Motor car race
The
1991 French Grand Prix
was a
Formula One
motor race held at
Magny-Cours
on 7 July 1991. It was the seventh race of the
1991 Formula One World Championship
, and the first French Grand Prix to be held at Magny-Cours. The 72-lap race was won by
Nigel Mansell
, driving a
Williams
-
Renault
, with local driver
Alain Prost
second in a
Ferrari
and
Ayrton Senna
third in a
McLaren
-
Honda
.
Pre-race
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The French Grand Prix had moved from the
Circuit Paul Ricard
near Marseille to the
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
in the centre of France, to mixed reviews. There were no changes in the driver line-up, but the
Footwork
team had decided to abandon the disastrous
Porsche
V12 engine project in favour of a return to Ford engines, while Ferrari introduced a new car, the
643
.
Qualifying
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Pre-qualifying report
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In the Friday morning pre-qualification session,
Andrea de Cesaris
was fastest in the
Jordan
for the second time this season. He was four tenths of a second faster than
JJ Lehto
in the
Dallara
, with
Olivier Grouillard
third fastest for
Fondmetal
at his home race, the second time in a row the Frenchman had pre-qualified. The fourth pre-qualifier was
Bertrand Gachot
in the other Jordan.
Those failing to progress to the main qualifying sessions included the other Dallara of
Emanuele Pirro
in fifth, just a couple of tenths slower than Gachot. The two
Modena Lambos
were sixth and seventh, with
Nicola Larini
outpacing
Eric van de Poele
, and bottom of the time sheets was
Pedro Chaves
in the
Coloni
. This was the seventh consecutive Grand Prix in which the Portuguese driver had failed to pre-qualify.
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Pre-qualifying classification
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Qualifying report
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In qualifying, local driver
Alain Prost
impressed and was set to score Ferrari's first pole position of the season, but in the dying minutes
Riccardo Patrese
in the Williams-Renault came through to pip the French driver to the pole. Championship leader
Ayrton Senna
spun on Olivier Grouillard's oil on his final qualifying attempt and had to settle for third alongside
Nigel Mansell
in the second Williams, with the rest of the top ten starting spots occupied by
Gerhard Berger
,
Jean Alesi
,
Nelson Piquet
,
Roberto Moreno
,
Mauricio Gugelmin
, and the impressive
Gianni Morbidelli
in a Minardi.
Qualifying classification
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Race
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Race report
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At the start Patrese made a disastrous start and dropped to 10th position on lap 1, so Prost led from Mansell, Senna, Berger, and Alesi, while
Bertrand Gachot
spun off on the first lap in his Jordan. Berger was the first of the big boys to go out when his engine failed on lap 6, his third consecutive retirement due to engine problems. Patrese started another recovery drive by passing both Piquet and Morbidelli in one fell swoop when Morbidelli botched an overtaking attempt, taking himself out of the running. At the front Mansell pressured Prost and on Lap 21 he made his move taking advantage of traffic to out-brake the French star going into the hairpin. Mansell slowly pulled away but problems at his first tyre stop dropped him back behind Prost. Mansell once again closed on Prost and the two battled it out until Mansell finally managed to take advantage of traffic, again, and took the lead on Lap 54 by this time outbraking Prost around the outside at the hairpin. Mansell pulled away and scored his first win of the season, Prost was second followed by Senna, Alesi, Patrese, and de Cesaris.
This was the 17th win of Mansell's career, thus breaking the record of Grand Prix wins by an English driver, previously held by
Stirling Moss
.
Race classification
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Championship standings after the race
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- Drivers' Championship standings
|
- Constructors' Championship standings
|
- Note
: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
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