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
Key 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 United States Grand Prix to Australian Grand Prix. This is the real result, not the simulation above.
| 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 |
It came down to 7 points: Senna and Prost finished closer than a fourth place is worth. 6 different drivers won that year, and the final Grand Prix went to Nelson Piquet.
Official FIA standings via Jolpica (formerly Ergast).
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.
Tags
What if Senna, Hamilton or Alonso had driven the 1990 championship-winning car?
Drivers of 1990
Keep reading
What we have measured about 1990 and about what decided it, with our own numbers.
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