1990 French Grand Prix

The 1990 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on 8 July 1990. It was the seventh race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship. It was the 68th French Grand Prix and the 14th and last to be held at Paul Ricard until the 2018 French Grand Prix. It was held over 80 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 305 kilometres. This race was held the same day as the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final in Rome, Italy, but that event took place later in the day from this Grand Prix.

1990 French Grand Prix
Race 7 of 16 in the 1990 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 8 July 1990
Official name Rhône-Poulenc Grand Prix de France
Location Paul Ricard
France
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 3.813 km (2.369 miles)
Distance 80 laps, 305.040 km (189.543 miles)
Weather Hot, dry, sunny
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:04.402
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Ferrari
Time 1:08.012 on lap 64
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Leyton House-Judd
Third McLaren-Honda
Lap leaders

The race almost saw one of the most remarkable upsets in Formula One history with the Leyton House Racing team of Italian driver Ivan Capelli and Brazilian driver Maurício Gugelmin running first and second for an extended period of the race in their Leyton House CG901s. French driver Alain Prost claimed the lead late in the race to take the win in his Ferrari 641 by eight seconds over Capelli. Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna finished third in his McLaren MP4/5B.

The win, Prost's third for the season, marked Ferrari's 100th race victory in Formula One, and closed the gap to championship points leader Senna to just three points.[1][2]

Qualifying

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Pre-qualifying report

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In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, it was a return to the top two places for the Larrousse-Lola drivers, their fourth 1–2 of the season. Éric Bernard was over a second faster than his team-mate Aguri Suzuki, who in turn was seven tenths faster than the next fastest driver. For the first time this season, at their home race, both AGS drivers pre-qualified, with Gabriele Tarquini third and Yannick Dalmas fourth. It was the first successful pre-qualification for Tarquini this season, and only the second for Dalmas.[3]

In fifth place, missing out by just under seven hundredths of a second, was Olivier Grouillard in the sole Osella, the first time he had failed to pre-qualify in 1990. Sixth was Roberto Moreno in his EuroBrun, some way adrift of Grouillard and nearly five seconds off Bernard's pace. It was the second time this season Moreno had failed to pre-qualify. Seventh, and much closer to his team-mate this time, was Claudio Langes in the other EuroBrun. The other two runners were not remotely competitive; Bertrand Gachot suffered an engine failure on his first lap in his Coloni, still with the heavy, fragile and underpowered Subaru engine,[4] while Bruno Giacomelli failed to leave the pits in the Life.[3]

Pre-qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 1:05.165
2 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini 1:06.505 +1.340
3 17   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:07.232 +2.067
4 18   Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 1:08.151 +2.986
5 14   Olivier Grouillard Osella-Ford 1:08.219 +3.054
6 33   Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd 1:09.885 +4.720
7 34   Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd 1:10.368 +5.203
8 31   Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Subaru 4:02.465 +2:57.300
9 39   Bruno Giacomelli Life no time

Qualifying report

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Nigel Mansell took pole position from Gerhard Berger and Ayrton Senna being followed by Alain Prost, Alessandro Nannini fifth, Riccardo Patrese sixth, Ivan Capelli seventh followed by Thierry Boutsen in eighth, Nelson Piquet in ninth and Maurício Gugelmin tenth.

Qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 2   Nigel Mansell Ferrari 1:04.402 1:04.871
2 28   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:05.350 1:04.512 +0.110
3 27   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:04.549 1:08.886 +0.147
4 1   Alain Prost Ferrari 1:04.792 1:04.781 +0.379
5 19   Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:05.670 1:05.009 +0.607
6 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:05.059 1:05.394 +0.657
7 16   Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd 1:06.384 1:05.369 +0.967
8 5   Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 1:05.446 1:06.394 +1.044
9 20   Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 1:05.640 1:05.744 +1.238
10 15   Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd 1:05.818 1:06.446 +1.416
11 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 1:05.910 1:05.852 +1.450
12 26   Philippe Alliot Ligier-Ford 1:05.980 1:06.866 +1.578
13 4   Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 1:06.084 1:06.200 +1.682
14 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini 1:06.100 1:06.158 +1.598
15 3   Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Ford 1:06.999 1:06.563 +2.161
16 11   Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini 1:06.624 1:07.031 +2.222
17 12   Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini 1:06.647 1:07.248 +2.245
18 9   Michele Alboreto Arrows-Ford 1:06.847 1:07.239 +2.445
19 25   Nicola Larini Ligier-Ford 1:07.224 1:06.856 +2.444
20 8   Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:06.937 1:06.943 +2.535
21 22   Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 1:09.727 1:07.137 +2.735
22 10   Alex Caffi Arrows-Ford 1:07.496 1:07.207 +2.805
23 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:07.315 1:07.333 +2.913
24 21   Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Ford 1:07.687 1:07.692 +3.285
25 7   David Brabham Brabham-Judd 1:07.733 1:08.532 +3.331
26 18   Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 1:08.630 1:07.926 +3.524
27 24   Paolo Barilla Minardi-Ford 1:08.008 1:08.592 +3.606
28 17   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:09.176 1:08.147 +3.745
29 35   Gregor Foitek Onyx-Ford 1:08.794 1:08.232 +3.830
30 36   JJ Lehto Onyx-Ford 1:08.954 1:08.487 +4.085

