1990 German Grand Prix

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

The Hockenheim circuit had been given all-new pits facilities with a wider pit lane, and a wider start-finish straight.

The participants in the Friday morning pre-qualifying sessions were slightly reshuffled prior to this event, the season having reached its mid-point. Larrousse had scored enough points during the previous two half-seasons to be relieved of the requirement to pre-qualify, and could automatically join the rest of the field in the main qualifying sessions from here on. A failure to score any points so far this season meant that Ligier were forced to join the pre-qualifying pool. Osella, AGS, EuroBrun, Coloni and Life were all still required to pre-qualify.^[1]

Here at Hockenheim, Ligier were comfortably first and second in the one-hour session, with Philippe Alliot outpacing team-mate Nicola Larini in their Ford-powered JS33Bs. Third fastest was Olivier Grouillard in the Osella, and Yannick Dalmas was fourth in his AGS. It was Grouillard's eighth pre-qualification from nine events, and Dalmas' third.

Those missing out on pre-qualification included fifth-placed Gabriele Tarquini in the other AGS, a second slower than his team-mate, and Roberto Moreno, sixth in the EuroBrun. Coloni, having parted ways with Subaru and their uncompetitive flat 12 engine, appeared with the modified but untested C3C, powered by a customer Cosworth DFR V8 engine. Bertrand Gachot spun the car during the session and damaged it, failing to pre-qualify for the ninth consecutive time this season. Also ending his involvement at this early stage for the ninth Grand Prix in a row was Claudio Langes in the other EuroBrun, ahead only of Bruno Giacomelli, who was again a far distant last in the Life.^[1]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	26	Philippe Alliot	Ligier-Ford	1:45.513	—
2	25	Nicola Larini	Ligier-Ford	1:46.186	+0.673
3	14	Olivier Grouillard	Osella-Ford	1:46.828	+1.315
4	18	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford	1:47.125	+1.612
5	17	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	1:48.127	+2.614
6	33	Roberto Moreno	EuroBrun-Judd	1:48.983	+3.470
7	31	Bertrand Gachot	Coloni-Ford	1:50.460	+4.947
8	34	Claudio Langes	EuroBrun-Judd	1:50.897	+5.384
9	39	Bruno Giacomelli	Life	2:10.786	+25.273

After three straight wins by Ferraris Alain Prost, McLaren-Honda showed that they were back on top in qualifying. Honda promised McLaren a more powerful V10 engine at Hockenheim and McLaren had done some modifications to the MP4/5B chassis. Both parties delivered with pole man Senna and second placed Berger (only 0.2 seconds slower) the only drivers to lap in the 1:40's and they did this during the first qualifying session- an indication of the McLaren-Honda car's superior pace at one of the fastest Grand Prix circuits of the year, with both cars lapping at over 150 mph (240 km/h). The Ferraris of Prost and Nigel Mansell were over 1.5 seconds slower (with the Englishman complaining of a down on power engine compared to his team mate), and the Williams-Renaults of Riccardo Patrese and Thierry Boutsen occupying the 3rd row. So confident were McLaren that their times would not be beaten that both Senna and Berger did over 20 laps each and spent the entire second qualifying session working on their race set up without actually setting anything like a qualifying time, their fastest times over 6 seconds slower than the previous day.^[2] McLaren also introduced a new aerodynamic cowling cover for the MP4/5B at Hockenheim designed to lessen the buffeting effect on the drivers heads by diverting air to the sides of the car. This would remain on the car for the rest of the season.

Rounding out the top 10 were Nelson Piquet (Benetton-Ford), Jean Alesi (Tyrrell-Ford), Alessandro Nannini (Benetton-Ford) who had a fiery crash during Friday qualifying at the Bremsschikane 2 after riding a kerb and hitting the barrier hard enough to throw the car into the air and back onto the track causing the session to be stopped. Nannini survived the crash with little more than bruised pride. The 10th fastest qualifier was Ivan Capelli in the Leyton House-Judd. Such was the spread in times that Capelli was some 4.151 seconds slower than Senna.^[3]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	27	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:40.198	1:46.843	—
2	28	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	1:40.434	1:46.628	+0.236
3	1	Alain Prost	Ferrari	1:41.732	1:42.590	+1.532
4	2	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	1:42.313	1:42.057	+1.859
5	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:43.736	1:42.195	+1.997
6	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	1:43.620	1:42.380	+2.182
7	20	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford	1:42.926	1:42.872	+2.674
8	4	Jean Alesi	Tyrrell-Ford	1:43.255	1:44.652	+3.057
9	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:43.594	1:44.559	+3.396
10	16	Ivan Capelli	Leyton House-Judd	1:45.025	1:44.349	+4.151
11	30	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Lamborghini	1:45.382	1:44.363	+4.165
12	29	Éric Bernard	Lola-Lamborghini	1:44.998	1:44.496	+4.298
13	3	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell-Ford	1:44.873	1:44.650	+4.452
14	15	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House-Judd	no time	1:45.193	+4.995
15	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:45.736	1:45.237	+5.039
16	11	Derek Warwick	Lotus-Lamborghini	1:45.364	1:45.244	+5.046
17	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	1:45.547	1:47.269	+5.349
18	10	Alex Caffi	Arrows-Ford	1:46.201	1:45.604	+5.406
19	9	Michele Alboreto	Arrows-Ford	1:45.871	1:45.755	+5.557
20	12	Martin Donnelly	Lotus-Lamborghini	1:47.723	1:45.790	+5.592
21	7	David Brabham	Brabham-Judd	1:46.110	1:46.518	+5.912
22	25	Nicola Larini	Ligier-Ford	1:47.068	1:46.187	+5.989
23	21	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara-Ford	1:46.904	1:46.506	+6.308
24	26	Philippe Alliot	Ligier-Ford	1:46.596	1:57.287	+6.398
25	36	JJ Lehto	Onyx-Ford	1:48.856	1:46.867	+6.669
26	35	Gregor Foitek	Onyx-Ford	1:47.209	1:47.726	+7.011
27	14	Olivier Grouillard	Osella-Ford	1:47.429	1:48.172	+7.231
28	24	Paolo Barilla	Minardi-Ford	1:47.747	1:47.958	+7.549
29	18	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford	1:47.789	1:47.874	+7.591
30	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara-Ford	1:48.118	1:48.032	+7.834