Monaco GP 1991

Monaco GP, 1991

There was no change to the entry at Monaco and no change on pole position with Ayrton Senna fastest in his McLaren-Honda. There was a surprise in second place with the Pirelli-shod Tyrrell-Honda of Stefano Modena ahead of Riccardo Patrese's Williams-Renault, Nelson Piquet's Benetton-Ford, Nigel Mansell (Williams), Gerhard Berger (McLaren) and the Ferrari of Alain Prost. The top 10 was rounded off by the Benetton of Roberto Moreno, Jean Alesi's Ferrari and Andrea de Cesaris in his Jordan.

Modena made a good start but Senna took the lead with Modena second ahead of Patrese, Mansell and Prost. Berger ran into Piquet at the first corner and Piquet was out. Berger would disappear soon afterwards. After stopping for repairs he was charging back when he hit the wall in the Swimming Pool area while trying to wipe his visor. Modena suffered badly from traffic and so fell back to Patrese. Pierluigi Martini was the cause and he became the first man in F1 history to get a 10-second stop-go penalty, which meant going into the pits and waiting 10 seconds before being allowed back onto the track.

On lap 30 Prost overtook Mansell for fourth place but otherwise the order was stable until lap 43 when Modena's engine blew up in the tunnel. Patrese hit the oil and spun wildly. This left Senna with a huge advantage over Prost with Mansell, his engine problem suddenly curing itself, beginning to charge. Alesi continued his lonely race in fourth and Moreno did the same in fifth.

On lap 63 Mansell dived ahead of Prost with a wild manoeuvre but Prost was smart enough to keep out of the way of the errant Williams. Prost's race was ruined when he had to pit to have a wheel tightened and so he finished fifth behind Senna, Mansell, Alesi and Moreno. JJ Lehto lost sixth when his Dallara's gearbox failed but there was some consolation as his team mate Emanuele Pirro took the final point.

Senna had scored four wins in four races.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda  78 1h53m02.334s  
Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault  78 1h53m20.682s  
28 Jean Alesi Ferrari  78 1h53m49.789s  
19 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Cosworth  77  
27 Alain Prost Ferrari  77  
21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd  77  12 
25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini  76  16 
32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Cosworth  76  24 
29 Eric Bernard Lola-Cosworth  76  21 
10 26 Erik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini  76  23 
11 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd  75  13 
12 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari  72  14 
11 Mika Hakkinen Lotus-Judd  64 Oil Leak/fire 26 
24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari  49 Gearbox 17 
15 Mauricio Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor  43 Throttle Linkage 15 
Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda  42 Engine 
Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault  42 Accident 
Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha  41 Accident 22 
Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche  39 Emgine 25 
Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda  35 Spin 11 
30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Cosworth  24 Brakes/accident 19 
33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Cosworth  21 Throttle Linkage 10 
16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor  12 Brake Fluid Loss 18 
17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Cosworth  Gearbox 20 
Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda  Accident  
20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Cosworth  Accident Rear Suspension 
nq 12 Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd    27 
nq 18 Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Cosworth    28 
nq 10 Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche   Accident/injury 29 
npq 34 Nicola Larini Lamborghini    30 
npq 35 Eric van de Poele Lamborghini    31 
npq 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Cosworth    32 
npq 14 Olivier Grouillard Fomet-Cosworth    33 
exc Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha   Missed Weight Check 34