1991 Formula One World Championship
The 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 45th season of FIA Formula One motor racing and the 42nd season of the Formula One World Championship. It featured the 1991 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1991 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 10 March and ended on 3 November.
Ayrton Senna won his third and last Drivers' Championship, and McLaren-Honda won their fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship. Senna won seven of the sixteen races; his main challenger for the title was Nigel Mansell, who won five races in his first season back at Williams. Alain Prost failed to win a race with Ferrari and was fired before the end of the season due to a dispute with the team. 1991 also saw the debuts of future world champions Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen, as well as the retirement of three-time champion Nelson Piquet.
, this is the last World Championship season to be won by a Brazilian racing driver. It was the last drivers' title won using a Honda-powered car until Max Verstappen in 2021 and the last constructors' title won by a Honda-powered car until the Red Bull Racing RB19 in 2023.
This season was the last time an F1 car with a manual gearbox won the championship, and the last V12-powered car to do so. It was also Pirelli's last season as Formula One's tyre supplier until.
Drivers and constructors
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship.Team changes
- Jordan Grand Prix debuted in F1 after a successful Formula 3000 campaign.
- Lotus went back to using Judd V8 power in 1991, after a dismal using the fast but fragile Lamborghini V12 engine
- Lamborghini took it upon themselves to build a chassis for the 1991 season. When the operations relocated to Modena, Italy, they changed the team's name to Modena.
- Osella's owner sold his majority shares to the Fondmetal company and the Osella name disappeared from F1.
- Arrows received an investment from Footwork in 1990 and, for this year, the team was renamed Footwork. The Arrows name returned after a buy-out in.
- Teams EuroBrun, Onyx and Life withdrew before the 1991 season.
Mid-season changes
- Footwork moved engine suppliers after six races, going from Porsche to Hart-prepared Cosworth engines.
- AGS ran out of money and closed its doors two races before the end of the season.
Driver changes
- Nigel Mansell moved from Ferrari to Williams, replacing Thierry Boutsen, who went to Ligier. Next to Boutsen was F3000 driver Érik Comas making his Formula 1 debut.
- Ferrari replaced Mansell with Jean Alesi, after impressing the Italian squad when driving for Tyrrell in. His seat at Tyrrell was filled by Stefano Modena, whose place at Brabham was taken up by sports car driver Mark Blundell.
- Jordan hired Bertrand Gachot and Andrea de Cesaris as their first pair of drivers. Gachot promoted from Coloni, de Cesaris from Scuderia Italia. Coloni hired British Formula 3000 champion Pedro Chaves, while Scuderia Italia hired JJ Lehto.
- Lotus hired British Formula 3 champion Mika Häkkinen. Beside him, Julian Bailey returned to F1 after three years.
- Lamborghini entered Formula 1 with a self-designed chassis, after spending two years as an engine supplier. They hired Eric van de Poele, runner-up in the 1990 International Formula 3000 Championship, and ex-Ligier driver Nicola Larini.
- AGS replaced Yannick Dalmas with experienced driver Stefan Johansson.
Mid-season changes
- Future champion Michael Schumacher made his debut with Jordan in the Belgian Grand Prix, replacing Bertrand Gachot when he was given an 18-month prison sentence for assault which he appealed and was released two months later. Eddie Jordan paid $150,000 to Mercedes-Benz, since the German was under contract with their sports cars team. He outqualified veteran Andrea de Cesaris and moved up to the Benetton team just one race later.
- Benetton's driver Roberto Moreno was paid off to make room, but was offered Schumacher's seat at Jordan. However, he was replaced after two races by rising F3000 star Alessandro Zanardi. He ended the season at Minardi, to fill in for Gianni Morbidelli.
- Morbidelli's services were required by Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix after they fired Alain Prost.
- Before the Canadian Grand Prix, Julian Bailey was replaced at Lotus with Johnny Herbert. On the weekends that Herbert was engaged in the Japanese F3000 series, Michael Bartels filled the seat.
- Bertrand Gachot returned to F1 for the last race of the season, replacing Éric Bernard at Larrousse.
- At the struggling Leyton House Racing team, Karl Wendlinger made his debut, bringing a sum of money with him, during the Japanese Grand Prix in place of long-serving Ivan Capelli.
- Three races from the end of the season, Olivier Grouillard at Fondmetal switched seats with Gabriele Tarquini at AGS. Unfortunately, AGS closed operations just one race later.
