1990 Australian Grand Prix

1990 Australian Grand Prix
Race 16 of 16 in the 1990 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	4 November 1990
Official name	LV Foster's Australian Grand Prix
Location	Adelaide Street Circuit Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Course	Temporary street circuit
Course length	3.780 km (2.362 mi)
Distance	81 laps, 306.180 km (191.322 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:15.671
Fastest lap
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari
Time	1:18.203 on lap 75
Podium
First	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford
Second	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari
Third	Alain Prost	Ferrari
show Lap leaders

The 1990 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 4 November 1990 at Adelaide. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship. This was the 500th race to contribute to the World Drivers' Championship since the series had started in 1950. The race was the 55th Australian Grand Prix and the sixth to be held on the Adelaide street circuit, which also made it the sixth AGP to be part of the Formula One World Championship. The race was held over 81 laps of the 3.78 km circuit for a race distance of 306 kilometres.

Qualifying[]

Qualifying report[]

Ayrton Senna claimed his 52nd pole position with a 1:15.671, the fastest time recorded on the Adelaide street circuit to date. Second on the grid was his McLaren-Honda teammate Gerhard Berger who was over half a second slower. Filling out the second row were the Ferraris of Nigel Mansell, in his last race for the Maranello based team, and Prost, who was only 0.013 slower than Mansell. Despite brake problems with his Tyrrell-Ford, Jean Alesi qualified 5th in front of the Williams-Renault of Riccardo Patrese. During the final qualifying session it was reported by 1980 World Champion Alan Jones who was acting as pit reporter for race television broadcaster Channel 9 that Tyrrell team owner Ken Tyrrell believed Alesi's brake trouble to be more driver related rather than any fault with the car.

Japanese Grand Prix winner Nelson Piquet qualified his Benetton-Ford in 7th with teammate Roberto Moreno 8th and 1989 race winner Thierry Boutsen 9th in his Williams. Rounding out the top 10 qualifiers was Pierluigi Martini in his Pirelli shod Minardi-Ford.

Australian David Brabham, driving for Brabham, the team his triple World Championship winning father Jack had started in 1962, qualified for his first Australian Grand Prix in 25th position. Jack Brabham had won the non-championship Australian Grands Prix in 1955 (the first rear-engined car to do so), 1963 and 1964. David Brabham would be the first Australian to drive in his home Grand Prix since Alan Jones had his last F1 race in 1986.

Italians Michele Alboreto and Alex Caffi (both Arrows), Frenchman Yannick Dalmas (AGS) and Belgian Bertrand Gachot (Coloni) all failed to qualify.

Qualifying classification[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	27	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:15.671	1:15.692	—
2	28	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	1:17.431	1:16.244	+0.573
3	2	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	1:17.294	1:16.352	+0.681
4	1	Alain Prost	Ferrari	1:16.365	1:17.021	+0.694
5	4	Jean Alesi	Tyrrell-Ford	1:16.837	1:17.246	+1.166
6	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:17.156	1:17.449	+1.485
7	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford	1:17.640	1:17.173	+1.502
8	19	Roberto Moreno	Benetton-Ford	1:17.437	1:18.089	+1.766
9	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	1:17.596	1:18.112	+1.925
10	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:18.235	1:17.827	+2.156
11	11	Derek Warwick	Lotus-Lamborghini	1:19.579	1:18.351	+2.680
12	25	Nicola Larini	Ligier-Ford	1:19.567	1:18.730	+3.059
13	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell-Ford	1:18.738	1:19.066	+3.067
14	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House-Judd	1:19.341	1:18.843	+3.172
15	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara-Ford	1:19.107	1:18.858	+3.187
16	15	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House-Judd	1:19.804	1:18.860	+3.189
17	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	1:19.861	1:18.886	+3.215
18	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Lamborghini	1:19.091	1:19.185	+3.420
19	26	Philippe Alliot	Ligier-Ford	1:19.202	1:19.835	+3.531
20	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Ford	1:19.408	1:19.347	+3.676
21	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Ford	1:19.476	1:19.609	+3.805
22	14	Olivier Grouillard	Osella-Ford	1:21.047	1:19.722	+4.051
23	29	Éric Bernard	Lola-Lamborghini	1:21.489	1:19.858	+4.187
24	30	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Lamborghini	1:19.970	1:20.235	+4.299
25	7	David Brabham	Brabham-Judd	1:20.846	1:20.218	+4.547
26	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	1:21.222	1:20.296	+4.625
27	9	Michele Alboreto	Arrows-Ford	1:20.630	1:20.545	+4.874
28	18	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford	1:21.342	1:20.570	+4.899
29	10	Alex Caffi	Arrows-Ford	1:21.101	1:21.609	+4.938
30	31	Bertrand Gachot	Coloni-Ford	1:23.135	1:23.975	+6.464

