The 1992 Japanese Grand Prix (formally the XVIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Suzuka on 25 October 1992. It was the fifteenth race of the 1992 Formula One World Championship.
The 53-lap race was won by Italian driver Riccardo Patrese, driving a Williams-Renault. It was Patrese's sixth and final Grand Prix victory, and the last win for an Italian driver for over a decade, until Giancarlo Fisichella won the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix. Austrian Gerhard Berger finished second in a McLaren-Honda, with Englishman Martin Brundle third in a Benetton-Ford.
Pre-race Two driver changes took place before the race: Ferrari replaced Ivan Capelli with their test driver Nicola Larini, while Karl Wendlinger left March to join Sauber's preparatory program ahead of the Swiss team's debut in 1993. His place was taken by Jan Lammers, making his first F1 start for over 10 years.
Qualifying Qualifying report In qualifying, Williams' Nigel Mansell took his 13th pole position of the season, equalling the record set by Ayrton Senna in and . Team-mate Riccardo Patrese was alongside him on the front row, while the McLarens of Senna and Gerhard Berger filled the second row. Michael Schumacher in the Benetton was fifth, followed by the two Lotuses of Johnny Herbert and Mika Häkkinen. The top ten was completed by Érik Comas in the Ligier, Andrea de Cesaris in the Tyrrell and Thierry Boutsen in the second Ligier.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:37.360 2:07.703 no time 2 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:38.219 2:13.971 +0.859 3 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:38.375 no time +1.015 4 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:40.296 no time +2.936 5 19 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:40.922 11:12.418 +3.562 6 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:41.030 no time +3.670 7 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 1:41.415 no time +4.055 8 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 1:42.187 no time +4.827 9 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:42.361 no time +5.001 10 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 1:42.428 no time +5.068 11 28 Nicola Larini Ferrari 1:42.488 no time +5.128 12 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Lamborghini 1:42.617 no time +5.257 13 20 Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 1:42.626 no time +5.266 14 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 1:42.627 2:10.260 +5.267 15 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:42.824 no time +5.464 16 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:43.029 no time +5.669 17 32 Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 1:43.117 2:19.944 +5.757 18 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 1:43.156 no time +5.796 19 22 Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 1:43.251 no time +5.891 20 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 1:43.488 5:40.775 +6.128 21 3 Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:43.941 no time +6.581 22 21 JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 1:44.037 no time +6.677 23 16 Jan Lammers March-Ilmor 1:44.075 no time +6.715 24 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:44.149 2:25.413 +6.789 25 33 Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 1:44.253 no time +6.893 26 17 Emanuele Naspetti March-Ilmor 1:47.303 no time +9.943Source:
Race Race report Mansell made a fast start and at the end of the first lap led Patrese by three seconds. Senna held on to third before becoming the race's first retirement on lap 3 with an engine failure. Meanwhile, Larini, who had qualified 11th, stalled on the grid and fell to last, while Boutsen's gearbox failed on lap 4. Olivier Grouillard in the second Tyrrell spun off and crashed at Spoon curve on lap 7.
Berger made an early pit stop and rejoined the race in sixth place, behind Schumacher and the two Lotuses. On lap 13, Schumacher retired with gearbox failure, his only mechanical retirement of the year; Herbert's gearbox also failed two laps later. After the mid-race pit stops for tyres, Mansell retained a comfortable lead over Patrese, while Berger moved ahead of Häkkinen into third and Martin Brundle, who had only qualified 13th in the second Benetton, moved up to fifth ahead of Comas and de Cesaris. Maurício Gugelmin in the second Jordan had also spun off the track and crashed at 130R leaving debris on the track by lap 23.
On lap 36, Mansell slowed and Patrese moved ahead. The following lap, Comas retired with an engine failure. The two Venturi Larousse cars collided at the chicanes as they were both on lap 40 at the time as Bertrand Gachot hit his Japanese teammate Ukyo Katayama and went off into the gravel trap, who managed to carry on and pit in for fresh tyres (despite making contact). On lap 45, both Mansell and Häkkinen suffered engine failures of their own; this moved Berger and Brundle into second and third respectively. Patrese cruised to his sixth and final Grand Prix victory, finishing 13 seconds ahead of Berger with Brundle a further minute back; the top six was completed by de Cesaris, Jean Alesi in the second Ferrari and Christian Fittipaldi, who scored his first point in Formula One and the only point of the season for the Minardi team.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 53 1:33:09.533 2 10 2 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 53 + 13.729 4 6 3 20 Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 53 + 1:15.503 13 4 4 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 52 + 1 lap 9 3 5 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 52 + 1 lap 15 2 6 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Lamborghini 52 + 1 lap 12 1 7 32 Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 52 + 1 lap 17 8 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 52 + 1 lap 16 9 21 JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 52 + 1 lap 22 10 22 Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 52 + 1 lap 19 11 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 52 + 1 lap 20 12 28 Nicola Larini Ferrari 52 + 1 lap 11 13 17 Emanuele Naspetti March-Ilmor 51 + 2 laps 26 14 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 51 + 2 laps 14 15 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 51 + 2 laps 24 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 44 Engine 1 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 44 Engine 7 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 39 Collision/Spun off 18 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 36 Engine 8 16 Jan Lammers March-Ilmor 27 Clutch 23 33 Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 22 Spun off 25 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 15 Gearbox 6 19 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 13 Gearbox 5 3 Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 6 Spun off 21 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 3 Gearbox 10 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 2 Engine 3
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Nigel Mansell 108 2 2 Riccardo Patrese 56 1 3 Ayrton Senna 50 1 4 Michael Schumacher 47 5 Gerhard Berger 39Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 164 2 McLaren-Honda 89 3 Benetton-Ford 81 4 Ferrari 18 5 Lotus-Ford 13Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Bold text indicates the 1992 World Champions.
References