Monte Carlo, May 12: Another pole position, in the lead for the entire 78 laps of the twisty circuit round the Principality, a lead of over 40 seconds on the second place man at 50 laps, sufficient to allow a considerable easing off in the closing laps to win by a comfortable 18 seconds, says it all. Yes, it was Ayrton Senna and the McLaren MP4/6 with Honda V12 power that dominated the Monaco Grand Prix, to win their fourth Grand Prix in a row, which means they have won the first quarter of the 1991 season of Formula One races with a brand new car and brand new engine, while others are still experiencing "teething troubles" with new cars, and some are experiencing troubles with old cars!
When someone appears and beats the McLaren/Honda/Senna combination fairly and squarely, not by luck or misfortune, it is going to be well worthwhile being there, for what ever the combination is it will be something very special. At the moment the rest of the Grand Prix world are getting pretty breathless trying to keep up the pace and occasionally present a small challenge, and it is not for want of trying. Williams, Ferrari, Benetton and Tyrrell were all trying their hardest throughout the Monogasque weekend, and though they collectively dealt with the McLaren number two they did not get a sniff at Senna's tail.
There is never any pre-race testing at Monaco, so when practice starts on Thursday morning (Friday being a rest day for Formula One) it is the same for everyone and you have to know what you intend to do and get on with it pretty quickly. For once the unfortunate eight drivers who have to go straight out at 8am, without any practice at all, and vie for the four places in the event proper, had a bonus. The four fastest, which were Lehto (Dallara), de Cesaris (Jordan), Pirro (Dallara) and Gachot (Jordan) were able to start official practice with advance knowledge of the circuit conditions, and they all made good use of it. Lehto was particularly impressive with the Judd V10-powered Dallara of the Scuderia Italia from Brescia.
