Phoenix Arizona – the tale of sticky tyres and great drivers…..

In 1990 the US Grand Prix returned to Phoenix , Arizona at a slightly earlier March date to avoid the blistering heat of mid-summer as the teams had experienced in 1989. Just to make the point that the earlier date would not mean intense heat, Saturdays qualifying session was a wash out, meaning that the times set on Friday (in the days of qualifying across two days) would determine the starting order for Sundays race.

As is still the case tyre choices have a significant impact on the performance of both teams and drivers and Phoenix 1990 was no exception. Whilst most of the more established teams were using Goodyear tyres, several of the smaller teams has Pirelli boots on, and Pirelli had a particularly sticky tyre choice for qualifying meaning that a number of drivers and teams were further up the grid than would normally be the case.

In fact 5 of the top 10 fitted into this description, including Minardi (2nd, Martini), Dallara (3rd, de Cesaris), Tyrrell (4th, Alesi), Osella (8th Grouillard) and Brabham (10th, Modena). Even Eurobrun made 16th courtesy of Roberto Moreno. Now I’m not suggesting these were undeserving performances by these drivers, but the tyres played a major part in maximising their starting positions. Even more unusual was the Tyrrell team had only made the decision to work with Pirelli two days before the race weekend, so no testing had been undertaken by Alesi or teammate Nakajima!

The race is best remembered for the stand out performance by Jean Alesi, who had made a dream debut at the French Grand Prix in 1989 (whilst also competing, and winning the Formula 3000 title that year), and his reward of a full season with the team got off to an incredible start. Pirelli tyres might of played their part in qualifying, but its fair to say that for the first 34 laps Alesi made the most of the tyres and the nimble Tyrrell 018 car by leading the race.

When Ayrton Senna overtook him early on lap 34, having battled his way to catch up, young Alesi simply re-took the lead at the next corner! One lap later and Senna made a more decisive move and kept the lead to the flag. Alesi however followed him home in 2nd place, and had made a real statement to the world of Formula One.

Pirelli shod cars came home 5th (Modena) 6th (Nakajima) and 7th (Martini) so the race tyres were also very competitive, but where as races in 2020 have been dominated by the management of tyre degradation, this season saw a number of races where the choice of tyre supplier played a significant part in how races panned out…..but to be fair this has been the case for decades in the sport.

Alesi would go on to have a career which could be described as being, in part, a missed opportunity. Whilst there is no doubt that he was a sublimely talented driver, as quick as almost any of his contemporaries, his choice of driving for Ferrari in 1991, rather than Williams who signed him initially, led to years of racing in the midst of the field as opposed to the front of it.

Whilst this has also been the case for countless other drivers through the years, the difference here is that Alesi was incredibly quick, but even his talent would not be enough to bridge the gap, especially when competing with the Williams-Renaults in the early 1990’s. His one GP win in Canada in 1995 is a statistically poor return for a driver with so much talent.

Phoenix a year later saw more drivers benefit from Pirelli tyres, with Modena (now driving for Tyrrell) coming home 4th and his team mate Nakajima 5th; both clearly also excelled either on street circuits or Phoenix specifically. 1991’s US Grand Prix also saw debuts for the Jordan F1 team and a certain Flying Finn, Mika Hakkinen who qualified 13th in his Lotus-Judd 102.

Winner of the British Formula Three title in 1990 Mika made the leap up to Formula One the following season; Phoenix was his race debut, with the Lotus team who had been on the verge of collapse. Peter Collins and Peter Warr organised a deal to take over the team in late 1990 from the Chapman family, and a two car team was pulled together using Judd engines and a modified version of the 1990 chassis.

Mika achieving 13th on the grid (without Pirelli qualifying tyres!) was a significant achievement, especially as more experienced team mate Julian Bailey failed to qualify. A fine fifth place at the San Marino GP was the highlight of the season, netting Hakkinen 16th place in the drivers championship with 2 points. A stronger second season with Lotus led to McLaren making him their test / reserve driver for 1993 and when team regular Michael Andretti left the team after the Italian Grand Prix, Mika outqualified Ayrton Senna on his team debut. Not a bad way to announce your arrival back on the grid.

Mika went on to race for McLaren for the remainder of his F1 career winning the drivers title twice in 1998 and 1999, beating among others a certain M Schumacher. Phoenix dropped off the GP calendar after the 1991 event, and whilst it won’t necessarily go down as one of the all time classic circuits, the test at every race is to win (or at least achieve as driver and team the best result possible) but the races in 1990 and 1991 for me were the launch pad to at least a couple, if not more, successful F1 careers, especially for Jean Alesi and Mika Hakkinen ….although I’m not sure Olivier Grouillard and Osella qualified any better than 8th for the entire F1 careers*

Fact check………

*Osella – best qualifying 8th US Grand Prix 1990

*Olivier Grouillard – best qualifying 8th US Grand Prix 1990