1991 Canadian Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 5 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One season | |||
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| Date | 2 June 1991 | ||
| Location |
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Montreal, Quebec, Canada | ||
| Course | Temporary street circuit | ||
| Course length | 4.430 km (2.763 mi) | ||
| Distance | 69 laps, 305.670 km (190.686 mi) | ||
| Weather | Mild with temperatures approaching 25 °C (77 °F); wind speeds up to 12 kilometres per hour (7.5 mph)[1] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:19.837 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Nigel Mansell | Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:22.385 on lap 65 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Benetton-Ford | ||
| Second | Tyrrell-Honda | ||
| Third | Williams-Renault | ||
|
| |||
The 1991 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on 2 June 1991.
Report
There had been a lot of action in the back rooms of Formula One between the Monaco and Canadian Grands Prix, with the most notable change being that Cesare Fiorio had been fired as team manager of Ferrari and had been replaced by Piero Ferrari. Meanwhile, John Barnard had left as Benetton's technical director; he was replaced by Gordon Kimball (father of future IndyCar driver Charlie Kimball.
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve had been modified from the year before: the right-left sequence right before the start-finish straight had been slowed down.
On the driver front, Julian Bailey had been fired by Lotus and was replaced by Johnny Herbert, who would fail to qualify for the race, while Alex Caffi was out of action for Footwork as a result of injuries sustained in a road accident. His place was taken by Stefan Johansson.
In practice Riccardo Patrese had a huge accident, walking away unhurt.
Qualifying was all Williams with Patrese taking pole position from team-mate Mansell, out-qualifying Mansell for the fifth straight race. Senna was third followed by Prost, Moreno, Berger, Alesi, Piquet, Modena, and Pirro.
At the start Mansell got away well and led Patrese, Senna, Prost, Berger, and Moreno. Berger's race was short lived as he went out on lap 4 with electronics problems, while Aguri Suzuki retired when his Lola rather dramatically caught fire. Moreno was out on lap 10 when he spun off, while Prost was suffering from gearbox problems. The Frenchman had managed to hold on while he engaged in a lively battle with teammate Alesi and Piquet's Benetton.
Mansell led Patrese and Senna on lap 25 when Senna suffered the same fate as team-mate Berger and retired leaving Mansell and Patrese a long way ahead of the Alesi–Prost–Piquet battle. This ended Senna's thus far perfect season. Prost retired shortly after with a gearbox failure on lap 27 and Ferrari's misery was compounded on lap 34 when Alesi's engine blew up.
The Williams drivers were now well ahead of the pack, but Piquet closed on Patrese, the Italian suffering from gearbox troubles of his own. In the late stages Patrese was passed by an impressive Stefano Modena in the Tyrrell. On the last lap Mansell led from Piquet, Modena, Patrese, de Cesaris, and Gachot when he suddenly slowed to a halt at the hairpin. Mansell, while waving to the crowd during the final lap, he had forgotten to change down for the L'Epingle hairpin and had allowed his car's Renault V10 engine revs to fall too low and he stalled the car. With the engine stalled it was not possible to select a gear, and he was forced to retire, the official reason being an electrical failure.[2][3] Piquet thus took an unexpected victory for Benetton at the expense of his old rival Mansell, who was classified sixth. Jordan's five points assured them that they would no longer have to pre-qualify when the draw was reshuffled at the halfway point of the season.
