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1990 Portuguese Grand Prix

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1990 Portuguese Grand Prix
Race 13 of 16 in the 1990 Formula One World Championship
Race details[1]
Date 23 September 1990
Official name XIX Grande Premio de Portugal
Location Autódromo do Estoril
Estoril, Portugal
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.350 km (2.703 miles)
Distance 61 laps, 265.35 km (164.88 miles)
Scheduled distance 71 laps, 308.85 km (191.91 miles)
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:13.557
Fastest lap
Driver Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault
Time 1:18.306 on lap 56
Podium
First Ferrari
Second McLaren-Honda
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1990 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 23 September 1990 at Autódromo do Estoril. It was the thirteenth race of the 1990 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race was the 19th Portuguese Grand Prix and the seventh to be held at Estoril. It was scheduled to be held over 71 laps of the 4.35-kilometre (2.70 mi) circuit but was stopped after 61 laps, a race distance of 265.35 kilometres (164.88 mi), after an accident involving the Arrows of Alex Caffi and the Lola of Aguri Suzuki.

Nigel Mansell took pole position in his Ferrari and was leading when the race was stopped, thus taking his only victory of the season and his last for the Ferrari team. Mansell finished 2.8 seconds ahead of Drivers' Championship leader Ayrton Senna in the McLaren-Honda, who in turn finished 1.3 seconds ahead of rival Alain Prost in the other Ferrari. Senna thus extended his lead over Prost to 18 points with three races remaining.

This also marked the first race in which an effective traction control system was used in Formula One. Scuderia Ferrari used the system on Prost's Ferrari 641; which gave the Frenchman an eventual third-place podium finish. Mansell's 641 was also equipped with the same traction control system; however, the Englishman decided to switch his system off for the race. Nonetheless, he still won the race.[2]

Qualifying

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Pre-qualifying report

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The Friday morning pre-qualifying session produced a similar result to the previous two races, with the same four cars pre-qualifying, albeit in a slightly different order. Olivier Grouillard was fastest for the third time in a row in the Osella, half a second ahead of the AGS of Yannick Dalmas. Now a regular pre-qualifier after the disastrous period with the Subaru engine, Bertrand Gachot was third fastest in the Coloni, nearly a second ahead of Gabriele Tarquini in the other AGS.[3]

This left the now-usual trio missing out on pre-qualification. The two EuroBruns of Robert Moreno and Claudio Langes were again fifth and sixth, with Langes more than two seconds slower than his team-mate as the team began to lose touch with their rivals. The Life team had finally abandoned their unreliable and vastly underpowered W12 engine, and had fitted the L190 with a well-used Judd CV V8. It had taken ten days to modify the chassis, and the car was now 80 kg lighter. But the engine cover now did not fit properly, and it flew off on Bruno Giacomelli's shakedown lap, halfway through the session. It was slightly damaged and the team had no replacement, so no further running was possible.[4]

Pre-qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 14 France Olivier Grouillard Osella-Ford 1:19.384
2 18 France Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 1:19.885 +0.501
3 31 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Ford 1:20.000 +0.616
4 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:20.942 +1.558
5 33 Brazil Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd 1:21.188 +1.804
6 34 Italy Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd 1:23.447 +4.063
7 39 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Life-Judd no time

Qualifying report

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Tyrrell's Satoru Nakajima qualified 20th but withdrew due to influenza after crashing in the Sunday morning warm-up session. The grid was adjusted accordingly, although only 25 drivers started as no non-qualifier was reinstated.

Qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 2 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Ferrari 1:14.861 1:13.557
2 1 France Alain Prost Ferrari 1:14.536 1:13.595 +0.038
3 27 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:14.246 1:13.601 +0.044
4 28 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:14.552 1:14.292 +0.735
5 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:15.539 1:14.723 +1.166
6 20 Brazil Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:15.542 1:14.728 +1.171
7 5 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 1:15.646 1:14.934 +1.377
8 4 France Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 1:16.092 1:15.112 +1.555
9 19 Italy Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:16.123 1:15.411 +1.854
10 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 1:16.477 1:15.673 +2.116
11 30 Japan Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini 1:17.189 1:16.012 +2.455
12 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd 1:18.242 1:16.284 +2.727
13 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Ford 1:17.653 1:16.290 +2.733
14 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd 1:17.569 1:16.296 +2.739
15 12 United Kingdom Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini 1:17.414 1:16.762 +3.205
16 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:17.045 1:16.795 +3.238
17 10 Italy Alex Caffi Arrows-Ford 1:18.725 1:16.946 +3.389
18 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 1:17.252 1:17.066 +3.509
19 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Arrows-Ford 1:18.630 1:17.081 +3.524
20 3 Japan Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Ford 1:17.097 no time +3.540
21 26 France Philippe Alliot Ligier-Ford 1:17.330 1:17.120 +3.563
22 11 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini 1:17.904 1:17.259 +3.702
23 25 Italy Nicola Larini Ligier-Ford 1:18.958 1:17.269 +3.712
24 8 Italy Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:17.962 1:17.341 +3.784
25 18 France Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 1:18.581 1:17.621 +4.064
26 7 Australia David Brabham Brabham-Judd 1:18.967 1:17.715 +4.158
27 14 France Olivier Grouillard Osella-Ford 1:18.512 1:17.775 +4.218
28 24 Italy Paolo Barilla Minardi-Ford 1:18.669 1:18.280 +4.723
29 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:20.226 1:18.815 +5.258
30 31 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Ford 1:20.662 1:20.516 +6.959

