The was the 42th
FIA Formula One World Championship season. It commenced on
March 10 ,
1991 , and ended on
November 3 after sixteen races.
A classic F1 season, which saw close racing and excitement from beginning to end.
Ayrton Senna won his third and final F1 World Championship in 1991. 1991 was arguably the Brazilian's greatest season in Formula One. Senna won seven races, and fought cleanly.
Nelson Piquet won the 1991
Canadian Grand Prix , and this turned out to be his final F1 victory.
Five drivers made their F1 debuts in 1991:-
Mika Hakkinen (USA GP);
Mark Blundell (USA GP);
Michael Schumacher (Belgian GP);
Fabrizio Barbazza ;
Alessandro Zanardi ;
Jean Alesi joined Ferrari, and partnered
Alain Prost . Alain was fired by the Ferrari team towards the end of the season, after speaking out against them.
Riccardo Patrese had a good 1991, with victories in the Mexican GP and Portuguese GP. Riccardo spoke about feelings of "tranquility" when he was racing in 1991.
Nigel Mansell returned to Williams, after spending two years at Ferrari. He was initially outperformed by Patrese, but Nigel improved considerably by the season's end. 1991 was the last season to feature "sticky" qualifying tyres, which were made of an ultra high grip rubber compound. These tyres only gave one lap of good performance before they deteriorated!
1991 saw the last V12 engined car winning the F1 Constructor's Championship, in the form of the McLaren MP4/6 Honda.The
Coloni F1 team failed to qualify for any of the 16 rounds. They disappeared at the end of the season, but the Coloni C4s would briefly re-appear during the 1992 Championship, with the
Andrea Moda team.
Bertrand Gachot made the headlines when he was jailed in the UK. He sprayed CS Gas in the face of a taxi driver, following a dispute.
