Hungarian GP 1990

Hungarian GP, 1990

The talk of the paddock was of Team Lotus, which had lost its Camel backing for 1991 and had appointed Peter Collins and Peter Wright to a nebulous marketing position. It was the beginning of a takeover of the team. Cigarette-maker Camel announced that it would be backing Williams and Benetton in 1991.

In qualifying for the race Williams scored a 1-2 result with Thierry Boutsen on pole from Riccardo Patrese. The two McLaren drivers were struggling, using new construction Goodyear tyres, and so Gerhard Berger and Ayrton Senna were third and fourth ahead of Ferrari's Nigel Mansell, who shared the third row with Jean Alesi (Tyrrell). Sandro Nannini (Benetton) and Alain Prost (Ferrari) were on row four while Nelson Piquet (Benetton) shared the fifth row with Andrea de Cesaris's Dallara. In the course of Saturday Gregor Foitek suffered a suspension failure on his Monteverdi Onyx and, shaken by it, he returned to the paddock and told the team that he would not be with them again. He had had enough.

The start in Hungary is critical and Gerhard Berger made the best one on this occasion and tried to get ahead of the two Williams-Renaults but Boutsen shut the door firmly. Patrese slotted into third while Mansell went round Senna on the outside in the first corner and then Alesi went skittering down the inside so Senna found himself sixth. Prost also made a bad start and slipped behind de Cesaris, Nannini and Piquet. The first four cars set off in a train, while Alesi held up those behind him. Nannini soon overtook de Cesaris but it took Piquet and Prost a lot longer.

Senna did not manage to pass Alesi until lap 21 but as soon as he was ahead he was forced into the pits with a puncture which dropped him to 10th place. Nannini overtook Alesi and quickly caught up with the leading quartet. He was followed ahead of the Tyrrell by Prost. Soon afterwards Alain spun off when his transmission failed. Alesi then put himself out of the action when he collided with Pierluigi Martini's Minardi. With the field ahead clearing out of the way Senna closed quickly on the five cars at the front. Berger in the meantime decided that in order to pass Boutsen he needed new tyres and so pitted and dropped to sixth place. On lap 52 a frustrated Mansell tried to pass Patrese but did not get through. He had to lift and instantly Nannini went ahead. Senna did the same. Mansell was back to fifth. Patrese stayed out for a few more laps and so Boutsen's lead increased but as soon as Riccardo disappeared into the pits the gap closed again.

On lap 64 Senna made a move to grab second from Nannini in the chicane. The two collided and Nannini was launched into the sandtrap. Senna emerged unscathed. Nannini was out.

On lap 72 Berger tried the same trick on Mansell and this time both cars went out. This left Boutsen with Senna closing fast and then a big gap back to Piquet. Patrese was fourth with Derek Warwick (Lotus) fifth and Eric Bernard (Lola-Lamborghini) sixth. Senna tried everything but Boutsen held him off all the way to the flag.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 5 Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault  77 1h49m30.597s  1 
2 27 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda  77 1h49m30.885s  4 
3 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Cosworth  77 1h49m58.490s  9 
4 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault  77 1h50m02.430s  2 
5 11 Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini  77 1h50m44.841s  11 
6 29 Eric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini  77 1h50m54.905s  12 
7 12 Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini  76  18 
8 15 Mauricio Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd  76  17 
9 10 Alex Caffi Arrows-Cosworth  76  26 
10 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Cosworth  76  13 
11 25 Nicola Larini Ligier-Cosworth  76  25 
12 9 Michele Alboreto Arrows-Cosworth  75  22 
13 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Cosworth  74  24 
14 26 Philippe Alliot Ligier-Cosworth  74  21 
15 24 Paolo Barilla Minardi-Cosworth  74  23 
16r 28 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda  72 Accident 3 
17r 2 Nigel Mansell Ferrari  71 Accident 5 
r 19 Alessando Nannini Benetton-Cosworth  64 Accident 7 
r 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd  56 Gearbox 16 
r 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini  37 Oil Filter/engine 19 
r 1 Alain Prost Ferrari  36 Gearbox/spin 8 
r 4 Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Cosworth  36 Accident 6 
r 8 Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd  35 Engine 20 
r 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  35 Accident 14 
r 22 Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Cosworth  22 Engine 10 
r 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Cosworth  9 Brakes/accident 15 
nq 18 Yannick Dalmas AGS-Cosworth    27 
nq 7 David Brabham Brabham-Judd    28 
nq 36 JJ Lehto Oynx-Cosworth    29 
nq 35 Gregor Foitek Oynx-Cosworth    30 
npq 14 Olivier Grouillard Osella-Cosworth    31 
npq 31 Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Subaru    32 
npq 33 Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd    33 
npq 34 Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd    34 
npq 39 Bruno Giacomelli Life    35