Another season start for Ayrton Senna, the current world champion. But it wasn’t a very exciting start. He raced with the same car which he had used in the opening race of the 1991 season, in South Africa, but Williams had improved immensely in comparison to the year before.
If it had already been difficult to beat them before, the team’s new car won them the status of unbeatable. The car is remembered up to today as a masterpiece in Formula 1 engineering.
Even so, he managed second place during qualifying sessions. He spoke quickly in the boxes after qualifying and then isolated himself. He only went out because his presence at the press conference was mandatory.
He stopped to talk to Christian Fittipaldi, who was debuting at Formula 1, with the 20th spot on the starting grid, and proposed:
“Let’s go and listen to this foolishness. With the car that I have, I wouldn’t dare say anything bad about Mansell.”
Aside from pole position, Mansell won from start to finish and even scored the fastest lap. Ayrton Senna did what he could: third place, behind the Williams cars.
After the podium, in another press conference, he had only good things to say about the English driver and his car.
SOUTH AFRICAN GP
1º
N. Mansell
2º
Ayrton Senna
3º
G. Berger
4º
R. Patrese
5º
J. Alesi
6º
M. Schumacher
7º
K. Wendlinger
8º
M. Brundle
9º
I. Capelli
10º
A. de Cesaris
11º
J. Herbert
12º
O. Grouillard
13º
E. Comas
14º
T. Boutsen
15º
G. Tarquini
16º
A. Suzuki
17º
M. Alboreto
18º
U. Katayama
19º
G. Morbidelli
20º
C. Fittipaldi
21º
M. Hakkinen
22º
B. Gachot
23º
M. Gugelmin
24º
J. Lehto
25º
P. Martini
26º
E. Van de Poele
72
TURNS
26
cars
13
LEAVING
1’17”578
FASTEST LAP
CLOUDY weather
PODIUM
1º
N. Mansell
2º
R. Patrese
3º
Ayrton Senna
3º
final position
3º
Championship position after the race
2º
starting position
4
Points added to the Championship
1’18”140
best lap
But this (the new engine adjustments which would allow for greater power) will all be for next month, at the Canadian Grand Prix.
