Pre-race
Ferrari terminated Alain Prost 's contract with the team following his public criticism of them. His raceseat was taken by Gianni Morbidelli , the Ferrari test driver. After being dropped by the Jordan team two races earlier, Roberto Moreno returned to Formula One to take Morbidelli's place at Minardi. Benetton did not renew Nelson Piquet 's contract with the team, and Australia would be his last Formula One race. Bertrand Gachot returned to Formula One after completing his jail sentence i...
Qualifying
Gabriele Tarquini narrowly failed to pre-qualify for Fondmetal as his track time was limited after a left rear suspension failure on the exit of turn 11, which turned his car into the wall. It was his first failure to pre-qualify for Fondmetal in three attempts. Slowest was Naoki Hattori in the Coloni , over five seconds away from Brundle's pace. Coloni had failed to pre-qualify for every race in 1991, their last season at the highest level. It also proved to be Hattori's last opportunity ...
Race
In the torrential rain (which had been falling since halfway through the Group A touring car support race earlier in the day), the race started mostly without incident. Riccardo Patrese lost two places at the start and emerged behind Jean Alesi 's Ferrari but there were no accidents in the first few laps. However, as the race continued into lap 3 Gerhard Berger , unseen by the television cameras, ran wide which allowed Nigel Mansell to move up to second position, but rejoining in third. Mansell ... Pierluigi Martini 's Minardi car aquaplaned on the Brabham Straight on lap 10, which sent his car straight into the right hand wall and rebounded to the other side of the track before eventually stopping out of the drivers' way. This indicated that the rain was beginning to fall even harder, and more torrential than before. On lap 14, Mauricio Gugelmin 's Leyton House was involved in a heavy crash trying to pass the Tyrrell of Stefano Modena going through turn 15. He lost control in the right ha... Riccardo Patrese was struggling with his car because a front wing, from another car, got stuck towards the front of his undertray. This was spotted by James Hunt in the BBC race commentary, although Murray Walker had suggested earlier that it was the undertray that was loose. Mansell then, as a result of the increasing downpour, spun off on the start of lap 16 on the Wakefield Road straight, before turn 3, having "instantly gone out of control" according to Mansell himself. The torre... Gerhard Berger spun off at the end of lap 16 having just recovered from an earlier spin at the Malthouse Corner moments before. Murray Walker said that the weather was becoming worse and the rain was lashing down on the start/finish line. Just after this happened Senna drove onto the start/finish straight and gestured to the race officials, as he went past, to try to get the race stopped. Moments later, with Senna on lap 17, the race was finally stopped. By the end of lap 16 the race order... The podium ceremony only had Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger present because Nigel Mansell was sent to hospital after the injuries he sustained in his crash on lap 16. When interviewed by Jackie Stewart in the post-race press conference, Senna stated: Nigel Mansell, after being helped from his Williams-Renault commented that "everything was ok other than it was a complete joke, I mean there was debris all over the place. I've got a headache like there's no tomorrow, so I've probably had a little bit of a concussion". He also made reference to the fact that "there was a truck down the straight" as well as four cars and, as a result, the race should have had 10 laps to be stopped.
Race Result
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Martin Brundle | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:17.707 | — |
| 2 | 10 | Alex Caffi | Footwork-Ford | 1:18.007 | +0.300 |
| 3 | 8 | Mark Blundell | Brabham-Yamaha | 1:18.049 | +0.342 |
| 4 | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Footwork-Ford | 1:18.051 | +0.344 |
| 5 | 14 | Gabriele Tarquini | Fondmetal-Ford | 1:18.184 | +0.477 |
| 6 | 31 | Naoki Hattori | Coloni-Ford | 1:22.852 | +5.145 |
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:14.210 | 1:14.041 |
| 2 | 2 | Gerhard Berger | McLaren-Honda | 1:14.385 | 1:15.563 |
| 3 | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Renault | 1:14.822 | 1:14.897 |
| 4 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | 1:15.633 | 1:15.057 |
| 5 | 20 | Nelson Piquet | Benetton-Ford | 1:16.552 | 1:15.291 |
| 6 | 19 | Michael Schumacher | Benetton-Ford | 1:15.840 | 1:15.508 |
| 7 | 28 | Jean Alesi | Ferrari | 1:17.014 | 1:15.545 |
| 8 | 27 | Gianni Morbidelli | Ferrari | 1:16.203 | 1:17.679 |
| 9 | 4 | Stefano Modena | Tyrrell-Honda | 1:16.253 | 45:56.547 |
| 10 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ferrari | 1:17.614 | 1:16.359 |
The Paddock Breakdown
Barry · Gary · KatGary — 33 · Three Fantasy F1 leagues
2-liter V10 simply couldn't manage the slick conditions, a distinct disadvantage over the Ford-powered Ferrari. Those McLaren engineers were apoplectic, muttering about tire pressure and aerodynamic wash, but the reality was brutally simple: the Benetton's traction advantage, fueled by that Ford engine, won the day. A soggy spectacle, and a decisive victory.
That's fifteen points separating the top two at the outset, a chasm built on wet-weather strategy and, frankly, a degree of luck. Consider this: only seven laps completed, yet Verstappen still managed to snatch a point – a statistical outlier considering the conditions.
Kat — 30 · Technical journalist
The rain, of course, wasn't the problem. It was the palpable shift in the air, thick with the scent of unspoken bets and a McLaren team quietly dismantling their championship hopes. Hill, visibly frustrated, was practically radiating a need to lash out, a dangerous signal to a Red Bull team desperate for any advantage. Letras, the young engineer, was a study in controlled panic, adjusting telemetry with a frantic intensity. You could feel the vultures circling – Ferrari, particularly – already assessing the damage, calculating the odds of a late surge. This wasn't just a wet race; it was a strategic demolition, and the wreckage was already beginning to form.
Rain. Always rain. Nigel Mansell was muttering something about a "goddamn damp squib" as he paced the box, a vein throbbing visibly in his forehead. The man's simmering frustration is a familiar soundtrack to this circuit, isn't it? You could practically smell the tension radiating from Eddie Jordan, who was frantically attempting to reassure Mansell – and himself – that a tenth place finish was still a respectable outcome. The mechanics, bless their souls, were already stripping down the car, a grim acknowledgement that this was, for all intents and purposes, a wasted afternoon. The FIA, predictably, were meticulously documenting every millisecond, every drop of water, as if quantifying the sheer inconvenience of a sporting event. Don't mistake the official figures for reality, of course. This wasn't about winning; it was about damage control.