1991 Canadian Grand Prix

The 1991 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on 2 June 1991. It was the fifth race of the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship.

1991 Canadian Grand Prix
Race 5 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 2 June 1991
Location Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 4.430 km (2.753 miles)
Distance 69 laps, 305.670 km (189.935 miles)
Weather Mild with temperatures approaching 25 °C (77 °F);
Wind speeds up to 12 km/h (7.5 mph)[1]
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:19.837
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault
Time 1:22.385 on lap 65
Podium
First Benetton-Ford
Second Tyrrell-Honda
Third Williams-Renault
Lap leaders

The 69-lap race was won by Nelson Piquet, driving a Benetton-Ford. Piquet took the 23rd and final win of his F1 career after old rival Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, suddenly stopped halfway round the last lap while leading by almost a minute. Stefano Modena took second in a Tyrrell-Honda, while Mansell's team-mate Riccardo Patrese was third, having started from pole position. Piquet's win was the first for a car using Pirelli tyres since the 1986 Mexican Grand Prix.

This was the last win for a car using Pirelli tyres until the 2011 Australian Grand Prix.

Pre-race

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Between the Monaco and Canadian Grands Prix, Cesare Fiorio had been fired as team manager of Ferrari and had been replaced by Piero Ferrari. Meanwhile, John Barnard had left as Benetton's technical director; he was replaced by Gordon Kimball (father of future IndyCar driver Charlie Kimball). The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve had been modified from the year before: the right-left sequence before the start-finish straight was altered to slow cars down.

On the driver front, Julian Bailey's funding ran out and he was replaced at Lotus by Johnny Herbert, who subsequently failed to qualify for the race, while Alex Caffi was out of action for Footwork as a result of injuries sustained in a road accident. His place was taken by Stefan Johansson.

Qualifying

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Pre-qualifying report

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As at the previous Grand Prix in Monaco, the pre-qualifying session was dominated by the Scuderia Italia Dallara cars, and the Jordans. With Dallara's Emanuele Pirro fastest ahead of his team-mate JJ Lehto, followed by Jordan's Andrea de Cesaris and Bertrand Gachot, there was over a second between the four pre-qualifiers and the rest.

Those who failed to progress to the main qualifying sessions included Olivier Grouillard, fifth fastest for Fondmetal, his best result of the season so far. The Modena team was starting to run into financial difficulties, and the performance of their Lambo cars was also slipping, as Nicola Larini and Eric van de Poele ended the session down in sixth and seventh positions. Slowest was Pedro Chaves in the Coloni, despite a new Hart-prepared Cosworth DFR engine.[2]

Pre-qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 21   Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:23.244
2 22   JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:23.480 +0.236
3 33   Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:23.672 +0.428
4 32   Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:23.719 +0.475
5 14   Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:24.795 +1.551
6 34   Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:25.736 +2.492
7 35   Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:26.900 +3.656
8 31   Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:34.475 +11.231

Qualifying report

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In practice Riccardo Patrese had a huge accident, walking away unhurt. In the qualifying sessions, Patrese took pole position from team-mate Mansell, out-qualifying him for the fifth straight race. Senna was third followed by Prost, Moreno, Berger, Alesi, Piquet, Modena, and Pirro.

Qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:37.593 1:19.837
2 5   Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:35.065 1:20.225 +0.388
3 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:35.843 1:20.318 +0.481
4 27   Alain Prost Ferrari 1:36.003 1:20.656 +0.819
5 19   Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:35.897 1:20.686 +0.849
6 2   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:38.223 1:20.916 +1.079
7 28   Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:35.257 1:21.227 +1.390
8 20   Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:37.354 1:21.241 +1.404
9 4   Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:38.218 1:21.298 +1.461
10 21   Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:39.017 1:21.864 +2.027
11 33   Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:37.097 1:22.154 +2.317
12 3   Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:41.100 1:22.262 +2.425
13 16   Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:40.906 1:22.443 +2.606
14 32   Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:38.383 1:22.596 +2.759
15 24   Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:39.780 1:22.993 +3.156
16 25   Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:38.517 1:23.040 +3.203
17 22   JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:38.435 1:23.040 +3.203
18 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:37.864 1:23.125 +3.288
19 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:38.013 1:23.260 +3.423
20 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:38.405 1:23.516 +3.679
21 9   Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 1:41.196 1:23.529 +3.692
22 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:39.696 1:23.585 +3.748
23 15   Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:38.689 1:23.650 +3.813
24 11   Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:42.900 1:23.923 +4.086
25 10   Stefan Johansson Footwork-Porsche 1:49.019 1:24.433 +4.596
26 26   Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:39.670 1:24.460 +4.623
27 18   Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:40.555 1:24.491 +4.654
28 17   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:41.946 1:24.653 +4.816
29 8   Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:39.897 1:24.661 +4.824
30 12   Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd 1:39.113 1:24.732 +4.895