Classification
Pre Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 |  Emanuele Pirro |
Dallara-Judd | 1:23.244 | — |
| 2 | 22 |  JJ Lehto |
Dallara-Judd | 1:23.480 | +0.236 |
| 3 | 33 | Andrea de Cesaris |
Jordan-Ford | 1:23.672 | +0.428 |
| 4 | 32 | .svg.png){kind=small} Bertrand Gachot |
Jordan-Ford | 1:23.719 | +0.475 |
| 5 | 14 |  Olivier Grouillard |
Fondmetal-Ford | 1:24.795 | +1.551 |
| 6 | 34 | Nicola Larini |
Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:25.736 | +2.492 |
| 7 | 35 | Eric van de Poele |
Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:26.900 | +3.656 |
| 8 | 31 |  Pedro Chaves |
Coloni-Ford | 1:34.475 | +9.231 |
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese |
Williams-Renault | 1:37.593 | 1:19.837 | — |
| 2 | 5 | Nigel Mansell |
Williams-Renault | 1:35.065 | 1:20.225 | +0.388 |
| 3 | 1 |  Ayrton Senna |
McLaren-Honda | 1:35.843 | 1:20.318 | +0.481 |
| 4 | 27 | Alain Prost |
Ferrari | 1:36.003 | 1:20.656 | +0.819 |
| 5 | 19 | Roberto Moreno |
Benetton-Ford | 1:35.897 | 1:20.686 | +0.849 |
| 6 | 2 |  Gerhard Berger |
McLaren-Honda | 1:38.223 | 1:20.916 | +1.079 |
| 7 | 28 | Jean Alesi |
Ferrari | 1:35.257 | 1:21.227 | +1.390 |
| 8 | 20 | Nelson Piquet |
Benetton-Ford | 1:37.354 | 1:21.241 | +1.404 |
| 9 | 4 | Stefano Modena |
Tyrrell-Honda | 1:38.218 | 1:21.298 | +1.461 |
| 10 | 21 | Emanuele Pirro |
Dallara-Judd | 1:39.017 | 1:21.864 | +2.027 |
| 11 | 33 | Andrea de Cesaris |
Jordan-Ford | 1:37.097 | 1:22.154 | +2.317 |
| 12 | 3 |  Satoru Nakajima |
Tyrrell-Honda | 1:41.100 | 1:22.262 | +2.425 |
| 13 | 16 | Ivan Capelli |
Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:40.906 | 1:22.443 | +2.606 |
| 14 | 32 | Bertrand Gachot |
Jordan-Ford | 1:38.383 | 1:22.596 | +2.759 |
| 15 | 24 | Gianni Morbidelli |
Minardi-Ferrari | 1:39.780 | 1:22.993 | +3.156 |
| 16 | 25 | Thierry Boutsen |
Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:38.517 | 1:23.040 | +3.203 |
| 17 | 22 | JJ Lehto |
Dallara-Judd | 1:38.435 | 1:23.040 | +3.203 |
| 18 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini |
Minardi-Ferrari | 1:37.864 | 1:23.125 | +3.288 |
| 19 | 29 | Éric Bernard |
Lola-Ford | 1:38.013 | 1:23.260 | +3.423 |
| 20 | 7 | Martin Brundle |
Brabham-Yamaha | 1:38.405 | 1:23.516 | +3.679 |
| 21 | 9 | Michele Alboreto |
Footwork-Porsche | 1:41.196 | 1:23.529 | +3.692 |
| 22 | 30 | Aguri Suzuki |
Lola-Ford | 1:39.696 | 1:23.585 | +3.748 |
| 23 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin |
Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:38.689 | 1:23.650 | +3.813 |
| 24 | 11 | Mika Häkkinen |
Lotus-Judd | 1:42.900 | 1:23.923 | +4.086 |
| 25 | 10 |  Stefan Johansson |
Footwork-Porsche | 1:49.019 | 1:24.433 | +4.596 |
| 26 | 26 | Érik Comas |
Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:39.670 | 1:24.460 | +4.623 |
| 27 | 18 | Fabrizio Barbazza |
AGS-Ford | 1:40.555 | 1:24.491 | +4.654 |
| 28 | 17 | Gabriele Tarquini |
AGS-Ford | 1:41.946 | 1:24.653 | +4.816 |
| 29 | 8 | Mark Blundell |
Brabham-Yamaha | 1:39.897 | 1:24.661 | +4.824 |
| 30 | 12 | Johnny Herbert |
Lotus-Judd | 1:39.113 | 1:24.732 | +4.895 |
Race
Notes
- Last win: Nelson Piquet
- Last podium: Stefano Modena
- Following this race Goodyear tyres would win every Grand Prix up to and including the 1997 European Grand Prix.
- Johnny Herbert replaced Julian Bailey in the number 12 Lotus.
- Stefan Johansson replaced Alex Caffi in the number 10 Footwork. It would be the Swede's final start in Formula One.
- This was the seventh race in a row won by a Brazilian driver. Nelson Piquet had won the last couple of GPs of the 1990 season, while Ayrton Senna won the first four GPs of 1991. It was the end of the longest Brazilian winning sequence in Formula 1 history.
- This was the final victory for a car using Pirelli tyres for almost 20 years, until the 2011 Australian Grand Prix when the company re-entered the sport as its sole tyre supplier.
- Nigel Mansell's infamous last-lap loss made him the first driver in Formula 1 history to lose a race on the final lap after having led every lap beforehand.
- First points: Team 7UP Jordan
Championship standings after the race
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- ↑ "Weather information for the "1991 Canadian Grand Prix"". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
- ↑ "1991 Canadian Grand Prix". grandprix.com. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
- ↑ "Canada 1991 – waving goodbye to victory". formula1.com. 11 June 2003. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ↑ "1991 Canadian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
| Previous race: 1991 Monaco Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1991 season |
Next race: 1991 Mexican Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1990 Canadian Grand Prix |
Canadian Grand Prix | Next race: 1992 Canadian Grand Prix |