What happened to the circuits? Part 2
Carrying on from the last weeks post, I thought I'd write a little more on what happened to some of the tracks on the 1990 calendar.
Imola
This superb Italian race track will always now be associated with the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994. The great Brazilian died after crashing against the dreaded wall on the outside of the Tamburello. However, this is not how I wish to remember it. Imola had a great flow to it, with a challenging mixture of fast, medium and slow corners, punctuated by some tricky chicanes. The high speed chase from the startline, through Tamburello and Villeneuve, finishing at the Tosa hairpin was a classic stretch; as was the charge up from the Acque Minerale to the Rivazza. The track in a heavily chicaned form, held the San Marino race until 2006 and has recently been redeveloped with new pits and some chicanes eased.
The 1990 race was won by Williams driver Riccardo Patrese, and featured a spectacular spin by Nigel Mansell coming out of Tamburello, chasing down Gerhard Berger. How he got that car back on the road at the speed, I don't know.
Estoril
The Estoril circuit last held the Portuguese Grand Prix in 1996, with a layout that wouldn't pass muster now. A fast outer section followed by a tight infield, then finished off with a sequence of quick corners and 180 degree right hander on to the start/finish straight. Unfortunately, these corners had very little in the way of run-off and although there were few accidents at the track, it did not survive the post-94 clampdown in the end. The track still hosts the MotoGP Grand Prix, but with most of the fast corners removed.
The 1990 race was won by Nigel Mansell for Ferrari in a shortened race, stopped due to Alex Caffi crashing his Arrows into the barriers on lap 61.
Paul Ricard
When opened in the early 70's, the Paul Ricard circuit was seen as a state of the art facility. It was characterised by the long Mistral back straight, which ended in the ultra fast Signes curve. The track was shortened for GP use in 1986 after Brabham driver Elio De Angelis's fatal crash that year in testing. The circuit was replaced by the awful Magny-Cours in 1991 for political reasons. In recent years, Ricard has been converted into a dedicated test track for all types of racing (cars, vans, bikes etc).
The 1990 race was won by Alain Prost, after Ivan Cappelli led a large part of the race in the Leyton House due to not stopping for tyres. Prost's win was the 100th for Ferrari.
