1991 Monaco Grand Prix

  1991 Monaco Grand Prix

Race details
Race 4 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One season
Date	12 May 1991
Official name	XLIX Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco
Location	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo
Course	Street circuit
Course length	3.328 km (2.068 mi)
Distance	78 laps, 259.584 km (161.298 mi)
Weather	Cloudy, mild, dry
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:20.344
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	Ferrari
Time	1:24.368 on lap 77
Podium
First	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Second	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Third	Jean Alesi	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The race was won by Ayrton Senna in the McLaren.

Nigel Mansell finished in second place, scoring his first points of the season.

Mansell's team-mate, Riccardo Patrese, ran in third place until crashing on oil dropped by Stefano Modena, whose engine expired just ahead of him.

Alain Prost finished in fifth position after being delayed by a slow late-race pit stop.

The 1991 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Monaco on May 12, 1991.

Report

Ayrton Senna shocked no-one by taking pole position, but second place was a surprise with Stefano Modena taking full advantage of the superior Pirelli qualifying tyres to be second followed by Patrese, Piquet, a disappointed Mansell, Berger, Prost, Moreno, Alesi, and de Cesaris. Alex Caffi had a huge accident in practice and would not participate in the race. Elsewhere Martin Brundle was disqualified for missing a weight check.

At the start, Senna got away well followed by Modena, Patrese, Mansell, and Prost. In the usual first corner mayhem Berger ran into the back of Piquet, dropping the Austrian to the back of the pack and breaking Piquet's suspension, Berger would later crash out. Senna quickly built up a huge lead over Modena and Patrese, and both the chasers were eliminated on lap 42 when Modena's engine blew in the tunnel spreading oil on the track which caused Patrese to crash. Senna now had a huge lead over Prost and Mansell, but the Englishman was in no mood to stay third and passed Prost with a daring move going into the chicane. Prost would later pit to repair a loose wheel and problems with the stop dropped him down to fifth.

Senna duly won his fourth Monaco Grand Prix in five years by 18 seconds over Mansell, who drove a brilliant race, Alesi, Moreno, Prost, and Emanuelle Pirro in the Dallara. The second-place finish was Nigel Mansell's first points of the season and the gearbox issues that had troubled the start of his season did not re-appear.

Classification

Pre Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	22	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Judd	1:23.260	—
2	33	Andrea de Cesaris	Jordan-Ford	1:23.538	+0.278
3	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Judd	1:24.421	+1.161
4	32	Bertrand Gachot	Jordan-Ford	1:24.802	+1.542
5	34	Nicola Larini	Lambo-Lamborghini	1:25.893	+2.633
6	35	Eric van de Poele	Lambo-Lamborghini	1:26.282	+3.022
7	31	Pedro Chaves	Coloni-Ford	1:27.389	+4.129
8	14	Olivier Grouillard	Fondmetal-Ford	1:27.759	+4.499

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:20.508	1:20.344	—
2	4	Stefano Modena	Tyrrell-Honda	1:23.442	1:20.809	+0.465
3	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:22.057	1:20.973	+0.629
4	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford	1:22.816	1:21.159	+0.815
5	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	1:23.274	1:21.205	+0.861
6	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	1:21.222	1:21.583	+0.878
7	27	Alain Prost	Ferrari	1:22.113	1:21.455	+1.111
8	19	Roberto Moreno	Benetton-Ford	1:23.476	1:21.804	+1.460
9	28	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:22.966	1:21.910	+1.566
10	33	Andrea de Cesaris	Jordan-Ford	1:24.257	1:22.764	+2.420
11	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell-Honda	1:24.435	1:22.972	+2.628
12	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Judd	1:23.311	1:23.022	+2.678
13	22	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Judd	1:23.023	1:23.983	+2.679
14	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ferrari	1:24.101	1:23.064	+2.720
15	15	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House-Ilmor	1:24.920	1:23.394	+3.050
16	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Lamborghini	1:24.728	1:23.431	+3.087
17	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Ferrari	1:24.481	1:23.584	+3.240
18	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House-Ilmor	1:25.040	1:23.642	+3.298
19	30	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Ford	1:26.380	1:23.898	+3.554
20	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	1:25.078	1:23.909	+3.565
21	29	Éric Bernard	Lola-Ford	1:25.370	1:24.079	+3.735
22	8	Mark Blundell	Brabham-Yamaha	1:25.500	1:24.109	+3.765
23	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Lamborghini	1:24.747	1:24.151	+3.807
24	32	Bertrand Gachot	Jordan-Ford	1:24.540	1:24.208	+3.864
25	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Porsche	1:27.843	1:24.606	+4.262
26	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Judd	1:24.868	1:24.829	+4.485
27	12	Julian Bailey	Lotus-Judd	1:28.772	1:26.995	+6.651
28	18	Fabrizio Barbazza	AGS-Ford	1:28.060	1:27.079	+6.735
29	10	Alex Caffi	Footwork-Porsche	—	—	Did Not Start
30	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Yamaha	—	—	Disqualified

