1991 Canadian Grand Prix
| 1991 Canadian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 5 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship | |||
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| Race details | |||
| Date | 2 June 1991 | ||
| Location |
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Montreal, Quebec, Canada | ||
| Course | Temporary street circuit | ||
| Course length | 4.430 km (2.753 mi) | ||
| Distance | 69 laps, 305.670 km (189.935 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 |
 | Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:22.385 on lap 65 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Benetton-Ford | ||
| Second | Tyrrell-Honda | ||
| Third | Williams-Renault | ||
|
Lap leaders
| |||
The 1991 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on 2 June 1991. It was the fifth race of the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship.
The 69-lap race was won by Nelson Piquet, driving a Benetton-Ford. Piquet took the 23rd and final win of his F1 career after old rival Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, suddenly stopped halfway round the last lap while leading by almost a minute. Stefano Modena took second in a Tyrrell-Honda, while Mansell's team-mate Riccardo Patrese was third, having started from pole position.
Report
Between the Monaco and Canadian Grands Prix, Cesare Fiorio had been fired as team manager of Ferrari and had been replaced by Piero Ferrari.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 saw Patrese take pole position from team-mate Mansell, out-qualifying him 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 went out on lap 4 with electronics problems, while Aguri Suzuki retired when his Lola 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 battle with teammate Alesi and Piquet's Benetton.
Mansell led Patrese and Senna on lap 25 when Senna 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 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. There were rumours that Mansell had failed to change gear for the hairpin and stalled the car, or that he had turned off the engine accidentally while waving to the crowd during the final lap. Mansell denied this, saying that the gearbox had gone into neutral as he shifted down, and Williams said that the car had suffered an electrical failure. This is technically true, but was induced by Mansell failing to keep the revs sufficiently high on the engine to drive the electrical and hydraulic systems, thus causing the gearbox barrel to get stuck. When the car was returned to the pits the engine was re-fired and the gearbox worked perfectly.[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, their first in Formula One, meant 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 |  |
Dallara-Judd | 1:23.244 | — |
| 2 | 22 |  |
Dallara-Judd | 1:23.480 | +0.236 |
| 3 | 33 | |
Jordan-Ford | 1:23.672 | +0.428 |
| 4 | 32 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
Jordan-Ford | 1:23.719 | +0.475 |
| 5 | 14 |  |
Fondmetal-Ford | 1:24.795 | +1.551 |
| 6 | 34 | |
Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:25.736 | +2.492 |
| 7 | 35 | |
Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:26.900 | +3.656 |
| 8 | 31 |  |
Coloni-Ford | 1:34.475 | +9.231 |
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | |
Williams-Renault | 1:37.593 | 1:19.837 | — |
| 2 | 5 | |
Williams-Renault | 1:35.065 | 1:20.225 | +0.388 |
| 3 | 1 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
McLaren-Honda | 1:35.843 | 1:20.318 | +0.481 |
| 4 | 27 | |
Ferrari | 1:36.003 | 1:20.656 | +0.819 |
| 5 | 19 | |
Benetton-Ford | 1:35.897 | 1:20.686 | +0.849 |
| 6 | 2 |  |
McLaren-Honda | 1:38.223 | 1:20.916 | +1.079 |
| 7 | 28 | |
Ferrari | 1:35.257 | 1:21.227 | +1.390 |
| 8 | 20 | |
Benetton-Ford | 1:37.354 | 1:21.241 | +1.404 |
| 9 | 4 | |
Tyrrell-Honda | 1:38.218 | 1:21.298 | +1.461 |
| 10 | 21 | |
Dallara-Judd | 1:39.017 | 1:21.864 | +2.027 |
| 11 | 33 | |
Jordan-Ford | 1:37.097 | 1:22.154 | +2.317 |
| 12 | 3 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
Tyrrell-Honda | 1:41.100 | 1:22.262 | +2.425 |
| 13 | 16 | |
Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:40.906 | 1:22.443 | +2.606 |
| 14 | 32 | |
Jordan-Ford | 1:38.383 | 1:22.596 | +2.759 |
| 15 | 24 | |
Minardi-Ferrari | 1:39.780 | 1:22.993 | +3.156 |
| 16 | 25 | |
Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:38.517 | 1:23.040 | +3.203 |
| 17 | 22 | |
Dallara-Judd | 1:38.435 | 1:23.040 | +3.203 |
| 18 | 23 | |
Minardi-Ferrari | 1:37.864 | 1:23.125 | +3.288 |
| 19 | 29 | |
Lola-Ford | 1:38.013 | 1:23.260 | +3.423 |
| 20 | 7 | |
Brabham-Yamaha | 1:38.405 | 1:23.516 | +3.679 |
| 21 | 9 | |
Footwork-Porsche | 1:41.196 | 1:23.529 | +3.692 |
| 22 | 30 | |
Lola-Ford | 1:39.696 | 1:23.585 | +3.748 |
| 23 | 15 | |
Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:38.689 | 1:23.650 | +3.813 |
| 24 | 11 | |
Lotus-Judd | 1:42.900 | 1:23.923 | +4.086 |
| 25 | 10 |  |
Footwork-Porsche | 1:49.019 | 1:24.433 | +4.596 |
| 26 | 26 | |
Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:39.670 | 1:24.460 | +4.623 |
| 27 | 18 | |
AGS-Ford | 1:40.555 | 1:24.491 | +4.654 |
| 28 | 17 | |
AGS-Ford | 1:41.946 | 1:24.653 | +4.816 |
| 29 | 8 | |
Brabham-Yamaha | 1:39.897 | 1:24.661 | +4.824 |
| 30 | 12 | |
Lotus-Judd | 1:39.113 | 1:24.732 | +4.895 |
Race
Notes
- Following this race, cars with Goodyear tyres would win every Grand Prix up to and including the 1997 European Grand Prix. Pirelli would pull out of F1 at the end of 1991, and would not return until 2011.
- This was the seventh consecutive Grand Prix to be won by a Brazilian driver, Piquet having won the last two races of 1990 before Senna won the first four races of 1991. It was the end of the longest winning sequence for Brazilian drivers in Formula One history.
- Nigel Mansell's last-lap loss made him the first driver in Formula One history to lose a race on the final lap after having led every lap beforehand.
Championship standings after the race
|
|
- 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.
- ↑ "Grand Prix Results: Canadian GP, 1991". 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 |