1991 French Grand Prix
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| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 7 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One season | |||
| File:Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours (1991).svg | |||
| 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 | Williams-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:14.559[1] | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Nigel Mansell |
Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:19.168 on lap 49[2] | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | McLaren-Honda | ||
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The 1991 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Magny-Cours on July 7, 1991. It was the seventh round of the 1991 Formula One season.
Contents
Report
The French Grand Prix had moved from its home in Paul Ricard to Magny-Cours to mixed reviews. There were no changes in the driver market, but the Footwork team had decided to abandon the disastrous Porsche V12 engine project and went back to Ford engines while Ferrari introduced a new car, the 643. In qualifying Alain Prost impressed at home, as he often does, and looked good 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.
Classification
Pre Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33 |  Andrea de Cesaris |
Jordan-Ford | 1:19.729 | — |
| 2 | 22 |  JJ Lehto |
Dallara-Judd | 1:20.172 | +0.443 |
| 3 | 14 |  Olivier Grouillard |
Fondmetal-Ford | 1:20.227 | +0.498 |
| 4 | 32 |  Bertrand Gachot |
Jordan-Ford | 1:20.309 | +0.580 |
| 5 | 21 | Emanuele Pirro |
Dallara-Judd | 1:20.539 | +0.810 |
| 6 | 34 | Nicola Larini |
Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:20.628 | +0.899 |
| 7 | 35 | Eric van de Poele |
Lambo-Lamborghini | 1:21.304 | +1.575 |
| 8 | 31 |  Pedro Chaves |
Coloni-Ford | 1:22.229 | +2.500 |
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese |
Williams-Renault | 1:17.472 | 1:14.559 | - |
| 2 | 27 | Alain Prost |
Ferrari | 1:17.386 | 1:14.789 | +0.230 |
| 3 | 1 |  Ayrton Senna |
McLaren-Honda | 1:16.557 | 1:14.857 | +0.298 |
| 4 | 5 | Nigel Mansell |
Williams-Renault | 1:17.095 | 1:14.895 | +0.336 |
| 5 | 2 |  Gerhard Berger |
McLaren-Honda | 1:18.087 | 1:15.376 | +0.817 |
| 6 | 28 | Jean Alesi |
Ferrari | 1:17.303 | 1:15.877 | +1.318 |
| 7 | 20 | Nelson Piquet |
Benetton-Ford | 1:20.449 | 1:16.816 | +2.257 |
| 8 | 19 | Roberto Moreno |
Benetton-Ford | 1:19.711 | 1:16.961 | +2.402 |
| 9 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin |
Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:19.728 | 1:17.015 | +2.456 |
| 10 | 24 | Gianni Morbidelli |
Minardi-Ferrari | 1:20.635 | 1:17.020 | +2.461 |
| 11 | 4 | Stefano Modena |
Tyrrell-Honda | 1:19.530 | 1:17.114 | +2.555 |
| 12 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini |
Minardi-Ferrari | 1:19.426 | 1:17.149 | +2.590 |
| 13 | 33 | Andrea de Cesaris |
Jordan-Ford | 1:20.097 | 1:17.163 | +2.604 |
| 14 | 26 | Érik Comas |
Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:20.427 | 1:17.504 | +2.945 |
| 15 | 16 | Ivan Capelli |
Leyton House-Ilmor | 1:19.555 | 1:17.533 | +2.974 |
| 16 | 25 | Thierry Boutsen |
Ligier-Lamborghini | 1:19.187 | 1:17.775 | +3.216 |
| 17 | 8 | Mark Blundell |
Brabham-Yamaha | 1:22.277 | 1:17.836 | +3.277 |
| 18 | 3 |  Satoru Nakajima |
Tyrrell-Honda | 1:21.020 | 1:18.144 | +3.585 |
| 19 | 32 | Bertrand Gachot |
Jordan-Ford | 1:20.374 | 1:18.150 | +3.591 |
| 20 | 12 | Johnny Herbert |
Lotus-Judd | 1:21.230 | 1:18.185 | +3.626 |
| 21 | 14 | Olivier Grouillard |
Fondmetal-Ford | 1:20.640 | 1:18.210 | +3.651 |
| 22 | 30 | Aguri Suzuki |
Lola-Ford | 1:22.058 | 1:18.224 | +3.665 |
| 23 | 29 | Éric Bernard |
Lola-Ford | 1:21.613 | 1:18.540 | +3.981 |
| 24 | 7 | Martin Brundle |
Brabham-Yamaha | 1:20.999 | 1:18.826 | +4.267 |
| 25 | 9 | Michele Alboreto |
Footwork-Ford | 1:21.966 | 1:18.846 | +4.287 |
| 26 | 22 | JJ Lehto |
Dallara-Judd | 1:21.323 | 1:19.267 | +4.708 |
| 27 | 11 | Mika Häkkinen |
Lotus-Judd | 1:22.274 | 1:19.491 | +4.932 |
| 28 | 18 | Fabrizio Barbazza |
AGS-Ford | 1:22.319 | 1:20.110 | +5.551 |
| 29 | 17 | Gabriele Tarquini |
AGS-Ford | 1:22.737 | 1:20.262 | +5.703 |
| 30 | 10 |  Stefan Johansson |
Footwork-Ford | 1:24.114 | 1:21.000 | +6.441 |
Race
Notes
- Debut of the new Ferrari 643
- First French GP to be held at the new Magny Cours venue, previously held at Paul Ricard
- Porsche leaves Footwork F1 team, giving them no choice but to revert to Ford engines
- Mansell's first win of the 1991 season, and 17th of his career, thereby breaking the record of Grand Prix wins by an English driver, previously held by Stirling Moss.
Championship standings after the race
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
| Previous race: 1991 Mexican Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1991 season |
Next race: 1991 British Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1990 French Grand Prix |
French Grand Prix | Next race: 1992 French Grand Prix |
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by 1990 Australian Grand Prix |
Formula One Promotional Trophy for Race Promoter 1991 |
Succeeded by 1992 French Grand Prix |
- REDIRECT Template:F1GP 1990–1999
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