1990 Brazilian Grand Prix
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São Paulo, Brazil
| 1990 Brazilian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 2 of 16 in the 1990 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 25 March 1990 | ||
| Official name | XIX Grande Prêmio do Brasil | ||
| Location |
Autódromo José Carlos Pace São Paulo, Brazil | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.325 km (2.687 miles) | ||
| Distance | 71 laps, 307.075 km (190.808 miles) | ||
| Weather | Hot, dry, sunny | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:17.277 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Gerhard Berger | McLaren-Honda | |
| Time | 1:19.899 on lap 55 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Third | McLaren-Honda | ||
|
Lap leaders | |||
The 1990 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos, São Paulo on 25 March 1990. It was the second race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship. It was also the first Brazilian Grand Prix to be held at Interlagos since 1980, following the renovation and shortening of the circuit and the ascendancy of São Paulo driver Ayrton Senna.
The 71-lap race was won by Alain Prost, driving a Ferrari. Senna took pole position in his McLaren-Honda and led until he collided with Satoru Nakajima in the Tyrrell-Ford, allowing Prost through. Prost took his 40th Grand Prix victory, and his sixth and final Brazilian win, with Senna's teammate Gerhard Berger second and Senna himself recovering to third.
The rebuilt Interlagos circuit, which hosted the race for the first time since 1980, had been dramatically altered. The track had been shortened by 3.5 km and lost many fast sweepers and the Retao straight, which had allowed Formula One drivers to use full throttle for 20 seconds.
Qualifying
Pre-qualifying report
In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, the Larrousse-Lola cars secured a 1–2, with Éric Bernard a couple of tenths of a second faster than his team-mate Aguri Suzuki. Five thousandths of a second behind Suzuki in third was Olivier Grouillard in the Osella. The other pre-qualifier was Yannick Dalmas in his AGS, the first time the Frenchman had progressed to the main qualifying sessions this season. Dalmas edged out his team-mate Gabriele Tarquini, who was fifth, the fastest runner to drop out at this stage.
Roberto Moreno also missed out in sixth in an eventful session. His EuroBrun suffered an ignition problem just 200 metres after leaving the pitlane and the team decided to let Moreno use the car of his team-mate Claudio Langes, who at that stage had the sixth best time. Moreno promised Langes he would return the car for the last 10 minutes of the session. Moreno managed a fast lap that placed him at the top of the pre-qualifying table at that point, with a time of 1:25.763. But as he attempted a second fast lap straight afterwards, the car stopped on the track, because the team had miscalculated the fuel quantity needed for two fast laps and the EuroBrun ran out of fuel. Moreno's hope of progressing to qualifying proper ended as the track dried up, and in the final minutes of the session he was bumped down to sixth place. Langes never got back in the car, and was ultimately thirteen seconds adrift of Moreno's time in eighth place.[1]
Bertrand Gachot struggled badly again in the Coloni, faster than Langes but still ten seconds off Bernard's pace in seventh. The Coloni's Subaru 1235 engine, built by Motori Moderni, was proving to be overweight, underpowered and fragile.[2] Bottom of the time sheets was Gary Brabham in the Life, failing to post a time at all. The car's engine broke a connecting rod after a quarter of a lap, leaving Brabham and his manager to question the Australian's future at the team.[3] Brabham later stated that he had been uncertain his team would even be present at Interlagos, until he saw the car in the pit garage.[4]
Pre-qualifying classification
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 29 |  Éric Bernard |
Lola-Lamborghini | 1:23.763 | — |
| 2 | 30 |  Aguri Suzuki |
Lola-Lamborghini | 1:23.982 | +0.219 |
| 3 | 14 | Olivier Grouillard |
Osella-Ford | 1:23.987 | +0.224 |
| 4 | 18 | Yannick Dalmas |
AGS-Ford | 1:24.015 | +0.252 |
| 5 | 17 |  Gabriele Tarquini |
AGS-Ford | 1:24.265 | +0.502 |
| 6 | 33 |  Roberto Moreno |
EuroBrun-Judd | 1:25.763 | +2.000 |
| 7 | 31 |  Bertrand Gachot |
Coloni-Subaru | 1:34.046 | +10.283 |
| 8 | 34 | Claudio Langes |
EuroBrun-Judd | 1:39.188 | +15.425 |
| 9 | 39 |  Gary Brabham |
Life | no time | — |
Qualifying report
Local hero Ayrton Senna took his 43rd career pole position and led from the start. Gianni Morbidelli made it through qualifying for the first time in his Formula One career.
