1992 Australian Grand Prix

1992 Australian Grand Prix
Race 16 of 16 in the 1992 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	8 November 1992
Official name	LVII 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	Cloudy
Pole position
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Time	1:13.732
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford
Time	1:16.078 on lap 68
Podium
First	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda
Second	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford
Third	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1992 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Adelaide on 8 November 1992. It was the sixteenth and final round of the 1992 FIA Formula One World Championship. The most significant moment was a collision between Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell as the Brazilian attempted to overtake the Englishman, eliminating both drivers. This was intended to be Mansell's final Formula One race before moving to IndyCars, although he returned briefly in 1994 and 1995.

Martin Brundle (who spent 1993 with Ligier), race winner Gerhard Berger (who returned to Ferrari for 1993) and Riccardo Patrese (who joined Benetton for 1993) are among the many drivers for whom this was the final race with their current teams, while for Jan Lammers, Stefano Modena, Maurício Gugelmin, Olivier Grouillard it was the last Grand Prix of their careers respectively. It was also rumoured that it would be the last race for Ayrton Senna at McLaren, however this would ultimately prove false as the Brazilian would remain with the Woking based team for 1993.

This was McLaren's final race using a Honda engine until 2015. The company ceased their full factory involvement in the sport following this race, although the Mugen arm of the company continued. They returned in 2000 as engine supplier to BAR. This Grand Prix also proved to be the last for the March team.

This was also the last F1 win for Honda as a full-works engine supplier until the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix and the last F1 podium for Honda as a full-works engine supplier until the 2001 Spanish Grand Prix.

Qualifying[]

Qualifying report[]

Williams and McLaren shared the first two rows with Nigel Mansell taking pole, from Ayrton Senna, Riccardo Patrese and Gerhard Berger. Michael Schumacher was fifth in his Benetton, with Jean Alesi sixth for Ferrari.

Qualifying classification[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	1:13.732	1:15.133	—
2	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:14.202	1:14.416	+0.470
3	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:14.370	1:15.895	+0.638
4	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	1:15.114	1:15.688	+1.382
5	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	1:15.210	1:16.613	+1.478
6	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:16.091	1:17.213	+2.359
7	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	1:16.440	1:17.333	+2.708
8	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	1:16.562	1:17.674	+2.830
9	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault	1:16.727	1:17.856	+2.995
10	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	1:16.863	1:17.868	+3.131
11	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:16.937	1:17.621	+3.205
12	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	1:16.944	1:18.099	+3.212
13	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	1:17.037	1:19.017	+3.305
14	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	1:17.047	1:18.043	+3.315
15	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha	1:17.231	1:18.790	+3.499
16	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	1:17.333	1:19.661	+3.601
17	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini	1:17.367	1:19.441	+3.635
18	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:17.409	1:19.589	+3.677
19	28	Nicola Larini	Ferrari	1:17.465	1:18.618	+3.733
20	33	Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	1:17.805	1:19.735	+4.073
21	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi-Lamborghini	1:17.808	1:18.477	+4.076
22	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	1:17.957	1:17.976	+4.225
23	17	Emanuele Naspetti	March-Ilmor	4:23.313	1:18.099	+4.367
24	21	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Ferrari	1:18.565	1:18.891	+4.833
25	16	Jan Lammers	March-Ilmor	3:10.720	1:18.843	+5.111
26	30	Ukyo Katayama	Venturi-Lamborghini	1:18.862	1:20.306	+5.130
Source:[1][2][3]

Race[]

Race report[]

Nicola Larini started this race from the back of the grid. A first-lap collision between the Tyrrell of Olivier Grouillard and the Dallara of Pierluigi Martini had eliminated both drivers on the same lap. The order of the top six at the end of the first lap was Mansell, Senna, Patrese, Berger, Schumacher and Alesi. Mansell as usual was unable to pull away, whilst Senna in second tried his hardest to pass the Williams on lap 8, but was unable to do so. Gugelmin for the second race running had spun out and crashed by lap 9.

Senna ran wide and allowed Mansell to retain the lead. The order of the top two remained the same until lap 19 when they collided at the Mistral hairpin; Senna attempted to overtake Mansell but crashed into the rear of the Williams (eliminating both drivers). This allowed Riccardo Patrese to take the lead from lap 20 in the remaining Williams, but was under enormous pressure from Gerhard Berger who was a close second. Berger, like Senna, attempted to pass the Williams on the outside but ran wide. Berger pitted for fresh tyres on lap 35, as did Michael Schumacher in the leading Benetton five laps later; the German rejoined four seconds behind Berger.

Martin Brundle was able to pass Jean Alesi in the leading Ferrari for third during their pit-stops. Patrese lead by 20 seconds over Berger by the end of lap 50 until his engine failed on the next lap. Thus allowing Berger to take the lead and hold on to the lead for the remaining 31 laps and took the eighth victory of his career ahead of a hard-charging Schumacher by less than a second. The order of the top six was Berger winning ahead of, Michael Schumacher, Brundle, Alesi, Thierry Boutsen and Stefano Modena in the Jordan.

Jordan scored their only point of the season with Stefano Modena, while Thierry Boutsen (who won here in 1989) scored his only 1992 season points, and the last points of his career. Benetton's double podium finish ensured that they scored points in every round, as Benetton were the first team to score points in every round of a season since Lotus in 1963.

Race classification[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	81	1:46:54.786	4	10
2	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	81	+ 0.741	5	6
3	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	81	+ 54.156	8	4
4	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	80	+ 1 lap	6	3
5	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	80	+ 1 lap	22	2
6	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha	80	+ 1 lap	15	1
7	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	80	+ 1 lap	10
8	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	79	+ 2 laps	18
9	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini	79	+ 2 laps	17
10	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	79	+ 2 laps	16
11	28	Nicola Larini	Ferrari	79	+ 2 laps	19
12	16	Jan Lammers	March-Ilmor	78	+ 3 laps	25
13	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	77	+ 4 laps	12
Ret	21	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Ferrari	70	Gearbox	24
Ret	17	Emanuele Naspetti	March-Ilmor	55	Gearbox	23
Ret	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi-Lamborghini	51	Fuel system	21
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	50	Engine	3
Ret	30	Ukyo Katayama	Venturi-Lamborghini	35	Differential	26
Ret	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	29	Engine	7
Ret	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	18	Collision	1
Ret	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	18	Collision	2
Ret	33	Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	7	Spun off	20
Ret	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault	4	Engine	9
Ret	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	0	Engine	11
Ret	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	0	Accident	14
Ret	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	0	Accident	13
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race[]

• Bold text indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 108 2 Riccardo Patrese 56 3 Michael Schumacher 53 4 Ayrton Senna 50 5 Gerhard Berger 49 Source:[5]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 164 2 McLaren-Honda 99 3 Benetton-Ford 91 4 Ferrari 21 5 Lotus-Ford 13 Source:[5]

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

References[]

• Henry, Alan (1992). AUTOCOURSE 1992-93. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 0-905138-96-1.