Race

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Race report

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At the start, Mansell got away well and led Patrese, Senna, Prost, Berger, and Moreno. Berger went out on lap 4 with electronics problems, while Aguri Suzuki retired when his Lola caught fire. Moreno was out on lap 10 when he spun off, while Prost was suffering from gearbox problems. The Frenchman had managed to hold on while he engaged in a battle with teammate Alesi and Piquet's Benetton.

Mansell led Patrese and Senna on lap 25 when Senna retired, leaving Mansell and Patrese a long way ahead of the Alesi–Prost–Piquet battle. This ended Senna's thus far perfect season, capping his winning streak at 4. Prost retired shortly after with a gearbox failure on lap 27 and Ferrari's misery was compounded on lap 34 when Alesi's engine blew up.

The Williams drivers were now well ahead of the pack, but Piquet closed on Patrese, the Italian suffering from gearbox troubles of his own. In the late stages Patrese was passed by Stefano Modena in the Tyrrell. On the last lap, Mansell led from Piquet, Modena, Patrese, de Cesaris, and Gachot when he suddenly slowed to a halt at the hairpin. There were rumours that Mansell had failed to change gear for the hairpin and stalled the car, or that he had turned off the engine accidentally while waving to the crowd during the final lap. Mansell denied this, saying that the gearbox had gone into neutral as he shifted down, and Williams said that the car had suffered an electrical failure. This is technically true, but was induced by Mansell failing to keep the revs sufficiently high on the engine to drive the electrical and hydraulic systems, thus causing the gearbox barrel to get stuck. When the car was returned to the pits, the engine was re-fired and the gearbox worked perfectly.[3][4] Piquet thus took an unexpected victory for Benetton at the expense of his old rival Mansell, who was classified sixth. Jordan's five points, their first in Formula One, meant that they would no longer have to pre-qualify when the draw was reshuffled at the halfway point of the season.

The race was Nelson Piquet's 23rd and last win in Formula One, and Stefano Modena's second and last podium finish.[5]

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 20   Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford P 69 1:38:51.490 8 10
2 4   Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda P 69 + 31.832 9 6
3 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault G 69 + 42.217 1 4
4 33   Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford G 69 + 1:20.210 11 3
5 32   Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford G 69 + 1:22.351 14 2
6 5   Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault G 68 Electrics 2 1
7 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari G 68 + 1 lap 18
8 26   Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini G 68 + 1 lap 26
9 21   Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd P 68 + 1 lap 10
10 3   Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda P 67 + 2 laps 12
Ret 15   Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor G 61 Engine 23
Ret 22   JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd P 50 Engine 17
Ret 10   Stefan Johansson Footwork-Porsche G 48 Throttle 25
Ret 16   Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor G 42 Engine 13
Ret 28   Jean Alesi Ferrari G 34 Engine 7
Ret 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Ford G 29 Gearbox 19
Ret 27   Alain Prost Ferrari G 27 Gearbox 4
Ret 25   Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini G 27 Engine 16
Ret 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda G 25 Alternator 3
Ret 11   Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd G 21 Spun off 24
Ret 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha P 21 Engine 20
Ret 24   Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari G 20 Spun off 15
Ret 19   Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford P 10 Suspension 5
Ret 2   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda G 4 Injection 6
Ret 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford G 3 Fuel leak 22
Ret 9   Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche G 2 Throttle 21
DNQ 18   Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford G
DNQ 17   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford G
DNQ 8   Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha P
DNQ 12   Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd G
DNPQ 14   Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford G
DNPQ 34   Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini G
DNPQ 35   Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini G
DNPQ 31   Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford G
Source:[6][7]

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. ^ "Weather information for the "1991 Canadian Grand Prix"". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  2. ^ Walker, Murray (1991). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 45–52. ISBN 0-905138-90-2.
  3. ^ "Grand Prix Results: Canadian GP, 1991". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  4. ^ "Canada 1991 – waving goodbye to victory". formula1.com. 11 June 2003. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  5. ^ "Canada 1991". StatsF1. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  6. ^ "1991 Canadian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  7. ^ "1991 Canadian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 2 June 1991. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Canada 1991 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 March 2019.


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