The second race of the 1991 season sees the Formula 1 Circus engaged in Brazil. It is the home race for Ayrton Seine, an almost cursed grand prix, because the Brazilian has never managed to triumph in front of his audience. The season for him and McLaren started very well in Phoenix, where despite no winter preparation, the first win of the year came.
Since 1990 the Brazilian stage has been held in Sao Paulo after the renovation of the circuit which lasted about a decade which led it to have what, except for very slight modifications, is still the modern configuration. The nightmare of bad weather looms over the race weekend: in Sao Paulo it has been raining for a week, there are deaths and missing persons in the state and the public transport strike has further increased the inconvenience in the city.
But the arrival of Formula 1 brings smiles back to the thousands of spectators who crowd the circuit to cheer their idol, Ayrton Senna, who celebrates his 31st birthday on Thursday. Phoenix’s win raised spirits at McLaren and showed that the MP4 / 6 is the machine to beat again this season. In Brazil, in very different track and environmental conditions, the car is expected at the litmus test and there is a certain expectation among the rivals to understand whether 1991 will also be a year in which they will have to act as spectators. The most interested is certainly Alain Prost, second with Ferrari in 1990, who says “very curious to see what will happen. It is clear that if McLaren confirms Phoenix’s supremacy, we will have to run for cover. But I am calm and quite optimistic“. The tranquility can also derive from the fact that his own Red won the previous edition.
Rain also hit the first day of testing at Interlagos. In the first qualifying session, Senna takes the best time in the 18 ”711, ahead of Alesi’s Ferrari by six tenthsvery convinced of his chances for Saturday: “I did that time using race tires and in traffic. I stopped for a long time in the pits to change some settings and when I went out on the track I made a lap that was too slow. So I took on my face the checkered flag that indicated the end of the tests. I don’t know if I will be able to take pole position, but I can assure you that there will be a good fight to start first on tomorrow’s grid.“. In the provisional second row, there are Berger at eight tenths, Mansell in a Williams who wants to be the protagonist and Prost at 1 ”3. For the Frenchman a few too many problems during the day, with the rain complicating the set-up tests and a capricious engine on his car that forced him to take the reserve one that was not properly adjusted.
On Saturday the track conditions improve and the Williams win. Senna is confirmed in the lead, with a time of 1’16 ”392, preceding Patrese by 383 thousandths and 0” 451 Mansell. Fourth is Berger, however, 1 ”079 behind. The Ferraris collapse, taking the third row with Alesi ahead of Prost. The fourth row is entirely Brazilian, with Piquet and Gugelmin, ahead of Modena and Gachot. For Ayrton it is pole position number 54, the fifth in Brazil, the second of the season.
The race confirms that Ferrari is unable to fight for victory and that Williams is the closest car to McLaren, despite not yet optimal reliability. A fragility that also manifests Ayrton’s MP / 6, who from the 28th step begins to argue with the gearbox. He first loses fourth gear, then third and fifth and finds himself seven laps from the end with only sixth gear. Winning in these conditions would be impossible for another driver, not for Magic, who with a devastating effort manages to take the race home, thanks also to the retirement of Mansell, the closest of his pursuers.
At the 26th Mansell enters the pits but his stop is extended for 13 “making him lose two squares, immediately recovered with the stops of Patrese and Alesi, but above all other seconds from Senna, who supplies without setbacks and who starts at the 30th passage to have a good advantage of seven seconds but also to accuse the first gearbox problems, while the others may already be given up for missing, with Piquet bypassing Patrese for the third position. The glory for the Brazilian, however, lasts only five laps, because at 34th Williams puts him on the main straight and returns to the podium. Berger also sees himself, who overtakes Alesi and climbs to sixth place behind Prost, who made the most of the pit stop game and gained two positions. Ferrari shows itself to be a car not very kind with the tires, and exactly 19 laps after the first stop, Prost has to stop again and returns 7th, imitated five laps later by his teammate who slips behind him. In the front, meanwhile, Mansell is on a comeback on Senna and has gone to just 3 ”.
