Date 13 September 1992 | Course length 5.80 km (3.603 mi) | |
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Official name LXIII Coca-Cola Gran Premio d'Italia Location Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza, Italy Course Permanent racing facility Distance 53 laps, 307.400 km (190.959 mi) | ||
The 1992 Italian Grand Prix (formally the LXII Coca-Cola Gran Premio d'Italia) was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 13 September 1992. It was the thirteenth round of the 1992 Formula One season. The 53-lap race was won by McLaren driver Ayrton Senna after he started from second position. Martin Brundle finished second for the Benetton team with his teammate Michael Schumacher in third.
Contents
Qualifying
Mansell scored his 11th pole position of the season ahead of Senna and a surprising Alesi in the Ferrari. Patrese was fourth followed by Berger, Schumacher and Capelli.
Race
Gerhard Berger had a problem and started the race from the pit lane in the spare car. At the start Mansell took the lead ahead of Senna who just managed to stay ahead of Alesi then Patrese and Capelli. Schumacher had a poor start selecting a wrong gear and then hit a Ligier from behind at the first chicane. He had to pit for repairs at the end of the first lap. Patrese managed to overtake Alesi at the start of lap 2. The opening laps saw both Berger and Schumacher recovering many positions from the back of the field and overtaking a number of slower cars.
At the front Mansell opened a gap with Senna unable to match his pace. The positions were Mansell, Senna with Patrese closing down on him and then the two Ferraris of Alesi and Capelli. Next Martin Brundle managed to overtake Capelli and moved into 5th position. Lap 12 proved disastrous for the Ferrari team with both cars retiring, Alesi, who was in 4th, due to a mechanical problem and Capelli spinning off at the Parabolica. On lap 14 Patrese overtook Senna and moved into second. Meanwhile, Berger pitted for new tyres and dropped back again. On lap 17 the situation was Mansell in first, 10 seconds in front of Patrese, then Senna at 2 seconds from the second Williams. Fourth was Brundle, some 28 seconds behind Mansell and then Boutsen and Herbert at over 40 seconds from Mansell. Lap 18 saw Herbert retiring from 6th with an engine issue.
On lap 20 Patrese suddenly appeared in the lead as Mansell let his teammate take the lead. The order was Patrese followed closely by Mansell and Senna in third. Schumacher overtook Boutsen and moved into 5th place. Positions at lap 27 were: 1.Patrese, 2.Mansell, 3.Senna, 4.Brundle, 5.Schumacher and 6.Boutsen. As the lead trio lapped the slower cars of Berger and Comas Mansell continued to stay very close to Patrese and Senna tried his best not to lose contact with the two Williams cars as well, in fact he closed up on Mansell momentarily when the Williams had to take avoiding action of Comas at the Roggia. On lap 41 Mansell slowed through the Ascari bends and coasted into the pits with gearbox failure from loss of hydraulic pressure and had to retire. Classification at lap 44 was: Patrese, Senna at 6 secs, Brundle at 28 secs, Schumacher at over 50 secs, then Berger and De Cesaris both a lap down. Patrese led comfortably until 6 laps from the end he suffered a hydraulic problem, forcing him to slow down and concede the lead to Ayrton Senna. In the closing stages of the race Senna allowed his teammate Berger to unlap himself. Patrese limped to the end of the race and finished 5th.
Senna won the race in what turned to be his last win with a Honda-powered car. The other places on the podium went to the two Benettons of Brundle and Schumacher.