Monte Carlo Street Circuit
31 May 1992
In the weeks following Ferrari’s disappointing showing at Imola, the Italian motorsports press had been vocal in its criticism of Ivan Capelli, and there were persistent rumours that he was about to be dropped in favour of team test driver Gianni Morbidelli or any of a selection of other drivers including Nelson Piquet and Karl Wendlinger. Ivan’s case wasn’t helped when Gianni tested the car extensively between races, and Luca Montezemolo issued an official statement that Capelli’s seat was safe, and that he’d been on holiday when the tests were done – which Capelli in turn denied. Safe seat or not, things were clearly not well at Maranello. Other rumours doing the rounds included Mansell having signed terms with Williams for 1993-4 and being joined by Prost in the team, and reigning IndyCar champion Michael Andretti, son of Mario, linked with Ferrari, Benetton or a new US-based Lola-Ford team.
Over at Hethel in Norfolk, on the other hand, Team Lotus had Monaco native Olivier Beretta shaking down a second new 107 chassis for Mika Häkkinen to use around the principality and were hoping for a good weekend.
The 50th Monaco Grand Prix was as eagerly anticipated as any of its predecessors: amid rumblings of discontent about Williams’ domination, everyone knew that the street circuit had the capacity to mix things up and provide a surprise. Pre-qualifying was a good sign: Alboreto and Gachot cruised through as expected but in third was Roberto Moreno’s Andrea Moda, the Brazilian putting his team through to qualifying proper for the first time. Andrea Chiesa was the final pre-qualifier with Katayama having an oil leak and crashing and the hapless Perry McCarthy (still without a proper seat) unable to set a time as the team wanted to preserve his car as a spare for Moreno.
Qualifying saw Mansell fastest again, with Patrese his usual second, 0.8s behind. Senna was third, then came Alesi, Berger and Schumacher. Brundle and Capelli lined up on row four, with Johnny Herbert 9th in the new Lotus. Andrea de Cesaris’ Tyrrell rounded out the top ten. The non qualifiers were the Brabhams of Hill and van de Poele, Chiesa’s Fondmetal and Belmondo’s March – which meant that, yes, Roberto Moreno had dragged the Andrea Moda into the race for the first time: 26th and last with a time just 0.03s faster than van de Poele, but there on Sunday nonetheless.
Race day dawned overcast but dry and in the morning warm-up session Patrese was fastest with Alboreto second and Mansell down in fifth, but he wasn’t fazed: when the lights went green, he got away first and led through Ste-Devote, with Senna pipping Patrese to second place and Schumacher getting ahead of Berger for fifth. Everyone got through the first corner without incident and by the time they reached the end of the lap Senna was already 0.8s behind Mansell’s car while Martini spun his Dallara into the wall at Portier and out of the race. Patrese was being held up by Senna with Alesi and Schumacher close behind, as Morbidelli (who had started from the pitlane) suffered a gearbox failure, as did Wendlinger, while on lap 4 Grouillard’s Tyrrell gave up the ghost.
The early retirements continued as Stefano Modena – front-row starter in 1991 and podium finisher in 1989 – spun his recalcitrant Jordan on lap 7, by which time Mansell was pulling out a comfortable lead of over 6 seconds while Senna was leading a huge snake consisting of Patrese, Alesi, Schumacher, Berger, Brundle, Capelli and Herbert. If it looked like another Mansell victory was inevitable, the F1 aficionado knew that not only was concentration vital at Monaco where a tiny lapse could put you in a wall, but this race more than almost any other was a marathon rather than a sprint. It was far from a foregone conclusion. By lap 12, Tarquini (engine) and de Cesaris (gearbox) had also 
retired, putting Moreno up to 19th, when he toured in with a misfiring Judd and retired the Andrea Moda which had nonetheless had its longest run out to date. At the same time, Schumacher lunged inside Alesi at the Loews hairpin but misjudged it and made contact, almost tipping the Ferrari into a spin. Alesi controlled the car masterfully and held the place, while Brundle nearly got past Berger at Portier as they slowed to avoid the collision.
