| 1992 Japanese Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 16 in the1992 Formula One World Championship | |||
.svg) | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 25 October 1992 | ||
| Official name | XVIII 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 | Dry, warm, cloudy | ||
| Attendance | 332,000[2] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:37.360 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Nigel Mansell | Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:40.646 on lap 44 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||
| Second | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Third | Benetton-Ford | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1992 Japanese Grand Prix (formally theXVIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was aFormula One motor race held atSuzuka on 25 October 1992. It was the fifteenth race of the1992 Formula One World Championship.
The 53-lap race was won by Italian driverRiccardo Patrese, driving aWilliams-Renault. It was Patrese's sixth and final Grand Prix victory, and the last win for an Italian driver for over a decade, untilGiancarlo Fisichella won the2003 Brazilian Grand Prix. AustrianGerhard Berger finished second in aMcLaren-Honda, with EnglishmanMartin Brundle third in aBenetton-Ford.
Two driver changes took place before the race:Ferrari replacedIvan Capelli with their test driverNicola Larini, whileKarl Wendlinger leftMarch to joinSauber's preparatory program ahead of the Swiss team's debut in 1993. His place was taken byJan Lammers, making his first F1 start for over 10 years.[3]
In qualifying,Williams'Nigel Mansell took his 13th pole position of the season, equalling the record set byAyrton Senna in1988 and1989. Team-mateRiccardo Patrese was alongside him on the front row, while theMcLarens of Senna andGerhard Berger filled the second row.Michael Schumacher in theBenetton was fifth, followed by the twoLotuses ofJohnny Herbert andMika Häkkinen. The top ten was completed byÉrik Comas in theLigier,Andrea de Cesaris in theTyrrell andThierry Boutsen in the second Ligier.
Mansell made a fast start and at the end of the first lap led Patrese by three seconds. Senna held on to third before becoming the race's first retirement on lap 3 with an engine failure. Meanwhile, Larini, who had qualified 11th, stalled on the grid and fell to last, while Boutsen's gearbox failed on lap 4.Olivier Grouillard in the second Tyrrell spun off and crashed at Spoon curve on lap 7.
Berger made an early pit stop and rejoined the race in sixth place, behind Schumacher and the two Lotuses. On lap 13, Schumacher retired with gearbox failure, his only mechanical retirement of the year; Herbert's gearbox also failed two laps later. After the mid-race pit stops for tyres, Mansell retained a comfortable lead over Patrese, while Berger moved ahead of Häkkinen into third andMartin Brundle, who had only qualified 13th in the second Benetton, moved up to fifth ahead of Comas and de Cesaris.Maurício Gugelmin in the second Jordan had also spun off the track and crashed at 130R leaving debris on the track by lap 23.
On lap 36, Mansell slowed and Patrese moved ahead. The following lap, Comas retired with an engine failure. The two Venturi Larousse cars collided at the chicanes as they were both on lap 40 at the time asBertrand Gachot hit his Japanese teammateUkyo Katayama and went off into the gravel trap, who managed to carry on and pit in for fresh tyres (despite making contact). On lap 45, both Mansell and Häkkinen suffered engine failures of their own; this moved Berger and Brundle into second and third respectively. Patrese cruised to his sixth and final Grand Prix victory, finishing 13 seconds ahead of Berger with Brundle a further minute back; the top six was completed by de Cesaris,Jean Alesi in the second Ferrari andChristian Fittipaldi, who scored his first point in Formula One and the only point of the season for theMinardi team.
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| Previous race: 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1992 season | Next race: 1992 Australian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1991 Japanese Grand Prix | Japanese Grand Prix | Next race: 1993 Japanese Grand Prix |
