Send your comments and questions on Portugal '91 - BBV10s Debrief
Added 2025-01-26 09:10:00 +0000 UTCIt's almost time for another Bring Back V10s Debrief episode - so send your comments, observations and questions over on the 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix!
We're loving how much people are enjoying this new Patreon-only series. Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for this one!
Comments
Given the headline topic of this episode, I was fully expecting to hear Matt Beer in this one! Which made me think, how do you decide which guests will join you for each episode? Do you try to avoid any participant with what could be called a partisan viewpoint, or do you have any another method for choosing guests?
Richard
2025-01-28 10:36:55 +0000 UTCMy abiding memory of this race was how one of the officials on the start gantry had the presence of mind (or was instructed) to turn the number 5 board to face the TV camera looking up the pit straight (thus away from the sight of the drivers). In the days of minimal on-screen graphics, this revelation somehow made Mansell's disqualification even more dramatic. I'm also pretty sure there was a Blue Peter feature following Mansell at this race, although the only reference I could find was a tweet from Ann Bradshaw from a few years ago, who had found her Blue Peter badge in an office move!
Jon Curry
2025-01-27 23:14:34 +0000 UTCFurther to Andrew Dale’s reply to my original question … it’s a shame we couldn’t get Edd’s thought’s on my follow-up observation 😉 Although Mansell was DSQ from the race, he was still given Fastest Lap. I’m not sure a DSQ driver should be able to do so. Therefore, I think Mansell should only be credited with 29 Fastest Laps from his career.
Michael Holden
2025-01-27 04:30:04 +0000 UTCIs this segment just the question answering part that the last series episodes had as a bonus for us members but repurposed? Either way its amazing ! Keep up the great work !!!
Μάριος Γαντζούδης
2025-01-27 01:05:22 +0000 UTCThe Mansell pit stop reminds me of the Massa pit stop during the 2008 Singapore GP when his fuel hose became detached after he was released too soon by the traffic light type system that Ferrari where using at the time.
James Conley
2025-01-26 19:28:48 +0000 UTCGiven the drivers on the grid that day. Would you consider this one of the most “stacked” grids F1 has ever seen in hindsight?
Liam Scully
2025-01-26 19:00:42 +0000 UTCI didn’t know about Estoril not have the regulation three lanes in the pitlane - was that ever fixed? Did Williams need to roll him back to their pitbox or could they have just put the wheel on anywhere, as long as they’d dragged it out of the fast lane?
Simon
2025-01-26 18:42:40 +0000 UTCWilliams had constant issues with wheels falling off or wheel bearing/loose wheel related issues during this period. Was it properly addressed internally or were they somewhat arrogant due to their speed? Portugal 91, Monaco 92, Germany 95, Monza 95, Silverstone 96, Japan 96 and that’s just off the top of my head, I feel I have missed some. Adding this to their poor pit stops and strategies vs McLaren or Benetton the pace advantage of the car was almost irrelevant.
Brendan Queenan
2025-01-26 15:53:33 +0000 UTCWithout looking at the detail I think Nelson was pretty close to him in qualifying. Which you would expect based on experience but when you think no one got near him again until on occasions Eddie or Rubens it does show Nelson was still ok, despite the vision issues. Nelson wasn’t the nicest man but heck he could drive an F1 car
Brendan Queenan
2025-01-26 15:48:20 +0000 UTCWell with his total lack of f1 experience and new to the team, he did kind of blow him away in those 5 races. 92 is irrelevant, Piquet retired F1 at the end of 91.
Jurre Hindriks
2025-01-26 15:43:37 +0000 UTCOk, it was just a thought, I was surprised piquet was as close to schumi at that stage of his career. Ok points are irrelevant I guess but even so I had in my head Schumacher blowing piquet away at Benetton. Don't forget Piquet's big crash at imola in 87 and it's affect on his vision. Just thought Schumacher would have easily beaten piquet in 91 and 92
Robin M
2025-01-26 14:54:30 +0000 UTCWhile Mansell's anguish at losing a wheel is the main story here, what struck me was how matter of fact the black flag was. He was caught out for working on the car in the fast lane, but did anybody at the time flag how mad it was to be working on a car in the pitlane with no speed limit? And linked to that, should this level pitstop chaos have been the trigger to bring the pitlane speed limit in, rather than waiting 3 more years?
Steve D
2025-01-26 14:31:35 +0000 UTCAre you serious? They drove together only the last 5 races in which Schumacher outqualified him 4 out of 5 having nearly no F1 experience except what he gathered there and then. I believe Piquet was still a capable driver but def past his prime. No one knew then what kind of juggernaut Schumacher would become, so in fairness Piquet probably didn't do so bad.
Jurre Hindriks
2025-01-26 13:57:26 +0000 UTCAh I forgot about Angel Nieto!
Alexander Law
2025-01-26 13:25:01 +0000 UTCHow about this series top 10 episode is the unluckiest title losing moments. Where it would effectively just be a podcast about Mansel with Kimi thrown in for '05!
