» F1 Rewind: F1’s shortest Grand Prix

It’s twenty years since Formula 1’s shortest-ever race, the 1991 Australian Grand Prix.

Held in torrential conditions on Adelaide’s daunting street circuit, the race was red-flagged after just 14 of its scheduled 81 laps due to the appalling conditions…

The big news leading into the event was the sacking of Alain Prost by Ferrari, which had grown sick of the Frenchman’s ongoing criticism of the team, and responded by terminating his agreement. In stepped Ferrari’s test driver Gianni Morbidelli, who had spent the season racing with Minardi.

Morbidelli’s seat was taken by F1 journeyman Roberto Moreno, while the injured Éric Bernard’s seat at Lola was claimed by Bertrand Gachot, fresh out of jail after his CS gas assault charges.

Qualifying saw the McLarens sweep to a front-row lockout, with Ayrton Senna securing pole ahead of team-mate Gerhard Berger. It was a Noah’s Ark formation for the next three rows on the grid, with the Williams’ of Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese being followed by the Benettons of Nelson Piquet and Michael Schumacher, who had the Ferraris of Jean Alesi and Gianni Morbidelli right behind them.

Sunday dawned overcast, and an hour before the race the heavens opened. With the rain intensifying, the race start was delayed in the hope that the conditions would ease.

Watch the closing stages of the torrential 1991 Australian Grand Prix here!

They apparently did, but not by enough that any driver following Senna could see properly. Conditions were impossible, and drivers struggled to control their wayward cars in the awful spray.

The two Benettons collided on the fifth lap which led to Schumacher spinning into retirement. He was hit by Alesi, who in turn was hit by Nicola Larini. A few laps later, Pierluigi Martini aquaplaned straight into the wall on the back straight.

The rain was just getting worse, and on the thirteenth lap, Maurício Gugelmin crashed his Leyton House in the pit lane, causing slight injuries to two marshals. Berger had an umpteenth spin, while Mansell – trying to close on Senna – crashed heavily at Turn 3.

By now, Senna had simply had enough and began frantically waving at the marshals to stop the race. Duly, the red flags were unfurled and the race’s few survivors limped back to the start/finish straight.

Despite officials’ foolish attempts to restart the race, it was eventually abandoned when the rain refused to ease, and half-points were awarded.

For the likes of Piquet and Satoru Nakajima, this was an anticlimactic way to end their Formula 1 careers, but at least they had come through the race intact.

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1991 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix – Final Classification (14 laps):

	Driver	Team	Laps	Result	Grid
1.	Ayrton Senna	McLaren – Honda V12 MP4/6	14	24:34.899	1
2.	Nigel Mansell	Williams – Renault V10 FW14B	14	+ 1.259	3
3.	Gerhard Berger	McLaren – Honda V12 MP4/6	14	+ 5.120	2
4.	Nelson Piquet	Benetton – Ford V8 B191	14	+ 30.103	5
5.	Riccardo Patrese	Williams – Renault V10 FW14B	14	+ 50.537	4
6.	Gianni Morbidelli	Scuderia Ferrari V12 643	14	+ 51.069	8
7.	Emanuele Pirro	Dallara – Judd V10 191	14	+ 52.361	13
8.	Andrea de Cesaris	Jordan – Cosworth V8 191	14	+ 1:00.431	12
9.	Alessandro Zanardi	Jordan – Cosworth V8 191	14	+ 1:15.567	16
10.	Stefano Modena	Tyrrell – Honda V10 021	14	+ 1:20.370	9
11.	Johnny Herbert	Lotus – Judd V8 102B	14	+ 1:22.073	21
12.	JJ Lehto	Dallara – Judd V10 191	14	+ 1:38.519	11
13.	Michele Alboreto	Footwork – Cosworth V8 FA12C	14	+ 1:39.303	15
14.	Maurício Gugelmin	Leyton House – Ilmor V10 CG911	13	Accident	14
15.	Alex Caffi	Footwork – Cosworth V8 FA12C	13	1 lap behind	23
16.	Roberto Moreno	Minardi – Ferrari V12 M191	13	1 lap behind	18
17.	Mark Blundell	Brabham – Yamaha V12 BT60Y	13	1 lap behind	17
18.	Érik Comas	Ligier – Lamborghini V12 JS35B	13	1 lap behind	22
19.	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus – Judd V8 102B	13	1 lap behind	25
20.	Karl Wendlinger	Leyton House – Ilmor V10 CG911	13	1 lap behind	26

	NOT CLASSIFIED
DNF.	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi – Ferrari V12 M191	8	Accident	10
DNF.	Michael Schumacher	Benetton – Ford V8 B191	5	Accident	6
DNF.	Jean Alesi	Scuderia Ferrari V12 643	5	Accident	7
DNF.	Nicola Larini	Modena – Lamborghini V12 291	5	Accident	19
DNF.	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier – Lamborghini V12 JS35B	5	Accident	20
DNF.	Satoru Nakajima	Tyrrell – Honda V10 021	4	Accident	24

	NON-QUALIFIERS
DNQ.	Aguri Suzuki	Lola – Cosworth V8 91
DNQ.	Martin Brundle	Brabham – Yamaha V12 BT60Y
DNQ.	Eric van de Poele	Modena – Lamborghini V12 291
DNQ.	Bertrand Gachot	Lola – Cosworth V8 91
NPQ.	Gabriele Tarquini	Fondmetal Cosworth V8 F1
NPQ.	Naoki Hattori	Coloni – CosworthV8 C4

	FASTEST LAP
	Gerhard Berger	McLaren – Honda V12 MP4/6	14	1:41.141