At the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix, victory tasted even sweeter as Senna won in front of his home crowd for the very first time.
About The Brazilian Grand Prix
The Brazilian Grand Prix was first held in 1972, albeit as a non-championship race. From 1973 onwards, it has formed part of the Formula 1 World Championship. Initially held at the Autódromo de Interlagos, São Paulo, the circuit drew criticism from drivers as being too bumpy . Some cars even suffered mechanical failures due to the rough surface. The race was moved to Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro in 1978, where it remained until 1989. Efforts by local authorities to bring Formula 1 back to Interlagos were also bolstered by Ayrton Senna’s success.
In 1990, Formula 1 returned to São Paulo and a shortened and vastly improved circuit. The circuit itself was renamed to the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in 1985. This was in honour of Brazilian driver Carlos Pace, who had sadly died in 1977. Formula 1 has remained in São Paulo ever since. The only exception to this was in 2020 when the Covid pandemic meant the race was cancelled. When Brazil returned to the calendar in 2021, the race also had a brand new name – the São Paulo Grand Prix.
In 2023, Formula 1 announced a new five-year extension to the existing Grand Prix contract, which had been due to run until the end of 2025. This confirmed that São Paulo will remain on the calendar until at least the end of the 2030 season.
Brazilian Formula 1 Drivers
There have been an astonishing 33 Brazilian drivers in Formula 1. In the 1950’s you had the likes of Chico Landi, Gino Bianco, Nano da Silva Ramos and Fritz d’Orey. During the 1970’s there was Emerson Fittipaldi, Wilson Fittipaldi Jr., José Carlos Pace, Luiz Bueno, Ingo Hoffman and Alex Ribiero.
Nelson Piquet, Chico Serra, Raul Boesel, Roberto Moreno, Maurício Gugelmin and the legendary Ayrton Senna all raced in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s, Christian Fittipaldi, Rubens Barrichello, Pedro Diniz, Ricardo Rosset and Tarso Marques lined up on the grid. The 2010’s saw Brazil being represented by Felipe Massa, Christiano de Matta, Antônio Pizzonia, Nelson Piquet Jr., Bruno Senna, Luca di Grassi and Felipe Nasr. Pietro Fittipaldi was the nation’s sole representative in 2020. The only current Brazilian driver for the 2025 season is Gabriel Bortoleto.
Of those 33 drivers, only five of them have ever won on home turf. José Carlos Pace won once in Brazil. Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Felipe Massa have all achieved a home win on two occasions.
The 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix
The Autódromo José Carlos Pace has long been considered one of the most challenging and exciting circuits on the Formula 1 calendar. It’s also produced some of the most memorable races in history. But one of the greatest has to be the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix.
The atmosphere in São Paulo was absolutely electric before the race even began. Their home hero, Ayrton Senna, was sitting pretty at the front of the grid after securing pole in his McLaren. Lining up alongside him was Williams’ Riccardo Patrese, with the sister Williams of Nigel Mansell ready to pounce on the second row. But Senna’s teammate, Gerhard Berger, was right there with the Brit after qualifying fourth. The ever-present threat from Ferrari locked out the third row, with Jean Alesi and Alain Prost qualifying in fifth and sixth respectively. It was clear that this race was going to be an exciting battle. Little did spectators know that the best was yet to come.
Dramatic Race Start
On the warm-up lap, Aguri Suzuki’s Lola suffered a fuel pump failure, leaving him stranded on the grid. Suzuki was out of the race before it had even gotten underway. The Lola was cleared from the track and the rest of the pack lined up on the grid for the race start. Just as everything looked set to go, a small fire broke out at the back of Berger’s McLaren. But this was the early 90’s – a small lick of flame wasn’t going to delay the race start!
As the lights went out, Senna made the perfect getaway to retain his lead. Mansell managed to slip by teammate Patrese, whilst Alesi swiftly passed the still-smoldering Berger. The McLaren seemed to extinguish the minor blaze all by itself, allowing Berger to continue on. In the middle of the pack, Maurício Gugelmin cut across the path of Jordan’s Bertrand Gachot. Gachot was forced to brake suddenly. This in turn caused Emanuele Pirro to swerve his Dallara onto the grass at Turn 2. The Dallara suffered damage to the nose of the car, which dropped Pirro to the back of the field.
Mere moments later, Gabriele Tarquini lost control as he entered Turn 4, spinning his AGS onto the grass and out of the race. By lap eight, Senna had built up a three-second lead over Mansell and showed no signs of slowing down. On lap 10, Gugelmin was forced to retire, much to the heartbreak of the Brazilian crowd. He had suffered burns in the warm-up session when his in-cockpit fire extinguisher had accidentally gone off. By this time, the pain had just become too much to bear.
