1990 San Marino Grand Prix

Infobox Grand Prix race report
Type = F1
Grand Prix = San Marino
Official name = X Gran Premio di San Marino
Country = San Marino
Date = May 13
Year = 1990
Race_No = 3
Season_No = 16
Location = Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari
Imola, Italy
Course = Permanent racing facility
Course_mi = 3.132
Course_km = 5.040
Distance_laps = 61
Distance_mi = 191.033
Distance_km = 307.440
Weather = Warm, dry, sunny
Pole_Driver = Ayrton Senna
Pole_Country = Brazil
Pole_Team = McLaren-Honda
Pole_Time = 1:23.220
Fast_Driver = Alessandro Nannini
Fast_Country = Italy
Fast_Team = Benetton-Ford
Fast_Time = 1:27.156
Fast_L

First_Driver = Riccardo Patrese
First_Country = Italy
First_Team = Williams-Renault
Second_Driver = Gerhard Berger
Second_Country= Austria
Second_Team = McLaren-Honda
Third_Driver = Alessandro Nannini
Third_Country = Italy
Third_Team = Benetton-FordThe 1990 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 13 May 1990 at Imola.

Report

Pre race

In the run-up to the first European round of the world championship there were a few changes to the grid. Brabham had fired Accident prone Swiss driver Gregor Foitek and replaced him with the appropriately named David Brabham. Foitek moved over to the troubled Onyx team to replace Stefan Johansson who was unhappy at the way the team was being run. Meanwhile Emanuele Pirro returned to the Dallara team, having been out of action with Hepatitis and Gary Brabham had come to his senses and quit the hopeless Life team, he was replaced by Italian veteran Bruno Giacomelli who had not raced since 1983, he would predictably fail to pre-qualify.

Practice and qualifying

In practice Alessandro Nannini had a rather large accident in his brand new Benetton, but it was nothing compared to the mammoth shunt Pierluigi Martini had, the Italian would miss the rest of the weekend with a cracked heel. Qualifying saw the first three rows being a team by team affair with Ayrton Senna take pole as usual and he was joined by team-mate Gerhard Berger on the front row. The second row was all Williams with Riccardo Patrese leading Thierry Boutsen. On row three there were Ferrari's with Nigel Mansell ahead of Alain Prost. The top ten was completed by Jean Alesi, Nelson Piquet, Nannini, and Derek Warwick.

Race

The start of the race was overly eventful with Senna and Berger getting away well. Behind them there was mayhem with Mansell making a mistake causing Ivan Capelli to spin and crash, and Satoru Nakajima colliding with him. At Tosa Martin Donnelly spun, narrowly avoiding hitting anyone. Meanwhile Boutsen got past Berger but was unable to close on Senna. The order remained the same until lap 3 when Senna pulled off with a broken wheel rim, a rare McLaren mechanical problem. This allowed Boutsen to take the lead, but with Berger hot on his heels. Further back Alesi collided with Piquet while passing him, Piquet spun but continued. Boutsen led until his engine blew up on lap 17, which left Berger ahead of a charging Patrese, who was under serious pressure from Mansell, who passed him going into Tosa, much to the delight of the Italian fans. Mansell continued to charge, despite being hit by Andrea de Cesaris while trying to lap him and challenged Berger for the lead. On the run up to Villeneuve, Mansell tried to go around the outside, but an unamused Berger closed the door, causing Mansell to spin dramatically. Amazingly the Englishman avoided hitting anything and ended up pointing in the right direction, he continued in second place. Unfortunately dirt and debris got in Nigel's Engine, causing it to overheat and blow-up a few laps later, more disappointment. Mansell's demise left Berger ahead of Patrese, who went through into the lead on lap 51. There was more excitement in the battle for third, as Nannini and Prost sliced and diced, with Nannini winning out. Patrese duly won his first race in seven years, leading home Berger, Nannini, Prost, Piquet, and Alesi. Patrese was thrilled, but down at Ferrari, Mansell had less than kind words for the actions of Berger.

Classification

Pre Qualifying

Notes

* Lap Leaders: Ayrton Senna 3 laps (1-3); Thierry Boutsen 14 laps (4-17); Gerhard Berger 33 laps (18-50); Riccardo Patrese 11 laps (51-61)
* Emanuele Pirro stated from the back of the grid due to his car not starting for the parade lap.
* Pierluigi Martini would have qualified tenth but was injured during Friday's practice and did not take part in the race.
* Gabriele Tarquini did not set a pre-qualifying time when his car lost fuel pressure on his first lap. His teammate Yannick Dalmas withdrew due to a wrist injury suffered the previous week during test.
*Bruno Giacomelli replaced Gary Brabham in the Life.
*Gary's brother David signed with the Brabham team replacing Gregor Foitek who joined Onyx in place of Stefan Johansson.
*The Tyrrell 019ndash designed by Harvey Postlethwaitendash was the first in F1 to sport a "high-nose" design with downward-extending supports for the front wing.

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/1990/217/ |accessdate=2007-08-05

F1 race report
Name_of_race = San Marino Grand Prix
Year_of_race = 1990
Previous_race_in_season = 1990 Brazilian Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season = 1990 Monaco Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race = 1989 San Marino Grand Prix
Next_year's_race = 1991 San Marino Grand Prix