Race

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Race report

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At the start, with both Ferraris on the front row (Mansell on pole, Alain Prost second), Mansell got too much wheelspin and slid across the track towards Prost, who had to avoid being shunted into the pitwall. All of this allowed the McLarens of Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger to slip past Mansell and Prost to make it a McLaren 1–2 with Senna leading into the first corner. After all the mid race tyre stops, it was Senna who emerged as the race leader, followed by Mansell, Berger, and Prost. A few laps later Mansell had caught Senna and passed him into turn one (Senna letting him through, unlike the year before when they collided).

On lap 52, race leader Nigel Mansell was attempting to lap the Ligier JS33B of Philippe Alliot when the Frenchman stuck to the racing line by driving inches in front of Mansell into the inside of "Curva 2" corner. However, the right rear wheel of his car hit the left front of Mansell's Ferrari and Alliot was sent spinning into the Armco barrier. Mansell came out unscathed from this incident, and eventually won the race which was stopped early due to an accident between Suzuki and Caffi.

Ferrari announced that Jean Alesi would partner Alain Prost for 1991. Alesi was reported to have already signed a contract with Williams, but changed his mind when Ferrari showed an interest, feeling that this would give him a better chance of winning a championship.[citation needed]

By winning this race, Mansell tied Stirling Moss' longstanding record of most F1 Grand Prix wins without a Drivers' Championship, at 16. Mansell would then extend it to 29 across the next two years, until finally clinching the title at the 1992 Hungarian Grand Prix, at which point Moss would have that record handed back to him.

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Ferrari 61 1:22:11.014 1 9
2 27 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 61 + 2.808 3 6
3 1 France Alain Prost Ferrari 61 + 4.189 2 4
4 28 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 61 + 5.896 4 3
5 20 Brazil Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 61 + 57.418 6 2
6 19 Italy Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 61 + 58.249 9 1
7 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 60 + 1 lap 5
8 4 France Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 60 + 1 lap 8
9 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Arrows-Ford 60 + 1 lap 19
10 25 Italy Nicola Larini Ligier-Ford 59 + 2 laps 22
11 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 59 + 2 laps 16
12 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd 59 + 2 laps 14
13 10 Italy Alex Caffi Arrows-Ford 58 Collision 17
14 30 Japan Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini 58 Collision 11
15 21 Italy Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Ford 58 + 3 laps 13
Ret 26 France Philippe Alliot Ligier-Ford 52 Accident 20
Ret 7 Australia David Brabham Brabham-Judd 52 Gearbox 25
Ret 16 Italy Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd 51 Engine 12
Ret 5 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 30 Engine 7
Ret 29 France Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 24 Gearbox 10
Ret 8 Italy Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 21 Gearbox 23
Ret 12 United Kingdom Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini 14 Alternator 15
Ret 11 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini 5 Throttle 21
Ret 18 France Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 3 Halfshaft 24
Ret 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 0 Spun off 18
DNS 3 Japan Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Ford Driver unwell
DNQ 14 France Olivier Grouillard Osella-Ford
DNQ 24 Italy Paolo Barilla Minardi-Ford
DNQ 17 Italy Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford
DNQ 31 Belgium Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Ford
DNPQ 33 Brazil Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ 34 Italy Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ 39 Italy Bruno Giacomelli Life-Judd
Source:[5]

Championship standings after the race

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

References

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  1. ^ Henry, Alan (1990). AUTOCOURSE 1990–91. Hazleton Publishing. p. 217. ISBN 0-905138-74-0.
  2. ^ "Traction control and ABS".
  3. ^ Walker, Murray (1990). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 111–118. ISBN 0-905138-82-1.
  4. ^ Giuntini, Anne (3 November 1990). "Life N'Est Pas Beautiful". L'Équipe Magazine. p. 22.
  5. ^ "1990 Portuguese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Portugal 1990 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.


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1990 Italian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1990 season
Next race:
1990 Spanish Grand Prix
Previous race:
1989 Portuguese Grand Prix
Portuguese Grand Prix Next race:
1991 Portuguese Grand Prix