The 1992 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal on 14 June 1992. It was the seventh race of the 1992 Formula One World Championship.
The 69-lap race was won by Austrian driver Gerhard Berger, driving a McLaren-Honda, after he started from fourth position. Berger's Brazilian teammate, Ayrton Senna, took pole position and led until he suffered an electrical failure on lap 38, while Drivers' Championship leader, Briton Nigel Mansell, spun off on lap 15 attempting to overtake Senna. German Michael Schumacher finished second in a Benetton-Ford, with Frenchman Jean Alesi third in a Ferrari.
Qualifying Pre-qualifying report In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, the Footwork of Michele Alboreto was fastest for the third consecutive Grand Prix. He was less than three tenths of a second faster than Larrousse driver Bertrand Gachot, with Gachot's team-mate Ukyo Katayama nearly two seconds slower in third. The fourth and final pre-qualifier was Andrea Chiesa in the Fondmetal, nearly 4.5 seconds off Alboreto's pace.
The Andrea Moda team failed to capitalise on the improvement made at the last race in Monaco, as both cars failed to pre-qualify. Although the team and drivers had arrived at the circuit, their Judd engines had not, having been withheld by the freight forwarding agent for non-payment of debts. The team were able to borrow an engine from the Brabham team, which allowed Roberto Moreno to take part in the session, but he was nowhere near the required pace. There was no engine for Perry McCarthy's car, so he did not participate.
Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:25.068 — 2 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 1:25.358 +0.290 3 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 1:27.309 +2.241 4 14 Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 1:29.562 +4.494 5 34 Roberto Moreno Andrea Moda-Judd 1:43.557 +18.489
Qualifying report Qualifying produced a surprise as Ayrton Senna took pole position in his McLaren while championship leader Nigel Mansell could only manage third, behind Williams teammate Riccardo Patrese. This would turn out to be the only non-Williams pole of 1992, and one of only two not taken by Mansell that season. Rumours suggested that the English driver was under stress, as Williams were negotiating with Alain Prost for .
Gerhard Berger took fourth in the other McLaren, followed by Michael Schumacher in the Benetton. Johnny Herbert impressed in the Lotus and took sixth, ahead of Martin Brundle in the second Benetton. The top ten was completed by the Ferraris of Jean Alesi and Ivan Capelli, and Mika Häkkinen in the second Lotus.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:19.775 1:20.590 — 2 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:19.872 1:21.075 +0.097 3 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:20.157 1:19.948 +0.173 4 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:20.145 1:21.038 +0.370 5 19 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:20.456 1:21.045 +0.681 6 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:21.645 1:23.043 +1.870 7 20 Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 1:22.408 1:21.738 +1.963 8 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:21.777 1:22.033 +2.002 9 28 Ivan Capelli Ferrari 1:22.297 1:26.259 +2.522 10 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 1:22.360 1:22.787 +2.585 11 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 1:22.510 1:33.438 +2.735 12 16 Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 1:22.778 1:22.566 +2.791 13 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 1:22.594 1:23.028 +2.819 14 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:22.635 1:23.948 +2.860 15 22 Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 1:24.144 1:22.850 +3.075 16 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:22.878 1:23.022 +3.103 17 32 Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 1:23.023 1:23.572 +3.248 18 15 Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 1:24.281 1:23.063 +3.288 19 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 1:23.410 1:23.138 +3.363 20 17 Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor 1:24.852 1:23.189 +3.414 21 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 1:23.425 1:23.203 +3.428 22 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 1:23.537 1:23.212 +3.437 23 21 JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 1:23.793 1:23.249 +3.474 24 33 Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 1:23.431 1:24.640 +3.656 25 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Lamborghini 1:23.759 1:23.433 +3.658 26 3 Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:23.469 1:24.060 +3.694 27 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:23.958 1:23.721 +3.946 28 7 Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd 1:24.858 1:24.499 +4.724 29 14 Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 1:25.044 1:25.612 +5.837 30 8 Damon Hill Brabham-Judd 1:26.641 1:25.812 +6.037 Sources:
Race Race report Stefano Modena started from the back of the grid after his car failed to start.
At the start Senna took the lead from the two Williams-Renaults with Mansell getting ahead of Patrese then Berger, Schumacher, Herbert and Brundle. For the first 13 laps the top eight followed in close attention until next lap 14 Mansell tried to overtake Senna at the last chicane but the car ended off track and spun and came to a stop on the main straight. The Williams driver was out of the race and accusing Senna of pushing him off. As this was happening Berger had passed Patrese to make it a McLaren 1-2. On lap 18 Capelli crashed hard into the wall on the exit of turn four. Johnny Herbert retired on lap 34 with clutch problems and team-mate Mika Häkkinen retired one lap later when his gearbox failed meaning disaster for Lotus after both cars qualified in the top ten. On lap 37 Senna retired from the lead with electrical problems. Berger had by now pulled a couple of seconds lead on Patrese who was being chased by Brundle after the Englishman had taken advantage of Schumacher getting stuck behind Morbidelli's Minardi while lapping him. A few laps later Patrese was out as his gearbox failed making this the first double retirement for Williams. Brundle now chased after Berger and set fastest lap but then was also forced to retire with transmission problems with what was subsequently his fifth and final retirement of the season. Berger was in comfortable lead followed by Schumacher. Katayama was driving a good race but had to retire from fifth on lap 61 when his engine expired. Wendlinger finished fourth to score his first points in Formula One as well as the last points for the March team. With sixth place for Érik Comas, Ligier scored their first points since the 1989 French Grand Prix almost three years prior.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 69 1:37:08.299 4 10 2 19 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 69 + 12.401 5 6 3 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 69 + 1:07.327 8 4 4 16 Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 68 + 1 lap 12 3 5 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 68 + 1 lap 14 2 6 26 Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 68 + 1 lap 22 1 7 9 Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 68 + 1 lap 16 8 22 Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 68 + 1 lap 15 9 21 JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 68 + 1 lap 23 10 25 Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 67 + 2 laps 21 11 24 Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 67 + 2 laps 13 12 3 Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 67 + 2 laps 26 13 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Lamborghini 65 + 4 laps 25 14 17 Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor 64 + 5 laps 20 30 Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 61 Engine 11 20 Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 45 Transmission 7 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 43 Gearbox 2 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 37 Electrical 1 32 Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 36 Transmission 17 11 Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 35 Gearbox 10 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 34 Clutch 6 28 Ivan Capelli Ferrari 18 Accident 9 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 14 Spun off 3 33 Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 14 Transmission 24 29 Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 14 Push start 19 15 Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 0 Transmission 18 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 7 Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd 14 Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 8 Damon Hill Brabham-Judd 34 Roberto Moreno Andrea Moda-Judd
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Nigel Mansell 56 2 Riccardo Patrese 28 3 Michael Schumacher 26 4 Ayrton Senna 18 5 Gerhard Berger 18Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 84 2 McLaren-Honda 36 3 Benetton-Ford 31 4 Ferrari 13 5 Footwork-Mugen-Honda 5Source:
References