1990 Brazilian Grand Prix

This is the complete race as broadcast on LIVE TV.

The second race of the 1990 season, Ayrton Senna captures pole again, much to the delight of the
Brazilian fans. Senna’s teammate Gerhard Berger places the other McLaren second on the grid, followed
by the Williams cars of Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo Patrese, then came the Ferraris of Nigel Mansell
and Alain Prost. The ongoing tire battle between Goodyear and Pirelli continued, but unlike the opening
round at Phoenix AZ, where the Pirelli tires stunned everyone by being up front on the grid, the Pirelli clad
cars did not fare as well in Brazil. The fastest car running Pirelli tires was Jean Alesi (Tyrrell) in seventh.

At the start, Ayrton Senna took the lead, followed by Gerhard Berger, Thierry Boutsen, and Alain Prost.
Senna appeared to be on a mission (more so than usual), determined to finally win the Brazilian Grand Prix
after 5 years of disappointments, and bad luck. Thierry Boutsen took over second place early when
Gerhard Berger pushed too hard in the early laps, and Senna kept extending his lead at the front. At the
first round of pit stops, Boutsen lost control of his car and plowed into two of his crewmen (they were ok)
as well as one of the tires the crew had laid out for him. Boutsen was visibly shaken as the crew had to
change out his front wing, and his long pit stop would eliminate his chance of catching Senna. Alain Prost, a
master at keeping a steady pace and saving his tires, continued to stay in the top three. Then disaster
struck when Ayrton Senna collided with the Tyrrell of Satoru Nakajima, damaging his front wing. Senna
had to make a pit stop for repairs, and that dropped him back in running order. Meanwhile, a strong
running Nigel Mansell (Ferrari) came into the pits for a tire change, but was held up when the crew had
problems. The crew took Mansell’s steering wheel off, presumably to prevent the anxious British driver
from leaving the pits too early before the crew could finish making repairs. Mansell was very animated
inside his cockpit, demanding they return his steering wheel, and he finally stormed out of the pits.

Alain Prost took over the lead and never looked back. Gerhard Berger held second place while a
disappointed Ayrton Senna was third, Nigel Mansell fourth, Thierry Boursen fifth, and Nelson Piquet sixth.

This is an old ESPN broadcast with Bob Varsha and David Hobbs on commentary. Quality is a little grainy,
but a great race nonetheless. Interesting to note that 26 cars started this race and only 14 finished, as
mechanical problems, accidents, even driver exhaustion (Alex Caffi) took their toll.