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1992 British Grand Prix

Coordinates: 52°4′43″N 1°1′1″W / 52.07861°N 1.01694°W / 52.07861; -1.01694
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1992 British Grand Prix
Race 9 of 16 in the 1992 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 12 July 1992
Location Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire, Great Britain
Course Permanent race track
Course length 5.226 km (3.260 miles)
Distance 59 laps, 308.334 km (192.348 miles)
Weather Dry
Pole position
Driver Williams-Renault
Time 1:18.965
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault
Time 1:22.539 on lap 57
Podium
First Williams-Renault
Second Williams-Renault
Third Benetton-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1992 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 12 July 1992 at Silverstone, Northamptonshire. It was the ninth round of the 1992 Formula One World Championship. The 59-lap race was won by Nigel Mansell for the Williams-Renault team, the Englishman also starting from pole position, leading every lap and setting the fastest lap of the race. Riccardo Patrese finished second in the other Williams car, with Martin Brundle third in a Benetton-Ford.

After Mansell won his home Grand Prix, the British spectators invaded the race track to congratulate their hero. Mansell's car was blocked by the crowd, preventing him from driving back to the pits. Eventually Mansell was returned to the pits by track marshals to attend the podium ceremony. The win was the 28th of Mansell's career, thus making him the most successful British Formula One driver of all time in terms of wins (surpassing Jackie Stewart's 27) until Lewis Hamilton won the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix.

Future World Champion Damon Hill made his first start, for the Brabham team. Two further future champions, Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen, scored points.

Qualifying

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Pre-qualifying report

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The Friday morning pre-qualifying pool was slightly changed at this Grand Prix, the mid-point of the season. Footwork driver Michele Alboreto was relieved of the necessity to pre-qualify, and was replaced in the pool by Gabriele Tarquini of Fondmetal. Thus both Fondmetal drivers were now required to pre-qualify, alongside the two Larrousse drivers and the two Andrea Moda drivers.[1]

The session itself followed the usual pattern for this season, with the two Andrea Moda cars being the ones to drop out at this stage. Bertrand Gachot was comfortably fastest for Larrousse, with Tarquini over 2.7 seconds slower in second. Gachot's team-mate Ukyo Katayama was third, 1.4 seconds ahead of the final pre-qualifier, Andrea Chiesa, who was using the older Fondmetal GR01 after driving, and writing off, the new GR02 at the last race.

The Andrea Moda team had arrived at the circuit, unlike the previous event in France, and had engines with them, unlike the prior event in Canada. With the first part of the session taking place in damp conditions, Perry McCarthy was held in the pits by his team until the track was almost dry. However, he was then sent out with his team-mate Roberto Moreno's used wet tyres on his car, and managed only one timed lap before his clutch failed. Despite McCarthy setting a time fast enough to pre-qualify at that stage, all the other entrants subsequently took advantage of the drying track and went much faster. However, Moreno was still unable to match Chiesa's time, finishing fifth in the session, over 1.6 seconds slower than the Fondmetal.[1][2]

Pre-qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 29 France Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 1:24.650
2 15 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 1:27.378 +2.728
3 30 Japan Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 1:27.560 +2.910
4 14 Switzerland Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 1:28.965 +4.315
5 34 Brazil Roberto Moreno Andrea Moda-Judd 1:30.592 +5.942
6 35 United Kingdom Perry McCarthy Andrea Moda-Judd 1:46.719 +22.069

Qualifying report

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Nigel Mansell dominated qualifying, taking his eighth pole position of the year by nearly two seconds from Williams teammate Riccardo Patrese with a further 0.8 seconds back to Ayrton Senna's McLaren in third. Alongside Senna on the second row was Michael Schumacher in the Benetton, with their respective teammates Gerhard Berger and Martin Brundle on the third row. Johnny Herbert was seventh in his Lotus, ahead of Jean Alesi's Ferrari, with Mika Häkkinen in the other Lotus and Érik Comas in the Ligier completing the top ten. Damon Hill qualified for the first time, taking the 26th and last slot in his Brabham.

Qualifying classification

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Mika Häkkinen finished sixth in his Lotus 107.
Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap
1 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 1:18.965 1:35.990 Pole
2 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:20.884 1:38.185 +1.919
3 1 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:21.706 1:41.912 +2.741
4 19 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:22.066 1:41.227 +3.101
5 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 1:22.296 1:41.311 +3.331
6 20 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 1:23.489 1:40.781 +4.524
7 12 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:23.605 1:42.124 +4.640
8 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:23.723 1:39.961 +4.758
9 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 1:23.813 1:42.815 +4.848
10 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 1:23.957 no time +4.992
11 29 France Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 1:24.065 1:45.881 +5.100
12 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:24.198 1:41.504 +5.233
13 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 1:24.545 1:45.659 +5.580
14 28 Italy Ivan Capelli Ferrari 1:24.558 1:41.734 +5.593
15 15 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 1:24.761 1:49.639 +5.796
16 30 Japan Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 1:24.851 1:46.644 +5.886
17 10 Japan Aguri Suzuki Footwork- Mugen-Honda 1:24.924 1:43.215 +5.959
18 4 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:24.984 1:42.160 +6.019
19 21 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 1:25.037 1:40.867 +6.072
20 3 France Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 1:25.096 1:41.221 +6.131
21 16 Austria Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 1:25.123 no time +6.131
22 22 Italy Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 1:25.221 1:46.295 +6.256
23 32 Italy Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 1:25.362 1:42.104 +6.397
24 33 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 1:25.988 no time +7.023
25 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 1:25.998 1:43.981 +7.033
26 8 United Kingdom Damon Hill Brabham-Judd 1:26.378 1:45.272 +7.413
27 23 Italy Alessandro Zanardi Minardi-Lamborghini 1:26.458 no time +7.493
28 17 France Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor 1:27.995 no time +9.030
29 14 Switzerland Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford 1:28.452 no time +9.487
30 7 Belgium Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd 1:28.719 no time +9.754
Sources:[3][4][5]

