1991 French Grand Prix

The 1991 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Magny-Cours on July 7, 1991. It was the seventh round of the 1991 Formula One season.

Report

The French Grand Prix had moved from its home in Paul Ricard to Magny-Cours to mixed reviews. There were no changes in the driver market, but the Footwork team had decided to abandon the disastrous Porsche V12 engine project and went back to Ford engines while Ferrari introduced a new car, the 643. In qualifying Alain Prost impressed at home, as he often does, and looked good 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 his final qualifying attempt and had to settle for third alongside Nigel Mansell in the second Williams. Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi, Nelson Piquet, Roberto Moreno, Mauricio Gugelmin, and the impressive Gianni Morbidelli in a Minardi. At the start Patrese made a disastrous start and dropped well back in the field 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 DNF 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. Mansell pulled away and scored his first win of the season, Prost was second followed by Senna, Alesi, Patrese, and de Cesaris.

Classification

Notes

*Pole position: Riccardo Patrese - 1:14.559cite book| last = Henry | first = Alan | authorlink = Alan Henry | title = AUTOCOURSE 1991-92 | publisher = Hazleton Publishing | date = 1991 | pages = p162 | isbn = 0-905138-87-2]
*Fastest lap: Nigel Mansell - 1:19.168 on lap 49cite book| last = Henry | first = Alan | authorlink = Alan Henry | title = AUTOCOURSE 1991-92 | publisher = Hazleton Publishing | date = 1991 | pages = p163 | isbn = 0-905138-87-2]
*Debut of the new Ferrari 643
*First French GP to be held at the new Magny Cours venue, previously held at Paul Ricard
*Porsche leaves Footwork F1 team, giving them no choice but to revert back to Ford engines
*Mansell's first win of the 1991 season, and 17th of his career, thereby breaking the record of Grand Prix wins by an English driver, previously held by Stirling Moss

References

* "Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from cite web | title = The Official Formula 1 website | url = http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1991/203/ | accessdate = 2007-08-08

F1 race report
Name_of_race = French Grand Prix
Year_of_race = 1991
Previous_race_in_season = 1991 Mexican Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season = 1991 British Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race = 1990 French Grand Prix
Next_year's_race = 1992 French Grand Prix
Previous_promotional_trophy_winner = 1990 Australian Grand Prix
Next_promotional_trophy_winner = 1992 French Grand Prix