The 1990 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on July 15, 1990. It was the eighth round of the 1990 Formula One season. It was the 45th British Grand Prix and the 26th to be held at Silverstone. The race was held over 64 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 306 kilometres.
| 1990 British Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 8 of 16 in the 1990 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | July 15, 1990 | ||
| Official name | XLIII Foster's British Grand Prix | ||
| Location |
Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, United Kingdom | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.778 km (2.969 miles) | ||
| Distance | 64 laps, 305.904 km (190.080 miles) | ||
| Weather | Hot, dry, sunny | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||
| Time | 1:07.428 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Nigel Mansell | Ferrari | |
| Time | 1:11.291 on lap 51 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | Williams-Renault | ||
| Third | McLaren-Honda | ||
French reigning World Champion Alain Prost won his third race in succession in his Ferrari 641 taking a 40-second win over Belgian driver Thierry Boutsen driving a Williams FW13B. It was Boutsen's best result for the year to date. Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna was third driving a McLaren MP4/5B.
Prost's win put him into the lead of the championship for the first time in 1990, giving him a two-point lead.
Race report
Local hero Nigel Mansell led until his gearbox began to malfunction. He was overtaken (against team orders, and to Mansell's chagrin) by Alain Prost. After retiring from the race Mansell famously threw his gloves into the crowd and announced he would retire from F1 at the end of the season, a decision he later reversed.
Riccardo Patrese became the first driver ever to start 200 Grands Prix. On the day, he retired and his team-mate Thierry Boutsen reached the podium.
Éric Bernard and Aguri Suzuki both scored the best results of their career up to this point. For Suzuki, it was the first points scoring finish of his career.
Ivan Capelli was the charger in the race. Starting 10th he spun early to avoid the collision between Patrese and Alessandro Nannini dropping him to near last. Then racing with a broken exhaust header he charged hard, eventually passing Gerhard Berger for 3rd and for a time being the fastest driver on the track before retiring on lap 48 with a fuel leak.
Ligier needed a point, at least a Top 8 finish to avoid prequalification, but Nicola Larini in the better of them failed to finish better than 10th. He would have needed to finish ahead of Stefano Modena in the Brabham and Jean Alesi in the Tyrrell.
This would be the last motor race on the original high-speed Silverstone circuit; the day after the race, a construction crew funded by Tom Walkinshaw immediately began work on reprofiling and incorporating the newly designed corners.
Classification
Pre Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 29 |  Éric Bernard
|
Lola-Lamborghini | 1:10.254 | — |
| 2 | 30 |  Aguri Suzuki
|
Lola-Lamborghini | 1:11.128 | +0.874 |
| 3 | 17 |  Gabriele Tarquini
|
AGS-Ford | 1:11.516 | +1.262 |
| 4 | 14 | Olivier Grouillard
|
Osella-Ford | 1:11.953 | +1.699 |
| 5 | 33 |  Roberto Moreno
|
EuroBrun-Judd | 1:12.554 | +2.300 |
| 6 | 18 | Yannick Dalmas
|
AGS-Ford | 1:12.653 | +2.399 |
| 7 | 34 | Claudio Langes
|
EuroBrun-Judd | 1:15.059 | +4.805 |
| 8 | 31 |  Bertrand Gachot
|
Coloni-Subaru | 1:19.230 | +8.976 |
| 9 | 39 | Bruno Giacomelli
|
Life | 1:25.947 | +15.693 |
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Nigel Mansell
|
Ferrari | 1:08.336 | 1:07.428 | — |
| 2 | 27 | Ayrton Senna
|
McLaren-Honda | 1:08.071 | 1:09.055 | +0.643 |
| 3 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger
|
McLaren-Honda | 1:08.246 | 1:08.674 | +0.818 |
| 4 | 5 | Thierry Boutsen
|
Williams-Renault | 1:09.102 | 1:08.291 | +0.863 |
| 5 | 1 | Alain Prost
|
Ferrari | 1:09.110 | 1:08.336 | +0.908 |
| 6 | 4 | Jean Alesi
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 1:09.147 | 1:08.370 | +0.942 |
| 7 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese
|
Williams-Renault | 1:08.677 | 1:08.864 | +1.249 |
| 8 | 29 | Éric Bernard
|
Lola-Lamborghini | 1:09.560 | 1:09.003 | +1.575 |
| 9 | 30 | Aguri Suzuki
|
Lola-Lamborghini | 1:09.243 | 1:09.865 | +1.815 |
| 10 | 16 | Ivan Capelli
|
Leyton House-Judd | 1:10.691 | 1:09.308 | +1.880 |
| 11 | 20 | Nelson Piquet
|
Benetton-Ford | 1:09.684 | 1:09.407 | +1.979 |
| 12 | 3 | Satoru Nakajima
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 1:09.937 | 1:09.608 | +2.180 |
| 13 | 19 | Alessandro Nannini
|
Benetton-Ford | 1:09.782 | 1:09.641 | +2.213 |
| 14 | 12 | Martin Donnelly
|
Lotus-Lamborghini | 1:10.786 | 1:09.741 | +2.313 |
| 15 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin
|
Leyton House-Judd | 1:11.167 | 1:10.044 | +2.616 |
| 16 | 11 | Derek Warwick
|
Lotus-Lamborghini | 1:10.552 | 1:10.092 | +2.664 |
| 17 | 10 | Alex Caffi
|
Arrows-Ford | 1:10.480 | 1:10:110 | +2.682 |
| 18 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini
|
Minardi-Ford | 1:10.568 | 1:10.303 | +2.875 |
| 19 | 21 | Emanuele Pirro
|
Dallara-Ford | 1:11.413 | 1:10.847 | +3.419 |
| 20 | 8 | Stefano Modena
|
Brabham-Judd | 1:11.070 | 1:11.600 | +3.642 |
| 21 | 25 | Nicola Larini
|
Ligier-Ford | 1:11.942 | 1:11.180 | +3.752 |
| 22 | 26 | Philippe Alliot
|
Ligier-Ford | 1:12.483 | 1:11.215 | +3.787 |
| 23 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris
|
Dallara-Ford | 1:11.705 | 1:11.234 | +3.806 |
| 24 | 24 | Paolo Barilla
|
Minardi-Ford | 1:11.498 | 1:11.387 | +3.959 |
| 25 | 9 | Michele Alboreto
|
Arrows-Ford | 1:11.562 | 1:12.644 | +4.134 |
| 26 | 17 | Gabriele Tarquini
|
AGS-Ford | 1:12.506 | 1:11.681 | +4.253 |
| 27 | 14 | Olivier Grouillard
|
Osella-Ford | 1:12.179 | 1:11.710 | +4.282 |
| 28 | 7 |  David Brabham
|
Brabham-Judd | 1:11.741 | 1:13.016 | +4.313 |
| 29 | 36 |  JJ Lehto
|
Onyx-Ford | 1:12.712 | 1:12.631 | +5.203 |
| 30 | 35 |  Gregor Foitek
|
Onyx-Ford | 1:13.413 | 1:13.271 | +5.843 |
Race
Standings after the race
|
|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- ^ "1990 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
- Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from "The Official Formula 1 website". Retrieved 2007-08-05.