| 1991 Japanese Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 16 in the1991 Formula One World Championship | |||
.svg) | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 20 October 1991 | ||
| Official name | XVII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Suzuka Circuit,Suzuka,Japan | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.860 km (3.641[1] miles) | ||
| Distance | 53 laps, 310.580 km (192.985 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny, warm | ||
| Attendance | 337,000[2] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:34.700 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | |
| Time | 1:41.532 on lap 39 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Second | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Third | Williams-Renault | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1991 Japanese Grand Prix (formally theXVII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was aFormula One motor race held atSuzuka on 20 October 1991. It was the fifteenth round of the1991 Formula One season. The 53-lap race was won byMcLaren driverGerhard Berger after he started frompole position. His teammateAyrton Senna finished second andRiccardo Patrese was third for theWilliams team. The race would mark Mclaren's last one-two finish for six years until the1997 European Grand Prix.[3]
This was alsoHonda's last one-two finish until the2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Formula One moved to Japan with the fight for the title still open; this was the fifth year in a row that the title would be decided at the Suzuka circuit. Both championship contendersAyrton Senna andNigel Mansell knew exactly what they needed to do; Mansell had to win with help and Senna needed to beat Mansell. There were several changes to the driver lineup, the most notable being at Leyton House whereIvan Capelli had been replaced by young AustrianKarl Wendlinger, with Capelli being freed up as a spare driver for Ferrari ifAlain Prost decided not to enter. It was the first time the Leyton House/March team had not entered with Capelli as a named driver since their return to the grid in 1987, during which time he had partneredMauricio Gugelmin in every race from 1988 onwards. Elsewhere, AGS had run out of money and did not make the voyage to Japan, while fellow stragglers Coloni had hired local driverNaoki Hattori.Johnny Herbert was back behind the wheel of theLotus after having missed a few races in the second half of the season due toJapanese Formula 3000 commitments.
With the withdrawal ofAGS from Formula One prior to this event, and the return of theColoni team after missing the last grand Prix, the pre-qualifying pool was reduced to six cars.
ABrabham topped the time sheets for the seventh time this season asMartin Brundle was fastest, over a second ahead ofAlex Caffi in theFootwork. It was only the second time in seven attempts that the Italian had pre-qualified. His team-mateMichele Alboreto was third fastest, just under a tenth of a second slower. The fourth and final pre-qualifying position went toGabriele Tarquini forFondmetal, the second time in as many attempts that he had pre-qualified for his new team.
For the first time in 1991, the other Brabham failed to pre-qualify, asMark Blundell suffered an oil leak in hisYamaha engine during the session. His time was only good enough for fifth place. Coloni had hired the 1990 JapaneseFormula Three champion,Naoki Hattori, to replacePedro Chaves for the last two races of the season, but the car broke down before Hattori was able to post a representative time.[4]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |  Martin Brundle | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:41.289 | — |
| 2 | 10 |  Alex Caffi | Footwork-Ford | 1:42.382 | +1.093 |
| 3 | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Footwork-Ford | 1:42.479 | +1.190 |
| 4 | 14 | Gabriele Tarquini | Fondmetal-Ford | 1:43.025 | +1.736 |
| 5 | 8 | Mark Blundell | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:44.025 | +2.736 |
| 6 | 31 |  Naoki Hattori | Coloni-Ford | 2:00.035 | +18.746 |
There were a number of accidents during the qualifying sessions, including young sensationMichael Schumacher and Ferrari driverJean Alesi. The biggest of these accidents was the one that befellÉric Bernard who broke his ankle and would not take any further part in the race. At the end of the qualifying sessions it was a McLaren front row withGerhard Berger ahead of Ayrton Senna. Mansell was third followed by the unhappyAlain Prost,Riccardo Patrese,Jean Alesi,Pierluigi Martini,Gianni Morbidelli, Michael Schumacher, andNelson Piquet. Senna was right where he wanted to be, while Mansell knew he had his work cut out for him.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |  Gerhard Berger | McLaren-Honda | 1:36.458 | 1:34.700 | — |
