Portuguese GP 1990

Portuguese GP, 1990

The big news in the F1 paddock at Estoril was that Jean Alesi had been signed to replace Nigel Mansell at Ferrari after a deal between Sandro Nannini and Ferrari fell through. Alesi was originally expected to move to Williams but a settlement was reached between the parties (which resulted in the British team acquiring an F1 Ferrari).

The field was unchanged as the teams gathered in Estoril. The Life team had finally given up with its W12 engine and had acquired a Judd V8 but it made no difference. Qualifying resulted in a surprise as the two Ferraris were ahead of the two McLaren-Hondas with Nigel Mansell on pole from Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna ahead of Gerhard Berger. Riccardo Patrese emerged fifth in his Williams-Renault ahead of Nelson Piquet (Benetton), Thierry Boutsen (Williams), Jean Alesi (Tyrrell) and Sandro Nannini (Benetton). Eric Bernard was 10th and his Larrousse Lola team mate Aguri Suzuki was 11th.

On race morning Satoru Nakajima withdrew from the event because of flu which caused him to have a lapse of concentration in the warm-up and crash heavily.

At the start Mansell made a mess of it and nearly spun. The pole position car skittered across the road into the path of Prost and the Frenchman had to back off. On the outside Senna, Berger and Piquet all went ahead of Prost but Mansell chopped ahead of Piquet to grab third.

Prost was stuck behind Piquet for the first 13 laps and so dropped five seconds behind the leading trio. By lap 26 he had caught them and passed Mansell when the Englishman had a wild moment. Then the pit stops and tyre changes began and with everyone but Nannini stopping the order was shuffled with Senna leading Mansell and Berger. Mansell then attacked Senna and on lap 50 went ahead by which time Prost had lost sixth gear and was driving to survive. Mansell later had a brush with Philippe Alliot's Ligier, the Frenchman being punted into a wall.

Prost caught and passed Berger on lap 59 and was challenging Senna for second when Aguri Suzuki and Alex Caffi collided and the race was stopped with still 10 laps to go. Mansell won with Senna second and Prost third. Then came Berger, Piquet and Nannini.

The result meant that Senna was 18 points clear with three races to go.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 2 Nigel Mansell Ferrari  61 1h22m11.014s  1 
2 27 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda  61 1h22m13.822s  3 
3 1 Alain Prost Ferrari  61 1h22m15.203s  2 
4 28 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda  61 1h22m16.910s  4 
5 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Cosworth  61 1h23m08.432s  6 
6 19 Alessando Nannini Benetton-Cosworth  61 1h23m09.263s  9 
7 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault  60  5 
8 4 Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Cosworth  60  8 
9 9 Michele Alboreto Arrows-Cosworth  60  19 
10 25 Nicola Larini Ligier-Cosworth  59  22 
11 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  59  16 
12 15 Mauricio Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd  59  14 
13r 10 Alex Caffi Arrows-Cosworth  58 Accident 17 
14r 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini  58 Acident 11 
15 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Cosworth  58  13 
r 26 Philippe Alliot Ligier-Cosworth  52 Accident 20 
r 7 David Brabham Brabham-Judd  52 Gearbox 25 
r 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd  51 Engine 12 
r 5 Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault  30 Gearbox 7 
r 29 Eric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini  24 Gearbox 10 
r 8 Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd  21 Gearbox 23 
r 12 Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini  14 Alternator 15 
r 11 Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini  5 Throttle Slides Jammed 21 
r 18 Yannick Dalmas AGS-Cosworth  3 Drive Shaft 24 
r 22 Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Cosworth  0 Throttle Jammed/ Spin 18 
ns 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Cosworth   Driver Ill (earlier Accident) 26 
nq 14 Olivier Grouillard Osella-Cosworth    27 
nq 24 Paolo Barilla Minardi-Cosworth    28 
nq 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Cosworth    29 
nq 31 Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Subaru    30 
npq 33 Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd    31 
npq 34 Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd    32 
npq 39 Bruno Giacomelli Life    33