Ayrton Senna’s first Brazilian Grand Prix victory should have been easy, but it proved to be far from it.
He dominated qualifying at the Interlagos circuit, one year after Senna’s home venue returned to the F1 calendar.
The McLaren driver was almost four tenths faster than his nearest rival, Ricciardo Patrese’s Williams, and lined up in Sao Paulo at the very front of the grid. He had a strong start and instantly threw down his authority, pulling out a comfortable and sizeable advantage over the chasing pack.
Nigel Mansell proved to be his closest competitor early on, after making up ground on the first lap. Senna’s advantage was three seconds by lap eight, but the gap was cut to just a few tenths by the 20th tour of Interlagos.
Alain Prost was the first front-runner to pit on lap 17, with Mansell stopping for new tyres on the 26th lap. However, it was a long one, lasting over 14 seconds. When Senna emerged from his stop, the Williams was almost seven seconds off the lead. It looked like Senna would take an easy victory and this was helped by Mansell pitting with a puncture on lap 50.
However, the race leader was struggling with his own problems, as his gearbox started to fail. He lost several gears during the closing stages, but strangely it was Mansell’s gearbox that gave up first. The British driver had been catching Senna at the time and the retirement certainly took a bit of pressure off the McLaren racer.
In the final laps Senna was having to spend most of the lap in sixth gear due to the gearbox problems and he was rapidly caught by Patrese, although his own issues prevented him from finding a way through. The weather deteriorated rapidly as the chequered flag approached and Senna called for the race to be stopped.
It went to full distance and Senna won by 2.9 seconds from Patrese, claiming his first home victory – a euphoric and hard-earned moment for the Brazilian. However, the struggles of trying to keep his car under control and deal with the gearbox issues meant he was so exhausted that he had to be lifted from his car and transported to the podium in the medical vehicle.
Gerhard Berger finished five seconds off the lead in third, completing the podium. Prost, Nelson Piquet and Jean Alesi rounded out the top six, picking up the final points. High attrition meant just 13 drivers were classified.
The McLaren driver was almost four tenths faster than his nearest rival, Ricciardo Patrese’s Williams, and lined up in Sao Paulo at the very front of the grid. He had a strong start and instantly threw down his authority, pulling out a comfortable and sizeable advantage over the chasing pack.
Nigel Mansell proved to be his closest competitor early on, after making up ground on the first lap. Senna’s advantage was three seconds by lap eight, but the gap was cut to just a few tenths by the 20th tour of Interlagos.
Alain Prost was the first front-runner to pit on lap 17, with Mansell stopping for new tyres on the 26th lap. However, it was a long one, lasting over 14 seconds. When Senna emerged from his stop, the Williams was almost seven seconds off the lead. It looked like Senna would take an easy victory and this was helped by Mansell pitting with a puncture on lap 50.
However, the race leader was struggling with his own problems, as his gearbox started to fail. He lost several gears during the closing stages, but strangely it was Mansell’s gearbox that gave up first. The British driver had been catching Senna at the time and the retirement certainly took a bit of pressure off the McLaren racer.
In the final laps Senna was having to spend most of the lap in sixth gear due to the gearbox problems and he was rapidly caught by Patrese, although his own issues prevented him from finding a way through. The weather deteriorated rapidly as the chequered flag approached and Senna called for the race to be stopped.
It went to full distance and Senna won by 2.9 seconds from Patrese, claiming his first home victory – a euphoric and hard-earned moment for the Brazilian. However, the struggles of trying to keep his car under control and deal with the gearbox issues meant he was so exhausted that he had to be lifted from his car and transported to the podium in the medical vehicle.
Gerhard Berger finished five seconds off the lead in third, completing the podium. Prost, Nelson Piquet and Jean Alesi rounded out the top six, picking up the final points. High attrition meant just 13 drivers were classified.
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