1991 Mexican Grand Prix

Championship standings

Senna’s perfect start to the season ended at Montreal; he still leads the championship.

Previous race

At Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Piquet won after Mansell stalled at the hairpin on the final lap while leading by almost a minute. Mansell maintained he had a gearbox failure; Williams said the car suffered an electrical failure; when the car returned to the pits the engine restarted and the gearbox worked perfectly. It was the 23rd and final Formula 1 victory of Piquet’s career, and the last win for Pirelli as a tyre supplier until 2011.

Between-race developments

Tyrrell have lost designer Harvey Postlethwaite to the Mercedes-Benz sportscar programme. Senna arrives in Mexico City having injured himself in a jet-ski accident in Brazil.

Practice

During Friday practice, Senna suffered a heavy accident at the high-speed Peraltada bend — his McLaren rolled and landed upside-down after striking the tyre barrier. He emerged unscathed but had been critical of the dusty circuit’s condition throughout the weekend.