1992 Monaco Grand Prix

The 1992 Monaco Grand Prix (formally the 50ème Grand Prix de Monaco [ 1 ] ) was a Formula One motor race held on 31 May 1992 at the Circuit de Monaco . It was the sixth race of the 1992 Formula One World Championship .

Mansell's teammate Riccardo Patrese was third, half a minute behind, with the top six completed by the Benettons of Michael Schumacher and Martin Brundle and the Larrousse of Bertrand Gachot .

The team still hadn't made a proper seat for me, so I had taken a beating inside the cockpit, but I kept my foot down and desperately tried to remember where the next corner was. I knew the tunnel was taken flat out on my first lap but as I came back into daylight at 170mph, I was being bounced around so badly, I had double vision and I vividly remember speeding toward the tyre barrier wondering if I should turn left or right. Anyway I was called back to the pits and that was my run for the day.

The second Venturi Larrousse of Ukyo Katayama was slowed by a slight oil leak before the Japanese driver crashed at Tabac in the final minutes of the session, finishing with the fifth fastest time and becoming the only driver other than Moreno and Perry McCarthy to fail to pre-qualify in 1992. [ 8 ] McCarthy drove three laps at the beginning of the session, still with his ill-fitting seat, before the Andrea Moda team ordered him back to the pits, [ 6 ] as the team wanted his car to be ready as a...

Nigel Mansell was fastest in the first practice session, 0.883 seconds ahead of Ayrton Senna in second, with Gerhard Berger in third and Michael Schumacher fourth. [ 10 ] Michele Alboreto took advantage of his extra running in the earlier pre-qualifying session by finishing sixth fastest, with Andrea de Cesaris 's Tyrrell in seventh and Karl Wendlinger 's March eighth. [ 10 ] Ferrari tried out a new traction control device and electronic differential on Jean Alesi 's F92A car and he finished the...

I was really pushing hard and the car just didn't turn into the corner. I think something may have broken. It was a big shunt. I'm surprised I wasn't hurt. [ 10 ]

Jean Alesi had a spin in the session and was forced to use the spare Ferrari F92A on used tyres, however he still finished with the fifth fastest time. Schumacher rounded out the top six with Andrea de Cesaris up in seventh place in the Tyrrell 020 B. Having pre-qualified for the first time with Andrea Moda , Roberto Moreno continued to show improved speed by posting a 1:25.185 in the first twenty minutes, which put him 11th on the grid at the time despite Moreno's complaints of a "down-on-power...

The weather conditions on Saturday were sunny and dry, but gradually became more overcast later into the afternoon. [ 7 ] Within the first practice session on Saturday morning Pierluigi Martini crashed in the tunnel, causing damage to the barrier which took 40 minutes to repair and delayed the start of Saturday Qualifying by 30 minutes. [ 15 ] [ 16 ]

Mansell went even faster on Saturday with a 1:19.495 and took his sixth pole position of the season. He later described his time as a "totally clear lap". [ 17 ] Patrese improved to qualify second fastest, however he was held up by Bertrand Gachot on one of his qualifying laps, and reacted by heading over to the Larrousse pit and trying to punch the Frenchman. [ 7 ] [ 15 ] Senna finished qualifying third on the grid despite spinning the rear of his car into the tyre barrier at the Mirabeau corne...

At the start, Senna passed Patrese into the St. Devote corner. Schumacher also passed Berger into the first corner. Martini also experienced his second crash of the weekend within the opening lap by running into the barrier on the exit of Mirabeau . The order at the end of lap one was Mansell in first, followed by Senna, Patrese, Alesi, Schumacher and Berger. Morbidelli joined the race a couple of laps down but only managed one lap before the gearbox again caused problems and forced him to retir...

Moreno had moved up to nineteenth place thanks to the six earlier retirements but was forced to retire on lap 11 in the pits due to engine problems with the Judd GV V10 . [ 8 ] Patrese began to attack Senna but then began to drop back with gearbox troubles. On lap 12, Schumacher tried to pass Alesi in the Loews Hairpin and the two collided, and an electronic box was damaged in Alesi's car. Alesi continued to stay in fifth for another 16 laps with Schumacher getting ahead of him, before the damag...

On lap 60 Alboreto made a mistake and spun in front of Senna's McLaren - Honda , nearly causing a collision between them. In avoiding Alboreto's Footwork, Senna lost nearly 10 seconds. [ 15 ]

Murray Walker : " Ivan Capelli . This won't of course have done his Ferrari position any good because although Luca Di Montezemolo , the Ferrari boss of both the passenger and the racing car divisions has said Capelli 's position is safe; some of us doubted that statement and Capelli has gone off and out of the race, out of fifth position, out of a possible two points for the team" James Hunt : "Some of us horrible cynics yes"

Ivan Capelli was running in fifth place despite having been lapped by Nigel Mansell , however on lap 61 he spun at Casino Square, damaging the steering arm. When he reached the swimming pool complex the damage caused him to spin and slide backwards wedging his Ferrari into barrier before Rascasse at a 45-degree angle. His retirement reminded the BBC F1 commentary team of the speculation regarding his future with Ferrari , which had been prominent before the race weekend. [ 19 ]

The top three finishers appeared in Prince Albert II of Monaco's Royal box to collect their trophies. An exhausted Mansell had to be helped up the stairs by marshals. [ 21 ] In the subsequent press conference with Tony Jardine asking the questions, [ 22 ] Senna admitted he knew the Williams car was "several seconds faster" than him in the last few laps and his tyres were like "driving on ice" due to having completed the whole race on the same set. [ 22 ]

I must compliment Ayrton because he pretty well second guessed every move I tried to do and he was very fair and he is entitled to do what he did and I think he drove fantastic and that's why he won the race I came a close second. [ 22 ]

Mansell also described the sequence of events as a result of the suspected puncture on lap 71:

Coming into the tunnel I almost lost it, the back end just went down and I knew immediately I had picked up an instant puncture. The problem was I was halfway from the pits. So I had to drive so slowly to get to the pits. The car's brakes weren't working because I was only on three wheels. I think I lost 10–15 seconds just getting it back to the pits. We then had a longer pitstop than normal and as I came out of the pit I saw Ayrton go by, and I knew then that the race was probably lost, but as ...

Despite initial reports that Mansell incurred a puncture in the tunnel on lap 71 Goodyear later denied this was the case. [ 23 ] Williams engineer Adrian Newey later speculated the problem had "perhaps" been caused by a "loose wheel nut". [ 23 ]

The 1992 Monaco Grand Prix turned out to be the only time the Andrea Moda team qualified for a Formula One race with Roberto Moreno retiring after 11 laps with engine problems. In an interview in 2011, Moreno declared qualifying the Andrea Moda S921 at Monaco was one of his greatest motor racing memories:

43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E  /  43.7346500°N 7.421333°E  / 43.7346500; 7.421333