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1992 Portuguese Grand Prix
Race 14 of 16 in the 1992 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	27 September 1992
Official name	XXI Grande Premio SG Gigante de Portugal
Location	Autódromo do Estoril, Estoril, Portugal
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.349 km (2.703 miles)
Distance	71 laps, 308.779 km (191.913 miles)
Weather	Dry, sunny, windy
Pole position
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Time	1:13.041
Fastest lap
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:16.272 on lap 66
Podium
First	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault
Second	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda
Third	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Lap leaders

The 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Autódromo do Estoril on 27 September 1992. It was the fourteenth race of the 1992 Formula One World Championship.

The 71-lap race was won from pole position by Briton Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Renault. In the process, Mansell set new records for the most wins (nine) and the most points (108) in one season. McLaren-Honda drivers, Austrian Gerhard Berger and Brazilian Ayrton Senna, finished second and third respectively.

Pre-race

The Fondmetal team did not arrive in Estoril for the race, suffering financial problems. Team boss Gabriele Rumi attempted to bring in paydriver Giuseppe Bugatti to help ease the team's cashflow problems but this was not enough to allow the team to race. Although they hoped at the time to return for the final two races of the season in Japan and Australia, they ultimately proved unable to do so. This was the third race in succession where a team exited Formula One, after Brabham and Andrea Moda at the previous two races. Brabham had also hoped to return as the team was put up for sale, but before this weekend their full withdrawal was announced.

Fondmetal's absence meant that there were only 26 cars on the entry list, so this Grand Prix was the first since 1987 in which all cars automatically qualified for the race, regardless of qualifying lap times.

Qualifying

Qualifying report

The top six on the grid lined up in pairs, with the Williams, McLaren and Benetton drivers occupying the first three rows. Nigel Mansell took pole from Riccardo Patrese, with Ayrton Senna, Gerhard Berger, Michael Schumacher and Martin Brundle lining up behind.

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	1:13.041	1:13.961
2	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:13.672	1:14.305	+0.631
3	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:15.343	1:14.258	+1.217
4	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	1:15.117	1:15.068	+2.027
5	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	1:15.356	1:15.890	+2.315
6	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	1:16.796	1:16.084	+3.043
7	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	1:16.173	1:16.213	+3.132
8	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:16.282	1:17.109	+3.241
9	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	1:16.755	1:16.628	+3.587
10	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:16.937	1:16.884	+3.843
11	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	1:17.332	1:16.930	+3.889
12	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	1:17.356	1:17.240	+4.199
13	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi-Lamborghini	1:17.624	1:17.250	+4.209
14	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault	1:17.384	1:17.264	+4.223
15	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	1:17.512	1:17.277	+4.236
16	28	Ivan Capelli	Ferrari	1:18.030	1:17.287	+4.246
17	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:17.361	1:17.675	+4.320
18	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	1:17.973	1:17.387	+4.346
19	21	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Ferrari	1:17.847	1:17.474	+4.433
20	33	Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	1:17.949	1:17.631	+4.590
21	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	1:17.661	1:18.676	+4.620
22	16	Karl Wendlinger	March-Ilmor	1:18.060	1:18.445	+5.019
23	17	Emanuele Naspetti	March-Ilmor	1:18.092	1:18.531	+5.051
24	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha	1:18.318	1:19.314	+5.277
25	30	Ukyo Katayama	Venturi-Lamborghini	1:36.224	1:18.592	+5.551
26	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini	1:18.615	1:18.823	+5.574
Source:

Race

Race report

The race is often remembered for the accident between Berger and Mansell's Williams team-mate Riccardo Patrese. Intending to make a pit stop, Berger moved towards the right side of the track at the beginning of the start/finish straight, with Patrese following in his slipstream. Failing to realise Berger's intentions, Patrese swerved to avoid him, but his right front wheel hit Berger's left rear and the Williams was launched into the air, almost hitting a pedestrian bridge over the track. Patrese escaped the accident shaken but unhurt, and neither driver was punished by the stewards. The debris from the crash, however, caused numerous other incidents, with Michael Schumacher and Pierluigi Martini suffering punctures, and JJ Lehto suffering slight injury as the driveshaft of the Williams went through the undertray of his Dallara, hitting him on the leg and eventually being forced to retire after 51 laps.

This race was the last time a Honda-powered car set the fastest lap until Fernando Alonso repeated the achievement in the 2016 Italian Grand Prix, and the last time McLaren would score a double points result with Honda engines until the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	71	1:34:46.659	1	10
2	2	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	71	+ 37.533	4	6
3	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	70	+ 1 lap	3	4
4	20	Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	70	+ 1 lap	6	3
5	11	Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	70	+ 1 lap	7	2
6	9	Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	70	+ 1 lap	8	1
7	19	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	69	+ 2 laps	5
8	25	Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	69	+ 2 laps	11
9	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	69	+ 2 laps	12
10	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	68	+ 3 laps	17
11	17	Emanuele Naspetti	March-Ilmor	68	+ 3 laps	23
12	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini	68	+ 3 laps	26
13	32	Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha	68	+ 3 laps	24
14	24	Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	68	+ 3 laps	18
Ret	21	JJ Lehto	Dallara-Ferrari	51	Physical	19
Ret	16	Karl Wendlinger	March-Ilmor	48	Gearbox	22
Ret	26	Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault	47	Engine	14
Ret	30	Ukyo Katayama	Venturi-Lamborghini	46	Spun off	25
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	43	Collision	2
Ret	22	Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	43	Puncture	21
Ret	28	Ivan Capelli	Ferrari	34	Engine	16
Ret	3	Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	27	Gearbox	15
Ret	29	Bertrand Gachot	Venturi-Lamborghini	25	Engine	13
Ret	33	Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	19	Electrical	20
Ret	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	12	Spun off	10
Ret	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	2	Accident	9
Source:

Championship standings after the race

• Bold text indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 108 2 Ayrton Senna 50 3 Michael Schumacher 47 4 Riccardo Patrese 46 5 Gerhard Berger 33 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 154 2 McLaren-Honda 83 3 Benetton-Ford 77 4 Ferrari 16 5 Lotus-Ford 13 Source:

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

References

1. "Giuseppe Bugatti". Old Racing Cars. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
2. ^ Walker, Murray (1992). Murray Walker's 1992 Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 117–124. ISBN 0-905138-99-6.
3. "SG Gigante Portuguese Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
4. "SG Gigante Portuguese Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
5. "SG Gigante Portuguese Grand Prix - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
6. "1992 Portuguese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
7. ^ "Portugal 1992 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.

• Henry, Alan (1992). AUTOCOURSE 1992-93. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 0-905138-96-1.

• 1992 Formula One races
• Portuguese Grand Prix
• 1992 in Portuguese motorsport
• September 1992 sports events in Europe