Senna’s escape seems to be close to the end, but Mansell asked too much from the tires of her FW14 and at 50th she had to stop again, plunging 30 ”from the Brazilian while maintaining second place. Behind him, Berger overtakes Piquet who loses fourth place before stopping in the pits for the tire change and returning behind Prost but ahead of Alesi, who is lapped by Senna. With ten laps to go, Senna saw his advantage drop to 20 ”but if his change, even in the middle of a service, persists, Mansell’s gives way and the Englishman, after a spin, must retire. Senna is first with a 36 ”lead over Patrese. But the emotions are not over yet: while the sky begins to give the first drops of rain, Senna loses all gears and is forced to face the last laps with only sixth gear: Patrese makes an easy comeback: at 65th he has 20 “of detachment, he recovers six in the 66th lap, five in the 67th, the rain increases and for Senna it will be enough: the Brazilian crosses the finish line with 3 ”over the Paduan’s Williams, who returns to the podium from his victory in Imola the previous year; third is Berger at 5 ”, 4th Prost at 18”, sixth Piquet at 22 ”and sixth Alesi at 23”, again in the points after thirteen races.
Senna is a mask of pain. Her screams on the radio broadcast by Rete Globo are indescribable. Senna can’t even reach the pits: stopping on the track to collect the Brazilian flag, the McLaren restarts only with the push of the stewards who wave the Brazilian flag in the middle of the track instead of the yellow ones. A few hundred meters further on, however Senna is still standing. The doctors’ car also rushes to the scene and gives him the first assistance, while one of the commissioners, who has received Ayrton’s helmet in his hand, raises it in the sky in front of the now maddened audience in the stands. Having struggled out of the cockpit, Senna got into the medical car and reached the pitlane. Supported by Ron Dennis, he reaches Patrese, Berger and Ecclestone who are waiting for him on the podium, where, staggering, he tries to wave the Brazilian flag, but his shoulders and arms are so contracted that when he is given the cup he will not be able to raise it, almost to him. gets out of hand, and only after a few persistent, painful attempts, will he be able to explode even more the crazed torcida that acclaims him.
While Senna is enjoying the triumph, declarations of a completely different nature arrive from the Cavallino. Alesi speaks of an undriveable car and of “frame not in place“With tanks unloaded, Prost is even heavier:”For me, not only did the chassis fail, but also the engine. On some occasions he missed shots and the maximum speed was limited, so much so that I could not pass Piquet. Sure, I’m a little disappointed, but not downhearted. We have to roll up our sleeves, we have a month, not everything is compromised“. He doesn’t know which way to turn Fiorio: “We fail to understand. We weren’t too bad on Friday. Prost could have set a time very close to that of the Williams on Saturday. Free practice in the morning had gone very well, we were confident. During the race, everything changed. Tomorrow we will sit around a table and look for explanations. Then there will be two test sessions in Imola during which we will introduce innovations in all sectors, engine, chassis, aerodynamics.“.
In the press room, however, Senna’s words echo. “A very difficult race, to remember together with my first victory in Portugal in 1985 and the first world championship“. Ayrton explains how success matured and where he found the strength not to give up: “I had gearbox problems from the middle of the race and I was left with only sixth gear at the end. I had to slow down from 300 to 70 km per hour in the hairpin bends without any engine braking that actually pushed. I had to push harder than expected because Mansell was always attacking me. I had never suffered like this: I found within me a strength that certainly came from God. I screamed and asked him for a victory that I deserved. I dedicate this success to him. After the arrival I was upset, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry“.
With 20 points in two races, McLaren confirming itself as the machine to beat, the closest of rivals is Alain Prost, 11 points behind, Mansell, the toughest rival in Brazil, is still on zero points. “I had never had such an advantage after two races“, Admits Senna, who however does not want to talk about the downhill world championship:”But the world championship is very long. You will see that there will be many race winners. Williams is competitive and Ferrari will also arrive. You have to work to stay ahead“.
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