1990 Monaco Grand Prix

The 1990 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 27 May 1990 at Monaco. It was the fourth race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship and the 48th Monaco Grand Prix. The race was held over 78 laps of the 3.32-kilometre (2.06 mi) circuit for a race distance of 259 kilometres (161 mi).

1990 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 4 of 16 in the 1990 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date27 May 1990
Official nameXLVIII Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco
LocationCircuit de Monaco
Monte Carlo, Monaco
CourseTemporary street circuit
Course length3.328 km (2.068 miles)
Distance78 laps, 259.584 km (161.298 miles)
WeatherWarm, dry, sunny
Pole position
DriverMcLaren-Honda
Time1:21.314
Fastest lap
DriverBrazil Ayrton SennaMcLaren-Honda
Time1:24.468 on lap 59
Podium
FirstMcLaren-Honda
SecondTyrrell-Ford
ThirdMcLaren-Honda
Lap leaders

The race was won by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda. Senna started from pole position, led every lap and set the fastest race lap, en route to his second consecutive Monaco win and third in all. French driver Jean Alesi finished second in a Tyrrell-Ford, with Senna's Austrian teammate Gerhard Berger third.

Qualifying edit

Pre-qualifying report edit

The four successful pre-qualifiers in the one-hour Thursday morning session were the same four drivers as at the previous race at Imola, in the same order. The Larrousse-Lola cars finished first and second for the third time in a row, with Éric Bernard again outpacing his teammate Aguri Suzuki. The Osella of Olivier Grouillard was third fastest, followed by Roberto Moreno in the EuroBrun.

The AGS drivers were frozen out in fifth and sixth, with Gabriele Tarquini considerably faster than Yannick Dalmas on this occasion. Seventh was Claudio Langes in the second EuroBrun, six seconds off Bernard's pace. The other two runners were far behind; Bertrand Gachot was over twelve seconds adrift in the Coloni after another engine failure, with the team now in some disarray,[1] but still nearly two seconds faster than the Life, driven again by Bruno Giacomelli. This time, however, the Italian managed to complete a stint of seven laps and return to the pits without breaking down. Well off the pace, Giacomelli went back out on to the circuit and completed another lap before the W12 engine failed.[1]

Pre-qualifying classification edit

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap
129 Éric BernardLola-Lamborghini1:27.134
230 Aguri SuzukiLola-Lamborghini1:27.548+0.414
314 Olivier GrouillardOsella-Ford1:27.938+0.804
433 Roberto MorenoEuroBrun-Judd1:28.295+1.161
517 Gabriele TarquiniAGS-Ford1:28.677+1.543
618 Yannick DalmasAGS-Ford1:30.511+3.377
734 Claudio LangesEuroBrun-Judd1:33.195+6.061
831 Bertrand GachotColoni-Subaru1:39.295+12.161
939 Bruno GiacomelliLife1:41.187+14.053

Qualifying report edit

There were no surprises in qualifying with Ayrton Senna taking pole from his rival Alain Prost. Jean Alesi continued to impress in his Tyrrell, qualifying third ahead of Riccardo Patrese. Row three was formed of Gerhard Berger and Thierry Boutsen; Nigel Mansell lined up seventh alongside the Minardi of Pierluigi Martini, while Emanuele Pirro and Nelson Piquet rounded out the top ten. Young Australian driver David Brabham qualified in 25th, thus making his first Formula One race start.

Qualifying classification edit

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
127 Ayrton SennaMcLaren-Honda1:21.7971:21.314
21 Alain ProstFerrari1:23.4491:21.776+0.462
34 Jean AlesiTyrrell-Ford1:23.3721:21.801+0.487
46 Riccardo PatreseWilliams-Renault1:24.1791:22.026+0.712
528 Gerhard BergerMcLaren-Honda1:23.0011:22.682+1.368
65 Thierry BoutsenWilliams-Renault1:23.9361:22.691+1.377
72 Nigel MansellFerrari1:24.4331:22.733+1.419
823 Pierluigi MartiniMinardi-Ford1:24.0121:23.149+1.835
921 Emanuele PirroDallara-Ford1:24.7661:23.494+2.180
1020 Nelson PiquetBenetton-Ford1:25.2731:23.566+2.252
1112 Martin DonnellyLotus-Lamborghini1:24.7241:23.600+2.286
1222 Andrea de CesarisDallara-Ford1:25.8491:23.613+2.299
1311 Derek WarwickLotus-Lamborghini1:24.0701:23.656+2.342
148 Stefano ModenaBrabham-Judd1:25.4851:23.920+2.606
1530 Aguri SuzukiLola-Lamborghini1:27.1931:24.023+2.709
1619 Alessandro NanniniBenetton-Ford1:25.9261:24.139+2.825
1725 Nicola LariniLigier-Ford1:24.2061:24.270+2.892
1826 Philippe AlliotLigier-Ford1:25.3871:24.294+2.980
1924 Paolo BarillaMinardi-Ford1:26.3521:24.334+3.020
2035 Gregor FoitekOnyx-Ford1:26.1831:24.367+3.053
213 Satoru NakajimaTyrrell-Ford1:25.6791:24.371+3.057
2210 Alex CaffiArrows-Ford1:26.5201:25.000+3.686
2316 Ivan CapelliLeyton House-Judd1:26.9691:25.020+3.706
2429 Éric BernardLola-Lamborghini1:25.3981:25.541+4.084
257 David BrabhamBrabham-Judd1:28.3391:25.420+4.106
2636 JJ LehtoOnyx-Ford1:27.9231:25.508+4.194
279 Michele AlboretoArrows-Ford1:27.2821:25.622+4.308
2814 Olivier GrouillardOsella-Ford1:25.7851:26.781+4.471
2915 Maurício GugelminLeyton House-Judd1:26.9431:26.192+4.878
3033 Roberto MorenoEuroBrun-Judd1:26.6041:27.265+5.290

