Hungarian GP 1991

Hungarian GP, 1991

The field was as it had been in Germany with Johnny Herbert still in Japan committed to Formula 3000 events and Michael Bartels standing in for a second consecutive race at Lotus. McLaren had made a big effort to try to appease a furious Ayrton Senna after two races in which he had run out of fuel and after qualifying Senna was on pole by over a second. Both Williams-Renault drivers had problems on Friday but emerged to take second and third on the grid with Riccardo Patrese ahead of Nigel Mansell while Alain Prost was fourth in his Ferrari ahead of Gerhard Berger (McLaren), Jean Alesi (Ferrari) and Emanuele Pirro in the Dallara-Judd, the first car on Pirelli tyres. The top 10 was completed by Stefano Modena's Tyrrell-Honda, Ivan Capelli's Leyton House (the car having improved dramatically after the front suspension was modified by the team's new technical director Gustav Brunner) and Martin Brundle's Brabham-Yamaha.

Patrese made a great start and was alongside Senna at the first corner. Senna carved across in front and took the lead. Patrese felt the move was overly aggressive. Behind them came Mansell, Prost, Berger, Alesi and Capelli, Ivan having made a great start. The front four ran together but there was no way that anyone could overtake and Senna could not get away. Alesi pitted for new tyres on lap 25. Three laps later Prost went out with an engine failure.

In the closing laps Mansell caught Patrese and Senna and the Italian decided that he would let the Englishman see if he could find a way to pass Senna. Senna and Mansell traded fastest laps but then the Brazilian began to edge away. Patrese finished third ahead of Berger, Alesi and Capelli.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda  77 1h49m12.796s  1 
2 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault  77 1h49m17.395s  3 
3 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault  77 1h49m28.390s  2 
4 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda  77 1h49m34.652s  5 
5 28 Jean Alesi Ferrari  77 1h49m44.185s  6 
6 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor  76  9 
7 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Cosworth  76  17 
8 19 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Cosworth  76  15 
9 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Cosworth  75  16 
10 26 Erik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini  75  25 
11 15 Mauricio Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor  75  13 
12 4 Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda  75  8 
13 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari  75  23 
14 11 Mika Hakkinen Lotus-Judd  74  26 
15 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda  74  14 
16 34 Nicola Larini Lamborghini  74  24 
17r 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini  71 Engine 19 
r 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari  65 Engine 18 
r 8 Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha  62 Spin 20 
r 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha  59 Driver Discomfort (cramp) 10 
r 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd  49 Oil Pressure 12 
r 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Cosworth  38 Gearbox 11 
r 29 Eric Bernard Lola-Cosworth  38 Engine 22 
r 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Cosworth  38 Engine 22 
r 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd  37 Oil Pressure 7 
r 27 Alain Prost Ferrari  28 Engine 4 
nq 14 Olivier Grouillard Fomet-Cosworth    27 
nq 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche    28 
nq 35 Eric van de Poele Lamborghini    29 
nq 12 Michael Bartels Lotus-Judd    30 
npq 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Cosworth    31 
npq 10 Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche    32 
npq 18 Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Cosworth    33 
npq 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Cosworth    34