1991 Monaco Grand Prix

1991 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 4 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	12 May 1991
Official name	XLIX Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco
Location	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo
Course	Street circuit
Course length	3.328 km (2.068 miles)
Distance	78 laps, 259.584 km (161.298 miles)
Weather	Cloudy, mild, dry
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:20.344
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	Ferrari
Time	1:24.368 on lap 77
Podium
First	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Second	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Third	Jean Alesi	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The race was won by Ayrton Senna in the McLaren.

Nigel Mansell finished in second place, scoring his first points of the season.

Mansell's team-mate, Riccardo Patrese, ran in third place until crashing on oil dropped by Stefano Modena, whose engine expired just ahead of him.

Alain Prost finished in fifth position after being delayed by a slow late-race pit stop.

The 1991 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 12 May 1991. It was the fourth race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship.

The 78-lap race was won from pole position by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda. It was Senna's fourth victory from the first four races of the season, and his fourth Monaco win. Englishman Nigel Mansell finished second in a Williams-Renault, with Frenchman Jean Alesi third in a Ferrari.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

The pre-qualifying session on Thursday morning ended up being somewhat straightforward for Dallara and Jordan. JJ Lehto was fastest for Dallara, with Emanuele Pirro in third, with Jordan's Andrea de Cesaris and Bertrand Gachot second and fourth.

Gachot was over a second faster than the fifth-placed car, the Modena Lambo of Nicola Larini. The other Lambo of Eric van de Poele was sixth, with Pedro Chaves seventh in the Coloni on his first experience of the Monaco circuit. Olivier Grouillard propped up the time sheets for Fondmetal as he continued to gain experience in the new Fomet car.^[1]

Pre-qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	22	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Judd	1:23.260	—
2	33	Andrea de Cesaris	Jordan-Ford	1:23.538	+0.278
3	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Judd	1:24.421	+1.161
4	32	Bertrand Gachot	Jordan-Ford	1:24.802	+1.542
5	34	Nicola Larini	Lambo-Lamborghini	1:25.893	+2.633
6	35	Eric van de Poele	Lambo-Lamborghini	1:26.282	+3.022
7	31	Pedro Chaves	Coloni-Ford	1:27.389	+4.129
8	14	Olivier Grouillard	Fondmetal-Ford	1:27.759	+4.499

Qualifying report

Ayrton Senna shocked no-one by taking pole position, but second place was a surprise with Stefano Modena taking full advantage of the superior Pirelli qualifying tyres to be second, followed by Patrese, Piquet, a disappointed Mansell, Berger, Prost, Moreno, Alesi, and de Cesaris. Alex Caffi had a huge accident in the swimming pool section on Saturday, after missing Thursday qualifying with a gearbox problem, and did not participate in the race. Elsewhere Martin Brundle was excluded for missing a weight check in Thursday practice.

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:20.508	1:20.344	—
2	4	Stefano Modena	Tyrrell-Honda	1:23.442	1:20.809	+0.465
3	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:22.057	1:20.973	+0.629
4	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford	1:22.816	1:21.159	+0.815
5	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	1:23.274	1:21.205	+0.861
6	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	1:21.222	1:21.583	+0.878
7	27	Alain Prost	Ferrari	1:22.113	1:21.455	+1.111
8	19	Roberto Moreno	Benetton-Ford	1:23.476	1:21.804	+1.460
9	28	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:22.966	1:21.910	+1.566
10	33	Andrea de Cesaris	Jordan-Ford	1:24.257	1:22.764	+2.420
11	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell-Honda	1:24.435	1:22.972	+2.628
12	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Judd	1:23.311	1:23.022	+2.678
13	22	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Judd	1:23.023	1:23.983	+2.679
14	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ferrari	1:24.101	1:23.064	+2.720
15	15	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House-Ilmor	1:24.920	1:23.394	+3.050
16	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Lamborghini	1:24.728	1:23.431	+3.087
17	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Ferrari	1:24.481	1:23.584	+3.240
18	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House-Ilmor	1:25.040	1:23.642	+3.298
19	30	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Ford	1:26.380	1:23.898	+3.554
20	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	1:25.078	1:23.909	+3.565
21	29	Éric Bernard	Lola-Ford	1:25.370	1:24.079	+3.735
22	8	Mark Blundell	Brabham-Yamaha	1:25.500	1:24.109	+3.765
23	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Lamborghini	1:24.747	1:24.151	+3.807
24	32	Bertrand Gachot	Jordan-Ford	1:24.540	1:24.208	+3.864
25	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Porsche	1:27.843	1:24.606	+4.262
26	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Judd	1:24.868	1:24.829	+4.485
27	12	Julian Bailey	Lotus-Judd	1:28.772	1:26.995	+6.651
28	18	Fabrizio Barbazza	AGS-Ford	1:28.060	1:27.079	+6.735
29	10	Alex Caffi	Footwork-Porsche	no time	no time	—
EX	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Yamaha	—	—	—

