1991 French Grand Prix

Connected to: Alain Prost 1991 Formula One World Championship Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours

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1991 French Grand Prix

Race 7 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship

Race details

Date 7 July 1991

Location Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours

Magny-Cours, France

Course Permanent circuit

Course length 4.250 km (2.651 mi)

Distance 72 laps, 306.000 km (190.892 mi)

Pole position

Driver

Italy Riccardo Patrese

Williams-Renault

Time 1:14.559[1]

Fastest lap

Driver United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault

Time 1:19.168 on lap 49[2]

Podium

First

United Kingdom Nigel Mansell

Williams-Renault

Second

France Alain Prost

Ferrari

Third

Brazil Ayrton Senna

McLaren-Honda

The 1991 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Magny-Cours on 7 July 1991. It was
the seventh race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship, and the first French Grand Prix to be
held at Magny-Cours. The 72-lap race was won by Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, with local
driver Alain Prost second in a Ferrari and Ayrton Senna third in a McLaren-Honda.

Report

The French Grand Prix had moved from the Circuit Paul Ricard near Marseille to the Circuit de Nevers
Magny-Cours in the centre of France, to mixed reviews. There were no changes in the driver line-up, but
the Footwork team had decided to abandon the disastrous Porsche V12 engine project in favour of a
return to Ford engines, while Ferrari introduced a new car, the 643. In qualifying, local driver Alain Prost
impressed and was set to score Ferrari's first pole position of the season, but in the dying minutes
Riccardo Patrese in the Williams-Renault came through to pip the French driver to the pole.
Championship leader Ayrton Senna spun on Olivier Grouillard's oil on his final qualifying attempt and
had to settle for third alongside Nigel Mansell in the second Williams, with the rest of the top ten
starting spots occupied by Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi, Nelson Piquet, Roberto Moreno, Maurício
Gugelmin, and the impressive Gianni Morbidelli in a Minardi. At the start Patrese made a disastrous start
and dropped to 10th position on lap 1, so Prost led from Mansell, Senna, Berger, and Alesi, while
Bertrand Gachot spun off on the first lap in his Jordan. Berger was the first of the big boys to go out
when his engine failed on lap 6, his third consecutive DNF due to engine problems. Patrese started
another recovery drive by passing both Piquet and Morbidelli in one fell swoop when Morbidelli botched
an overtaking attempt, taking himself out of the running. At the front Mansell pressured Prost and on
Lap 21 he made his move taking advantage of traffic to out-brake the French star going into the hairpin.
Mansell slowly pulled away but problems at his first tyre stop dropped him back behind Prost. Mansell
once again closed on Prost and the two battled it out until Mansell finally managed to take advantage of
traffic, again, and took the lead on Lap 54 by this time outbraking Prost around the outside at the
hairpin. Mansell pulled away and scored his first win of the season, Prost was second followed by Senna,
Alesi, Patrese, and de Cesaris.

This was the 17th win of Mansell's career, thus breaking the record of Grand Prix wins by an English
driver, previously held by Stirling Moss.

Classification

Pre-Qualifying
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap

1 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:19.729 —

2 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:20.172 +0.443

3 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford1:20.227 +0.498

4 32 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:20.309 +0.580

5 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:20.539 +0.810

6 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:20.628 +0.899

7 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:21.304 +1.575

8 31 Portugal Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:22.229 +2.500

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap

1 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:17.472 1:14.559 -

2 27 France Alain Prost Ferrari 1:17.386 1:14.789 +0.230

3 1 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda1:16.557 1:14.857 +0.298

4 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:17.095 1:14.895

+0.336

5 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda1:18.087 1:15.376 +0.817

6 28 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:17.303 1:15.877 +1.318

7 20 Brazil Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:20.449 1:16.816 +2.257

8 19 Brazil Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:19.711 1:16.961 +2.402

9 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:19.728 1:17.015

+2.456

10 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:20.635 1:17.020 +2.461

11 4 Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:19.530 1:17.114 +2.555

12 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:19.426 1:17.149 +2.590

13 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:20.097 1:17.163 +2.604

14 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:20.427 1:17.504 +2.945

15 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:19.555 1:17.533 +2.974

16 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:19.187 1:17.775

+3.216
17 8 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:22.277 1:17.836
+3.277

18 3 Japan Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:21.020 1:18.144 +3.585

19 32 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:20.374 1:18.150 +3.591

20 12 United Kingdom Johnny HerbertLotus-Judd 1:21.230 1:18.185 +3.626

21 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford1:20.640 1:18.210 +3.651

22 30 Japan Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:22.058 1:18.224 +3.665

23 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:21.613 1:18.540 +3.981

24 7 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:20.999 1:18.826

+4.267

25 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:21.966 1:18.846 +4.287

26 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:21.323 1:19.267 +4.708

27 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:22.274 1:19.491 +4.932

28 18 Italy Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:22.319 1:20.110 +5.551

29 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:22.737 1:20.262 +5.703

30 10 Sweden Stefan Johansson Footwork-Ford 1:24.114 1:21.000 +6.441

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points

1 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 72 1:38:00.056 4

10

2 27 France Alain Prost Ferrari 72 + 5.003 2 6

3 1 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda72 + 34.934 3 4

4 28 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 72 + 35.920 6 3

5 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 71 + 1 Lap 1 2

6 33 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 71 + 1 Lap 13 1

7 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 70 + 2 Laps9

8 20 Brazil Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 70 + 2 Laps7

9 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 70 + 2 Laps12

10 12 United Kingdom Johnny HerbertLotus-Judd 70 + 2 Laps20

11 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 70 + 2 Laps14

12 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 69 + 3 Laps16

Ret 19 Brazil Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 63 Physical8

Ret 4 Italy Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 57 Gearbox 11

Ret 14 France Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford47 Oil Leak21

Ret 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 43 Transmission 23

Ret 22 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 39 Tyre 26

Ret 8 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 36 Spun Off 17

Ret 30 Japan Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 32 Transmission 22

Ret 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 31 Gearbox 25

Ret 7 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 21 Gearbox 24

Ret 3 Japan Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 12 Spun Off 18

Ret 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 8 Collision 10

Ret 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 7 Spun Off 15

Ret 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda6 Engine 5

Ret 32 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 0 Spun Off 19

DNQ 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd

DNQ 18 Italy Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford

DNQ 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford

DNQ 10 Sweden Stefan Johansson Footwork-Ford

DNPQ 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd

DNPQ 34 Italy Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini

DNPQ 35 Belgium Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini

DNPQ 31 Portugal Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford

Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos Driver Points

1 Brazil Ayrton Senna 48

2 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell 23

3 Italy Riccardo Patrese 22

4 France Alain Prost 17

5 Brazil Nelson Piquet 16

Source: [4]

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos Constructor Points

1 United Kingdom McLaren-Honda 58

2 United Kingdom Williams-Renault 45

3 Italy Ferrari 25

4 United Kingdom Benetton-Ford 21

5 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Honda 11

Source: [4]

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

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