Race[]

Pre-race[]

As part of a television interview with Ayrton Senna after qualifying, former triple World Champion Jackie Stewart caused a stir when he claimed that Senna was part of too many race accidents for a driver of his ability compared to all the World Champions of the past. A visibly annoyed Senna stated he could not believe that someone of Stewart's racing experience, someone who knew first hand that accidents are a part of motor racing, would say that he was a dangerous driver, and challenged the Scotsman to go back and check his facts.^[1]

On race morning during the drivers briefing, McLaren boss Ron Dennis asked the officials for a ruling on what would happen if anyone decided to effectively straight-line the chicane after the start, asking if it was legal. FISA officials replied that any driver who did that would most likely damage their car so it was not advisable. At that point Alain Prost got up and walked out of the meeting, an action that earned him a 'yellow card' from FISA, but no fine. This puzzled many as walking out of the drivers briefing without good reason usually saw a driver fined.^{[citation needed]}

Then, as per normal practice, the annual end-of-season drivers photo shoot took place prior to the race. As the race was the 500th World Championship Grand Prix there was also a photo shoot taken with several World Champions who were in attendance, including legendary five time Champion Juan Manuel Fangio. Alain Prost, still angry over the events at Suzuka, did not appear in either photo by his own choice as he did not want to appear with Ayrton Senna. This, and his public statements about his former McLaren teammate following the Japanese Grand Prix where he claimed Senna deliberately took him out at the first corner in the race to win the World Championship, lead to criticism of his mental state of mind by some including former World Champion turned BBC commentator James Hunt, who at the time believed the crash at Suzuka was just an accident and that Senna had not taken Prost out on purpose (Senna revealed at Suzuka a year later that he did indeed deliberately take Prost out as payback for their crash at Suzuka 1989 that gave Prost the world title over Senna). Hunt, who as the 1976 Champion was in the photo shoot along with Fangio, Sir Jack Brabham, Denny Hulme, Stewart, and current drivers Senna and Nelson Piquet, claimed during the race commentary that Prost had been mentally beaten down by Senna after losing the championship to him in controversial circumstances and seemed to be "a driver who was under a form of mental collapse".^{[citation needed]}

Other than Prost who chose not to take part, World Championship winning drivers who were still alive but not in the photo shoot due to not being in attendance in Adelaide were Phil Hill (1961), John Surtees (1964), Emerson Fittipaldi (1972 & 1974), Niki Lauda (1975, 1977 & 1984), Mario Andretti (1978), Jody Scheckter (1979), and the winner of the inaugural race in Adelaide Keke Rosberg (1982). The most surprising absentee was Australia's 1980 World Champion Alan Jones who was actually at the circuit that weekend racing a Ford Sierra RS500 in the Group A touring car support races as well as performing duties as a pit reporter for Australian host television broadcaster Channel 9.

Race report[]

The winner for the second race in a row was Brazilian veteran Nelson Piquet in his Benetton, giving the triple World Champion back to back wins for the first time since he won the 1987 German and Hungarian Grands Prix while driving for Williams-Honda. He took a 3.129 second victory over Nigel Mansell after the Englishman had tried a passing move under braking for the hairpin at the end of the Brabham Straight which almost took out both cars, Mansell somehow managed to pull his Ferrari up in time to just miss Piquet and the lapped Brabham-Judd of Stefano Modena as they turned into the right hand hairpin. Piquet overtook Patrese at the start and Alesi a few corners later. He then took Prost on lap 3 at the end of the long straight and then outbraked Berger for third place at the same place on lap 9. He later overtook Mansell on the pit straight when Mansell’s first set of tyres went off.