Race

Race report

At the start, Senna got away well followed by Modena, Patrese, Mansell, and Prost. In the usual first corner mayhem Berger ran into the back of Piquet, dropping the Austrian to the back of the pack and breaking Piquet's suspension, Berger would later crash out. Senna quickly built up a huge lead over Modena and Patrese. Meanwhile, Andrea de Cesaris in the Jordan was eventually catching up to Jean Alesi and just outside the points in 7th place before retiring shortly after battling with the second Ferrari with a sticking throttle. Meanwhile, Aguri Suzuki in the Lola hit the wall at St. Devote on lap 25 with braking problems, as Modena's teammate Satoru Nakajima had spun and retired at the Nouvelle Chicane after making contact with Martini. Stefano Modena was blocked for a few laps by Emanuele Pirro in the Dallara who ignored blue flags, leading to BBC Commentator James Hunt saying "This is disgraceful driving by Emanuele Pirro". Most of Senna's chasers were eliminated on lap 42 when Modena's engine blew in the tunnel, spreading oil on the track which caused Patrese to crash. Alboreto also retired with engine failure at the same time. Just after taking 10th place from Eric Bernard, Blundell's Brabham lost control because of the oil from Modena's Tyrrell and crashed at the chicane. Senna now had a huge lead over Prost and Mansell, but the Englishman passed Prost with a daring move going into the chicane, and eventually started flying despite having problems earlier in the race. Prost would later pit to repair a damaged wheel causing a slow puncture, but the stop was very long and he dropped down to fifth.

Senna won his fourth Monaco Grand Prix in five years by 18 seconds over Mansell, Alesi, Moreno, Prost, and Pirro. The second-place finish was Nigel Mansell's first points of the season. Curiously, as Senna was slowing down after finishing the race, the pit crew mistakenly ordered him to take another lap, believing that he had crossed for the final lap.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	78	1:53:02.334	1	10
2	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	78	+ 18.348	5	6
3	28	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	78	+ 47.455	9	4
4	19	Roberto Moreno	Benetton-Ford	77	+ 1 lap	8	3
5	27	Alain Prost	Ferrari	77	+ 1 lap	7	2
6	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Judd	77	+ 1 lap	12	1
7	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Lamborghini	76	+ 2 laps	16
8	32	Bertrand Gachot	Jordan-Ford	76	+ 2 laps	24
9	29	Éric Bernard	Lola-Ford	76	+ 2 laps	21
10	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Lamborghini	76	+ 2 laps	23
11	22	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Judd	75	+ 3 laps	13
12	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ferrari	72	+ 6 laps	14
Ret	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Judd	64	Oil leak	26
Ret	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Ferrari	49	Gearbox	17
Ret	15	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House-Ilmor	43	Throttle	15
Ret	4	Stefano Modena	Tyrrell-Honda	42	Engine/Oil leak	2
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	42	Accident	3
Ret	8	Mark Blundell	Brabham-Yamaha	41	Spun off	22
Ret	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Porsche	39	Engine	25
Ret	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell-Honda	35	Spun off	11
Ret	30	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Ford	24	Brakes	19
Ret	33	Andrea de Cesaris	Jordan-Ford	21	Throttle	10
Ret	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House-Ilmor	12	Brakes	18
Ret	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	9	Gearbox	20
Ret	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	9	Accident	6
Ret	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford	0	Suspension	4
DNQ	12	Julian Bailey	Lotus-Judd
DNQ	18	Fabrizio Barbazza	AGS-Ford
DNQ	10	Alex Caffi	Footwork-Porsche
EX	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Yamaha
DNPQ	34	Nicola Larini	Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ	35	Eric van de Poele	Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ	31	Pedro Chaves	Coloni-Ford
DNPQ	14	Olivier Grouillard	Fondmetal-Ford
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Ayrton Senna 40 2 Alain Prost 11 3 Gerhard Berger 10 4 Riccardo Patrese 6 5 Nigel Mansell 6 Source: [3]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 50 2 Ferrari 16 3 Williams-Renault 12 4 Benetton-Ford 9 5 Tyrrell-Honda 5 Source: [3]

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

References

1. Walker, Murray (1991). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 37–44. ISBN 0-905138-90-2.
2. "1991 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
3. "Monaco 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.

Previous race: 1991 San Marino Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1991 season	Next race: 1991 Canadian Grand Prix
Previous race: 1990 Monaco Grand Prix	Monaco Grand Prix	Next race: 1992 Monaco Grand Prix

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