On this day in 1992, the second Spanish GP in Catalunya was held on a new course near Barcelona that was built ahead of the 1992 Olympic Games, and Nigel Mansell in Williams continued his winning streak from the start of the season.
The Circuit de Catalunya was built in 1991 and hosted Spanish GP year, and its construction coincides with the upcoming 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The track served as the beginning and the end of the bicycle race.
The 1992 race marked the first front row start for Michael Schumacher (a total of 116 in career) and Nigel Mansell scored the 25th victory and 50th podium in his career. Thas year, Spanish GP was also promoted as the Grand Prix of the Olympic Games.
1992 Spanish GP was the fourth race of the season and Mansell won the pole position for the fourth time in a row, with more than a second advantage ahead of Schumacher and Senna and 1.3 seconds ahead of his teammate Patrese.
Williams had dominant car that year, the FW14B, which had the best active suspension, the aerodynamics signed by Adrian Newey and the powerful Renault V10 engine.
Damon Hill recorded his first appearance at Formula 1, but he did not qualify for the race because he finished 30th fastest in Brabham Judd as he was slowest of all drivers with 7.573 seconds behind Mansell.
At the start of the race, in damp conditions, Patrese passed Schumacher and Senna and came to second place behind Mansell while Senna dropped to seventh place even though he bounced back to fifth at the end of the first lap. The Ferrari driver Alesi was brilliant and stormed to third place from eighth on the grid.
In his first full F1 season, Schumacher overtook Alesi for third place in the lap seven but when Berger tried the same, he spun the Italian. When the rain intensified, Patrese spun in the lap 20 and left second place to Schumacher in front of Senna, Berger, Capelli and Alesi.
Alesi picked up new tyres near the half of the race and began to storm through the field – first he passed Berger for fourth place and then began to catch up with Senna and Schumacher. But Senna spun two laps before the end while trying to lap Martini for the lap and finished ninth.
Mansell won with 23.9 seconds ahead of Schumacher (Benetton Ford) and 26.4 seconds ahead of Alesi (Ferrari) and the remaining points were won by Berger (McLaren Honda), Alboreto (Footwork Mugen Honda) and Martini (Dallara Ferrari).
STARTING GRID
1 | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams/Renault | 1:20.190 | – |
2 | 19 | M.Schumacher | Benetton/Ford | 1:21.195 | 1.005 |
3 | 1 | Ayrton Senna | McLaren/Honda | 1:21.209 | 1.019 |
4 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams/Renault | 1:21.534 | 1.344 |
5 | 28 | Ivan Capelli | Ferrari | 1:22.413 | 2.223 |
6 | 20 | Martin Brundle | Benetton/Ford | 1:22.529 | 2.339 |
7 | 2 | Gerhard Berger | McLaren/Honda | 1:22.711 | 2.521 |
8 | 27 | Jean Alesi | Ferrari | 1:22.746 | 2.556 |
9 | 16 | Karl Wendlinger | March/Ilmor | 1:23.121 | 2.931 |
10 | 26 | Érik Comas | Ligier/Renault | 1:23.593 | 3.403 |
11 | 4 | A.de Cesaris | Tyrrell/Ilmor | 1:23.723 | 3.533 |
12 | 21 | J J Lehto | Dallara/Ferrari | 1:24.054 | 3.864 |
13 | 22 | P.Martini | Dallara/Ferrari | 1:24.236 | 4.046 |
14 | 25 | Thierry Boutsen | Ligier/Renault | 1:24.583 | 4.393 |
15 | 3 | O.Grouillard | Tyrrell/Ilmor | 1:24.608 | 4.418 |
16 | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Footwork/Mugen-Honda | 1:24.634 | 4.444 |
17 | 33 | M.Gugelmin | Jordan/Yamaha | 1:24.671 | 4.481 |
18 | 15 | G.Tarquini | Fondmetal/Ford | 1:24.800 | 4.610 |