Race

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Fans invading the track at Copse Corner following Nigel Mansell's victory
The win made Nigel Mansell (pictured in Canada in 1988) the most successful British driver of all time. His record was subsequently surpassed by Lewis Hamilton.

Race report

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Though Patrese led at the first corner, Mansell soon re-passed his teammate and pulled away from the rest of the field, eventually winning by 39 seconds. Johnny Herbert became the first of the leaders to retire from 6th position in the leading Lotus by the pit wall with transmission problems on lap 32. Jean Alesi in the leading Ferrari eventually went off the track with mechanical problems by lap 44. Brundle made a fast start to run third, battling with his old Formula 3 rival Senna until the Brazilian suffered a transmission failure seven laps from the end. Brundle eventually finished nine seconds behind Patrese and five ahead of teammate Schumacher, who had lost time following a collision with the Jordan of Stefano Modena when he was trying to lap him. Berger finished fifth, right behind Schumacher despite an engine problem in the closing stages, while Häkkinen took the final point for sixth. Hill finished 16th, four laps behind Mansell; he and other drivers were still circulating when the spectators invaded the track to celebrate Mansell's win.

The win, Mansell's seventh of the season, moved him to 76 points in the Drivers' Championship, with Patrese on 40 and Schumacher on 29. In the Constructors' Championship, Williams had 116 points, with Benetton a distant second on 42 and McLaren on 38.

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Renault 59 1:25:42.991 1 10
2 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 59 + 39.094 2 6
3 20 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Benetton-Ford 59 + 48.395 6 4
4 19 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 59 + 53.267 4 3
5 2 Austria Gerhard Berger McLaren-Honda 59 + 55.795 5 2
6 11 Finland Mika Häkkinen Lotus-Ford 59 + 1:20.138 9 1
7 9 Italy Michele Alboreto Footwork-Mugen-Honda 58 + 1 lap 12
8 26 France Érik Comas Ligier-Renault 58 + 1 lap 10
9 28 Italy Ivan Capelli Ferrari 58 + 1 lap 14
10 25 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Ligier-Renault 57 + 2 laps 13
11 3 France Olivier Grouillard Tyrrell-Ilmor 57 + 2 laps 20
12 10 Japan Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 57 + 2 laps 17
13 21 Finland JJ Lehto Dallara-Ferrari 57 + 2 laps 19
14 15 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Fondmetal-Ford 57 + 2 laps 15
15 22 Italy Pierluigi Martini Dallara-Ferrari 56 + 3 laps 22
16 8 United Kingdom Damon Hill Brabham-Judd 55 + 4 laps 26
17 24 Italy Gianni Morbidelli Minardi-Lamborghini 53 Engine 25
Ret 1 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 52 Transmission 3
Ret 4 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Ilmor 46 Spun off 18
Ret 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 43 Fire extinguisher 8
Ret 32 Italy Stefano Modena Jordan-Yamaha 43 Engine 23
Ret 33 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin Jordan-Yamaha 37 Engine 24
Ret 29 France Bertrand Gachot Venturi-Lamborghini 32 Wheel 11
Ret 12 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 31 Transmission 7
Ret 16 Austria Karl Wendlinger March-Ilmor 27 Gearbox 21
Ret 30 Japan Ukyo Katayama Venturi-Lamborghini 27 Transmission 16
DNQ 23 Italy Alessandro Zanardi Minardi-Lamborghini
DNQ 17 France Paul Belmondo March-Ilmor
DNQ 14 Switzerland Andrea Chiesa Fondmetal-Ford
DNQ 7 Belgium Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd
DNPQ 34 Brazil Roberto Moreno Andrea Moda-Judd
DNPQ 35 United Kingdom Perry McCarthy Andrea Moda-Judd
Source:[6]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ a b Walker, Murray (1992). Murray Walker's 1992 Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 77–84. ISBN 0-905138-99-6.
  2. ^ McCarthy, Perry (2003). Flat Out, Flat Broke. Haynes. p. 192. ISBN 1-84425-018-0.
  3. ^ "British Grand Prix – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  4. ^ "British Grand Prix – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  5. ^ "1992 British Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  6. ^ "1992 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Britain 1992 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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Previous race:
1992 French Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1992 season
Next race:
1992 German Grand Prix
Previous race:
1991 British Grand Prix
British Grand Prix Next race:
1993 British Grand Prix

52°4′43″N 1°1′1″W / 52.07861°N 1.01694°W / 52.07861; -1.01694