The 1992 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Germany on 26 July 1992. It was the tenth race of the 1992 Formula One World Championship.
The 45-lap race was won from pole position by Briton Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault, with Brazilian Ayrton Senna second in a McLaren-Honda and local driver Michael Schumacher third in a Benetton-Ford.
Pre-race The Ostkurve chicane was modified for this race from a quick left-right gap into a turning sequence, after there were safety concerns with the chicane the previous year, when Érik Comas had a major accident there in his Ligier.
Qualifying Pre-qualifying report The Friday morning pre-qualifying session again followed the familiar pattern, with the Andrea Moda cars failing to pre-qualify. Gabriele Tarquini was fastest in the session for Fondmetal, just ahead of Larrousse driver Bertrand Gachot. Just over eight tenths of a second slower was Gachot's team-mate Ukyo Katayama, with Fondmetal's Andrea Chiesa, back in the newer GR02, the fourth and final pre-qualifier.
Andrea Moda's Roberto Moreno was fifth fastest as usual, although on this occasion he was much closer to Chiesa, just 0.376 of a second slower despite an engine failure. Perry McCarthy had managed one lap and was slowest, but his time was deleted after he missed a weightcheck and was excluded.
Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 15 Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 1:45.518 — 2 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 1:45.766 +0.248 3 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 1:46.599 +1.081 4 14 Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 1:48.502 +2.984 5 34 Roberto Moreno Andrea Moda-Judd 1:48.878 +3.360 35 Perry McCarthy Andrea Moda-Judd — —
Qualifying report Nigel Mansell qualified on pole position, ahead of Riccardo Patrese and Ayrton Senna. Stefano Modena, Eric van de Poele, Andrea Chiesa and Damon Hill were the four drivers who did not qualify for the race. For Chiesa, it proved to be the last time he took part in a Grand Prix event, as he was replaced for the next race at the Fondmetal team by van de Poele.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:38.340 1:37.960 2 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:40.501 1:38.310 +0.350 3 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:40.331 1:39.106 +1.146 4 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:40.869 1:39.716 +1.756 5 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:42.563 1:40.959 +2.999 6 19 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:42.183 1:41.132 +3.172 7 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 1:43.696 1:41.942 +3.982 8 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 1:42.930 1:42.112 +4.152 9 20 Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 1:43.614 1:42.136 +4.176 10 16 Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 1:44.173 1:42.357 +4.397 11 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:46.164 1:42.645 +4.685 12 28 Ivan Capelli Ferrari 1:43.744 1:42.748 +4.788 13 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 1:44.370 1:42.749 +4.789 14 3 Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:44.689 1:42.797 +4.837 15 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:44.359 1:42.838 +4.878 16 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 1:46.406 1:43.079 +5.119 17 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:43.574 1:43.171 +5.211 18 22 Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 1:45.099 1:43.556 +5.596 19 15 Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 1:44.661 1:43.777 +5.817 20 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:43.790 1:44.505 +5.830 21 21 JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 1:45.132 1:43.931 +5.971 22 17 Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor 1:45.190 1:44.130 +6.170 23 33 Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 1:45.941 1:44.521 +6.561 24 23 Alessandro Zanardi Minardi-Lamborghini 1:45.788 1:44.593 +6.633 25 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini no time 1:44.596 +6.636 26 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 1:45.455 1:44.763 +6.803 27 32 Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 1:46.211 1:45.088 +7.128 28 7 Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd 1:47.321 1:45.098 +7.138 29 14 Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 1:46.362 1:45.459 +7.499 30 8 Damon Hill Brabham-Judd 1:49.843 1:45.871 +7.911Source:
Race Race report At the start, Mansell took an early lead from teammate Patrese, with Senna in third. Mansell made a scheduled pitstop and quickly caught Senna, who chose to run the race without a pitstop. Aguri Suzuki spun off at the Sachs Kurve on lap 2. Ukyo Katayama also retired after spinning off only seven laps later, and Gerhard Berger retired in the pits with electrical problems on lap 17 as he had a long stop for tyres. On lap 19, Mansell cut the corner at the OstKurve chicane, exited faster, and passed Senna on the following straight. Mansell was not penalised. Meanwhile, further back, Ivan Capelli retired with engine trouble on lap 22, as did both the Lotus cars of Mika Häkkinen and Johnny Herbert, retiring with the same problems by lap 24.
On the last lap, Riccardo Patrese spun off whilst trying to pass Ayrton Senna for second position. He was ultimately classified in eighth position. Mansell held on for the race victory, ahead of Senna in second, whose McLaren car ran out of fuel shortly after crossing the finish line and Michael Schumacher in third.
Mansell tied the record from Ayrton Senna in 1988 for most wins in a season with eight, accomplished in only ten races.
Ayrton Senna dropped out of title contention at this race, although it seemed inevitable that only Mansell would be Driver's Champion anyway – he clinched the title at the next race in Hungary.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 45 1:18:22.032 1 10 2 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 45 + 4.500 3 6 3 19 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 45 + 34.462 6 4 4 20 Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 45 + 36.959 9 3 5 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 45 + 1:12.607 5 2 6 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 45 + 1:36.498 7 1 7 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 45 + 1:37.180 8 8 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 44 Spun off 2 9 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 44 + 1 lap 17 10 21 JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 44 + 1 lap 21 11 22 Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 44 + 1 lap 18 12 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 44 + 1 lap 26 13 17 Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor 44 + 1 lap 22 14 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 44 + 1 lap 25 15 33 Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 43 + 2 laps 23 16 16 Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 42 + 3 laps 10 15 Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 33 Engine 19 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 25 Engine 20 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 23 Engine 11 28 Ivan Capelli Ferrari 21 Engine 12 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 21 Engine 13 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 16 Electrical 4 3 Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 8 Engine 14 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 8 Spun off 16 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1 Spun off 15 23 Alessandro Zanardi Minardi-Lamborghini 1 Gearbox 24 32 Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 7 Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd 14 Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 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 86 2 Riccardo Patrese 40 3 Michael Schumacher 33 4 Ayrton Senna 24 5 Gerhard Berger 20Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 126 2 Benetton-Ford 49 3 McLaren-Honda 44 4 Ferrari 15 5 Lotus-Ford 7Source:
References