The 1991 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 12 May 1991. It was the fourth race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship.
The 78-lap race was won from pole position by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda. It was Senna's fourth victory from the first four races of the season, and his fourth Monaco win. Englishman Nigel Mansell finished second in a Williams-Renault, with Frenchman Jean Alesi third in a Ferrari.
Qualifying Pre-qualifying report The pre-qualifying session on Thursday morning ended up being somewhat straightforward for Dallara and Jordan. JJ Lehto was fastest for Dallara, with Emanuele Pirro in third, with Jordan's Andrea de Cesaris and Bertrand Gachot second and fourth.
Gachot was over a second faster than the fifth-placed car, the Modena Lambo of Nicola Larini. The other Lambo of Eric van de Poele was sixth, with Pedro Chaves seventh in the Coloni on his first experience of the Monaco circuit. Olivier Grouillard propped up the time sheets for Fondmetal as he continued to gain experience in the new Fomet car.
Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 1:23.260 — 2 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 1:23.538 +0.278 3 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 1:24.421 +1.161 4 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 1:24.802 +1.542 5 34 Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 1:25.893 +2.633 6 35 Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 1:26.282 +3.022 7 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 1:27.389 +4.129 8 14 Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford 1:27.759 +4.499
Qualifying report Ayrton Senna shocked no-one by taking pole position, but second place was a surprise with Stefano Modena taking full advantage of the superior Pirelli qualifying tyres to be second, followed by Patrese, Piquet, a disappointed Mansell, Berger, Prost, Moreno, Alesi, and de Cesaris. Alex Caffi had a huge accident in the swimming pool section on Saturday, after missing Thursday qualifying with a gearbox problem, and did not participate in the race. Elsewhere Martin Brundle was excluded for missing a weight check in Thursday practice.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap11 Ayrton SennaMcLaren-Honda1:20.5081:20.344 —24 Stefano ModenaTyrrell-Honda1:23.4421:20.809 +0.46536 Riccardo PatreseWilliams-Renault1:22.0571:20.973 +0.629420 Nelson PiquetBenetton-Ford1:22.8161:21.159 +0.81555 Nigel MansellWilliams-Renault1:23.2741:21.205 +0.86162 Gerhard BergerMcLaren-Honda1:21.2221:21.583 +0.878727 Alain ProstFerrari1:22.1131:21.455 +1.111819 Roberto MorenoBenetton-Ford1:23.4761:21.804 +1.460928 Jean AlesiFerrari1:22.9661:21.910 +1.5661033 Andrea de CesarisJordan-Ford1:24.2571:22.764 +2.420113 Satoru NakajimaTyrrell-Honda1:24.4351:22.972 +2.62812 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd1:23.3111:23.022 +2.6781322 JJ LehtoDallara-Judd1:23.0231:23.983 +2.6791423 Pierluigi MartiniMinardi-Ferrari1:24.1011:23.064 +2.7201515 Maurício GugelminLeyton House-Ilmor1:24.9201:23.394 +3.0501625 Thierry BoutsenLigier-Lamborghini1:24.7281:23.431 +3.0871724 Gianni MorbidelliMinardi-Ferrari1:24.4811:23.584 +3.2401816 Ivan CapelliLeyton House-Ilmor1:25.0401:23.642 +3.2981930 Aguri SuzukiLola-Ford1:26.3801:23.898 +3.5542017 Gabriele TarquiniAGS-Ford1:25.0781:23.909 +3.5652129 Éric BernardLola-Ford1:25.3701:24.079 +3.735228 Mark BlundellBrabham-Yamaha1:25.5001:24.109 +3.7652326 Érik ComasLigier-Lamborghini1:24.7471:24.151 +3.8072432 Bertrand GachotJordan-Ford1:24.5401:24.208 +3.864259 Michele AlboretoFootwork-Porsche 1:27.8431:24.606 +4.2622611 Mika HäkkinenLotus-Judd1:24.8681:24.829 +4.4852712 Julian BaileyLotus-Judd1:28.7721:26.995 +6.6512818 Fabrizio BarbazzaAGS-Ford1:28.0601:27.079 +6.7352910 Alex CaffiFootwork-Porscheno timeno time — 7 Martin BrundleBrabham-Yamaha — — —
