Race
Onyx improved on their showing in Brazil, with Bertrand Gachot just missing out on pre-qualification in fifth place. The EuroBrun of Gregor Foitek was sixth, ahead of the second Osella of Piercarlo Ghinzani . The other Onyx of Stefan Johansson was eighth, followed by the second AGS of Joachim Winkelhock . Tenth was the Coloni of Pierre-Henri Raphanel , just ahead of the two Zakspeeds of Aguri Suzuki and Bernd Schneider , the Japanese driver outpacing his more experienced team-mate. Nearly four s... As the McLarens pulled away Mansell, Patrese, and Nannini were busy fighting over third place. It was settled in the space of three laps as Patrese retired with a timing belt failure and Mansell followed shortly afterwards with a gearbox problem. This left Nannini in third while up front Senna cruised home to victory from Prost who, in his pursuit of Senna, had suffered a spin on lap 42 at Variante Bassa. Nannini led home Thierry Boutsen , Derek Warwick in the Arrows and Jonathan Palmer in the T...
Qualifying
The only change to the entry list for the San Marino Grand Prix was the arrival of Gabriele Tarquini in the second car of the small AGS team, which had only run one car in Brazil after Philippe Streiff had suffered career ending injuries in pre-season testing. A record 39 cars were entered for the Grand Prix, [ citation needed ] although only 26 were allowed to start the race. After their defeat in Brazil , McLaren spent eight days testing at Imola prior to the San Marino Grand Prix. According to Ayrton Senna , they tested everything on the McLaren MP4/5 , including aerodynamics, suspension, brakes and fuel consumption. It worked for Senna and Alain Prost , as they locked out the front row and were over 1.5 seconds faster than the Ferrari of Nigel Mansell . Riccardo Patrese showed his and Williams ' revival with fourth on the grid followed by Gerhard Berger (Ferrari) ...
Start and lap 4 accident (red flag)
At the start, Ayrton Senna got away well but behind him Alain Prost found himself just ahead of Nigel Mansell 's Ferrari but the Englishman could not find his way around Prost's McLaren . Mansell fell off a little after that and found himself battling with Riccardo Patrese while on the second lap Ivan Capelli had a nasty accident in his March . On lap four, fifth-placed Gerhard Berger 's Ferrari speared off the track at the fast Tamburello corner due to a mechanical failure. Berger hit the wall ...
Race Result
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Stefano Modena | Brabham-Judd | 1:27.350 | |
| 2 | 7 | Martin Brundle | Brabham-Judd | 1:28.197 | 0.747 |
| 3 | 21 | Alex Caffi | Dallara-Ford | 1:29.346 | 1.996 |
| 4 | 17 | Nicola Larini | Osella-Ford | 1:29.787 | 2.437 |
| 5 | 37 | Bertrand Gachot | Onyx-Ford | 1:30.384 | 3.034 |
| 6 | 33 | Gregor Foitek | EuroBrun-Judd | 1:30.620 | 3.27 |
| 7 | 18 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Osella-Ford | 1:30.631 | 3.281 |
| 8 | 36 | Stefan Johansson | Onyx-Ford | 1:30.647 | 3.297 |
| 9 | 41 | Joachim Winkelhock | AGS-Ford | 1:32.071 | 4.721 |
| 10 | 32 | Pierre-Henri Raphanel | Coloni-Ford | 1:32.267 | 4.917 |
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:42.939 | 1:26.010 |
| 2 | 2 | Alain Prost | McLaren-Honda | 1:44.538 | 1:26.235 |
| 3 | 27 | Nigel Mansell | Ferrari | 1:49.665 | 1:27.652 |
| 4 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | 1:47.486 | 1:27.920 |
| 5 | 28 | Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 1:42.781 | 1:28.089 |
| 6 | 5 | Thierry Boutsen | Williams-Renault | 1:49.451 | 1:28.308 |
| 7 | 19 | Alessandro Nannini | Benetton-Ford | 1:45.536 | 1:28.854 |
| 8 | 11 | Nelson Piquet | Lotus-Judd | 1:48.124 | 1:29.057 |
| 9 | 21 | Alex Caffi | Dallara-Ford | 1:48.868 | 1:29.069 |
| 10 | 26 | Olivier Grouillard | Ligier-Ford | 1:47.371 | 1:29.104 |
The Paddock Breakdown
Barry · Gary · KatGary — 33 · Three Fantasy F1 leagues
The air hung thick with the scent of burnt rubber and a palpable dread as the morning sun struggled to pierce the Imola mist. Modena, piloting a McLaren-Honda – a beast of 1. 5 liters of V6 Honda power, wrestled the car around Tamburello, his telemetry showing a peak RPM of 8,500, a testament to Honda's relentless pursuit of engine output. It was a brutal introduction to a track already notorious for its unforgiving nature, a track where the slightest misjudgment could unravel a career. Berger, predictably, was absent, a phantom presence in the paddock, and the weight of his near-miss settled over the entire operation.
Stefano Modena, predictably, held court at the front, his Arrows-Ford a solitary, sculpted presence amidst the damp asphalt. Thirty-nine cars lined up for this race, a numerical leviathan – a record that would echo through the season, a testament to the relentless expansion of the grid. Observe, if you will, that McLaren-Honda, despite their dominance in qualifying, hadn't yet translated that advantage into a single victory, a frustrating arithmetic of potential unfulfilled.
Kat — 30 · Technical journalist
The rain, a venomous slick, clung to Tamburello, mirroring the fear tightening around Berger's chest. A fractured visor, a shredded wing – the image was brutal, etched into the asphalt itself. Modena, momentarily stunned, wrestled his Benetton through the spray, a desperate prayer on his lips. You could almost taste the metal, the raw, agonizing physics of a driver battling not just the track, but the very elements conspiring against him. The crowd, a silent, horrified mass, held its breath. This wasn't just a crash; it was a reckoning. A brutal reminder of F1's capricious nature, a stark portrait of a man facing the abyss.
The rain, a sullen grey smear across the Imola sky, mirrored the apprehension clinging to Eddie Jordan's shoulders. He'd staked everything – his company, his reputation – on young Martin Brundle's speed. A gamble, certainly, but one fueled by a desperate hunger to prove that a small team could still carve a place amongst the giants. Brundle, a man perpetually wrestling with the demons of underperformance, seemed to carry the weight of that expectation with a grim determination. The pre-qualifying report spoke of Stefano Modena's dominance, a familiar narrative, yet it felt almost secondary to the silent battle being waged within the Brabham garage. Modena, a stoic veteran, was simply executing, while Brundle… Brundle was fighting.