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<strong>Ayrton Senna Special:</strong> Part 42 - A dramatic season - Happy victory in Monaco (1992)

Ayrton Senna Special: Part 42 - A dramatic season - Happy victory in Monaco (1992)

Published on 30 Apr 2019 14:00
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By: Fergal Walsh

After a disappointing start to the season with two third places at the first five Grands Prix at South Africa and San Marino, McLaren knew at an early stage that the chance of winning the title was nil. McLaren and Senna had no answer to the dominance of Nigel Mansell's Williams-Renault at the beginning of the year.

The Briton won the first five Grands Prix of the year and Ayrton was able to take refuge in second. On top of that, it appeared the Benetton B192 of Michael Schumacher was faster than the McLaren MP4-7. McLaren started the new season with an update of the 1991 car, the MP4-6. This was not competitive and therefore the British team decided to introduce its MP4-7, which was to make its debut before the European races, in Brazil. The MP4-7 was a nice car but still had no answer to the FW14B.

Moreno

As expected, Nigel Mansell scored pole position at the narrow street circuit of Monaco. The Briton drove his Williams around the circuit in 1:19.495. This made him more than 1.1 seconds faster than the Senna. The best performance during this qualifying session did not actually come from Mansell but from Roberto Moreno.

Moreno finished third in the pre-qualifying on Thursday morning. It may not seem shocking, but it was. The Andrea Moda-Judd was far from a good car. Moreno managed to qualify for qualifying for the first time. Moreno's teammate, Stig Perry McCarthy, couldn't qualify and only drove two laps in the end: "The team still hadn't made a good seat for me. I was beaten up in the cockpit. I couldn't see anything and tried to remember where the next corner was. In the tunnel, I drove about 170 km/h and I bumped over the track. I didn't know whether to turn left or continue on the escape-road. Eventually, I was called in." Two days later Moreno managed to qualify as 26th for the race.

The race

Ayrton wanted to pass Patrese on Sunday afternoon during the race at the start. This was possible because he would start on the right side of the track. Ayrton didn't even have a good start but got his McLaren in front of Patrese's Williams in the first corner: "To be honest I could have slowed down Mansell as well, but I decided not to do it. I never expected those Williams drivers to brake so early, so I decided to go for safety and only pass Patrese", Ayrton said. Mansell then drove away from the rest of the field. Ayrton decided to save his tyres at first: "I told myself: Take it easy, don't take any risks and keep driving."

During the race, Ayrton lost about ten seconds because Michele Alboreto's Footwork stopped at Mirabeau. Ayrton had been trying to limit the gap to Mansell until then, knowing that the Englishman would never be able to make a 'safe' pit stop if he wanted to get new tyres. The moment with Alboreto might have taken a lot of time, but his good speed gave him a nice lead over Riccardo Patrese. It became clear that he could settle for second place, the best performance until then in the season.

Yet something happened that changed the course of the race. Mansell's certain victory did not come about in the end. At first, the Williams team thought (rightly) of a flat tyre. With seven laps to go the Englishman entered the pits. The wheel nut came loose when changing the tires and the Williams mechanics panicked. A pit stop that was too long made it possible for Ayrton to pass by. From that moment on Ayrton knew for sure: "I'm going to win this race."

The last laps of the Grand Prix were some of the most memorable ever in F1 history. At a later stage the viewers of F1TV chose this Grand Prix as the most memorable ever in the principality. Mansell, on new tyres, improved the lap record five times. His fastest lap of 1:21.598 was just two seconds slower than his qualifying time and would have been good for a sixth place on the grid. It was clear that the FW14B was in a league of his own in 1992.

Despite the fact that Mansell had the fastest car, had the latest tyres fitted and Senna was driving on old tyres, it became clear once again that overtaking in Monaco is impossible. The Englishman desperately tried to find a hole on every part of the circuit to pass Ayrton, but the Brazilian kept to the middle of the road and there was no chance for Mansell. During the last five laps the Williams was in the gearbox of the MP4-7 but Senna didn't give in. After 78 laps the Brazilian crossed the line 0.215 seconds ahead of the Englishman. Ayrton gained his fifth victory in Monaco and thus equalled the record of Graham Hill.

After the race

The winner spoke realistically afterwards: "I am super happy with my fifth victory in Monaco, but this car is really much less than that of Williams. The car was better during the race than in qualifying, but certainly not good enough to beat Nigel. I tried to stay as close to him as possible throughout the race and hoped for something that would allow me to win.

"At the end of the race my tyres were worn out and I had the feeling that Nigel would pass me by very soon. I had to use all my knowledge to stay in the lead. The Williams was three seconds faster than me in a lap, but I managed to stay ahead of him. On the straights, the car felt like a mop, especially because of the bad exists in the corners. Still, I won the race and it's good to tame the Lion (nickname of Mansell) for once."

Mansell on the other hand was disappointed: "When I came out of the tunnel in the 71st lap I noticed that something was wrong. I went to the pits and lost a lot of time. The brakes of the car didn't work because I was driving on three wheels. The pit stop was longer than usual and when I came out of the pits I could see Ayrton passing by. I knew the race was lost. I gave it all the last laps but his car was too wide to pass."

Ayrton would take pole position in the next race in Canada. A disappointing year ended with two further victories in Hungary and Italy. The Brazilian finished fourth in the championship with 50 points, one point more than Gerhard Berger and 58 less than Nigel Mansell. The 1992 season was a disastrous year for Senna and McLaren and the Brazilian decided to shift his interest to other things.