1992 South African Grand Prix

The 1992 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Kyalami circuit in Midrand, South Africa on 1 March 1992. It was the opening round of the 1992 Formula One World Championship and was contested over 72 laps. It was the 32nd South African Grand Prix, and the 22nd as part of the World Championship. Nigel Mansell dominated the weekend in his Williams-Renault, taking pole position, fastest lap and leading every lap of the race en route to victory for the second time in his career. Mansell's teammate, Riccardo Patrese, asserted the dominance of the car by completing a 1–2 finish. Ayrton Senna completed the podium for the McLaren team.

1992 South African Grand Prix
Race 1 of 16 in the 1992 Formula One World Championship
Circuit Kyalami in South Africa
Circuit Kyalami in South Africa
Race details
Date 1 March 1992
Official name Yellow Pages South African Grand Prix[1]
Location Kyalami
Midrand, Transvaal Province, South Africa
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.261 km (2.648 miles)
Distance 72 laps, 306.792 km (190.632 miles)
Weather Hot, dry and dull
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:15.486
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault
Time 1:17.578 on lap 70
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second Williams-Renault
Third McLaren-Honda
Lap leaders

This was the first post-apartheid South African Grand Prix, the last running of the race having been in 1985 during Premier P. W. Botha's state of emergency. It was held on a revised Kyalami circuit, which used only a small part of the old layout.

Pre-race

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As the revised Kyalami circuit was new to the Formula One calendar, there were two acclimatisation sessions held on the Thursday before the Grand Prix weekend. A pre-qualifying session was to be held on Friday morning to eliminate two cars, allowing the other 30 to take part in the main qualifying sessions on Friday afternoon and Saturday.

The entrants required to take part in pre-qualifying included the Larrousse team with their new Venturi LC92 chassis, driven by Bertrand Gachot, who had driven for the team in the season-ending 1991 Australian Grand Prix after losing his seat at Jordan; and the reigning Japanese Formula 3000 champion Ukyo Katayama. Also due to take part were one car from each of the Fondmetal and Footwork teams. They had chosen Swiss debutant Andrea Chiesa and Italian veteran Michele Alboreto respectively. The other two cars taking part were from the new Andrea Moda team.[2]

The Andrea Moda fashion company, owned by Andrea Sassetti, had bought the Coloni team, which had failed to pre-qualify at every race of the 1991 season. They had signed ex-Footwork driver Alex Caffi, and Enrico Bertaggia, who had driven for Coloni during the 1989 season, and had brought the Judd-engined Andrea Moda C4B to South Africa. This car was an adaptation of last season's Cosworth-powered Coloni C4. Caffi drove in the second of Thursday's acclimatisation sessions, although the car's battery failed on the first lap. Bertaggia did not run, and it was unclear if a second C4B had been built, or brought to Kyalami.[3] However, a Stewards' Meeting on Thursday afternoon ruled that Andrea Moda was a new team, not a continuation of Coloni, and were therefore liable to pay a $100,000 guarantee according to Article 41 of the Formula One Sporting Regulations. The stewards also noted that the C4 cars were originally built, and had been raced, by another constructor, i.e. Coloni, not Andrea Moda, thus the cars were likely to be ineligible, as a new team must use an original chassis. In any case, failure to pay the guarantee meant exclusion from the event.[4]

Sassetti believed that he did not have to pay the guarantee for new teams as he had purchased an existing team, but officials decided that he had not purchased Coloni's entry into Formula One, or the constructor itself, only its cars and facilities.[5] Sassetti lodged an appeal, citing the fact that several other teams, such as March, Fondmetal and Footwork had not been required to pay the guarantee when the teams changed hands.[6] In any case, Andrea Moda's exclusion meant that pre-qualifying was cancelled.[2]

Qualifying

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Qualifying report

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Mansell took pole position with a time almost three-quarters of a second faster than that of Senna in second, and over a second and a half faster than that of his teammate Patrese, who was fourth. Berger was third in the other McLaren, nearly half a second slower than teammate Senna but over three-tenths of a second faster than Patrese. Jean Alesi was fifth in his Ferrari, and was the only other driver within two seconds of Mansell's time. Michael Schumacher was sixth in his Benetton, followed by Karl Wendlinger in the March, who in turn was ahead of Martin Brundle in the second Benetton and Ivan Capelli in the second Ferrari. Andrea de Cesaris completed the top ten in his Tyrrell.

Three of the five debutants failed to qualify: Paul Belmondo in the second March, Andrea Chiesa in the Fondmetal, and Giovanna Amati, the first female F1 driver in over a decade, in the Brabham. They were joined by Stefano Modena in the Jordan, whose Yamaha engine suffered reliability problems. Of the other two debutants, Katayama was 18th in the Venturi Larrousse and Christian Fittipaldi 20th in the Minardi.

Qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 5   Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:15.576 1:15.486
2 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:16.815 1:16.227 +0.741
3 2   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:16.672 1:16.877 +1.186
4 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:17.571 1:16.989 +1.503
5 27   Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:18.388 1:17.208 +1.722
6 19   Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:18.251 1:17.635 +2.149
7 16   Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 1:18.880 1:18.115 +2.629
8 20   Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 1:19.885 1:18.327 +2.841
9 28   Ivan Capelli Ferrari 1:19.039 1:18.387 +2.901
10 4   Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:18.544 1:18.907 +3.058
11 12   Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:19.362 1:18.626 +3.140
12 3   Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:19.473 1:18.749 +3.263
13 26   Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 1:19.970 1:19.200 +3.714
14 25   Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 1:19.506 1:19.296 +3.810
15 15   Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 1:19.577 1:19.305 +3.819
16 10   Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:19.532 1:20.285 +4.046
17 9   Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:19.571 1:19.643 +4.085
18 30   Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 1:22.129 1:19.621 +4.135
19 24   Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 1:21.027 1:19.636 +4.150
20 23   Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Lamborghini 1:20.111 1:19.641 +4.155
21 11   Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 1:19.672 1:19.931 +4.186
22 29   Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 1:21.477 1:20.039 +4.553
23 33   Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 1:20.120 1:20.216 +4.634
24 21   JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 1:20.571 1:20.126 +4.640
25 22   Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 1:21.134 1:20.203 +4.717
26 7   Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd 1:21.648 1:20.488 +5.002
27 17   Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor 1:22.022 1:20.580 +5.094
28 14   Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 1:22.170 1:21.209 +5.723
29 32   Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 1:22.020 1:21.494 +6.008
30 8   Giovanna Amati Brabham-Judd 1:25.942 1:24.405 +8.919
Sources:[7][8][9]

Race

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Race report

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The race was fairly uneventful as Mansell led from lights to flag, finishing nearly 25 seconds ahead of Patrese. Martin Brundle spun off on the first lap but was able to continue until his clutch failed as a result of the spin and was forced into retirement when he pulled into the pits. Senna drove well to ensure he remained on the podium with a 1991 car, as did Schumacher, who gained from his qualifying position to complete the race in fourth place after Jean Alesi had retired with engine failure on lap 41 who was behind Senna and ahead of Schumacher. Berger finished in fifth place and nearly 40 seconds behind his teammate; he was the last driver to finish the race on the lead lap. Johnny Herbert finished in sixth place and took the final point for Lotus after the Tyrrell of Andrea de Cesaris like Alesi had retired when his Ilmor engine failed on lap 42. Interestingly, all of the top 6 finishers drove cars that were either evolutions, or direct carryovers, of cars designed for previous seasons.

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5   Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 72 1:36:45.320 1 10
2 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 72 + 24.360 4 6
3 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 72 + 34.675 2 4
4 19   Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 72 + 47.863 6 3
5 2   Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 72 + 1:13.634 3 2
6 12   Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 71 + 1 lap 11 1
7 26   Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 71 + 1 lap 13
8 10   Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 70 + 2 laps 16
9 11   Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 70 + 2 laps 21
10 9   Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 70 + 2 laps 17
11 33   Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 70 + 2 laps 23
12 30   Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 68 + 4 laps 18
13 7   Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd 68 + 4 laps 26
Ret 3   Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 62 Engine 12
Ret 25   Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 60 Fuel system 14
Ret 22   Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 56 Clutch 25
Ret 24   Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 55 Engine 19
Ret 21   JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 44 Gearbox 24
Ret 23   Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Lamborghini 43 Alternator 20
Ret 4   Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 41 Engine 10
Ret 27   Jean Alesi Ferrari 40 Engine 5
Ret 28   Ivan Capelli Ferrari 28 Engine 9
Ret 15   Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 23 Engine 15
Ret 16   Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 13 Overheating 7
Ret 29   Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 8 Steering 22
Ret 20   Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 1 Clutch 8
DNQ 17   Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor
DNQ 14   Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford
DNQ 32   Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha
DNQ 8   Giovanna Amati Brabham-Judd
EX 34   Alex Caffi Andrea Moda-Judd
EX 35   Enrico Bertaggia Andrea Moda-Judd
Source:[10]

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. ^ "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1992". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b Walker, Murray (1992). Murray Walker's 1992 Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 13–20. ISBN 0-905138-99-6.
  3. ^ "Andrea Moda". Motorsport Aktuell (in German). 11. Zurich: 8. 1992.
  4. ^ FIA press release, "Cars Nos 34 and 35", 27 February 1992
  5. ^ "Terza macchina in Formula 1? Una prospettiva molto allettante" (in Italian). circusf1.com. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  6. ^ "Andrea Moda - Full Profile". Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Yellow Pages South African Grand Prix – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  8. ^ "Yellow Pages South African Grand Prix – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  9. ^ "1992 South African Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  10. ^ "1992 South African Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  11. ^ a b "South Africa 1992 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.


Previous race:
1991 Australian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1992 season
Next race:
1992 Mexican Grand Prix
Previous race:
1985 South African Grand Prix
South African Grand Prix Next race:
1993 South African Grand Prix