1991 Portuguese Grand Prix The 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo do Estoril on 22 September 1991. It was the thirteenth race of the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 71-lap race was won from pole position by Riccardo Patrese, driving a Williams-Renault. Patrese's team-mate and Drivers' Championship challenger, Nigel Mansell, led until a pit stop went wrong, resulting in his disqualification from the race. Ayrton Senna finished second in a McLaren-Honda, thus increasing his lead over Mansell in the championship to 24 points with three races remaining, with Jean Alesi finishing third in a Ferrari. The only change to the driver line-up was that Johnny Herbert was back at Lotus and managed to qualify, something that Michael Bartels had failed to do in his three outings for the team. The sunny Estoril was a popular venue among the drivers and qualifying saw a bit of a role reversal with the top teams' second drivers beating the championship contenders with Riccardo Patrese on pole alongside Gerhard Berger, with Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell third and fourth respectively. The top ten was rounded out by Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, Maurício Gugelmin, Pierluigi Martini, Ivan Capelli, and Michael Schumacher, the Benetton team a little off their usual pace. On Sunday Morning Prost's Ferrari had a rather dramatic blowup in the warmup, and the Frenchman had to start the race in the spare car. The start was very eventful with Patrese getting away well and with Mansell aggressively chopping across the front of Senna. Unimpressed, he tried to retake Mansell going into the first turn but Nigel held his line and then proceeded to sweep underneath Berger to grab second at the second corner. After lap 1 the order was Patrese, Mansell, Berger, Senna, and Alesi. Mansell seemed content to shadow Patrese until lap 18 when he slipstreamed past his teammate on the main straight and proceeded to pull away. Things were looking good for Williams until Mansell came in for his stop on lap 29 and disaster struck: a communications mix-up by the pit crew resulted in Mansell being sent off with the right rear wheel of his car not properly attached. The wheel rotated clean off and a frustrated Mansell was left stranded in the pit lane. In the heat of the moment, the crew scampered over to the car and fitted a fresh wheel, a violation of the rules. Mansell emerged in 17th place and started a charge through the field; he was up to sixth when he was finally shown the black disqualification flag on lap 51. He would, however, keep the fastest lap of the race, set on lap 43. The incident left Patrese comfortably in the lead from Berger and Senna, and Senna went second when Berger's engine blew on lap 37, he was followed out of the race by Prost's Ferrari, which also decided it had enough. On lap 40 the order was Patrese, Senna, Alesi, Martini, and Capelli, with the latter three being involved in an exciting battle for third place; Alesi didn't make errors despite being under pressure from the Minardi, and so the order remained unchanged until the late stages when the fifth placed Capelli suffered a front wing problem and ended up in the barriers, he came in the pits for a front wing change but retired only a lap later. Patrese cruised home to his second win of the season and fifth of his career. Senna was second and tightened the screw on his third drivers title. Alesi, Martini, Piquet, and Schumacher rounded out the top six. With three races to go Senna led Mansell by 24 points. 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix
Welp. I'm on the sidelines already. I was having a great close fight with Kahel and Gert-Jan for fourth, but after twenty minutes of clean racing I hooked a wheel over a kerb, causing my car to skateboard into a spin and bounce off the wall straight into the path of Kahel, who collected me and ended my race. I am so sorry @Kahel Grahf . It was completely my fault.
Seem I'm in good company then . Pushed too hard on cold tires after my first stop and ... BANG !! Out of the race. I'm a little sad as it was unnecessary and I was having a good time.
first turn, some guys hit themselfs and couldt avoid them. Car was damage since that moment and it took me to several mistakes because of the behavior when braking. I ne hour, but again some mistakes and my cold, and couldnt hold it any more :-(
No worries @Caitlin Penny ... it was great racing while it lasted . I was able to repair the car but there was still lot of damage left... it seems undriveable at first but I kind of got used to it. Came back to P7 and had a chance to keep it but the car just failed on me out of nowhere... probably the damage that overhearted the front left brake but the car just snapped on me twice, under braking... like a huge snap for no reason... and it was the end of the race. A shame... but kind of fun...... Till next.
Tough track this one... I am also out early... I had a good qualifying to start 4th on the grid... Had a bit of a nervous first laps getting into a steady rhitm but managed to set a good pace. I saw that I could not drive away from Kahel and Caitlin... My tyres lasted very long and pitted after 24 laps... After my pit stop my brakes failed and car pulled to the right under braking. I continued after a few offs adapting my breaking point very early... I tried to finish on 1 stop but 20 minutes before the end my rears were really gone... I made pitstop, drove out on track again and spun right away. then I noticed the tyres were not changed... After another spin I decided to call it quits... My goal was to have a solid race with no mistakes and finish in the top 5. I was well on the way before the break failure occured and am still suprised I could manage without loosing to many positions with failed breakes. So a bit of mixed feelings about tonights race... CU later
Despite of being crashed twice, I was doing a good race, without any driving mistakes, P4 was in the horizon for me, which is good, considering I practiced just 30 minutes for this race, because I HATE this track hahaha Unfortunately, I had a brake failure, which is weird, because I was using the thickest disk brakes available and the biggest ducts. Luckily, there was no one around. I don't know how this race ended, but congratulations to the finishers
yeah... well... worked hard on my gearing and down-force to get a reasonable top speed without becoming a danger in the corners. as usual, i knew i wasn't going to be fighting for the lead so i used the Q to further refine my race set. starting next to last on the grid was within plan, but i figured on lasting more than two corners and eventually gaining positions thru an enjoyable race. instead... i threaded my way thru a T1 mess only to get hit from behind in T2. Then, having already unintentionally gained 6 positions, someone who'd gone off track on the left lost it while returning to the track and spun into my path on the way to T3 as i was trying to leave plenty of room. The resulting collision was unavoidable (although maybe not totally unforeseeable). the damage to my suspension was not repaired when i pitted, so rather than do 85 minutes with a cockeyed steering wheel and erratic handling, i retired. watching the replay, there seems to have been some serious lag going on with the cars ahead that may explain the carnage in the first few corners.
Yeah, Scarvetta got punted in T1 who then hit me and then I was pushed into someone else. That's what started it all.
I had some serious problems in qualifying with my frontend bouncing around like a basketball in sector 1, that made it very hard to do a decent lap. In race configuration the car felt much better. I was expecting a long drive right behind Michal, but some unlucky moment from him changed the procedure. Still two more to go to have a closer one for the top-positions. Should be nice on two good tracks, see you there
No shows Unfortunately, there were a lot of no-shows at Estoril. If you have 2 no shows, you're out of the series. These members have been taken out. Matteo Santini Michael LaBelle Rino Di Lauro The rest were first-time no-showers.
