Gerhard Berger wasn’t in the 1991 Mexican Grand Prix for long - his Honda engine let go after just five laps - but with forward- and rear-facing cameras on his car, he was around long enough to provide a unique perspective of the frantic opening lap…
It took three goes to get the 1991 race in Mexico City underway – an overzealous fire marshal had caused the first aborted start when he thought he’d spotted a car on fire, while Olivier Grouillard stalled on the second try. But at the third attempt, the field got away cleanly with Nigel Mansell going into the lead ahead Jean Alesi, Ayrton Senna, Riccardo Patrese, our onboard camera pilot Gerhard Berger and the jostling trio of Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost and Stefano Modena. As you can tell from the shaky camera and sparks, the Nineties version of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was incredibly bumpy – not easy when you're having to take one hand off the steering wheel to change gear and, as Berger finds, particularly unhelpful when negotiating the 150mph banked challenge that was the last corner, Peraltada…
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