1990 German Grand Prix

Previous race

At Silverstone, Prost took his fourth consecutive victory. Mansell led in front of his home crowd until his gearbox failed nine laps from home, dropping him from second. He retired immediately, threw his gloves into the crowd, and announced his retirement from Formula One at the end of the season. Prost won by nearly 40 seconds from Boutsen, with Senna third.

Championship standings

Prost leads Senna by two points, 41 to 39, after four consecutive Ferrari wins. Berger is third with 25 points.

Between-race developments

The season has reached its mid-point, triggering a reassessment of pre-qualifying. Larrousse, who scored five points in the first half, are promoted out of pre-qualifying and automatically enter the main sessions. Ligier, having scored no points, drop into the pre-qualifying pool for the first time this season.

Coloni, having parted ways with Subaru, appear at Hockenheim with the modified C3C chassis now running a customer Ford-Cosworth DFR V8 engine.

Circuit

The Hockenheimring has new wider pit facilities and a broader start-finish straight for this race. This is the 39th and final Formula One Grand Prix to be held in West Germany before German reunification.

Qualifying

McLaren delivered an emphatic response to Ferrari’s run of victories. Honda brought a more powerful V10 engine for Hockenheim and McLaren modified the MP4/5B chassis. Both Senna and Berger were the only drivers to lap in the 1:40s, over 1.5 seconds faster than the Ferraris. McLaren also introduced a new aerodynamic cowling over the cockpit on the MP4/5B at Hockenheim, designed to reduce buffeting on the drivers’ heads; it stays on the car for the remainder of the season.

During Friday qualifying, Nannini had a fiery crash at the Bremsschikane after riding a kerb; the car was thrown into the air and back onto the track, stopping the session. He survived with little more than bruised pride.