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	78	1:53:02.334	1	10
2	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	78	+ 18.348	5	6
3	28	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	78	+ 47.455	9	4
4	19	Roberto Moreno	Benetton-Ford	77	+ 1 Lap	8	3
5	27	Alain Prost	Ferrari	77	+ 1 Lap	7	2
6	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Judd	77	+ 1 Lap	12	1
7	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Lamborghini	76	+ 2 laps	16
8	32	Bertrand Gachot	Jordan-Ford	76	+ 2 laps	23
9	29	Éric Bernard	Lola-Ford	76	+ 2 laps	13
10	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Lamborghini	76	+ 2 laps	26
11	22	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Judd	75	+ 3 laps	21
12	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ferrari	72	+ 6 laps	14
Ret	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Judd	64	Oil leak	25
Ret	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Ferrari	49	Gearbox	17
Ret	15	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House-Ilmor	43	Throttle	15
Ret	4	Stefano Modena	Tyrrell-Honda	42	Engine	2
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	42	Accident	3
Ret	8	Mark Blundell	Brabham-Yamaha	41	Spun off	19
Ret	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Porsche	39	Engine	22
Ret	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell-Honda	35	Spun off	11
Ret	30	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Ford	24	Engine	20
Ret	33	Andrea de Cesaris	Jordan-Ford	21	Throttle	10
Ret	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House-Ilmor	12	Brakes	18
Ret	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	9	Gearbox	24
Ret	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	9	Accident	6
Ret	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford	0	Suspension	4
DNQ	12	Julian Bailey	Lotus-Judd
DNQ	18	Fabrizio Barbazza	AGS-Ford
DNQ	10	Alex Caffi	Footwork-Porsche
DSQ	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Yamaha
DNPQ	34	Nicola Larini	Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ	35	Eric van de Poele	Lambo-Lamborghini
DNPQ	31	Pedro Chaves	Coloni-Ford
DNPQ	14	Olivier Grouillard	Fondmetal-Ford
Source:

Notes

• Lap leaders: Ayrton Senna 78 (1-78)
• Last race: Julian Bailey
• Gerhard Berger made an error at the first corner at the start and he was demoted to 26th.
• Mansell's first points of the season (2nd position)
• Martin Brundle was disqualified by FIA Stewards for not weighing in
• Alex Caffi had a huge shunt by the swimming pool section of the circuit in the Footwork-Porsche
• Stefano Modena in the Tyrrell Honda V10 put in a stunning qualifying lap to join the front row of the grid with Senna in his V12 powered Honda Marlboro McLaren
• In the opening stages of the race, a marshal picking up some debris from an earlier incident at Ste Devote was almost hit by Ayrton Senna
• Ayrton Senna's 4th victory out of 4 races in the 1991 season
• Pierluigi Martini received the first 10-second stop and go penalty in Formula One history

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Ayrton Senna	40
2	Alain Prost	11
3	Gerhard Berger	10
4	Riccardo Patrese	6
5	Nigel Mansell	6

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	McLaren-Honda	50
2	Ferrari	16
3	Williams-Renault	12
4	Benetton-Ford	9
5	Tyrrell-Honda	5

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

References

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

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