 30 | Aguri Suzuki | Lola-Ford | 26:19.244 | 1:18.393 | +4.352 |
| 28 | 7 | Martin Brundle | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:18.887 | 1:18.855 | +4.814 |
| 29 | 35 | Eric van de Poele | Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:20.123 | 1:19.000 | +4.959 |
| 30 | 29 | Bertrand Gachot | Lola-Ford | 1:20.163 | 1:19.274 | +5.233 |
In the torrential rain (which had been falling since halfway through theGroup Atouring car support race earlier in the day), the race started mostly without incident. Riccardo Patrese lost two places at the start and emerged behindJean Alesi's Ferrari but there were no accidents in the first few laps. However, as the race continued into lap 3Gerhard Berger, unseen by the television cameras, ran wide which allowed Nigel Mansell to move up to second position, but rejoining in third. Mansell then proceeded to quickly close the gap toAyrton Senna in first place. But by lap 5 the incidents began to occur which would affect Mansell's ability to pass Senna. This was because so many yellow flags were being displayed by the marshals around the extremely wet circuit. On lap six Mansell moved alongside Senna on the Brabham Straight but quickly saw a wave from a marshal, who was leaning out from the barriers, to warn of wreckage ahead.Nicola Larini's Modena-Lamborghini had crashed on the straight and was lying across the track. Mansell had to abandon his line and rejoin the racing line behind Senna, who had also had to avoid Jean Alesi's stricken Ferrari, which had also crashed yards after Larini on the other side of the road, as did Schumacher's Benetton who also spun off on the side of the road.
Pierluigi Martini'sMinardi car aquaplaned on the Brabham Straight on lap 10, which sent his car straight into the right hand wall and rebounded to the other side of the track before eventually stopping out of the drivers' way. This indicated that the rain was beginning to fall even harder, and more torrential than before. On lap 14,Mauricio Gugelmin's Leyton House was involved in a heavy crash trying to pass the Tyrrell ofStefano Modena going through turn 15. He lost control in the right hand turn and hit the inside wall of the pit lane entrance at the turn 16 hairpin with such speed, he became airborne. Two track marshals suffered minor injuries from flying debris.[5]
Riccardo Patrese was struggling with his car because a front wing, from another car, got stuck towards the front of his undertray. This was spotted byJames Hunt in the BBC race commentary, althoughMurray Walker had suggested earlier that it was the undertray that was loose.[6] Mansell then, as a result of the increasing downpour, spun off on the start of lap 16 on the Wakefield Road straight, before turn 3, having "instantly gone out of control" according to Mansell himself.[7] The torrential downpour also madeMichele Alboreto spin out of the race on lap 15 as well as Modena, although he continued. Nelson Piquet also spun at the high-speed Stag turn but was able to recover and he continued as well.
Gerhard Berger spun off at the end of lap 16 having just recovered from an earlier spin at the Malthouse Corner moments before. Murray Walker said that the weather was becoming worse and the rain was lashing down on the start/finish line. Just after this happened Senna drove onto the start/finish straight and gestured to the race officials, as he went past, to try to get the race stopped.[8] Moments later, with Senna on lap 17, the race was finally stopped. By the end of lap 16 the race order actually was Senna in 1st from Piquet, Morbidelli, de Cesaris, Zanardi and Modena.[9] However, the race officials decided to count back to lap 14 despite the 1991 ruling that early race stoppages should have been counted back one lap. This incident was similar to the controversy of the2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, where computers finalising the race concluded the result a lap too early.
There were attempts to restart the race from the officials, who showed their determination to do so by ordering the 10-minute warning board to be displayed to the drivers and teams to indicate a race restart.[8] But after serious protests from Senna and Riccardo Patrese (who stormed up to the race stewards to argue against a restart), the race was finally abandoned for good.Roland Bruynseraede eventually waved the red flag to indicate the stoppage to the spectators, drivers and teams.[8] As a result, Senna was declared the race winner from Mansell and Berger.[10]
The podium ceremony only had Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger present because Nigel Mansell was sent to hospital after the injuries he sustained in his crash on lap 16. When interviewed byJackie Stewart in the post-race press conference, Senna stated:
I don't think that was a race, it was just a matter of staying on the circuit, and there was no point to try to go quick at all. It was impossible! We had a race, a very bad one, here a couple of years ago and then was impossible [in reference to the1989 Australian Grand Prix, which was run under identically treacherous wet conditions] and today was even worse! There was even more water on the back straight.[7]
Senna and Berger both revealed at the press conference that they would not have started the race if this race did not determine the Constructor's Championship, as the McLaren and Williams teams both went into this race with a chance of winning the championship. When Stewart asked him if they should start a race if ever faced with those type of wet conditions in the future, Senna's reply was a firm "No, they should not start the race", though he understood the pressure that was on the officials and teams to start. He then added that the officials should not be held solely responsible as the drivers, including himself, chose to get in their cars and start the race so they should be held equally responsible.
Nigel Mansell, after being helped from his Williams-Renault commented that "everything was ok other than it was a complete joke, I mean there was debris all over the place. I've got a headache like there's no tomorrow, so I've probably had a little bit of a concussion".[7] He also made reference to the fact that "there was a truck down the straight" as well as four cars and, as a result, the race should have had 10 laps to be stopped.[7]
With less than seventy-five percent of the race distance being completed, half the usual world championship points were awarded, the first time this had happened in Formula One since the wet1984 Monaco Grand Prix had been stopped just before half distance. Senna and Berger's result was enough for McLaren to win the 1991 World Constructors Championship by 14 points over Williams. This was McLaren's seventh constructors championship, and their fourth and last championship won with engine partners Honda.
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| Previous race: 1991 Japanese Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1991 season | Next race: 1992 South African Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1990 Australian Grand Prix | Australian Grand Prix | Next race: 1992 Australian Grand Prix |
