Mexican GP 1990

Mexican GP, 1990

There was a two week break between the Canadian and Mexican Grands Prix and little had changed when the clans gathered in Mexico City. Gerhard Berger was on pole for McLaren with Riccardo Patrese second in his Williams ahead of Ayrton Senna (McLaren), Nigel Mansell (Ferrari) and Thierry Boutsen (Williams). The top 10 was completed by Pirelli tyre runners Jean Alesi (Tyrrell) and Pierluigi Martini (Minardi), the Benetton of Nelson Piquet (on Goodyears), the Tyrrell of Satoru Nakajima and Stefano Modena's Brabham. Alain Prost was 13th on the grid but reckoned that having a good tyre for the race was more important than a good grip position.

The morning warm-up was disrupted by a stray dog on the track which caused a suspension in proceedings but there were no such problems at the start with Patrese going ahead of Senna and Berger at the first corner. At the end of the first lap Senna took the lead and during the second lap Berger demoted Patrese to third giving McLaren a 1-2. After the two cars ran together for a while Senna began to pull away. Berger had a problem with his left front tyre and pitted on lap 13. He rejoined and began to pick his way through the field from 12th place. This put Piquet second ahead of the Williams-Renaults and the two Ferraris.

Mansell overtook Patrese on lap 22 and Boutsen on lap 26. Prost passed Patrese on lap 26 and Boutsen on lap 31. Piquet became their next victim. Mansell sailed through on lap 36, Prost followed on lap 42.

In the closing laps the two Ferraris closed on Senna and they were aided when Senna had a slow puncture. As they closed on the McLaren the two Ferraris swapped places on lap 55, Prost getting ahead of Mansell, who could do nothing to hold him. On lap 63 Senna's tyre exploded and by the time he had driven the car to the pits it was too badly damaged to continue. Mansell then had a spin and dropped behind Berger. At the last corner Mansell challenged. Berger realized that if he held his line there would be a huge accident and so allowed Mansell to take second. Sandro Nannini (Benetton) was fourth with Boutsen fifth and Piquet sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 1 Alain Prost Ferrari  69 1h32m35.783s  13 
2 2 Nigel Mansell Ferrari  69 1h33m01.134s  4 
3 28 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda  69 1h33m01.313s  1 
4 19 Alessando Nannini Benetton-Cosworth  69 1h33m16.882s  14 
5 5 Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault  69 1h33m22.452s  5 
6 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Cosworth  69 1h33m22.726s  8 
7 4 Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Cosworth  69 1h33m24.860s  6 
8 12 Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini  69 1h33m41.925s  12 
9 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault  69 1h33m45.701s  2 
10 11 Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini  68  11 
11 8 Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd  68  10 
12 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  68  7 
13 22 Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Cosworth  68  15 
14 24 Paolo Barilla Minardi-Cosworth  67  16 
15 35 Gregor Foitek Oynx-Cosworth  67  23 
16 25 Nicola Larini Ligier-Cosworth  67  24 
17 9 Michele Alboreto Arrows-Cosworth  66  17 
18 26 Philippe Alliot Ligier-Cosworth  66  22 
19 14 Olivier Grouillard Osella-Cosworth  65  20 
20r 27 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda  63 Puncture 3 
r 36 JJ Lehto Oynx-Cosworth  26 Engine 26 
r 29 Eric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini  12 Brakes/spin 25 
r 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini  11 Accident 19 
r 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Cosworth  11 Acident 9 
r 7 David Brabham Brabham-Judd  11 Electrics 21 
r 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Cosworth  10 Engine 18 
exc 33 Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd   Push Start After Spin 27 
nq 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd    28 
nq 15 Mauricio Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd    29 
nq 10 Alex Caffi Arrows-Cosworth    30 
npq 18 Yannick Dalmas AGS-Cosworth    31 
npq 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Cosworth    32 
npq 31 Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Subaru    33 
npq 34 Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd    34 
npq 39 Bruno Giacomelli Life    35