The 1991 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 14 July 1991. It was the eighth race of the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship.
The 59-lap race was won from pole position by local driver Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault. Gerhard Berger finished second in a McLaren-Honda, with Alain Prost third in a Ferrari. Drivers' Championship leader, Ayrton Senna, ran out of fuel in the second McLaren-Honda on the final lap and was classified fourth. As well as winning from pole position, Mansell led every lap and posted the fastest lap of the race. It was the first of two consecutive grand slams at the Silverstone circuit for Mansell, who repeated the feat the following year in 1992.
Pre-race Mansell-mania greeted the drivers as they arrived at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. The track had been vastly remodelled for 1991, which garnered largely positive reviews from the drivers. The track was no longer the fastest on the F1 calendar, but it now included many challenging corners for the drivers. Elsewhere Tom Walkinshaw had bought a 35% stake in the Benetton team, but the driver line-ups were unchanged from the previous race. Stefan Johansson continued to stand in for the injured Alex Caffi at Footwork, although it was the last race he would do so.
Qualifying Pre-qualifying report The Friday morning pre-qualifying session resulted in a return to the Dallara / Jordan lockout seen three times earlier in the season. JJ Lehto was fastest in the Dallara, with Andrea de Cesaris' Jordan nearly seven tenths of a second slower in second position. Third was the Dallara of Emanuele Pirro, with Bertrand Gachot's Jordan a couple of tenths further back in fourth.
After pre-qualifying successfully at the last two Grands Prix, Olivier Grouillard missed out this time in fifth place for Fondmetal. The Modena Lambos were again sixth and seventh, with Nicola Larini again faster than Eric van de Poele. Nine tenths of a second further back in eighth was Pedro Chaves in the Coloni.
Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:24.825 — 2 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:25.508 +0.683 3 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:25.726 +0.901 4 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:25.931 +1.106 5 14 Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:26.299 +1.474 6 34 Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:28.042 +3.217 7 35 Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:28.827 +4.002 8 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:29.735 +4.910
Qualifying report In qualifying Nigel Mansell took pole in front of his home fans, with title rival Ayrton Senna second. Riccardo Patrese was third, followed by Gerhard Berger, Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, Roberto Moreno, Nelson Piquet, Maurício Gugelmin, and Stefano Modena.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:22.644 1:20.939 – 2 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:23.277 1:21.618 +0.679 3 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:23.436 1:22.109 +1.170 4 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:23.045 1:22.476 +1.537 5 27 Alain Prost Ferrari 1:24.726 1:22.478 +1.539 6 28 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:24.520 1:22.881 +1.942 7 19 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 1:25.715 1:23.265 +2.326 8 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:25.107 1:23.626 +2.687 9 15 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 1:25.834 1:24.044 +3.105 10 4 Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 1:24.925 1:24.069 +3.130 11 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:24.997 1:24.141 +3.202 12 8 Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 1:26.117 1:24.165 +3.226 13 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:24.169 1:24.319 +3.230 14 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 1:25.803 1:24.345 +3.406 15 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 1:26.229 1:24.560 +3.621 16 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 1:25.951 1:24.587 +3.648 17 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:25.323 1:24.592 +3.653 18 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:25.136 1:24.654 +3.715 19 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 1:25.530 1:25.174 +4.235 20 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 1:27.367 1:25.222 +4.283 21 29 Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 1:26.235 1:25.537 +4.598 22 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 1:26.438 1:25.583 +4.644 23 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 1:27.279 1:25.583 +4.644 24 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd 1:27.207 1:25.689 +4.750 25 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 1:26.936 1:25.872 +4.933 26 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 1:27.193 1:26.192 +5.253 27 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 1:26.486 1:26.392 +5.453 28 10 Stefan Johansson Footwork-Ford 1:28.204 1:26.544 +5.605 29 18 Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 1:31.697 1:28.122 +7.183 30 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:31.130 1:28.136 +7.197
Race Race report
Senna made a rocket start to lead Mansell, while Patrese was the first casualty of the day, having been bumped off by Berger (Patrese retired after the first lap as a result). Senna's lead did not last for long as Mansell re-passed him going into Stowe corner. Roberto Moreno in the Benetton retired from sixth place with a gearbox failure on lap 22.
Mansell and Senna proceeded to rocket off into the distance while Berger, Prost, and Alesi squabbled over third place, with Alesi emerging ahead; he would later retire after colliding with Aguri Suzuki while trying to lap the Japanese driver's Lola.
Andrea de Cesaris had a huge accident on Lap 41 when his suspension failed at Abbey corner, his car bounced back across the track and narrowly missed Satoru Nakajima's Tyrrell; de Cesaris was unhurt.
At the front it was all Mansell as the Englishman recorded his second win in succession, while rival Senna running in second place ran out of fuel on the last lap and was classified fourth. Berger ended up second, followed by Prost, Senna, Piquet, and Bertrand Gachot's Jordan. Mansell now trailed Senna by only 18 points and momentum was on his side.
While completing his victory lap Mansell stopped beside Senna and his out of fuel car. Mansell then had Senna climb on his car with Senna placing one leg in the cockpit and sitting on the car body, Mansell drove him back to pit lane.
In terms of having to pre-qualify, Brabham would have needed their top car at least in 7th position to demote the Leyton House team, but neither Brundle nor Blundell finished the race (Brundle retired with a broken throttle and Mark Blundell retired with engine failure later in the race on lap 53).
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 59 1:27:35.479 1 10 2 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 59 + 42.293 4 6 3 27 Alain Prost Ferrari 59 + 1:00.150 5 4 4 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 58 Out of fuel 2 3 5 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 58 + 1 lap 8 2 6 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 58 + 1 lap 17 1 7 4 Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 58 + 1 lap 10 8 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 58 + 1 lap 15 9 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 58 + 1 lap 23 10 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 57 + 2 laps 18 11 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 57 + 2 laps 20 12 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 57 + 2 laps 25 13 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 56 + 3 laps 11 14 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Judd 55 Oil pressure 24 8 Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 52 Engine 12 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 41 Suspension/Accident 13 28 Jean Alesi Ferrari 31 Collision 6 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 29 Collision 22 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 29 Engine 19 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 28 Throttle 14 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Ford 25 Transmission 26 15 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 24 Broken floor 9 19 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 21 Gearbox 7 29 Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 21 Transmission 21 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 16 Spun off 16 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1 Collision 3 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 10 Stefan Johansson Footwork-Ford 18 Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 14 Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 34 Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 35 Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Ayrton Senna 51 2 Nigel Mansell 33 3 Riccardo Patrese 22 4 Alain Prost 21 5 Nelson Piquet 18Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 67 2 Williams-Renault 55 3 Ferrari 29 4 Benetton-Ford 23 5 Tyrrell-Honda 11Source:
References