Race edit

Race report edit

At the start there was an overly long delay between the red and green lights, which caused the drivers to be a little more agitated than usual, resulting in an accident between Prost and Berger at the Mirabeau corner. The track was blocked and the race had to be stopped. At the second start everything went to plan and Senna led from Prost, Alesi, Berger, Patrese and Boutsen, with Pirro being the first retirement when his engine blew on the opening lap. Eighth-placed Nigel Mansell was the centre of action in the early stages, quickly passing Martini before setting off after Boutsen, but his overtaking attempt on the Belgian was unsuccessful as he touched the back of the Williams at the seafront chicane and had to limp back to the pits for a new front wing. At the front Senna led comfortably, even more so after Prost retired on lap 30 with battery problems. On lap 35, Piquet spun approaching Loewes Hairpin and stalled his engine; he received a push start from the marshals and was disqualified as a result. While Senna maintained his lead, there was action further back where Mansell was charging through the field. First he disposed of Derek Warwick and then managed to successfully pass Boutsen for fourth, as Alesi and Berger fought over second place. In the late stages Senna started to slow, which allowed Alesi and Berger to close up on him, but Senna's McLaren survived to the finish for his third career win at Monaco. Alesi was second, followed by Berger, Boutsen, Alex Caffi and the only other survivor, Éric Bernard, who had taken sixth place in the late stages after he had forced himself past Gregor Foitek's Onyx by pushing him into the wall. In doing so, Bernard earned his first point in Formula One. Despite not finishing the race, Foitek was classified seventh, his best F1 result.

Race classification edit

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
127 Ayrton SennaMcLaren-Honda781:52:46.98219
24 Jean AlesiTyrrell-Ford78+ 1.08736
328 Gerhard BergerMcLaren-Honda78+ 2.07354
45 Thierry BoutsenWilliams-Renault77+ 1 lap63
510 Alex CaffiArrows-Ford76+ 2 laps222
629 Éric BernardLola-Lamborghini76+ 2 laps241
735 Gregor FoitekOnyx-Ford72Collision20
Ret11 Derek WarwickLotus-Lamborghini66Spun off13
Ret2 Nigel MansellFerrari63Battery7
Ret24 Paolo BarillaMinardi-Ford52Gearbox19
Ret36 JJ LehtoOnyx-Ford52Gearbox26
Ret26 Philippe AlliotLigier-Ford47Gearbox18
Ret6 Riccardo PatreseWilliams-Renault41Distributor4
Ret22 Andrea de CesarisDallara-Ford38Engine12
Ret3 Satoru NakajimaTyrrell-Ford36Spun off21
DSQ20 Nelson PiquetBenetton-Ford34Push start10
Ret1 Alain ProstFerrari30Battery2
Ret19 Alessandro NanniniBenetton-Ford20Gearbox16
Ret7 David BrabhamBrabham-Judd16Transmission25
Ret16 Ivan CapelliLeyton House-Judd13Brakes23
Ret25 Nicola LariniLigier-Ford12Differential17
Ret30 Aguri SuzukiLola-Lamborghini11Steering15
Ret23 Pierluigi MartiniMinardi-Ford7Electrical8
Ret12 Martin DonnellyLotus-Lamborghini6Gearbox11
Ret8 Stefano ModenaBrabham-Judd3Transmission14
Ret21 Emanuele PirroDallara-Ford0Engine9
DNQ9 Michele AlboretoArrows-Ford
DNQ14 Olivier GrouillardOsella-Ford
DNQ15 Maurício GugelminLeyton House-Judd
DNQ33 Roberto MorenoEuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ17 Gabriele TarquiniAGS-Ford
DNPQ18 Yannick DalmasAGS-Ford
DNPQ34 Claudio LangesEuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ31 Bertrand GachotColoni-Subaru
DNPQ39 Bruno GiacomelliLife
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race edit

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

References edit

  1. ^ a b Walker, Murray (1990). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 39–46. ISBN 0-905138-82-1.
  2. ^ "1990 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Monaco 1990 - Championship". statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.


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1990 San Marino Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1990 season
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1990 Canadian Grand Prix
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1989 Monaco Grand Prix
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1991 Monaco Grand Prix

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