GP: Australia
Date: 3 November 1991
Winner: Ayrton Senna - McLaren-Honda
“That wasn't a race.”
So said Ayrton Senna, declared the winner after just 17 laps in a torrential downpour, during which there were an incredible number of crashes, the result declared, inexplicably, at the end of lap 14.
The shortest race ever but plenty to talk about.
Alain Prost had just been sacked by Ferrari and replaced by Gianni Morbidelli.
The divorce was down to the Frenchman declaring that, “a truck would be easier to drive,” along with sparse words of thanks for the driver who, the previous year had fought for the title up until that famous crash, when Senna drove into him in Japan.
Not forgetting that Prost was by then a three-time world champion with McLaren in 1985, 1986 and 1989. Another three-time champion also lost his drive after Adelaide, as Nelson Piquet, crowned in 1981 and 1983 with Brabham and in 1987 with Williams, had been dismissed from Benetton by Flavio Briatore who by then only had eyes for the young and brilliant Michael Schumacher.
The decision led to the Brazilian's retirement from F1. Apart from the aforementioned three titles, Piquet had 207 race starts to his name, along with 23 wins, 24 pole positions, 23 fastest race laps and 60 podiums.
Australia was also the scene of Pirelli's farewell. It would be back in Formula 1 twenty years later in 2011.
In 2025 Pirelli will hit the 500 F1® Grands Prix mark during the season.
Legacy of Speed series looks back at the fifty most significant Grands Prix from Pirelli's time on the F1 World Championship trail.
