1990 Mexican Grand Prix

The 1990 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on 24 June 1990. It was sixth race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship, the 14th Mexican Grand Prix and the fifth since the Mexico City circuit returned to the Formula One calendar in 1986. It was held over 69 laps of the 4.4 kilometre circuit for a race distance of 305 kilometres.

1990 Mexican Grand Prix
Race 6 of 16 in the 1990 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 24 June 1990
Official name XIV Gran Premio de Mexico
Location Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez
Mexico City, Mexico
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.421 km (2.747 miles)
Distance 69 laps, 305.049 km (189.549 miles)
Weather Overcast
21 °C (70 °F)[1]
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:17.227
Fastest lap
Driver France Alain Prost Ferrari
Time 1:17.958 on lap 58
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Ferrari
Third McLaren-Honda
Lap leaders

The race was won by reigning world champion, French driver Alain Prost driving a Ferrari 641. Prost, the 1988 race winner, became the second multiple-winner in Mexican Grand Prix history, joining British driver Jim Clark who won the race in 1962 (non-championship), 1963 and 1967. It was Prost's second win of the year after the Brazilian Grand Prix. Prost won the race by 26 seconds over his British teammate Nigel Mansell. Third was Austrian driver Gerhard Berger driving a McLaren MP4/5B. Ayrton Senna stopped with a puncture late in the race, allowing both Prost and Berger to close to eight points behind him in the Driver's Championship.

Qualifying

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Pre-qualifying report

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During the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, Olivier Grouillard was fastest for the first time this season, in the Osella. The Larrousse-Lolas of Éric Bernard and Aguri Suzuki were second and fourth, with the EuroBrun of Roberto Moreno between them in third place.

For the third Grand Prix in succession, the AGS cars missed out in fifth and sixth positions, with Yannick Dalmas faster than Gabriele Tarquini this time. AGS technical director Hugues de Chaunac left the team prior to this event, frustrated at the team's lack of progress.[2] Seventh again was Bertrand Gachot in the Coloni, although he was much closer to the pace on this occasion, just three tenths of a second behind Tarquini. Claudio Langes was a distant eighth again after only completing the minimum three laps required by the regulations, as the team concentrated on Moreno.[2] Bottom of the time sheets as usual was Bruno Giacomelli in the Life, only managing an out-lap before his engine failed. Team manager Sergio Barbasio confirmed that his engineers were working on converting the L190 chassis to run with the Judd CV engines he now claimed to have bought from Lotus.[3]

Pre-qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 14   Olivier Grouillard Osella-Ford 1:25.281
2 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 1:25.456 +0.175
3 33   Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd 1:26.724 +1.443
4 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini 1:27.511 +2.230
5 18   Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 1:27.830 +2.549
6 17   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:28.499 +3.218
7 31   Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Subaru 1:28.805 +3.524
8 34   Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd 1:40.414 +15.133
9 39   Bruno Giacomelli Life 4:07.475 +2:42.194

Qualifying report

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There were no driver changes as the F1 show moved to Mexico City. The weather was changeable during the weekend, catching some drivers out, with both of the Larrousse team's drivers having major accidents on the Saturday morning. Despite that, both Aguri Suzuki and Éric Bernard managed to qualify for the race. The Leyton House drivers Ivan Capelli and Maurício Gugelmin both failed to qualify. At the front of the grid, Gerhard Berger took pole from Riccardo Patrese, Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Thierry Boutsen, Jean Alesi, Pierluigi Martini, Nelson Piquet, Satoru Nakajima, and Stefano Modena, with championship contender Alain Prost, not happy with the qualifying set up of his Ferrari so deciding instead to qualify with his race set up, 13th. Roberto Moreno was disqualified for receiving a push start in qualifying.[4]

Qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 28   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:17.227 1:17.850
2 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:18.215 1:17.498 +0.271
3 27   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:18.417 1:17.670 +0.443
4 2   Nigel Mansell Ferrari 1:17.938 1:17.732 +0.505
5 5   Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 1:19.062 1:17.883 +0.656
6 4   Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 1:18.727 1:18.282 +1.055
7 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:18.526 1:18.590 +1.299
8 20   Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:19.022 1:18.561 +1.334
9 3   Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Ford 1:19.551 1:18.575 +1.348
10 8   Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:18.592 1:19.817 +1.365
11 11   Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini 1:19.557 1:18.951 +1.724
12 12   Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini 1:19.769 1:18.994 +1.767
13 1   Alain Prost Ferrari 1:19.378 1:19.026 +1.799
14 19   Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:19.909 1:19.227 +2.000
15 22   Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 1:21.635 1:19.865 +2.638
16 24   Paolo Barilla Minardi-Ford 1:19.897 1:21.242 +2.670
17 9   Michele Alboreto Arrows-Ford 1:21.212 1:19.941 +2.714
18 21   Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Ford 1:21.067 1:20.044 +2.817
19 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini 1:21.077 1:20.268 +3.041
20 14   Olivier Grouillard Osella-Ford 1:20.274 1:21.167 +3.047
21 7   David Brabham Brabham-Judd 1:20.447 1:20.636 +3.220
22 26   Philippe Alliot Ligier-Ford 1:21.451 1:20.657 +3.430
23 35   Gregor Foitek Onyx-Ford 1:21.012 1:21.400 +3.785
24 25   Nicola Larini Ligier-Ford 1:21.584 1:21.116 +3.889
25 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 1:21.273 1:21.677 +4.046
26 36   JJ Lehto Onyx-Ford 1:21.519 1:21.687 +4.292
27 16   Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd 1:23.639 1:21.544 +4.317
28 15   Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd 1:22.612 1:21.665 +4.438
29 10   Alex Caffi Arrows-Ford 1:22.278 1:22.154 +4.927
EX 33   Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd 1:21.142 no time +3.915

Race

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Race report

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Sunshine greeted the drivers on race day and at the start it was Patrese who got away from Senna, Berger, Boutsen, and Piquet. Senna and Berger both passed Patrese on lap 2, and the McLaren drivers opened a significant lead over the rest of the field. Prost was charging through the field from his poor grid position, while Piquet moved up to third. Berger's run in second place came to an early end when he had to stop for new tyres on lap 13, leaving Piquet in second but under pressure from his former team-mate Nigel Mansell, who was able to pass him soon afterwards. Prost continued his charge through the field, eventually taking second from Mansell with 15 laps to go. Prost proceeded to set off after Senna, who was beginning to slow with tyre problems. The Brazilian had gambled on tyre durability by not making a stop for fresh rubber. On lap 60, Prost got past Senna with a simple move and three laps later Senna's rear tyre exploded, forcing him to retire from his 100th Grand Prix. As he had completed over 90% of the race, he was classified as a finisher in 20th place, the lowest classified result of his career. The battle for second place between Mansell and Berger culminated in Mansell passing around the outside of Berger going into the ultra-fast Peraltada corner. Mansell thus finished second behind Prost, with Berger third from Alessandro Nannini, Boutsen, and Piquet.

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1   Alain Prost Ferrari 69 1:32:35.783 13 9
2 2   Nigel Mansell Ferrari 69 + 25.351 4 6
3 28   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 69 + 25.530 1 4
4 19   Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 69 + 41.099 14 3
5 5   Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 69 + 46.669 5 2
6 20   Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 69 + 46.943 8 1
7 4   Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 69 + 49.077 6
8 12   Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini 69 + 1:06.142 12
9 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 69 + 1:09.918 2
10 11   Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini 68 + 1 lap 11
11 8   Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 68 + 1 lap 10
12 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 68 + 1 lap 7
13 22   Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 68 + 1 lap 15
14 24   Paolo Barilla Minardi-Ford 67 + 2 laps 16
15 35   Gregor Foitek Onyx-Ford 67 + 2 laps 23
16 25   Nicola Larini Ligier-Ford 67 + 2 laps 24
17 9   Michele Alboreto Arrows-Ford 66 + 3 laps 17
18 26   Philippe Alliot Ligier-Ford 66 + 3 laps 22
19 14   Olivier Grouillard Osella-Ford 65 + 4 laps 20
20 27   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 63 Tyre 3
Ret 36   JJ Lehto Onyx-Ford 26 Engine 26
Ret 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 12 Brakes 25
Ret 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini 11 Collision 19
Ret 3   Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Ford 11 Collision 9
Ret 7   David Brabham Brabham-Judd 11 Electrical 21
Ret 21   Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Ford 10 Engine 18
EX 33   Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd Push start
DNQ 16   Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd
DNQ 15   Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd
DNQ 10   Alex Caffi Arrows-Ford
DNPQ 18   Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford
DNPQ 17   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford
DNPQ 31   Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Subaru
DNPQ 34   Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ 39   Bruno Giacomelli Life
Source:[5]

Championship standings after the race

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

References

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  1. ^ "History | Weather Underground". Wunderground.com. Retrieved 2013-10-26.
  2. ^ a b Walker, Murray (1990). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 55–62. ISBN 0-905138-82-1.
  3. ^ "Motoring News". 27 June 1990.
  4. ^ "EuroBrun – Profile". Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
  5. ^ "1990 Mexican Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Mexico 1990 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.


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1990 Canadian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1990 season
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1990 French Grand Prix
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1989 Mexican Grand Prix
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1991 Mexican Grand Prix