Race Report
Tyrrell Racing's Satoru Nakajima qualified 20th but withdrew due to influenza after crashing in the Sunday morning warm-up session. The grid was adjusted accordingly, although only 25 drivers started as no non-qualifier was reinstated.
At the start with both Ferraris on the front row (Nigel Mansell on pole, Alain Prost second), Mansell's start was so poor that he almost took his own teammate Prost out of the race, and it also allowed the McLarens of Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger to slip past Mansell and Prost to make it a McLaren 1–2 with Senna leading into the first corner.
On lap 52, race leader Nigel Mansell was attempting to lap the Ligier JS33B of Philippe Alliot when the Frenchman stuck to the racing line by diving inches in front of Mansell into the inside of "Curva 2" corner. However, the right front wheel of his car hit the left center of Mansell's Ferrari and Alliot crashed into the track barrier. Mansell came out unscathed from this incident.
Ferrari announced that Jean Alesi would partner Alain Prost for 1991. Alesi was reported to have already signed a contract with Williams, but changed his mind when Ferrari showed an interest, feeling that this would give him more chance of winning a championship. For this race Life Racing Engines abandoned use of their own in house W12 engine in favour of Judd V8 engines. The engine cover of the Life L190 then failed to fit properly as a result.
Read more about this topic: 1990 Portuguese Grand Prix
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