After making the best start, but being blocked in by the slow starting Berger, Alain Prost drove a steady, but for him unremarkable race other than a rare mistake when he ran wide at Brewery Bend late in the race while trying to stay ahead of the charging Mansell. Prost ran in 5th for most of the race, but eventually finished 3rd after Senna crashed out of the lead on lap 61 with gearbox trouble, and after Berger had also run wide at Brewery Bend and had to back off to conserve his tyres. Berger finished 4th, 9.6 seconds behind Prost. Rounding out the top six were the Williamses of 1989 Australian Grand Prix winner Thierry Boutsen, the last driver on the lead lap and in his last race for Williams, and Riccardo Patrese.

On lap 50, Senna broke Gerhard Berger's 1987 lap record of 1:20.416 (set in the turbocharged Ferrari F1/87) with a time of 1:19.302. In his late race pursuit of Piquet, Mansell continued to lower the lap record and eventually lowered it to 1:18.203 on lap 75. In his efforts to stay ahead of Mansell, Piquet set his fastest race lap on lap 79 with a time of 1:18.527, and then emulated Prost and Berger's earlier feats by running wide at Brewery Bend on lap 80 which allowed Mansell to close within two seconds. Piquet's fastest lap, set on the tyres which he had started the race on, was also the second fastest lap of the race. In the post race interview with the top three finishers, Piquet said with a smile that after his lap 80 off which allowed Mansell to close up to him that he had to "drive like hell" over the last lap and a half, and that the "shit almost hit the fan", referring to Mansell's last-ditch overtaking move which almost took both cars out. After slower times in the 1988 race, and no chance to beat it in the wet in 1989, some 9 drivers (Mansell, Piquet, Prost, Senna, Moreno, Boutsen, Alesi, Patrese and Berger himself) would go faster than Berger's 1987 record with only Berger of that group failing to go under 1:20.000.^[2]

The victory allowed Piquet to claim third spot in the drivers championship in a countback after equalling the 43 points of Gerhard Berger (Piquet scored 2 wins compared to Berger who failed to win a race). It also allowed the Benetton team to secure third in the Constructors' Championship over Williams, equaling its best finish from 1988.

The race was Riccardo Patrese's 208th Grand Prix start in what was the 500th World Championship GP held. This meant that the Italian had driven in 41.6% of all Grands Prix held since the World Championship started in 1950. Patrese had started his F1 career with the Shadow team at the 1977 Monaco Grand Prix.

Race classification[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford	81	1:49:44.570	7	9
2	2	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	81	+3.129	3	6
3	1	Alain Prost	Ferrari	81	+37.259	4	4
4	28	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	81	+46.862	2	3
5	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	81	+1:51.160	9	2
6	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	80	+1 lap	6	1
7	19	Roberto Moreno	Benetton-Ford	80	+1 lap	8
8	4	Jean Alesi	Tyrrell-Ford	80	+1 lap	5
9	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	79	+2 laps	10
10	25	Nicola Larini	Ligier-Ford	79	+2 laps	12
11	26	Philippe Alliot	Ligier-Ford	78	+3 laps	19
12	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	77	+4 laps	17
13	14	Olivier Grouillard	Osella-Ford	74	+7 laps	22
Ret	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Ford	68	Engine	21
Ret	27	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	61	Gearbox / Spun off	1
Ret	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	58	Engine	26
Ret	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Lamborghini	57	Clutch	18
Ret	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell-Ford	53	Brakes	13
Ret	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House-Judd	46	Throttle	14
Ret	11	Derek Warwick	Lotus-Lamborghini	43	Gearbox	11
Ret	15	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House-Judd	27	Brakes	16
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara-Ford	23	Electrical	15
Ret	29	Éric Bernard	Lola-Lamborghini	21	Gearbox	23
Ret	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Ford	20	Gearbox	20
Ret	7	David Brabham	Brabham-Judd	18	Spun off	25
Ret	30	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Lamborghini	6	Transmission	24
DNQ	9	Michele Alboreto	Arrows-Ford
DNQ	18	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford
DNQ	10	Alex Caffi	Arrows-Ford
DNQ	31	Bertrand Gachot	Coloni-Ford
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race[]

• Bold Text indicates World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Ayrton Senna 78 2 Alain Prost 71 (73) 3 Nelson Piquet 43 (44) 4 Gerhard Berger 43 5 Nigel Mansell 37 Source:[4]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 121 2 Ferrari 110 3 Benetton-Ford 71 4 Williams-Renault 57 5 Tyrrell-Ford 16 Source:[4]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[]