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<strong>Ayrton Senna Special:</strong> Part 40 - Silence is back - Four starts, four wins (1991)

Ayrton Senna Special: Part 40 - Silence is back - Four starts, four wins (1991)

Published on 29 Apr 2019 12:00
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By: Fergal Walsh

San Marino (Hat trick)

Ayrton achieved his 55th pole position in his career at Imola. Ricardo Patrese was next to him in the front row, Prost, Mansell and Berger followed. The passionate Italians, with 150,000 men strong, had stood up for the first Ferrari victory at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The Tifosi had great confidence in their drivers Prost and Alesi. In the end, it would be very different for the 150,000 who came to encourage the prancing horses.

It was raining on Sunday, which was for Ayrton even more advantageous because of his qualities as a rain driver. Even before the start, during the formations lap, Prost's Ferrari spun off the circuit. The Frenchman was able to keep his Ferrari out of the barrier but had his engine turned down. A great disappointment for the driver who already isn't a fan of driving in the rain. It was also in Imola where the first cracks occurred in the marriage of Prost and Ferrari.

To make matters worse, the other Ferrari driver, Jean Alesi, drove his car into the piles of tyres at Tosa on the second lap. It was the worst possible scenario for the Italian stable. At the start, Patrese outsmarted Senna, and took the lead. Mansell had a terrible start and was finally taken around by Martin Brundle's Brabham. The Englishman stopped on the track behind the straight and couldn't get his Williams going anymore. Teammate Patrese entered the pits early and saw his Williams eventually fail after seventeen laps with engine problems. This opened the way for Ayrton, who could drive to his third consecutive victory without any threat. Teammate Berger followed just 1.6 seconds behind. JJ Lehto's Dallara-Judd finished third, one lap down.

"My big problem today was that the car wasn't quite perfect," Senna said. "The setup was good for these conditions, I had to find a compromise between wet and dry. The big problem was the engine. We had a problem with oil pressure since this morning and it continued throughout the day. I drove more than 30 laps with a flickering oil pressure light. I decided to lower my revs on the straights. I went faster off the throttle and that allowed me to stabilize the engine. At that moment I decided to check it all and make it as easy as possible for myself. Gerhard also had a problem and that made it possible for us to drive to the finish together on cruise-control."

Monaco (Four)

Ayrton came to Monte Carlo with the opportunity to win his fourth Grand Prix in a row. With this fourth victory, it would also mean that he would be able to win his fourth Monaco Grand Prix. He was determined to take his fourth pole position of the season. The pole position came, with the surprise of the qualification being Stefano Modena, who put his Tyrrell-Honda V10 on the front row. James Hunt was very happy with his student: "I am very happy with this achievement because I helped Stefano in Formula 3000." The second row consisted of Riccardo Patrese and Nelson Piquet, Mansell and Berger shared the third row. Alain Prost had a poor qualifying session and found himself back in seventh place, teammate Alesi was ninth.

At the start, Ayrton didn't get away very well, but it was enough to stay ahead of Modena. Teammate Berger choked in the first corner and hit the guardrail. The Austrian was able to continue on his way but dropped out on the ninth lap due to a crash at the swimming pool section. Modena kept up with Ayrton but on the 42nd lap, his Honda engine blew in the tunnel. The chasing Patrese ran through the oil-soaked track and crashed.

This meant that there was a completely new podium. Mansell scored his first points of the season with a second place, Jean Alesi was third. Ayrton's victory came in his spare car. Ayrton came to the warm-up and found out that the Honda engine in his own car could not give full power. Eventually, the whole spare car had to be rebuilt because it was ready for Berger. "I had to forget that I had to start in the spare car and concentrate on the race."

Ayrton scored maximum points in the championship with his fourth in a row. He was in the lead with 40 points while the first chaser, Alain Prost, was on 11 points. McLaren also led the constructors' championship with 50 points. After the race, the lucky winner said: "There's nothing better than spraying champagne in Monaco."