- Stefan Johansson drove just two races for AGS before being replaced with Fabrizio Barbazza. Later in the season, Johansson drove four races for Footwork, as a temporary replacement for Alex Caffi, who was injured in a road accident.
- Coloni driver Pedro Chaves left the team failing to pre-qualify for 13 Grands Prix. He was replaced by 1990 Japanese Formula 3 champion Naoki Hattori.
Calendar
Calendar changes
- The French Grand Prix was moved from Circuit Paul Ricard to Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.
- The Spanish Grand Prix was moved from Circuito de Jerez to Circuit de Catalunya.
Regulation changes
Technical regulations
Four regulation changes were made to reduce aerodynamic efficiency and overall grip:- The front wing was narrowed from to.
- The front overhang was reduced from to.
- The rear overhang was reduced from to.
- The rubbing strips on the front wing had to be raised so that, from the front of the car to the front axle centrline, no part was closer than to the ground.
The minimum weight was raised from to.
Sporting regulations
- The winning driver was now awarded 10 points instead of 9 as previously.
- More significantly, points from all races would now count towards the drivers' championship, instead of only each driver's best eleven results as previously.
Race-by-race
Race 1: USA
The season started off at the Phoenix street circuit that had a modified layout to make it more of a challenge to drivers. Senna took pole ahead of Prost, Patrese, Mansell, Piquet and Alesi. At the start, Senna and Prost maintained their places while Mansell sliced ahead of Patrese and Piquet lost out to Alesi and Berger. The order at the end of lap 1 was: Senna, Prost, Mansell, Patrese, Alesi and Berger.Early on, as Senna was pulling away from Prost, Alesi got past Patrese for fourth. However, Patrese repassed him on lap 16 and closed up on Mansell. He attacked on lap 22 but shot into an escape road and rejoined behind Alesi and Berger. He quickly closed up on them with Berger attacking Alesi but unable to pass. Patrese passed Berger on lap 34. On the next lap, Mansell's gearbox failed and soon afterward, on lap 36, Berger had fuel pump trouble, which forced him to retire. Patrese then passed Alesi who pitted on lap 43. He closed in on Prost and the Ferrari pitted on lap 46, with right rear troubles putting him down to seventh.
Patrese didn't last much longer, his gearbox failing and then the stationary car was hit by Roberto Moreno, forcing both of them out. Piquet, who did not stop, was passed by Alesi for second with Prost taking fourth off Stefano Modena soon after. Alesi was having gearbox troubles and was holding back Piquet as Prost began to attack both of them. On lap 70, Piquet passed Alesi and Prost followed him through. Prost then shifted sides getting ahead of Piquet as well. Modena passed Alesi for fourth and Alesi soon retired with gearbox troubles. Unflustered by all this, Senna won from Prost, Piquet, Modena, Satoru Nakajima and Aguri Suzuki. This would be the last Formula One Grand Prix on the streets of downtown Phoenix, Arizona and the last Formula One race in the United States for 9 years; Formula One would return to a very different part of the United States in 2000 – the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, that had a whole new road course built within the facility just for the Grand Prix.
Race 2: Brazil
The field traveled to Brazil and Senna pleased his fans at the Interlagos circuit in his home city of São Paulo by taking pole at his home track ahead of the two Williams cars of Patrese and Mansell who were in front of Berger, Alesi and Prost. At the start, Senna took off and Mansell got by Patrese while Alesi got by Berger and Piquet got ahead of Prost. The order was: Senna, Mansell, Patrese, Alesi, Berger and Piquet.Mansell began to attack Senna but could not pass. Senna then slowly pulled away from Mansell who had a slow pit stop on lap 22. He stayed second after the stops but 7 seconds behind Senna, the major change as a result of the stops was that Piquet who did not stop was third and that Berger and Prost had got by Alesi.
Berger blasted past Piquet soon afterward as Mansell began to catch Senna. Mansell was closing in but had to stop on lap 50 with a puncture. He charged back towards Senna who was experiencing gearbox troubles. However, it was Mansell's gearbox which ironically gave way on lap 60. Patrese was having the same problem but still running in second and Berger was having trouble with a sticking throttle. It began to rain and Prost passed Piquet for fourth. The top three struggled with the wet conditions; especially Senna, who had gearbox trouble and only had 6th gear. Senna won followed by Patrese, Berger, Prost, Piquet and Alesi.