The 1992 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 3 May 1992 at the Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló. The 65-lap race was the fourth round of the 1992 Formula One World Championship and was won by Nigel Mansell driving a Williams-Renault and scoring the third grand chelem of his career.
The race was also advertised as the Grand Prix of the Olympic Games. The race was moved up from its former September date, and held just months before the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
Qualifying Pre-qualifying report The Friday morning pre-qualifying session was a similar story to the previous session in Brazil. The Andrea Moda cars were well behind the performance of the other entrants in the session, who all pre-qualified easily. Perry McCarthy had regained his Super Licence so was able to compete for the team alongside Roberto Moreno. Team boss Andrea Sassetti had been approached by Enrico Bertaggia, whom Sassetti had sacked after the Mexican Grand Prix, but who now wanted to return to the team with $1 million in sponsorship. Sassetti wanted to fire McCarthy and rehire Bertaggia, but was told that the team had already reached its maximum number of driver changes for the season, so was forced to retain McCarthy.
In the session itself, Bertrand Gachot was again fastest for Larrousse, less than a tenth of a second faster than Michele Alboreto in the Footwork. Third was Gachot's team-mate Ukyo Katayama, 1.4 seconds ahead of the last pre-qualifier, Andrea Chiesa in the Fondmetal.
McCarthy took to the track for Andrea Moda, but his engine cut out just four metres after the pitlane exit line. Moreno managed three laps in his car before it also suffered an engine failure. McCarthy's car was brought back for Moreno to use, but the Brazilian was still unable to pre-qualify.
Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 1:26.032 — 2 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:26.120 +0.088 3 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 1:26.484 +0.452 4 14 Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 1:27.902 +1.870 5 34 Roberto Moreno Andrea Moda-Judd 1:37.155 +11.123 6 35 Perry McCarthy Andrea Moda-Judd no time —
Qualifying report Damon Hill, son of former world champion Graham Hill, made his debut with Brabham, replacing Giovanna Amati who was dismissed from the team, but did not qualify for the race. As in the three previous races, Mansell qualified in pole position, ahead of Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Riccardo Patrese, Ivan Capelli and Martin Brundle.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1Q2 Gap 1 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:20.1901:46.737 2 19 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:21.195No time +1.005 3 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:21.2091:46.581 +1.019 4 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:21.534No time +1.344 5 28 Ivan Capelli Ferrari 1:22.4131:52.319 +2.223 6 20 Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 1:22.529No time +2.339 7 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:22.7111:46.062 +2.521 8 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:22.7461:45.903 +2.556 9 16 Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 1:23.121No time +2.931 10 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 1:23.5931:50.914 +3.403 11 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:23.7231:49.847 +3.533 12 21 JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 1:24.0541:54.117 +3.864 13 22 Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 1:24.2361:54.590 +4.046 14 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 1:24.5831:56.313 +4.393 15 3 Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:24.6081:51.606 +4.418 16 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:24.6341:48.366 +4.444 17 33 Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 1:24.6711:50.598 +4.481 18 15 Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 1:24.8001:57.115 +4.610 19 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:24.940No time +4.750 20 14 Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 1:24.963No time +4.773 21 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 1:25.202No time +5.012 22 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Lamborghini 1:25.3151:54.122 +5.125 23 17 Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor 1:25.467No time +5.277 24 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 1:25.7001:54.108 +5.510 25 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 1:25.7861:58.389 +5.596 26 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:25.786No time +5.596 27 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 1:25.932No time +5.742 28 7 Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd 1:26.8803:23.215 +6.690 29 32 Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 1:27.4801:54.443 +7.290 30 8 Damon Hill Brabham-Judd 1:27.763No time +7.573 Sources:
Race Race report At the start of the race, in damp conditions, Patrese got by Schumacher and Senna. Ferrari driver Jean Alesi made a good start from eighth on the grid to third into the first corner on the first lap, forcing other drivers to take defensive actions and drop back. Senna dropped from third all the way to seventh, he recovered two positions to fifth during the first lap. The order was: Mansell, Patrese, Alesi, Schumacher, Senna and Capelli.
Andrea de Cesaris became the first retirement in the Tyrrell with an engine problem on lap 3 where he retired in the pits. Brundle meanwhile had spun off on the main straight into retirement with a clutch problem by lap 5. Schumacher attacked and passed Alesi on lap 7. Berger tried to do the same but tipped Alesi into a spin, putting the Frenchman behind Senna and Capelli as well. By, now the rain intensified, and Patrese spun off on lap 20 while trying to lap a backmarker. This put Mansell ahead of Schumacher, Senna, Berger, Capelli and Alesi. Maurício Gugelmin had spun into the pit wall on lap 25 meaning more disaster for the Jordan team, as he was the only one to qualify for the race.
Alesi pitted for fresh tyres halfway through the race, and soon began to charge up through the field as the rain intensified despite making contact with both Gerhard Berger in the McLaren and Mika Häkkinen in the Lotus forcing the Finn to spin off the track whilst trying to lap him, who eventually retired after 56 laps from spinning off. He cruised past Berger for fourth and began to close in quickly on Senna and Schumacher. With two laps to go Senna spun off and into the wall trying to lap Martini, although he was still classified ninth; he had already spun and recovered a few laps earlier. At the same time, Capelli spun off as well (The Italian was classified tenth).
Mansell continued his perfect record in 1992 with his fourth win of the season from Schumacher, Alesi, Berger, Alboreto and Pierluigi Martini, but for the first time in the season his Williams team did not score a 1-2 finish. Martin Brundle scored his fourth consecutive retirement of the season in his Benetton, it was proven to be a clutch failure by lap 2 causing the Benetton to eventually spin into retirement on lap 5.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 65 1:56:10.674 1 10 2 19 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 65 + 23.914 2 6 3 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 65 + 26.462 8 4 4 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 65 + 1:20.647 7 3 5 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 64 + 1 lap 16 2 6 22 Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 63 + 2 laps 13 1 7 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 63 + 2 laps 19 8 16 Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 63 + 2 laps 9 9 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 62 Spun off 3 10 28 Ivan Capelli Ferrari 62 Spun off 5 11 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Lamborghini 61 + 4 laps 22 12 17 Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor 61 + 4 laps 23 21 JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 56 Spun off 12 15 Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 56 Spun off 18 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 56 Spun off 21 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 55 Spun off 10 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 35 Engine 24 3 Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 30 Spun off 15 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 26 Handling 25 33 Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 24 Spun off 17 14 Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 22 Spun off 20 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 19 Spun off 4 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 13 Spun off 26 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 11 Engine 14 20 Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 4 Spun off/Clutch 6 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 2 Engine 11 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 7 Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd 32 Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 8 Damon Hill Brabham-Judd 34 Roberto Moreno Andrea Moda-Judd 35 Perry McCarthy Andrea Moda-Judd
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Nigel Mansell 40 2 Riccardo Patrese 18 3 Michael Schumacher 17 4 Gerhard Berger 8 1 5 Jean Alesi 7Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 58 2 Benetton-Ford 17 3 McLaren-Honda 12 4 Ferrari 9 2 5 Footwork-Mugen-Honda 3Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References