Qualifying classification
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 | Ayrton Senna |
McLaren-Honda | 1:17.769 | 1:17.277 | — |
| 2 | 28 | Gerhard Berger |
McLaren-Honda | 1:17.888 | 1:18.504 | +0.611 |
| 3 | 5 | Thierry Boutsen |
Williams-Renault | 1:18.375 | 1:18.150 | +0.873 |
| 4 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese |
Williams-Renault | 1:18.465 | 1:18.288 | +1.011 |
| 5 | 2 |  Nigel Mansell |
Ferrari | 1:18.509 | 1:19.475 | +1.232 |
| 6 | 1 | Alain Prost |
Ferrari | 1:18.631 | 1:18.884 | +1.354 |
| 7 | 4 | Jean Alesi |
Tyrrell-Ford | 1:19.230 | 1:18.923 | +1.646 |
| 8 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini |
Minardi-Ford | 1:19.039 | 1:19.688 | +1.762 |
| 9 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris |
Dallara-Ford | 1:19.125 | 1:19.964 | +1.848 |
| 10 | 26 | Philippe Alliot |
Ligier-Ford | 1:19.309 | — | +2.032 |
| 11 | 29 | Éric Bernard |
Lola-Lamborghini | 1:19.406 | 1:21.024 | +2.129 |
| 12 | 8 | Stefano Modena |
Brabham-Judd | 1:19.425 | 1:20.126 | +2.148 |
| 13 | 20 | Nelson Piquet |
Benetton-Ford | 1:19.629 | 1:20.317 | +2.352 |
| 14 | 12 | Martin Donnelly |
Lotus-Lamborghini | 1:20.032 | — | +2.755 |
| 15 | 19 | Alessandro Nannini |
Benetton-Ford | 1:20.055 | 1:20.317 | +2.778 |
| 16 | 21 | Gianni Morbidelli |
Dallara-Ford | 1:20.164 | 1:20.229 | +2.887 |
| 17 | 24 | Paolo Barilla |
Minardi-Ford | 1:20.282 | 1:21.121 | +3.005 |
| 18 | 30 | Aguri Suzuki |
Lola-Lamborghini | 1:20.557 | 1:21.086 | +3.280 |
| 19 | 3 | Satoru Nakajima |
Tyrrell-Ford | 1:20.568 | 1:21.086 | +3.291 |
| 20 | 25 | Nicola Larini |
Ligier-Ford | 1:20.650 | 1:20.794 | +3.373 |
| 21 | 14 | Olivier Grouillard |
Osella-Ford | 1:21.292 | 1:20.884 | +3.607 |
| 22 | 7 |  Gregor Foitek |
Brabham-Judd | 1:20.965 | 1:20.902 | +3.625 |
| 23 | 9 | Michele Alboreto |
Arrows-Ford | 1:20.920 | 1:21.002 | +3.643 |
| 24 | 11 | Derek Warwick |
Lotus-Lamborghini | 1:21.244 | 1:20.998 | +3.721 |
| 25 | 10 | Alex Caffi |
Arrows-Ford | 1:21.065 | 1:22.057 | +3.788 |
| 26 | 18 | Yannick Dalmas |
AGS-Ford | 1:22.426 | 1:21.087 | +3.810 |
| 27 | 35 |  Stefan Johansson |
Onyx-Ford | 1:21.241 | 1:22.184 | +3.964 |
| 28 | 36 |  JJ Lehto |
Onyx-Ford | 1:21.323 | 1:21.417 | +4.046 |
| 29 | 16 | Ivan Capelli |
Leyton House-Judd | 1:21.383 | 1:21.422 | +4.106 |
| 30 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin |
Leyton House-Judd | 1:21.616 | 1:22.862 | +4.339 |
