1991 Portuguese Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 13 of 16 in the 1991 Formula One season | |||
 |
|||
| Date | 22 September 1991 | ||
| Official name | XXIII Grande Premio de Portugal | ||
| Location | Autódromo do Estoril | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.350 km (2.703 mi) | ||
| Distance | 71 laps, 308.850 km (191.910 mi) | ||
| Weather | Sunny and warm | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:13.001 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Nigel Mansell
|
Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:18.179 on lap 43 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||
| Second | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
|
|
|||
The 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo do Estoril on 22 September 1991. It was the thirteenth round of the 1991 Formula One season. The 71-lap race was won by Williams driver Riccardo Patrese after he started from pole position. Ayrton Senna finished second for the McLaren team with Ferrari driver Jean Alesi third.
The only change to the driver line-up was that Johnny Herbert was back at Lotus and managed to qualify, something that Michael Bartels had failed to do in his three outings for the team. The sunny Estoril was a popular venue among the drivers and qualifying saw a bit of a role reversal with the top teams' second drivers beating the championship contenders with Riccardo Patrese on pole alongside Gerhard Berger, with Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell third and fourth respectively. The top ten was rounded out by Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, Maurício Gugelmin, Pierluigi Martini, Ivan Capelli, and Michael Schumacher, the Benetton team a little off their usual pace.
On Sunday Morning Prost's Ferrari had a rather dramatic blowup in the warmup, and the Frenchman had to start the race in the spare car. The start was very eventful with Patrese getting away well and with Mansell aggressively chopping across the front of Senna. Unimpressed, he tried to retake Mansell going into the first turn but Nigel held his line and then proceeded to sweep underneath Berger to grab second at the second corner. After lap 1 the order was Patrese, Mansell, Berger, Senna, and Alesi. Mansell seemed content to shadow Patrese until lap 18 when he slipstreamed past his teammate on the main straight and proceeded to pull away. Things were looking well for Williams until Mansell came in for his stop on lap 29 and things went horribly wrong. The right rear tyre men got confused and one mechanic raised his hand when the other had not gotten the wheel perfectly on. Mansell set off down the pitlane but his tyre did not want to comply, the tyre fell off and the frustrated Englishman was left stranded in the middle of the pit lane with three wheels. The team ran out and put a fourth wheel on the car, breaking many rules in the process.
...
Wikipedia