19 | 10 | Aguri Suzuki | Footwork/Mugen-Honda | 1:24.940 | 4.750 |
20 | 14 | Andrea Chiesa | Fondmetal/Ford | 1:24.963 | 4.773 |
21 | 11 | Mika Häkkinen | Lotus/Ford | 1:25.202 | 5.012 |
22 | 23 | C.Fittipaldi | Minardi/Lamborghini | 1:25.315 | 5.125 |
23 | 17 | Paul Belmondo | March/Ilmor | 1:25.467 | 5.277 |
24 | 29 | Bertrand Gachot | Venturi/Lamborghini | 1:25.700 | 5.510 |
25 | 24 | G.Morbidelli | Minardi/Lamborghini | 1:25.786 | 5.596 |
26 | 12 | Johnny Herbert | Lotus/Ford | 1:25.786 | 5.596 |
RACE RESULTS
1 | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams/Renault | 65 | 1:56:10.674 | |
2 | 19 | M.Schumacher | Benetton/Ford | 65 | 1:56:34.588 | 23.914 |
3 | 27 | Jean Alesi | Ferrari | 65 | 1:56:37.136 | 26.462 |
4 | 2 | Gerhard Berger | McLaren/Honda | 65 | 1:57:31.321 | 1:20.647 |
5 | 9 | Michele Alboreto | Footwork/Mugen-Honda | 64 | 1:57:52.448 | 1 lap |
6 | 22 | P.Martini | Dallara/Ferrari | 63 | 1:56:55.310 | 2 laps |
7 | 10 | Aguri Suzuki | Footwork/Mugen-Honda | 63 | 1:57:15.005 | 2 laps |
8 | 16 | Karl Wendlinger | March/Ilmor | 63 | 1:57:47.901 | 2 laps |
9 | 1 | Ayrton Senna | McLaren/Honda | 62 | 1:50:55.939 | Spun off |
10 | 28 | Ivan Capelli | Ferrari | 62 | 1:52:56.459 | Spun off |
11 | 23 | C.Fittipaldi | Minardi/Lamborghini | 61 | 1:56:36.905 | 4 laps |
12 | 17 | Paul Belmondo | March/Ilmor | 61 | 1:57:16.645 | 4 laps |
(8) | 21 | J J Lehto | Dallara/Ferrari | 56 | 1:42:39.305 | Spun off |
(10) | 15 | G.Tarquini | Fondmetal/Ford | 56 | 1:43:16.472 | Spun off |
(12) | 11 | Mika Häkkinen | Lotus/Ford | 56 | 1:43:49.806 | Spun off |
(13) | 26 | Érik Comas | Ligier/Renault | 55 | 1:42:33.817 | Spun off |
(11) | 29 | Bertrand Gachot | Venturi/Lamborghini | 35 | 1:04:29.073 | Engine |
(7) | 3 | O.Grouillard | Tyrrell/Ilmor | 30 | 55:14.281 | Spun off |
(18) | 24 | G.Morbidelli | Minardi/Lamborghini | 26 | 50:45.385 | Handling |
(15) | 33 | M.Gugelmin | Jordan/Yamaha | 24 | 44:28.931 | Spun off |
(20) | 14 | Andrea Chiesa | Fondmetal/Ford | 22 | 43:10.637 | Spun off |
(2) | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams/Renault | 19 | 33:32.024 | Spun off |
(17) | 12 | Johnny Herbert | Lotus/Ford | 13 | 24:21.465 | Spun off |
(24) | 25 | Thierry Boutsen | Ligier/Renault | 11 | 25:51.597 | Engine |
(9) | 20 | Martin Brundle | Benetton/Ford | 4 | 7:39.343 | Spun off |
(25) | 4 | A.de Cesaris | Tyrrell/Ilmor | 2 | 4:29.589 | Engine |
Fastest lap: Nigel Mansell – 1:42.503 (lap 10)
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1 | Nigel Mansell | 40 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
2 | Riccardo Patrese | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | – |
3 | Michael Schumacher | 17 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
4 | Gerhard Berger | 8 | 2 | 3 | – | 3 |
5 | Jean Alesi | 7 | – | – | 3 | 4 |
6 | Ayrton Senna | 4 | 4 | – | – | – |
7 | Michele Alboreto | 3 | – | – | 1 | 2 |
8 | Andrea de Cesaris | 2 | – | 2 | – | – |
8 | Ivan Capelli | 2 | – | – | 2 | – |
10 | Johnny Herbert | 1 | 1 | – | – | – |
10 | Mika Häkkinen | 1 | – | 1 | – | – |
10 | Pierluigi Martini | 1 | – | – | – | 1 |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1 | Williams/Renault | 58 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 10 |
2 | Benetton/Ford | 17 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
3 | McLaren/Honda | 12 | 6 | 3 | – | 3 |
4 | Ferrari | 9 | – | – | 5 | 4 |
5 | Footwork/Mugen-Honda | 3 | – | – | 1 | 2 |
6 | Tyrrell/Ilmor | 2 | – | 2 | – | – |
7 | Lotus/Ford | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
8 | Dallara/Ferrari | 1 | – | – | – | 1 |