Race details | |||
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Race 4 of 16 in the 1989 Formula One season | |||
Date | 28 May 1989 | ||
Official name | XIII Gran Premio de Mexico | ||
Location |
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Magdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City |
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Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
Course length | 4.421 km (2.747 mi) | ||
Distance | 69 laps, 305.049 km (189.548 mi) | ||
Weather | Hot, dry, partly sunny 25°C/79°F, 40% Humidity, wind NW-10mph | ||
Pole position | |||
Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
Time | 1:17.876 | ||
Fastest lap | |||
Driver | Nigel Mansell | Ferrari | |
Time | 1:20.420 on lap 41 | ||
Podium | |||
First | McLaren-Honda | ||
Second | Williams-Renault | ||
Third | Tyrrell-Ford |
The 1989 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City on 28 May 1989. It was the fourth race of the 1989 Formula One season.
Pre-qualifying was again dominated by the Pirelli shod Brabhams with Martin Brundle and Stefano Modena easily the quickest. Alex Caffi was third in his Dallara while Stefan Johansson was the final pre-qualifier in his Onyx.
In qualifying proper, World Champion Ayrton Senna scored his 33rd career pole position, equalling the long-standing record held by Jim Clark. Senna's pole time in his V10 McLaren-Honda was 0.408 slower than his pole time in 1988 in the turbocharged McLaren MP4/4. His McLaren teammate Alain Prost was predictably second fastest with the V12 Ferrari 640 of Nigel Mansell third. Mansell's teammate Gerhard Berger, returning to action in Mexico after his crash at San Marino, was 6th, the Ferraris split by the March-Judd of Ivan Capelli and the Williams-Renault of Riccardo Patrese. Surprisingly, Capelli's teammate Maurício Gugelmin failed to qualify. Berger, still suffering the effects of the Imola crash, admitted that if not for Ferrari's innovative semi-automatic transmission (which meant he did not have to change gears as with a normal stick shift), he would not have been able to race.