Patrese was now suffering gearbox gremlins of his own and dropped back from Senna, while Herbert’s Lotus stepped out on him and put him in the barriers at the Rascasse and Brundle bounced across the kerbs at the Nouvelle Chicane after trying to pass Berger and had to pit to replace a deranged nose cone. Alesi, meanwhile, slowed and Schumacher got past and started to drive away: the Ferrari had suffered damaged electronics in the earlier contact. Back in the race, Brundle set the fastest lap while his Benetton team-mate reeled in Patrese. On lap 28, Alesi was out, his gearbox giving up after the earlier damage, and two laps later Häkkinen’s Lotus suffered the same fate. Another two laps and it was Berger’s turn for a gearbox failure and he too pulled off, just as Brundle set another fastest lap.
By half distance Schumacher was right up behind Patrese and crawling all over the back of the Williams around corners while Patrese’s Renault V10 had the legs on Schumacher’s Ford V8 in the straight(er) sections. As they made their way through traffic, Schumacher hoped that an errant backmarker would hold Patrese up and let him through, but the pair made their way through the field with no trouble. The pair running together were, however, providing much of the entertainment on show, with only half the field still running and mostly strung out, with the exception of Martin Brundle who was charging up the field and now crawling all over the back of Bertrand Gachot’s Larrousse for seventh place. He was soon past and then made his way up into sixth place past Alboreto, who promptly had a spin at Loews after being passed. A lap or so later, Brundle was up to fifth as Ivan Capelli lost the Ferrari and parked it diagonally on the barrier with his left-rear wheel sitting atop the armco – he had hit a barrier earlier and damaged his steering .
At the end lap 70, Mansell – having looked serene so far at the front and with a 30-second lead, suddenly peeled into the pits just 8 laps from the end. Senna raced through into the lead with Mansell rejoining second, and getting the hammer down to try and catch and 
re-pass Senna for the lead. The McLaren was some 5 seconds ahead, while Mansell had to negotiate backmarkers too – but Mansell never did know the meaning of giving up and set a new lap record with 5 laps to go, making a gung-ho move on Erik Comas in the process. A lap later the gap was down to 1.9s and on the next lap the two were running absolutely together. For three laps, Mansell on fresh rubber tried every trick in the book to get past Senna, who likewise employed all his experience to keep Mansell behind. It was riveting stuff; Mansell wanted his first Monaco win very badly, Senna wanted his fifth just as badly, and the result was one of the most nailbiting finishes in recent F1 history.
In the end, it was Senna who kept it ahead – just – to take the chequered flag for his fifth Monaco win by 0.215s, equalling Graham Hill’s record, and he and Mansell toured back round to the pits together, both waving to the crowd and Senna punching the air so much he nearly hit the barriers on a number of occasions. Almost unnoticed, Patrese hung on to third place with Schumacher fourth, Brundle a satisfied fifth and Gachot picking up the last point for the Larrousse team – their first since Mexico 1991 – and Alboreto just missing out in 7th place.
Drivers’ Championship
| POSITION | DRIVER | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Nigel Mansell |
56 |
| 2 |  Riccardo Patrese |
28 |
| 3 |  Michael Schumacher |
20 |
| 4 |  Ayrton Senna |
18 |
| 5 |  Gerhard Berger |
8 |
| 6 |  Jean Alesi |
7 |
| 7= | Michele Alboreto |
5 |
| 7= | Martin Brundle |
5 |
| 9= | Andrea de Cesaris |
2 |
| 9= | Ivan Capelli |
2 |
| 9= | Pierluigi Martini |
2 |
| 12= | Johnny Herbert |
1 |
| 12= |  Mika Häkkinen |
1 |
| 12= | Bertrand Gachot |
1 |
Constructors’ Championship
| POSITION | CONSTRUCTOR | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Williams-Renault |
84 |
| 2 | McLaren-Honda  |
36 |
| 3 | Benetton-Ford  |
31 |
| 4 | Ferrari |
13 |
| 5 | Footwork-Mugen |
5 |
| 6 | Tyrrell-Ilmor |
4 |
| 7 | March-Ilmor |
3 |
| 8= | Lotus-Ford |
2 |
| 8= | Dallara-Ferrari |
2 |
| 10 | Venturi Larrousse-Lamborghini |
1 |
Turbos and Tantrums 