Race Middle
Satoru Nakajima retired from the race on lap 13. The Japanese driver was clearly unhappy as he clambered out of the Tyrrell. Prost, who had become frustrated at being stuck behind the Benetton of Piquet, pitted for new tyres on lap 17. The Ferrari came back out in 11th position, but there was a chance that he would not have to stop again for the remainder of the race. Up at the front, Mansell had been pushing hard, whittling down the gap between himself and Senna. By lap 20, it was just 0.7 seconds.
Mansell came into the pits on lap 26 for a fresh set of tyres. The stop was disastrous, lasting 14.59 seconds due to the Williams’ new automatic gearbox failing to find first gear. When he eventually managed to rejoin the race, the Brit found himself in fourth position behind Patrese and Alesi. Senna had a huge 20 second advantage over Patrese, allowing him to retain the lead after his pit stop. Patrese came into the pits soon after, but came back out in fourth behind Mansell and Piquet. It wasn’t long before Patrese managed to pass Piquet and get back up into third.
With just 30 laps to go, Mansell was seven seconds behind Senna and pushing hard. The hunt was well and truly back on.
Late Stint
On lap 47, Pierluigi Martini had a spin at the exit of Turn 13, which left his Minardi beached on the kerb. Three laps later, Érik Comas retired from his first ever Grand Prix when his Ligier caught fire. Moments later, Roberto Moreno had a close call when his Benetton ran over the oil from Comas’ car, causing him to understeer onto the grass.
Whilst all this was happening, Mansell was still closing in on Senna and the Brazilian crowds braced themselves for what seemed to be inevitable. There was a moment of relief when Mansell was forced to pit on lap 50 due to a puncture caused by debris. He retained second place when he rejoined the track, but there was now a 36 second gap to close. Senna’s pace had slowed, and Mansell was quick to get back on the charge. By the end of lap 59, he had almost halved the gap. Then, disaster. Instead of going into fourth gear, Mansell’s gearbox slammed into neutral, then first. The Williams spun off the track but was able to briefly restart, before the gearbox failed completely. Mansell’s race was over, just .
All eyes now looked to Senna, with the collective hopes of his home nation willing him on. With his pace seeming to be suffering, the question now was whether he could stay ahead of Patrese, who was biting huge chunks of time out of Senna’s lead with every lap that passed. With just 10 laps to go, Patrese was just 10 seconds behind, and his current pace was easily enough to try and catch Senna.
Fighting Finish
With five laps to go, ex-driver turned commentator James Hunt had noticed that Senna was nursing his McLaren through the corners, saying “it looks as if Senna is in a bit of trouble”. On lap 68, Hunt commented “I think Senna may have a serious gearbox problem and not be able to get the low gears”. And he was right on the money. The McLaren had lost all but first and sixth gear, forcing Senna to massively adapt his driving style and take corners in a much higher gear than usual.
Patrese was just 5.4 seconds behind the struggling race leader with just three laps remaining. One lap later, the mechanical gremlins were back to haunt Williams, with Patrese’s gearbox also beginning to develop issues. Fully aware that second would be far more preferable to not finishing at all, Patrese reluctantly backed off the pace. Senna was struggling so much that he gestured to race officials to stop the race early. They did not comply with his request – Senna was just going to have to hope that his McLaren would make it.
As the chequered flag waved, Senna crossed the line 2.9 seconds ahead of Patrese. After eight previous attempts, he had finally achieved a win at his home race. The Brazilian crowds erupted, and Senna could be heard screaming in elation. Berger, who had leap-frogged Alesi during earlier pitstops, managed to bring the sister McLaren home in third despite throttle issues in the final laps.
Podium Celebrations
Senna had pushed so hard to keep his car under control with limited gears, that he had developed muscle cramps and fever. The Brazilian was almost unable to move, and had to be lifted from his car. After being transported to the podium in the medical car, he proudly took the top step of the podium and waved the Brazilian flag. His exhaustion was so much that he barely managed to lift the trophy, but there’s no doubt that a home win had been worth the pain.
Summary
Ayrton Senna had broken the curse and finally achieved a race win at his home race. It hadn’t been easy, and he had to tap into all of his skills to avoid victory being snatched away from him. Personally, I can’t help but smile when someone wins in front of their home crowd, regardless of whether I support them or not. Because of this, and because of the sheer willpower and determination that Senna showed in the face of adversity, the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix has to be one of the best races in Formula 1 history.
Which Brazilian Grand Prix do you think is a race to remember? Let us know in the comments!
Feature image credit – By wileynorwichphoto – Flickr: Senna @ USGP 1991, CC BY 2.0, Link