1990 F1 Season
16 races · McLaren MP4/5B
The year before, Senna and Prost had shared a garage. Not in 1990: Prost had moved to Ferrari, and for the first time the fight between them could be read with two different cars in front of you. They came out almost level. McLaren closed the year on 121 constructors' points and Ferrari on 110, eleven apart across sixteen races.
The championship was settled at Suzuka, the second to last race, and our own data records it in the driest way imaginable: both title contenders appear with the same status, collision, in the same race. Senna left there nine points ahead with a single round to go.
The championship finished 78 to 71, six wins to five. It is the season that best sums up that rivalry: two drivers seven points apart, two cars eleven points apart, and an ending decided neither on a Saturday nor by strategy.
Drivers’ Champion
Ayrton Senna
McLaren MP4/5B
Constructors’ Champion
McLaren
16 races
Ver en españolKey moment
«At Suzuka both title contenders retired in the same race for the same reason: collision.»
The 1990 grid, car by car
The 13 teams that raced in 1990, ordered by how good we rate the car. It is our own judgement, not an official figure: what it is worth is that the same yardstick is applied to every season since 1988, so you can compare eras.
| # | Team | Our rating | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLaren | 97 | Ayrton Senna · Gerhard Berger |
| 2 | Ferrari | 96 | Alain Prost · Nigel Mansell |
| 3 | Benetton | 90 | Nelson Piquet · Alessandro Nannini |
| 4 | Williams | 89 | Riccardo Patrese · Thierry Boutsen |
| 5 | Tyrrell | 85 | Jean Alesi · Satoru Nakajima |
| 6 | Leyton House | 83 | Ivan Capelli · Mauricio Gugelmin |
| 7 | Lotus | 82 | Derek Warwick · Martin Donnelly |
| 8 | Brabham | 80 | Stefano Modena · David Brabham |
| 9 | Dallara | 79 | Andrea de Cesaris · Emanuele Pirro |
| 10 | Arrows | 79 | Michele Alboreto · Alex Caffi |
| 11 | Minardi | 78 | Pierluigi Martini · Paolo Barilla |
| 12 | Larrousse | 78 | Aguri Suzuki · Eric Bernard |
| 13 | Ligier | 77 | Nicola Larini · Philippe Alliot |
How 1990 actually ended
The official final standings, from the United States Grand Prix to the Australian Grand Prix. This is the real result; the simulation is further down.
| Driver | Points | Wins | Podiums | Poles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Ayrton SennaMcLaren | 78 | 6 | 11 | 10 |
| 2Alain ProstFerrari | 71 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| 3Nelson PiquetBenetton | 43 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 4Gerhard BergerMcLaren | 43 | 0 | 7 | 2 |
| 5Nigel MansellFerrari | 37 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| 6Thierry BoutsenWilliams | 34 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 7Riccardo PatreseWilliams | 23 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 8Alessandro NanniniBenetton | 21 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Senna took it by 7 points with 6 wins and 10 poles across 16 races. 6 different drivers won that season, and the last Grand Prix went to Nelson Piquet.
Official FIA standings via Jolpica (formerly Ergast).
1990, race by race
All 16 races: who started first, who won and from where, and how many cars reached the flag.
6different drivers won: Senna 6 · Prost 5 · Piquet 2 · Boutsen 1 · Mansell 1 · Patrese 1.
4different teams won: Ferrari 6 · McLaren 6 · Benetton 2 · Williams 2.
4different drivers took pole: Senna 10 · Mansell 3 · Berger 2 · Boutsen 1.
12different drivers stood on the podium.
3one-twos for a single team: Ferrari 2 · Benetton 1.
7 of 16races were won from pole position.
0first-ever wins: every winner had won before.
From 13ththe win from furthest back: Alain Prost, Mexican Grand Prix.
29 years, 355 daysthe youngest winner of the year: Ayrton Senna, United States Grand Prix.
50%of starts reached the flag (204 of 412).
6 of 26cars finished the Monaco Grand Prix, the race with fewest survivors.
| # | Grand Prix | Winner | Started |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States Grand Prix | Ayrton SennaMcLaren | 5th |
| 2 | Brazilian Grand Prix | Alain ProstFerrari | 6th |
| 3 | San Marino Grand Prix | Riccardo PatreseWilliams | 3rd |
| 4 | Monaco Grand Prix | Ayrton SennaMcLaren | 1st |
| 5 | Canadian Grand Prix | Ayrton SennaMcLaren | 1st |
| 6 | Mexican Grand Prix | Alain ProstFerrari | 13th |
| 7 | French Grand Prix | Alain ProstFerrari | 4th |
| 8 | British Grand Prix | Alain ProstFerrari | 5th |
| 9 | German Grand Prix | Ayrton SennaMcLaren | 1st |
| 10 | Hungarian Grand Prix | Thierry BoutsenWilliams | 1st |
| 11 | Belgian Grand Prix | Ayrton SennaMcLaren | 1st |
| 12 | Italian Grand Prix | Ayrton SennaMcLaren | 1st |
| 13 | Portuguese Grand Prix | Nigel MansellFerrari | 1st |
| 14 | Spanish Grand Prix | Alain ProstFerrari | 2nd |
| 15 | Japanese Grand Prix | Nelson PiquetBenetton | 6th |
| 16 | Australian Grand Prix | Nelson PiquetBenetton | 7th |
Pole goes to whoever started first, after penalties. «Finished» counts classified cars that took the flag. Our source has no fastest laps before 2004.
What if 1990 had been raced 100 times?
We took the real 1990 grid (every car with its performance and reliability, every driver with his rating) and re-ran the full 16-race championship 100 times.
| Driver | Avg. finish | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Ayrton Sennareal championMcLaren | P1.2 | 76% |
| Alain ProstFerrari | P1.8 | 24% |
| Nigel MansellFerrari | P3.1 | 0% |
| Gerhard BergerMcLaren | P3.8 | 0% |
| Nelson PiquetBenetton | P5.4 | 0% |
| Riccardo PatreseWilliams | P6.3 | 0% |
Ayrton Senna takes the title 76% of the time: one in every 4 simulated championships goes to somebody else, almost always Alain Prost. It was not a dominated year, it was a won one.
What if Senna, Hamilton or Alonso had driven the 1990 championship-winning car?
Build your own hypothesisDrivers of 1990
Keep reading
What we have measured about 1990 and about what decided it, with our own numbers.
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