The 1991 US Grand Prix opened the F1 season with the first win-worth-ten-points race and marked the debuts of Mika Häkkinen and the Jordan team.
Key Facts
- Race winner
- Ayrton Senna (McLaren-Honda)
- Number of laps
- 81 laps
- Second place
- Alain Prost (Ferrari)
- Third place
- Nelson Piquet (Benetton-Ford)
- Points for a win
- 10 (new for 1991, previously 9)
- Last US GP until
- 2000 (due to poor attendance)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
After two consecutive seasons in which the World Championship was settled by controversial collisions between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at Suzuka — in 1989 as teammates and in 1990 as rivals — intense public and media anticipation surrounded their renewed competition entering the 1991 season.
The 1991 United States Grand Prix, formally the XXVIII Iceberg United States Grand Prix, was held on March 10, 1991 in Phoenix, Arizona, over 81 laps. Senna took pole position and won for McLaren-Honda, with Prost finishing second in a Ferrari and Nelson Piquet third in a Benetton-Ford. The race also marked the Formula One debuts of Mika Häkkinen and the Jordan team.
The race inaugurated a revised F1 scoring system awarding ten points for a victory instead of nine. However, poor attendances meant Phoenix would not host another United States Grand Prix, making this the last such race until the event returned in 2000 at Indianapolis.
Result
at Phoenix street circuit, Phoenix, Arizona