Race

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Race report

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In one of the most remarkable turnarounds in Grand Prix history the Leyton House cars of Ivan Capelli and Maurício Gugelmin ran first and second for almost two-thirds of the race. Neither car had qualified for the previous race in Mexico, but on the smooth surface of Paul Ricard with its 1.1 km long Mistral Straight the team were able to exploit their highly efficient aerodynamic package, as well as being the only team to attempt to race without stopping for fresh tyres. Gugelmin stopped while third late in the race on whilst Capelli led until three laps from home when his engine encountered problems and dropped to second.

Berger took the lead at the start followed by pole sitter Mansell, Senna, Nannini, Patrese, Prost, Boutsen, Piquet and Jean Alesi. Later in the race when the leaders pitted, Capelli took the lead being followed by teammate Gugelmin. Prost overtook Gugelmin on lap 54 and Gugelmin's engine blew on lap 57. Mansell was in 8th position battling for 7th with the McLaren of Gerhard Berger after his second pit-stop, but was eventually forced to retire on lap 73 with engine troubles (Mansell would be classified 18th). Alessandro Nannini overtook Senna for third place but eventually retired 3 laps after Mansell with electrical problems (Nannini would be classified 16th). Prost overtook Capelli for the lead on lap 77 of 80 and went on to win in front of his home crowd at the last French Grand Prix held at Paul Ricard before the race was moved to Magny-Cours in 1991 for many years until it eventually returned to Paul Ricard in 2018.

Prost's win was the 42nd of his career, his third French Grand Prix in succession, his fifth French GP overall (and his fourth at Paul Ricard), and the 100th Grand Prix victory for Ferrari. Prost won ahead of Capelli, Senna, Piquet, Berger and Patrese rounding out the top 6. It would also prove to be the third and last podium finish for Ivan Capelli and the only podium finish for the Leyton House Racing team.

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1   Alain Prost Ferrari 80 1:33:29.606 4 9
2 16   Ivan Capelli Leyton House-Judd 80 + 8.626 7 6
3 27   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 80 + 11.606 3 4
4 20   Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 80 + 41.207 9 3
5 28   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 80 + 42.219 2 2
6 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 80 + 1:09.351 6 1
7 30   Aguri Suzuki Lola-Lamborghini 79 + 1 lap 14
8 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 79 + 1 lap 11
9 26   Philippe Alliot Ligier-Ford 79 + 1 lap 12
10 9   Michele Alboreto Arrows-Ford 79 + 1 lap 18
11 11   Derek Warwick Lotus-Lamborghini 79 + 1 lap 16
12 12   Martin Donnelly Lotus-Lamborghini 79 + 1 lap 17
13 8   Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 78 + 2 laps 20
14 25   Nicola Larini Ligier-Ford 78 + 2 laps 19
15 7   David Brabham Brabham-Judd 77 + 3 laps 25
16 19   Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 75 Electrical 5
17 18   Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 75 + 5 laps 26
18 2   Nigel Mansell Ferrari 72 Engine 1
DSQ 22   Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 78 Underweight 21
Ret 3   Satoru Nakajima Tyrrell-Ford 63 Gearbox 15
Ret 15   Maurício Gugelmin Leyton House-Judd 58 Engine 10
Ret 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 40 Electrical 23
Ret 4   Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 23 Differential 13
Ret 10   Alex Caffi Arrows-Ford 22 Suspension 22
Ret 5   Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 7 Engine 8
Ret 21   Emanuele Pirro Dallara-Ford 7 Brakes 24
DNQ 24   Paolo Barilla Minardi-Ford
DNQ 17   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford
DNQ 35   Gregor Foitek Onyx-Ford
DNQ 36   JJ Lehto Onyx-Ford
DNPQ 14   Olivier Grouillard Osella-Ford
DNPQ 33   Roberto Moreno EuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ 34   Claudio Langes EuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ 31   Bertrand Gachot Coloni-Subaru
DNPQ 39   Bruno Giacomelli Life
Source:[5]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ "Murray's Memories: 1990 French GP – Leyton House v Ferrari". BBC Sport. 23 October 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  2. ^ Walsh, Fergal (19 June 2023). "Where F1 teams claimed their 100th grand prix win". Motorsport Week. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  3. ^ a b Walker, Murray (1990). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 63–70. ISBN 0-905138-82-1.
  4. ^ "Motoring News". 11 July 1990.
  5. ^ "1990 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b "France 1990 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.


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1990 Mexican Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1990 season
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1990 British Grand Prix
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1989 French Grand Prix
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1991 French Grand Prix