TGR Staff | Photos by RM Sotheby's 01/10/2023
Benetton had achieved third place in the Constructors' Championship of the 1990 Formula 1 World Championship, was hoping that their new B191 car would be the one to finally bring them a Drivers' or Constructors' World Championship the following year. The B191 featured a complex carbon fiber monocoque chassis housing a 3.5-liter Ford HB V-8 engine that produced 730 horsepower at 13,800 rpm. While the car was designed with an active suspension and a semi-automatic gearbox, it raced throughout the 1991 season with a six-speed manual gearbox and conventional suspension, making it one of the last Formula 1 cars to use this setup. Chassis number B-191-02, the second chassis built for the season, was assigned to Nelson Piquet for the San Marino Grand Prix, the third race of the 1991 Formula 1 World Championship. Piquet qualified 14th, but the race ended prematurely for him, and the B-191-02 after a slide off the track during the second lap resulted in a DNF.
Piquet was assigned B-191-02 again for the Monaco Grand Prix. Starting from fourth on the grid, Piquet's car was hit from behind by Gerhard Berger's McLaren at the start of the race. Piquet stopped the car on an escape road roughly 30 seconds in and further investigation revealed that the impact had broken a rear suspension link. Piquet had better luck at the Canadian Grand Prix, where he started eighth on the grid. Nigel Mansell had a strong start from second place and quickly established a lead over his Williams teammate, Riccardo Patrese. Piquet closed the gap to Mansell as the race went on and ended up passing Patrese, who was experiencing gearbox issues, for second place on the last lap. Mansell, who had a 47-second lead over Piquet, thought he had the race won and started celebrating before his engine cut out on the last lap, allowing Piquet to take the win in a shocking turn of events. This would be Piquet's 23rd and final Formula 1 victory.
B-191-02 was used for the next four Grands Prix in Mexico, France, the UK, and Germany, resulting in DNFs in Mexico and Germany, and eighth and fifth-place finishes in France and the UK, respectively. The car was then taken out of service for two months while newer B191 chassis were used. B-191-02 returned to the track in September at the Spanish Grand Prix with Michael Schumacher at the wheel. Schumacher, in his first year of Formula 1 competition, had debuted with Jordan at the Belgian Grand Prix but had signed with Benetton by the time of the Spanish Grand Prix. Schumacher qualified fifth and had passed Mansell on the first lap before being passed back by Mansell. Despite a spin, while trying to pass Gerhard Berger, Schumacher finished sixth. The car's final two races of the season, at the Japanese and Australian Grands Prix with Schumacher driving, resulted in DNFs.
Benetton finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship in 1991, with Piquet achieving fifth place in the Drivers' Championship and Schumacher placing ninth. The team continued to race the B191 in the 1992 season before introducing the B192 for the 1993 season. This amazing car which was driven by two multiple world champions is also one of the last manual-transmission Formula 1 cars to race in the series. Currently owned by a private collector in Duillier, Switzerland it is offered for private sale by RM Sotheby's.
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