| 2 | 1 | Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:36.490 | 1:34.898 | +0.198 |
| 3 | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Renault | 1:36.529 | 1:34.922 | +0.222 |
| 4 | 27 |  Alain Prost | Ferrari | 1:37.565 | 1:36.670 | +1.970 |
| 5 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | 1:37.874 | 1:36.882 | +2.182 |
| 6 | 28 | Jean Alesi | Ferrari | 1:37.718 | 1:37.140 | +2.440 |
| 7 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ferrari | 1:40.176 | 1:38.154 | +3.454 |
| 8 | 24 | Gianni Morbidelli | Minardi-Ferrari | 1:41.088 | 1:38.248 | +3.548 |
| 9 | 19 |  Michael Schumacher | Benetton-Ford | 1:39.742 | 1:38.363 | +3.663 |
| 10 | 20 | Nelson Piquet | Benetton-Ford | 1:40.557 | 1:38.614 | +3.914 |
| 11 | 33 | Andrea de Cesaris | Jordan-Ford | 1:40.407 | 1:38.842 | +4.142 |
| 12 | 22 |  JJ Lehto | Dallara-Judd | 1:40.191 | 1:38.911 | +4.211 |
| 13 | 32 | Alessandro Zanardi | Jordan-Ford | 1:39.051 | 1:38.923 | +4.223 |
| 14 | 4 | Stefano Modena | Tyrrell-Honda | 1:39.245 | 1:38.926 | +4.226 |
| 15 | 3 | Satoru Nakajima | Tyrrell-Honda | 1:40.100 | 1:39.118 | +4.418 |
| 16 | 21 | Emanuele Pirro | Dallara-Judd | 1:41.246 | 1:39.238 | +4.538 |
| 17 | 25 |  Thierry Boutsen | Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:39.946 | 1:39.499 | +4.799 |
| 18 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin | Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:40.714 | 1:39.518 | +4.818 |
| 19 | 7 | Martin Brundle | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:40.867 | 1:39.697 | +4.997 |
| 20 | 26 | Érik Comas | Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:41.251 | 1:39.820 | +5.120 |
| 21 | 11 | Mika Häkkinen | Lotus-Judd | 1:41.485 | 1:40.024 | +5.324 |
| 22 | 16 | Karl Wendlinger | Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:41.639 | 1:40.092 | +5.392 |
| 23 | 12 | Johnny Herbert | Lotus-Judd | 1:40.512 | 1:40.170 | +5.470 |
| 24 | 14 | Gabriele Tarquini | Fondmetal-Ford | 1:42.835 | 1:40.184 | +5.484 |
| 25 | 30 | Aguri Suzuki | Lola-Ford | 1:41.528 | 1:40.255 | +5.555 |
| 26 | 10 | Alex Caffi | Footwork-Ford | 1:40.517 | 1:40.402 | +5.702 |
| 27 | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Footwork-Ford | 1:41.536 | 1:40.844 | +6.144 |
| 28 | 34 | Nicola Larini | Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:43.057 | 1:42.492 | +7.792 |
| 29 | 35 | Eric van de Poele | Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:46.641 | 1:42.724 | +8.024 |
| 30 | 29 | Éric Bernard | Lola-Ford | no time | no time | — |
At the start of the race, Berger got away well and Senna blocked Mansell the way that Mansell had done to him inPortugal. Elsewhere, Jean Alesi's day ended on the first lap in a cloud of smoke, his Ferrari engine having blown. At the end of lap 1, the order was Berger, Senna, Mansell, Patrese, and Prost. There was a huge accident on lap two whenAndrea de Cesaris spun his Jordan while leading other cars, and the resulting accident took Wendlinger,Pirro, andLehto with him. At the front, Berger pulled off into the lead while Mansell hounded Senna. It all ended on lap 10 when Mansell made a mistake on the first corner and spun off, beaching his Williams in a gravel trap. He was forced to retire after the accident, ending his championship challenge and crowning Senna as Formula One World Champion for the second consecutive year.
With the news of Mansell's retirement, Senna increased his pace and quickly caught Berger, passing him for the lead on lap 18. Senna slowed again at the end of the race, letting Berger through on the last lap to win his first race for McLaren. Patrese finished third followed by Prost,Martin Brundle (scoring the last points in the history of the Brabham team), andStefano Modena in the Tyrrell. Senna had won his third world championship. This was the last time Senna, Prost, Piquet and Mansell raced together; Prost was dismissed by Ferrari before the final race of the season, which turned out to be Piquet's last.
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| Previous race: 1991 Spanish Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1991 season | Next race: 1991 Australian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1990 Japanese Grand Prix | Japanese Grand Prix | Next race: 1992 Japanese Grand Prix |
