Australian Grand Prix 1991 - Race Schedule and Countdown

Ayrton Senna capped off his championship-winning season with victory in a rain-shortened Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide, though the race would be remembered more for the treacherous conditions that led to its early termination than for the sporting spectacle. Heavy rain lashed the Adelaide street circuit, causing multiple accidents and prompting race officials to red-flag the event after just 16 of the scheduled 81 laps. Senna's victory, worth only half points due to the shortened distance, was his seventh win of a dominant campaign that had seen him control the championship from start to finish.

Nigel Mansell finished second after a cautious drive in the appalling conditions, though the Englishman was frustrated at being denied a proper opportunity to fight for victory. The race summed up Mansell's season: flashes of brilliance and multiple wins, but ultimately finishing second best to Senna's consistency and McLaren's superior reliability. Gerhard Berger completed a McLaren one-three in third place ahead of teammate Alain Prost, who finished fourth, with both drivers navigating the treacherous conditions safely to bring their cars home in the points.

The abbreviated race provided an anticlimactic end to a season that had seen McLaren-Honda dominate despite Williams-Renault's late-season surge. Senna's seventh victory secured McLaren's fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship and marked the end of an era, as Honda's withdrawal from Formula 1 meant the legendary partnership would dissolve after four years of unparalleled success. The stage was set for 1992, when Williams' technical superiority would finally be matched by reliability, creating the epic Mansell-Senna rivalry that fans had been anticipating.