San Marino GP 1990

San Marino GP, 1990

The third round of the World Championship was not until seven weeks after the race in Brazil by which time there had been some changes in the field. David Brabham had been bought in to drive for the Brabham team while Gregor Foitek replaced the unhappy Stefan Johansson at the Monteverdi Onyx team. Emanuele Pirro had got over his hepatitis and was driving alongside Andrea de Cesaris at Scuderia Italia, while Gary Brabham had given up with the hopeless Life team and had been replaced by veteran Bruno Giacomelli.

The battle for pole position between the McLarens of Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger was a fascinating one but it was Senna who came out ahead. The two Williams-Renaults were on the second row, Riccardo Patrese beating Thierry Boutsen, while the Ferraris of Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost were on row three ahead of Jean Alesi's new Tyrrell 019 (with its revolutionary raised-nose aerodynamics), Nelson Piquet's Benetton, Sandro Nannini's Benetton and Derek Warwick's Lotus. Pierluigi Martini had a heavy accident in his Minardi at Acque Minerale, breaking the Minardi monocoque in half and cracking a bone in his ankle. He was out for the weekend.

There was a huge crowd on race day and at the start Berger beat Senna away while Boutsen also started well. At Tosa Berger missed a gear and so Senna and Boutsen went ahead. In the midfield there were problems as Satoru Nakajima (Tyrrell) hit Ivan Capelli (Leyton House). The Tyrrell crashed heavily into the wall, the impact tearing the engine from the car. The left front wheel was bashed back into the chassis and made a large hole in the side of the monocoque but Nakajima was unhurt. Also involved was Roberto Moreno's EuroBrun. Further down the road Martin Donnelly spun his Lotus in the middle of the pack, scattering cars in all directions.

At the top of the hill Pirro spun into a sandtrap. Senna would soon do the same at the Rivazza corner, a stone having sliced through the wheel rim of his car. This left Boutsen in the lead with Berger behind while Patrese was happy to shadow them. Mansell and Prost looked more combative and the Englishman overtook Patrese. On lap 18 Gerhard suddenly found himself in the lead as Boutsen went into the pits with a blown engine. But Berger too had problems. Mansell began to close in and Patrese stayed right with him. On lap 36 Mansell challenged for the lead at Tamburello, getting on the grass as he did so. This caused him to spin dramatically. He set off after Berger but soon afterwards his engine blew up. Berger struggled on as Patrese closed in. Nannini had inherited third, although Prost was right on his tail. On lap 51 Patrese moved into the lead and pulled away from Berger. The battle for third continued right to the line, with Nannini holding off Prost. Piquet and Alesi rounded up the top six.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault   1h30m55.478s  
28 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda   1h31m00.595s  
19 Alessando Nannini Benetton-Cosworth   1h31m01.718s  
Alain Prost Ferrari   1h31m02.321s  
20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Cosworth   1h31m48.590s  
Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Cosworth    
11 Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini    10 
12 Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini    11 
26 Philippe Alliot Ligier-Cosworth    16 
10 25 Nicola Larini Ligier-Cosworth    20 
11 24 Paolo Barilla Minardi-Cosworth    26 
12 36 JJ Lehto Oynx-Cosworth    25 
13r 29 Eric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini   Gearbox 13 
14 Olivier Grouillard Osella-Cosworth   Wheel Bearing 22 
Nigel Mansell Ferrari   Engine 
35 Gregor Foitek Oynx-Cosworth   Engine 23 
Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd   Brakes/spin 14 
22 Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Cosworth   Wheel Bearing 17 
15 Mauricio Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd   Electrics 12 
Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault   Engine 
30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini   Clutch 15 
27 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda   Wheel Rim/spin 
21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Cosworth   Spin 21 
16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd   Acident 18 
Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Cosworth   Accident  19 
33 Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd   Throttle Slides 24 
ns 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth   Accident/ Injury 27 
nq 10 Alex Caffi Arrows-Cosworth    28 
nq Michele Alboreto Arrows-Cosworth    29 
nq David Brabham Brabham-Judd    30 
npq 31 Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Subaru    31 
npq 34 Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd    32 
npq 39 Bruno Giacomelli Life    33 
npq 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Cosworth    34