Ed R Gaming
2025-01-26 13:24:01 +0000 UTCYou Realise Glenn's looking at these not Edd😂
Andrew Dale
2025-01-26 13:02:06 +0000 UTCHad Mansell not had the pit lane Nightmare and won the race he would have left Estoril on 69 points to Sennas 82. What impact would it have had on the rest of the season? Would they have had there epic wheel to wheel down the straight or would Senna have felt the need to be more aggressive and try and turn in on Nigel? If the result there was same as in this timeline it would be AS 84, NM 79 going into Suzuka, would Nigel have been more cautious knowing it wasn't all or nothing?
Andrew Dale
2025-01-26 13:00:29 +0000 UTCOf note, 12 of the 36 drivers who contested pre-qualifying / qualifying were Italian. That ratio wasn't unique just to 1991 (if my maths is correct, 13 contested 1989 season), but it is markedly different to more recent times. Q: Yep, the country has produced 2 World Champs, but my question is: would you consider the watershed moment of Italian F1 to have occured in the V10s era?
Michael Holden
2025-01-26 12:56:28 +0000 UTCBtw, for those who don’t know it the full quote from Clive James describing Murray Walker which I reference here is something like ‘even in moments of tranquility Murray sounds like a man whose trousers are on fire’
Chris Parrott
2025-01-26 12:53:17 +0000 UTCWorth mentioning that motorcycle racing back then (and still is) the biggest and most popular form of motor sport in Spain. But as you say, a big following for rallying too, especially in northern Portugal
Stuart Coulter
2025-01-26 12:53:05 +0000 UTCI’ve said this already somewhere else but this is another race I was introduced to via Murray’s Magic moments and I was always struck watching it how blasé James Hunt’s ‘oh and he’s lost a wheel’ comment sounded given what had happened. I’ve only subsequently learnt that they cut from the video Murray’s ‘man with trousers on fire’ instant reaction to what happened which was more apt.
Chris Parrott
2025-01-26 12:47:47 +0000 UTCWith there being two F1 races on the Iberian Peninsula between 1985 and 1996, why were there not more drivers from Spain and Portugal at the time that made it to F1? Was it because there were other options at the time (WRC and rallying) that were more accessible and noticed because there was a world rally champion? Or was there an insufficiently strong lower formulae ladder to climb? (High school me wasn't even aware of F3 or F3000 at the time)
Alexander Law
2025-01-26 12:45:15 +0000 UTCPiquet finished in front of Schumacher in 5th, qualified just behind him and over the season outscored Michael 26.5 to 4. Does it show how good nelson still was at the end of his career?
Robin M
2025-01-26 12:37:53 +0000 UTCI have a total cheat question, but I may get away with it, since it concerns the 97 season and Jacques Villeneuve: As far as I remember Portugal was supposed to be the last race of 97 but got replaced with Jerez, and we all know how that went..if Portugal would have stayed, how do you think the race might gone? Williams seemed quite dominant in the previous years, but the circuit might have suited the 97 Ferrari as well?!
Jurre Hindriks
2025-01-26 10:38:53 +0000 UTCThis was the last race ever that an AGS took part in the main qualifying session. Is there anything different they could have done at this late stage of the season to prevent their fate and why did the new JH27, which was introduced one race earlier, fail to produce any results?
Disc Infiltrator
2025-01-26 10:31:12 +0000 UTCI'd love to hear more about the election result reaction, given the significance that result would have on the remainder of the BBV10s era. Did people have any idea then what that might lead to with the Max/Bernie era that followed?
Joshua Milton
2025-01-26 10:19:53 +0000 UTCNot a question but a quick thought... this was one of few races at the end of 1991 where we had all of Senna, Mansell, Prost, Schumacher and Piquet on the grid at the same time!!
Jimmy Linn
2025-01-26 10:17:14 +0000 UTCYou discussed the financial difficulties at Minardi during the episode; was this the primary factor in Pierluigi Martini jumping ship to Scuderia Italia for 1992 or was there another reason? Martini driving for anyone but Minardi during the V10 era always feels like an aberration to me!
Stuart Coulter
2025-01-26 10:00:36 +0000 UTCA bit of a “what if” question- in my head there’s 2 moments that would have turned the title back to Mansell, - Canada and the “letting the revs go too low” - 9 point gain for Mansell if he won - Portugal and the tyre - had he won there +10 for Mansell and -2 for Senna finishing 3rd Then Japan Nige doesn’t overdo it and spin off and claims a podium to overturn the 3 point difference to win by a point The FIA review VHS was titled “Nearly Mansell” and this is as much “Nearly Mansell” as I can make it, in a season that at the time had a feeling of inevitability that Senna would do it
Richard Snape
2025-01-26 09:48:32 +0000 UTCCan you rank the following presidents best to worst - Jean-Marie Balestre, Max Mosley, Jean Todt, Mohammed Ben Sulayem
Gareth Anstee
2025-01-26 09:28:17 +0000 UTCWhich of Berger's season in Mclaren was his best?
Peter Selecký
2025-01-26 09:17:53 +0000 UTC