Race Race report At the start, Senna got away well followed by Modena, Patrese, Mansell, and Prost. In the usual first corner mayhem Berger ran into the back of Piquet, dropping the Austrian to the back of the pack and breaking Piquet's suspension, Berger would later crash out. Senna quickly built up a huge lead over Modena and Patrese. Meanwhile, Andrea de Cesaris in the Jordan was eventually catching up to Jean Alesi and just outside the points in 7th place before retiring shortly after battling with the second Ferrari with a sticking throttle. Meanwhile, Aguri Suzuki in the Lola hit the wall at St. Devote on lap 25 with braking problems, as Modena's teammate Satoru Nakajima had spun and retired at the Nouvelle Chicane after making contact with Martini. Stefano Modena was blocked for a few laps by Emanuele Pirro in the Dallara who ignored blue flags, leading to a typically blunt verdict from the BBC's James Hunt, saying "This is disgraceful driving by Emanuele Pirro". Most of Senna's chasers were eliminated on lap 42 when Modena's engine blew in the tunnel, spreading oil on the track which caused Patrese to crash. Alboreto also retired with engine failure at the same time. Just after taking 10th place from Eric Bernard, Blundell's Brabham lost control because of the oil from Modena's Tyrrell and crashed at the chicane. Senna now had a huge lead over Prost and Mansell, but the Englishman passed Prost with a daring move going into the chicane, and eventually started flying despite having problems earlier in the race. Prost would later pit to repair a damaged wheel causing a slow puncture, but the stop was very long and he dropped down to fifth.
Senna won his fourth Monaco Grand Prix in five years by 18 seconds over Mansell, Alesi, Moreno, Prost, and Pirro. The second-place finish was Nigel Mansell's first points of the season. As Senna was slowing down after finishing the race, the pit crew mistakenly ordered him to take another lap, believing that he had crossed for the final lap.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 78 1:53:02.334 1 10 2 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 78 + 18.348 5 6 3 28 Jean Alesi Ferrari 78 + 47.455 9 4 4 19 Roberto Moreno Benetton-Ford 77 + 1 lap 8 3 5 27 Alain Prost Ferrari 77 + 1 lap 7 2 6 21 Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Judd 77 + 1 lap 12 1 7 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Lamborghini 76 + 2 laps 16 8 32 Bertrand Gachot Jordan-Ford 76 + 2 laps 24 9 29 Éric Bernard Lola-Ford 76 + 2 laps 21 10 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Lamborghini 76 + 2 laps 23 11 22 JJ Lehto Dallara-Judd 75 + 3 laps 13 12 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ferrari 72 + 6 laps 14 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Judd 64 Oil leak 26 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Ferrari 49 Gearbox 17 15 Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Ilmor 43 Throttle 15 4 Stefano Modena Tyrrell-Honda 42 Engine/Oil leak 2 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 42 Accident 3 8 Mark Blundell Brabham-Yamaha 41 Spun off 22 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Porsche 39 Engine 25 3 Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Honda 35 Spun off 11 30 Aguri Suzuki Lola-Ford 24 Brakes 19 33 Andrea de Cesaris Jordan-Ford 21 Throttle 10 16 Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Ilmor 12 Brakes 18 17 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 9 Gearbox 20 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 9 Accident 6 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 0 Suspension 4 12 Julian Bailey Lotus-Judd 18 Fabrizio Barbazza AGS-Ford 10 Alex Caffi Footwork-Porsche 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Yamaha 34 Nicola Larini Lambo-Lamborghini 35 Eric van de Poele Lambo-Lamborghini 31 Pedro Chaves Coloni-Ford 14 Olivier Grouillard Fondmetal-Ford
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Ayrton Senna 40 1 2 Alain Prost 11 1 3 Gerhard Berger 10 4 Riccardo Patrese 6 15 5 Nigel Mansell 6Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 50 2 Ferrari 16 3 Williams-Renault 12 4 Benetton-Ford 9 5 Tyrrell-Honda 5Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References